– contends that, rather than a practice where families “pray together” in order to “stay together”, they instead “drink together” and “fight together”
BY PARVATI PERSAUD-EDWARDS
‘Adults in families are often to be blamed for the moral turpitude of the children under their care, and if inculcating false values into children is an instance of abuse then many adults are guilty of both abuse and the misdemeanor that the children under their care commit.’
My Editor indulges my idiosyncrasies and allows me absolute leeway and latitude, except when he has special needs, so when a young girl, with whom I associated innocence, began an affair with a married man, who has very young children, and displayed virulent and vicious behaviour towards someone who has always shown her kindness, and under whose largesse and beneficence she is living, it derailed my equilibrium to the extent where I had to abandon the research in which I was engaged, so I decided to read a book, which always calms me, before continuing my mentally challenging activities.

The book I picked up was an autobiography entitled ‘A Goodly Heritage’, written by Elma Seymour, wife of A.J. Seymour, renowned Guyanese writer, and I will take the privilege of quoting and underlining some passages from this enlightening chronicle.

(In the absence of their mother, who was visiting her elder daughter in the USA) *Aunt Car was truly a second mother to us, and papa left many of our problems in her hands. She was always helpful and kind. Besides, we all had to be very polite, well-mannered, and obedient; and no loose-talking or (loose) jesting was allowed in our home.”

“Aunt Car was always one for encouraging the members of the family, especially those who were married and had started to raise a family, to establish the “Family Altar,” where prayers and Bible reading were said daily every morning.”

“It was a blessing for these children when the Schools’ Medical Service came into being and the school was visited regularly by a team of nurses headed by Dr. C.C. Nicholson, Schools Medical Officer. Their teeth were also examined for caries and their general health assessed.”

“On the advice and concern mainly of the writer, a breakfast centre was started mainly for malnourished children. But before the centre was built by the Education Department, Miss Gertie Wood, social worker, who carried on a soup kitchen in the Kitty market, was asked to supply the needy and malnourished children with meals from a donation solicited from the late Mr. R.G. Humphrey……..I remember him saying, “If the children are hungry I must help to feed them”. Mr. Cyril Farnum, Chairman of the Kitty Local Authority, also contributed from Council funds towards the meals. A cheque was sent every month to pay for the meals supplied.

“The soup kitchen was built on the school’s compound and headed by Miss Edna French, the Domestic Science Teacher, and the children were able to enjoy a hot meal cooked right there on the premises and served to the children between the hours of 11 a.m. and 11.30 a.m.

“The children who could afford it paid a penny a day, and the deserving others were given free meals as the School Feeding Programme was subsidized by the Education Department.”

“The primary schools system in those days was administered by a governing body for primary schools, and priests and ministers of the various denominational schools were appointed to monitor the administration of the schools. For example, at Carmel R.C., while I was there, Fr. McCaffrey was the priest who visited the school once or twice per month to sign the payroll and the attendance register of teachers, look into any problem facing the headteacher, and sign in the logbook the date of his visit and any remarks he might have to make concerning the discipline of pupils or staff.”

This was during the first PPP Government, when C.V. Nunes was the Minister of Education.

The products of this system were decent, well-behaved law-abiding adults, who believed in the basic principles of honour, respect for their fellow humans, and compassion for the less fortunate in society.

The system involved training in decorum, deportment, and good manners, with the requisite and necessary inputs to achieving equitable intellectual, social and physical development, which started from the home, and which was strategically supported by a strong network involving the educational system and the community.

On Monday I received a call informing me that the headmistress of a primary school in Berbice had been summoned by a magistrate to attend court.

This perturbed me, as I have known this headmistress from childhood, and she was an exemplary and studious child, who always aspired to, and achieved, academic heights, and who have received lucrative offers of employment in the entrepreneurial world, but who loves to teach and refuses to abandon her profession of choice.

She balances her family life with her profession and, together with her husband, has brought up high-achieving, well-behaved children.

I immediately called her, and she related a story to me that made me realize how far down the ladder we have descended in social behaviour from the days when Mrs. Elma Seymour taught school.

She said that after school had been dismissed at 14:30 hrs she was conducting a staff meeting in a room adjacent to a classroom where some students were copying their homework, when she heard a commotion.

Upon investigation, she discovered that a parent had entered the classroom and slapped a child with whom her child had a dispute.

The headmistress contends that, irrespective of any consideration, no adult has a right to accost and/or assault any child in or out of the school premises.

She says that if a parent has a complaint there is a procedure in place to address such issues, which has to be adhered to at all costs, because the consequences are very detrimental to both children, and the morale and morals of the entire school population.

She is particularly concerned that educational institutions are supposed to be protected environments for both students and teachers, but often members of the public just march into schools and assault both teachers and students at will.

She expressed her concern over the growing indiscipline in some students, whose behaviour is spiraling alarmingly out of control, with severe negative impact on overall security and the morale of teachers and the students who are genuinely trying to achieve goals within what is quickly becoming widespread lawlessness in the school populations.

She contends that, rather than a practice where families “pray together” in order to “stay together”, they instead drink together and fight together, and she thinks that the only solution to this rapid decay in the moral fabric of society is that a holistic approach be taken, as in the days of yore, where there is total involvement of societal sectors to upgrade and enhance social behavioural norms.

Adults in families are often to be blamed for the moral turpitude of the children under their care, and if inculcating false values into children is an instance of abuse then many adults are guilty of both abuse and the misdemeanor that the children under their care commit.

For instance, many children are encouraged to covet and steal the possessions of others by the adults in their lives.

One woman, who for some inexplicable reason has taken a dislike to a neighbour, encourages the neighbourhood children to enter the woman’s yard during her absences and steal and destroy her property.

She also constantly abuses and threatens, and has even physically assaulted, the woman, who largely ignores her, then encourages her grandchildren to support her lies when she makes false allegations against the woman to the police.

How could these grandchildren define and apply the principles of wrong and right, truth and untruth as they evolve into adulthood?

The headmistress thinks that the Guyana National Service should be re-established in a more structured way, where children with severe discipline problems should be sent to obtain their education under paramilitary conditions, which may serve to restore their sense of social responsibility

However, she says teachers are constrained from punishing children because of widespread concerns about abuse, and quoted a recent incident where a very dedicated teacher gave an erring student a few lashes and was severely persecuted by students, their parents, and officialdom.

According to her, discipline has to be left completely to the parents as teachers are allowed no latitude, despite the most provoking behaviour from troublemaking students, who even walk with weapons and threaten other students over trifling incidents.

Parents, on the other hand, can withhold privileges within the home environment, but without a simultaneous programme where the school is allowed some leeway, even with monitoring from officials from the Education Department, the problems of society will continue to deteriorate into more violence…..and more violence…..and more violence.