THE EDITOR, Sir:THE Munro school board has taken a joke too far now.
Their attempt to further punish the students caught smoking ganja last September by suspending boarding privileges is most inappropriate and inimical to the nation's interests.
Reasonable Jamaicans must send a strong message to the school board that as a country we stand to lose far more from attempts to further exclude the boys from the school community than we do by reintegrating them.
Besides, this desire for punishment is totally unjust, since, as the Minister of Education has pointed out, the boys were already punished for their acts, and twice. Further attempts at punishment send the wrong message about authority and responsibility for exercising it.
In a poor, crime-infested country like ours, we can ill afford to reinforce the notion that authority is about excessive use of force and the abuse of power; we can ill afford to further marginalise and oppress our youth, especially our young men, by denying them a second chance. Not when the crime market has a ready place for those who fall away from the formal system.
It is therefore imperative that we remind the Munro board that school is for the good of society and not for the inflation of egos, and that the former should never be sacrificed at the altar of the latter.
I am etc,
R. ANTHONY LEWIS
roanthony@yahoo.com
University of Montreal
Quebec, Canada
Via Go-Jamaica
