Dennie Quill, Contributor

If you watched the recent fish-market-type display of Camper-down High School students, who faced television cameras to protest against the principal's decision to send them home for inappropriate dress, and felt sick to the core, you are not alone.

Equally appalling was the suggestion by a Ministry of Education official that the student's rights were infringed by that action. Students have rights and they also have a responsibility to conform to school rules and regulation. They have no right whatever to be disrespectful and disruptive thereby denying others their right to an education.

More and more, the nation's schools are becoming arenas of anguish. There is lack of discipline, cooperation and respect. There is growing violence, abuse and drug use. It is here in this unsettling milieu, that we expect our poorly paid teachers to achieve sparkling results. My heart goes out to every teacher in Jamaica.

We have seen what is happening in American schools in the last few decades. Dispiriting details of the public school system are provided. The schools have become chaotic places where murder and mayhem are common.

Not far behind

The American school system has had to deal with installing metal detectors, some have introduced uniforms, others have armed police personnel and security guards patrolling their premises, random drug-testing is also done. School no longer looks like a safe learning environment. We here in Jamaica are not too far behind.

Every child has the right to education, education that aims to develop his or her personality, talents, mental and physical abilities to the fullest extent. The school is often the first social institution outside of the home for helping to mould a child for a productive adult role in society. But law governs a society. Adults have to conform to the rules of society, including the workplace. Why then should students not adhere to the school's dress code? Why is the principal's attempt to insist on this rule seen as an erosion of the children's rights?

Shifting blame is a common human phenomenon. Some blame teachers for being autocratic; others blame parents for being uninterested in their children's development while others point fingers at the Ministry of Education for not developing the requisite standards and procedures for supervision in all schools.

Parents' failure

I am curious to learn about the parents' reaction to the principal's action. Have these parents had frank discussions with their daughters about what is appropriate behaviour? I am assuming that these parents are able to have discussions with their daughters because children who have no respect for school authority are unlikely to have respect for parental authority. There are those parents who instil absolutely no sense of respect or discipline within their children.

The Ministry of Education needs to ensure that the administration of schools is bolstered by input from strong boards. Persons ought not to be appointed to school boards because they provided a few cases of beer to someone's campaign or they are spies for the Member of Parliament. Schools need help from community figures who will ensure that authority is effective so that there is a balance between the need for a safe-school environment against the needs of the individual student and the community.

Teachers should not go soft on discipline. I believe they have a great deal of support from the majority. Discipline does not mean returning to the daysof corporal punishment or that students should cower and be silent. What the schools crave is an environment in which they can engender a love of learning, where there is order, cooperation and a high level of creativity - and importantly mutual respect.