Edward Seaga
Sara Lawrence is a lovely young lady who won the coveted crown of Miss Jamaica World. Better yet, she placed sixth in a field of international beauties in the Miss World Competition, last year. With these achievements she became a role model for Jamaican girls and young women.
As they would say in the fundamentalist churches when a member slips in following the rigorous rules, she became a "backslider" having indulged in sex and becoming pregnant violating the rules of the Miss Jamaica competition. She was at that time no longer a role model. But like a true champion, she did the right thing. She relinquished her crown. Having done the right thing, she is now a role model again because of the self-discipline she has shown.
A crucial factor which has not been taken into account in this sad episode of her life is that there are people encouraging her or willing to look the other way in telling her that there is nothing wrong about holding on to her crown. Some of these people are in a position to arrange for her to get thebest of both worlds. So far, she has not fallen into this trap of the "easy come, easy go", "no big thing" route. If she did, she would be just another unfortunate girl. By resisting and insisting that she must act by the rules, she becomes a very unusual girl, one who will put the value of the competition ahead of her own satisfaction. This is what makes her a role model.
This undisciplined approach, condoned by others because what is involved is "no big thing", creates the basis for an undisciplined society.
Indiscipline
It is that same indiscipline, the reluctance to accept and uphold values that is at the heart of the illegitimacy rate and fatherless families in Jamaica. What Sara Lawrence is saying to Jamaican girls is that it is wrong to break the rules. If you do, then pay the penalty. What I hope that she will go on to say is that it is equally wrong to break the rules by having a child with no resident "baby-father". To make sure that the "baby-father" is resident means marriage. The next step therefore, is to give the child a known, reliable father. That is what the family is all about.
To do otherwise is to add one more child to many, many thousands who grow up without fathers and one more mother to the 40 per cent of all mothers who are classified as single mothers, deprived of the presence of a male partner, a father figure and left to struggle alone. The country needs the role model who says I am relinquishing my crown to have a baby and to get married. That is the paradigm shift.
I know nothing about her personal life and that of the father so maybe this ideal would not be possible. But if it can, it is time for the male partner to step into the picture and stand beside her. He cannot be left outside the frame, blameless and lacking in responsibility like thousands of other undisciplined Jamaican fathers. After all, he helped her to commit the breach.
There is another aspect to this affair that is worrying. Stress from any source is bad for health. But severe stress on an expectant mother is stress on the brain of the developing foetus which sets back the development of the child and could lower the level of future performance in later years of growth. This is one more reason for sharing the burden with a partner.
Underlying all of this is the abysmal ignorance of young people in matters concerning family life:
development of the body sexually;
development of the brain academically;
development of family bonds;
development of social and fraternal friends;
development of the unborn, newly born, and infant child;
development of healthy patterns of love and discipline essential to child-rearing;
development of proper nutritional habits;
development of a wholesome respect for the community and society.
I could go on and on. But what is the use? I have made repeated calls for family life studies as part of the curriculum in schools. This is not a subject to be treated casually by extra-curricular readings and lectures. It must be given the full respect and the full weight of proper tutoring in course work and grading of results.
Social problems
Jamaicans live a life of fancy by hoping that the Church can correct the social problems. They must be corrected by using to the fullest the opportunity of the classroom to teach young people about themselves, rather than leaving them to learn from equally ignorant friends or subjecting them to a talk by "parson", or some elder person.
The range of problems which revolve around an unstable family will answer the question of the importance of the subject:
incest;
step-father abuse;
mothers who look the other way;
abused children who become abusers in later life.
Legislation is the last resort. Education is the first resort. But if the first resort is not followed, the last resort will always be the only resort and that has not proven to be effective.
Edward Seaga is a former Prime Minister. He is now a distinguished fellow at the UWI. Email: odf@uwimona.edu.jm
Jamaica is a land of 'ease-up' and 'let-off' , which makes it difficult to enforce discipline. When discipline is not enforced the society becomes lax and easy-going dispensing with other rules whenever it becomes a problem to the individual.
