MUCH OF THE deviance in schools is driven by a drug culture that touches even primary schools.
The principal of the Garrison Secondary school, Matthew Farley, stated this during a panel discussion on the island’s education system on Thursday night.
“Very often a child turns up to school at 8:30 a.m. or 9:30 a.m. and he is hyper, he is angry, he is aggressive, and sometimes without cause he will charge at you,” Farley said.
“And when one sees that level of aggression one knows that there is something that drives it; it could be alcohol or marijuana,” he added.
The topic of the discussion was Is Our Educational System Failing Our Children? It was held by the Men’s Fellowship of Bethlehem Moravian Church, at Maxwell, Christ Church.
Farley said the school reflected the society and certain values had come under serious pressure as sub-cultures emerged.
“While in our schools we are saying to our children education is the means to push mobility, those subcultures are projecting short-cuts to success. Across society in villages, in virtually every nook and cranny, we have allowed little satellite drug stations to come up,” Farley said.
“You see somebody building little huts and selling fruits, but behind the fruits other things are being sold. And that is having a major devastating impact.”
Farley said that while educators, churches and other community organisations were fighting to stamp out deviant behaviour in schools, there was a need for parents to be challenged and empowered to recognize that they need to better understand their role and functions.
“Too many parents are too busy with their own issues and their own lives that they have no time to better perform their roles and functions as parents and guardians.
“Too many parents drop off their child at 5 [years old] at the primary level and pick them up at 11, drop them back up at 11 at secondary school and come back for them at 16. Therefore when we need to get to the bottom of the challenges that are facing their child/ward they cannot be found.” (AH)
