Innocence always calls mutely for protection - Anonymous

SEEMINGLY WITHOUT SHAME OR SORROW, we continue to make frequent pronouncements of intended measures to calm the sea of unbridled and unthinkable passion displayed by our youth to and from school daily.

That a country, once admired for its discipline and deportment exhibited by students in their separate, special and distinguishing uniforms as they made their way to and from school, could have sunk to the present depths is depressing.

To have seen school buses, marked according to school allocation, making their way to or from the gates of the respective schools was gratifying. Every child sat and those standing did so, as if awaiting further instructions before disembarking.

Not only out of respect for school uniform, but also because prefects travelling on the same buses, if only to protect the sacred badge decorating their own breasts, would neither hesitate to issue an instant reprimand nor fail to report the incident to a teacher, full in the knowledge that action, certain to be painful, would be administered to the offending students.

No one is unmindful that students have played pranks, engaged in disorderly conduct and looked on almost approvingly, to save one's own hide, at forms of bullying.

However, such behaviour did not begin to approach the limits seen today which do not exclude sexual misconduct, violence and a new ethos of "not seeing or knowing anything".

Today, photographs appearing in the press do not seem to deter young boys and girls from a full participation in the unseemly ritual of misconduct.

Similarly, parents either do not read the daily Press or prefer to deal with the matter in strict privacy, if at all. Gone are the days when the village was parent of the child. Thus there is no longer shame for elders and/or peers.

To see young males, and females too, entering or exiting PSVs through their windows, is no longer shocking to the eye. It is now par for the course to hear of new methods and techniques intended to curb the fast deteriorating behaviour despite the murmurings of Ministry of Education officials, the leadership of the teacher unions and associations as well as the church.

The latest threat is that of a ban from riding PSVs, which, if implemented, may well be fought within the new Barbados Supreme Court Complex on the grounds of rights, choice and of course, assembly.

It is clear the state, teachers and most parents have surrendered control. There is no longer that voice which signals the presence of authority, secure guidance and unquestioned respect.