Bdos: Wha' really gwaan 'yah?

IF enforcing a policy of strict discipline in schools was not politically incorrect none of their guidance counsellors might now be lamenting that these centres of learning have degenerated into virtual war zones.

It so happens that they are not the first to discover all manner of inappropriate behaviour, including physical assault and consumption of illegal drugs among students. We commented on these habits many times, even describing some schools in the precise term just used by one counsellor at a newer secondary school – war zones. Will the libertarians now assail that public-spirited individual with insults as they did to sections of the media which first exposed the lawlessness?

Will officialdom persist in a notion that allowing children unlimited freedom, unfettered self-expression, is the best way to develop singular personalities, identities they allege that best contribute to national culture?

What we are seeing is not pretty. It is a road to hell paved with the innocent intentions of some policymakers; a Gadarene slope onto which others invite impressionable junior citizens; a precipitate plunge into that single hell mentioned by a member of the Judiciary last week.

We believe that, were it not for a reasonable number of well-adjusted children in our schools, the enthusiasm they demonstrate for their studies, and respect shown to teachers, those whom we pay with taxes to nurture young minds would be far fewer today than is good for our country.

Eh! Today I have cause to thank God that my heart is good ... at least, I hope it is. Glory hallelujah! At least somebody in the Caribbean has sense on this; would that education policy makers take note and re-institute strict discipline in schools so that the inmates would no longer be in charge of the asylum. Read the whole piece.