WHEN?A BIG-ABLE, RESPECTABLE?PRIME?MINISTER, summons some of his ministers, tuh hold a meeting wid interested parties tuh deal wid some unresolved issues affecting a whole school and the entire country, and the body at the very core of the matter decide dat dem ain’t turning up, some flipping thing got tuh be very wrong.
You could imagine dah?
Lemmuh tell ya, if anybody did evah tell me dat I would live tuh see the day when a Prime Minister’s words ain’t had nuh kinda weight at all, I would tell dem dat it ain’t gine happen ’bout here.
Well I nevah, and we talking ’bout how we raising children who we expect tuh be respectful and upright citizens. Nuh wonder the poor police got duh hands full day in and day out wid young people; men especially in duh late teens and early 20s who doan show respect fuh nothing and no one.
But leh me tell wunna, “Respect due”, hear? “Respect due”.
Now look at the examples these teachers setting. These people who we see as so well educated and qualified; so special, so influential. These persons who we does leave in charge of our children fuh suh many hours a day; these teachers who we are teaching our children tuh show and give respect tuh. So now, what are you teachers telling our children?
When it suits dem or doan suit dem, they should take matters into their own hands and do as they like, including disrespect the very leaders and head o’ the country?
Look! Wunna think this sorta thing coulda happen tuh Tom Adams or Errol Barrow? Not dem, boy!
Not dem.
I doan even think dat Owen Arthur woulda stand fuh all this. Mary Redman got bare clout. She pulling the punches. I tell you, people does know who tuh pull dem kinda stunts wid.
You see dem leaders dat I just call there? Dem men woulda nevah stan’ fuh this kinda embarrassment.
These is things dat ya does have tuh nip in the bud; otherwise duh does get outta hand and blow up in ya face like wha’ happening now.
All the dust dat was being swept under the carpet fuh suh long does eventually become a big pile and trip ya up. And I say dat is exactly wha happening now.
Ya see, if the Ministry of Education had done something ’bout this evah since, all o’ this sort o’ thing so would have been avoided.
Reactive response
But ya know something, when ya say A ya does have tuh say B.
If the ministry didn’t drag its feet in this matter all along, we woulda never have seen another Bajan star rising. Rihanna ain’t got nutten pon Mary Redman; evahtime ya open the newspapers nowadays or sit down tuh watch the news, there she is decked out in red, up in ya face and making all kinds o’ demands. She is a boss!
But one thing I would like tuh tell ya, Ms Redman, is dis: ya might be right in ya fight but right doan always win, and too far right is left.
But I notice dat while all the lot o’ talk going on, I ain’t hearing one peep outta Mr Broomes.
I think it is only yesterday dat I read in the papers he say doan leh he get vex.
All Broomes (according tuh my nephew who went tuh school at Alexandra) doing is sitting down, watching, listening and observing the goings on, and despite all dat happening, he still turning up fuh school, supporting the fellas at the various activities and doing what principals do when the day come.
Another thing I notice is dat the children ain’t saying nothing bad ’bout Broomes. It like it is only some teachers who got a big problem wid Broomes, summuch so dat duh cahn even stand tuh be in the same room as him, far less sit down at the same table wid him.
We will wait tuh see what more happens, and who got the most clout in this country.
• Mavis Beckles was born and raised in The Orleans.
She has an opinion on everything.
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