In the past two years we have had strangers coming to Munro and marvelling at the fact that a high school for boys can have such well-disciplined, polite young men. We have had visitors from the United States come to Jamaica and as part of wanting to learn more about the island, make a visit to Munro a part of their itinerary.

There is no doubt that the vast majority of the boys here are quality young men. Most are academically brilliant and well-disciplined. But as most people are aware Munro is not the norm but one of the few exceptions of a well-disciplined school in Jamaica.

This year I am noticing a strange phenomenon among some of the new students coming to Munro. I am seeing little boys some barely 10, 11 years old and barely out of wearing 'nappy', using language and having attitudes that no upper sixth form student here would even think of having. I am finding that some of these same little boys don't want to stand when a teacher comes into the classroom, they don't want to say 'Sir' or 'Miss' when addressing teachers and they don't want to conform to the rules as required. I am also finding out that many of these indisciplined little boys have equally indisciplined parents.

COMPLAIN

These are the parents who, when their sons go home to complain about anything, are ready to come on the campus to confront whomever their boy said they had the problem with, including fellow students and teachers. These are the parents who stay on the campus beyond the allotted time allowed and will have an attitude when informed by prefects that it is time to leave. These are the parents who are more likely to encourage their sons to argue with a teacher than to obey that teacher. These are the parents who want to tell teachers what to do and where to go, rather than instruct their sons on what they are supposed to do.

You can see their lack of discipline in their willingness to ignore the rules time after time. You can see it in the way they talk, and in their body language whenever it becomes clear that their child is not the little angel they would want you to believe him to be.

There was a time when discipline began in the home and school was the place that re-enforced what was taught at home. Not anymore. Many of these little 'tykes' are coming from homes where there is no discipline at all. Some of these parents are foul-mouthed people who have no problem using a few 'choice words' to express themselves, and for some it is not unusual to see their father (if they have one) slap their mother around in a fit of rage whenever conflicts arise.

In a summary report given by the school's guidance counsellor after attending a seminar on 'Violence in School', it showed that the main cause of disciplinary problems in our schools is poor parenting. The report pointed out that family arrangement has the single greatest impact on the socialisation of children, and consequently most behavioural problems can be traced to poor family arrangements such as absentee fathers/mothers, poor parental supervision and neglect.

In the 1960s the major elements for the socialisation of children were: home, school, church, peers, television.

The home was where everything began. It was the place where children learned discipline, and values such as honesty and telling the truth. Today things have been totally turned around. The major elements for the socialisation of children today are: television, dance hall music, peers, school, home.

Notice where the home comes? The place where everything should begin is last. It's like putting the cart before the horse. Irresponsible, indisciplined parents are flooding our schools with clones of themselves. Many parents today seem more interested in wanting to be one of the 'boys' or one of the 'girls', than being parents. They seemed more interested in wanting to be liked by their children and being their 'friend' than in disciplining them. The result is what we have today, as was reported in The Gleaner about boys at another high school fondling a female teacher and thinking that that could ever be right. Ridiculous!

I am always amused when parents will very adamantly proclaim, "My boy would not do that," when that is exactly what the boy has done.

Someone has to bell the cat. The tremendous breakdown in the discipline of our children must be placed squarely where the fault lies ­ with the parents. Some have no clue what it takes to be a parent, and so the whole responsibility falls to schools to teach discipline as well as certain basic values that should have been taught at home.

The reason discipline and these values are not being taught in some schools today too is that some of the teachers responsible for doing so are just as bad as the children. When teachers turn up late and unprepared for their classes, when they go into a filthy classroom and don't insist that it be straightened up before they begin teaching, when they don't insist that students address them properly, when they come to school as sloppily dressed as the students, when their moral values are not what it should be, what values can they be expected to teach or impart to children?

MINIMUM STANDARD

Dr. Ralph Thompson's article in The Gleaner some weeks ago showed the low standards required of those entering our teachers colleges today. At Munro College the minimum standard required of a young man going into lower sixth form is to have at least five CXC subjects and he must have grades ones or twos in the subjects he intends to study in the sixth form. Teachers colleges require only four subjects with grade three. It means that the minimum standard for entering Lower Sixth at Munro College is far higher than that required of our future teachers. How sad. Mediocre standards will produce mediocre teachers.

This year alone we have over 70 young men in the lower sixth form. Wouldn't it have been wonderful if it were possible to persuade these young men to go into teaching?

So, what is the solution? Well, that's for another discussion. But until then we continue to persevere with one student at a time. But, maybe there is one place though where we can start. Since we require people to be licensed before we allow them to drive a car, I wonder if the time has not come for us to require that of people who want to become parents today as well.