Jamaica’s bad behaving school children!
19 02 2008Jamaican teachers have taken a stand that they will no longer tolerate the impish, rude, violent and classless behaviour which takes place in our schools. The story of the Ocho Rios High School teacher is the straw that has seemed to have broken the camel’s back. A male teacher was accosted by a student’s father and uncle and duly threatened. However, the parent, one Mr. Cobb is defending his position saying that he did not threaten the teacher. The situation is well outlined in today’s Observer at:
The story begins where a young student was caught cheating during an examination. The examiner asked him to hand in the paper which he refused to do. Instead he attempted to hand it in at the end of the exam. When the teacher refused to accept it he went for his big brother who came in and bullied the teacher, trying to force him to accept the paper. What a cheek! Then weeks later, the same teacher was at the gate collecting entrance fees for a musical taking place….again the big brother was up to no good. He tried to force himself in without paying. Then the father and uncle of the unruly imp decided to go and deal with the matter themselves. To show you how the society has sunk to an all time low, the father addressed the teacher as ‘big man, I come to find out what wrong and why you chuck mi son”, followed by his brother who said “if it was out a road a would a different supp’m”. The father did not view this as a threatening stance whatsoever and claimed the teacher was not threatened.
Now seriously, is it any wonder why Jamaica is the way it is? This is what school has come to. Parents now want to beat the teacher. Parents themselves have no social skills and therefore cannot pass them on to their children. This is why I would never teach in the public system. As I have said in a previous post, teaching is not just imparting the subject matter. It is about disciplining people’s “bad bruk pickney” and being a counsellor, parent, confidante rolled into one. Personally these children belong in a boot camp and not a school……and let me say it’s an all round problem…..because if they aren’t trying to kick the teacher in the groin, they want to spit in their water. This is a national problem and not a “uptown/downtown” or “rural/urban” problem. As we have seen in the case of a prominent uptown school, children will spit in your water and force you to drink it. These are the beasts we have in our schools now. More power to the teachers, because I wouldn’t be caught dead in these classrooms and at the rate we are going, home schooling will soon be the classroom of choice. I wouldn’t want my children to interact with half the children around the island!
I taught high school for a few months years ago and I never want to do that again. Is School man and woman now not school chile.
Also this story reminds me of a great teacher I had when I was at primary school. Apparently he had, before my time, once reprimanded a student only to have the students mother and father come to the school and beat the crap out of him. Unruly parent behavior aint nothing new.
I don’t understand! What do you mean they spit in the teacher’s water? What’s going on? I am confuse
The corrosive breakdown and disintegration of the family as an institution in Jamaica, and the concomitant lack of ability of parents/families to transfer appropriate values generationally,and to act as proper socializing agents for children have impacted tremendously in a negative manner on how children behave and conduct themselves within the various educational settings and environments across the island.Consequently,in educational environments, it is the teachers that/who are on the frontline when it comes to experiencing the sundry forms of anti-social behaviour, tendencies, and pathologies exhibited by students.Increasingly,such anti-social behaviours are now manifesting themselves in violent forms towards teachers and in numerous instances condoned, rationalized, glamourized and supported by irrational parents and guardians as evidenced recently at Ocho Rios High School. Certainly, it is imperative that teachers and their professional organizations, unions, and etc. take a concrete and solid stand against such anti-social and violent behavior on the part of students and parents. And indeed, the larger communities and civil society must, and I repeat must be more supportive of our overworked and under remunerated teachers, who are no longer preoccupied with the teaching of students,but they have now become parents, counsellors,security guards and just about everything to these troubled and under socialized students.The dialogue between parents and teachers should/must increase, with the parents becoming more pro-active in this regard via the various Parent Teachers Association (PTA).Indeed, if parents are of the perspective that a given student or students are not being treated fairly by a given teacher vis-a-vis the rules and regulations established by the school in question and the Ministry of Education, there are definitely mechanisms and avenues for recourse, appeal, remedy etc.,namely: the principal of the school ; the school board or trust ; the Ministry of Education, and certainly even legal recourse if warranted, as opposed to threatening, intimidating and violently assaulting and attacking teachers. With respect to students who are clinically sociopaths, they need to be totally removed from the school environment and placed in settings that can facilitate and accomodate them until resocialized. Jamaican society needs to be much more supportive and respectful of its teachers, because in essence they are the fulcrum and base of the society.RESPECT!!
No Nonsense: Some Immaculate High School students spat in a teacher’s glass of water and watched her drink it (the teacher didn’t know as she was being distracted by another student purposely). You see these nasty azz kids come from ALL walks of life…..and that one in particular…her father…is a “big man” around town…you see they get by because they “think” they’re up there.
[...] tolerate the impish, rude, violent and classless behaviour which takes place in our schools”: Jamaican Lifestyle blogs about the island's “bad behaving school children.” time [...]
HORRIBLE! Its way pass “bad broke”. It’s lack of basic humanity and self respect. All of us at some point during our school years have been upset by some teacher but decency wouldn’t allow us to debase him/her in such a way. It’s one thing to think about doing harm to someone but it’s another to carry out some hateful act. It now borders on sociopathic.
Do we have a generation of sociopaths?
Yes, indeed No Nonsense, we do have a generation of sociopaths!!
I am trying to remember the worst things we did to teachers back in my day…
I remember that one teacher had french peanut spread on their chair, but this was not something I saw… I only heard about it.
I remember one or two women teachers were groped… one such case led to the teacher’s boyfriend (also a teacher at the school) putting a beating on the groper.
I remember one teachers car tires were slashed. Can’t remember if the duco was scratched up as well…
I remember one effeminate history teacher who we frightened the bejesus out of. The guys in question had been reprimanded by him for something. They walked into his class toting bottles and bricks, giving him threatening looks.
When his back was turned (he was writing on the board) , the bottle was passed from the back of the class up to the front and placed in the aisle, beside an empty desk. then the brick was sailed along the floor, sort of like bowling. It smashed the bottle, and the teacher thought that the bottle had been thrown at him. You should have seen how high he jumped!
There were one or two near fights between teachers and students in the upper years, but they were few and far between. I don’t know of or remember parents coming and dusting the teacher out for disciplinary actions they had taken on the students though….