Tyrone Reid, Staff Reporter
HEARING a song in the dancehall which accentuates the tremendous value of achieving a decent education, is akin to a UFO sighting - it is 'rarer' than raw steak.
It is not very often that we hear artistes advocating the importance of education. While many donate funds to schools, how many actually take the time out to compose a song that highlights the worth of a solid education or visit schools to give motivational speeches?
It is safe, then, to surmise that an entertainer endorsing the importance of attaining a good education is a novelty. However, those who advocate violence and sex come a dime a dozen.
A UFO spotting rather, a good song that advocates the overriding importance of education was rendered by Bounty Killer when he released Book Book Book which was a mega-hit among the 'schoolers'. In the song, the Killer encourages the students to 'pressure dem book':
Cause if yuh illiterate an foolish yuh might tun a crook
Tun yuh inna handyman dog food yuh affi cook
We nuh waan nuh candyman a Barbican and Norbrook
So big up all the youths from KC, Wolmers and Meadowbrook
Also, most 'schoolers' felt good that their school's name were mentioned in a song and at parties they could not wait for the name of their school to come up so that they could show their allegiance by shouting at the top their voices the name of the school they attended.
It is important to note that Book Book Book went over well with the listening public, as it 'carried the swing' for quite a while in the dancehall. Although the overall theme of Untold Stories by Buju Banton was not promoting education, a line from the song makes it noteworthy:
When Mama spend har last and send yuh go class, never you ever play....
One might wonder, why is it that the music business does not pay more attention to promoting education, an area that is vital to a very large percentage of their fanbase as teenagers account for a major portion of dancehall's following. If one wants to look at the business aspect of things, songs of such calibre have good track records.
The energetic Elephant Man attests to the vital role that getting a solid education plays in people's lives. "Education is one of the most important things in life," he noted. "If ah neva it mi wouldn't deh yah so. The lack of education is the reason why a lot of youths turn to the gun, cause being illiterate gives dem a feeling that they are not anything and they will never reach anywhere, so they turn to other means," explained the energetic and commercial deejay in a serious tone.
Elephant Man's view was reiterated by gospel deejay Clive 'Stitchie' Laing, but with a more spiritual overtone. "Education is one of the keys to success and the Bible says that you should study to show yourself approved unto God. One must not only read God's words, but everything that is around you so that you will be better able to make decisions and as such be more efficient to be used by God," he said.
One accord
The artistes are all in one accord with regards to the great importance a good education plays, but according to female deejay CéCile, entertainers do not place enough emphasis on the importance of education through the music or otherwise. "Oh, definitely not. The importance of education is not stressed in the music. I don't hear it happening often enough. We need to start going to the schools more often and speak to the kids and not just to perform, but to speak to them as role models."
She added that from her viewpoint, the music industry, not excluding herself, promotes guns and sex more than education. This reasoning was shared Stitchie. "No I don't think it is being done enough. For the most part it is promoting sex and a lot of other derogatoriness rather than learning, However, some artistes are making the effort but it is not being done enough," emphasised Stitchie, who is a certified teacher.
CéCile, a past student of Bishop Gibson High School in Mandeville, Manchester, told The Sunday Gleaner that she missed sitting her exams while she was in the fifth form due to her determination to make it in the music business.
She recalled that she got the opportunity to record a song at a studio during the week her exams would have begun and she choose the vinyl over the books and as such never attempted any of her other exams. However, she went back to the Church Teacher's College the following year and sat five GCE subjects of which she passed three. This included a distinction in English Language.
However, as she reminisced, she had a tad of regret tingling in the back of her throat as she had passed up the opportunity to sit some subjects that she loved and never got the chance again. "I partially regret not sitting the exams at the time, because I never got the chance to sit some exams I wanted to do, mainly French and Spanish," recalled CéCile, who said that she has been strongly considering going back to classes to sit the subjects. Being an entertainer is a full-time job and at times music proves to be a very jealous partner, one that will demand a lot of your time, especially if you are a young and aspiring act. It is a known fact that a lot of 'schoolers' will cut school or pay less attention to studying and spend their time at the studio if they get the notion that they can make it to the big leagues via the 'music mobile'.
Career move
To the entertainer, it may seem like a good career move that they are making a worthwhile sacrifice to attain their goal. Not so, say the players in the music business. "I would encourage him not to, as that would be the biggest mistake he would be making in his life. He would be missing out and there is no guarantee when it comes to the music business, so the individual would need to have some solid background to fall back on," stressed Stitchie.
"I would tell them that they need to finish high school and not only that they need to get some subjects so as to have something to fall back on. Plus, it helps in being a deejay, because success does not stop on Jamaica's shores; it goes overseas. Sometimes some big entertainers embarrass Jamaica with their interviews," pointed out CéCile.
There are ways in which the music fraternity can shift the focus from promoting guns, violence and the exploitation of women and direct some of the energy towards advocating a good cause that can only benefit the country on a whole and the move toward a better Jamaica.
Public service
"One little easy way to help is by having public service announcements with the popular artistes coming on and promoting the importance of attaining a good education," advocated CéCile. "I think that it is something that all of us, as artistes need to come together and do instead of fighting over bad words and those things," she pointed out. The cohesive effort from all the entertainers proposed by CéCile was strongly supported by Elephant Man, who also expressed deep concerns about those that are not attending schools. "Building an institute for the kids on the street and take them off the street enuh. We need to tek the timeout and go into the schools because we are role models," reasoned Elephant Man.
