Through the eyes of a 'troublemaker'
Denise Clarke,Staff Reporter

WESTERN BUREAU:

DUANE JOHNSON and two of his friends laughed loudly during math class. They were amused by the designs Duane was making on the desk with his pencil. To him, this was far more interesting than what was being taught. He likes school. In fact, he likes it more than his Westmoreland home. He is not very happy at the home he shares with his aunt. Duane's mother left for the United States when he was just a baby. In his fifteen years, he has only seen his mother three times. He talks to her on the telephone though, and spends holidays with his father in Kingston.

At school, he gets attention fast. He is the known 'troublemaker', a title he wears boldly.

According to him, if he is to play too 'easy', he will lose his 'stripes' and be taken for granted. Playing tough, is the single way, he is sure to get the respect he thinks he deserves.

Duane reluctantly admitted to his discomfort at home. "I just don't like it," he said, smiling timidly and hanging his head. His rueful eyes seemed to be crying out for love, as he declined to tell a stranger what it was about home that made him so unhappy. He smiled again --timidly -- as if expecting something dreadful would happen if he were to reveal what his home life was like. "Everything," he finally mumbled.

Duane is a ninth grade student at a reformed high school in Westmoreland. He is in a class of so-called delinquents -- students who are considered to be dunce and disruptive. At 11:15 Friday morning, the teacher was absent. Class should have started fifteen minutes before, but students were sitting on the tables, chatting loudly and cursing -- expletives flowed easy, almost like punctuation. Benches and chairs were strewn all over the room.

Five minutes later, someone whispered that the teacher was coming and the class fell silent. The teacher entered the classroom and proceeded to place a math problem on the chalkboard. A student was invited to solve it. Fifteen minutes and three math problems later, class was over.

The students in this class are not expected to achieve much, at least so Duane believes. "Dem done know how we stay, so they don't bother wid us."

Many are expected to follow a life of crime and corruption as they 'cut crooked until they make straight'. This perception sinks into their psyche after a while. Many of these students don't have to do well in school, because no one thinks they will anyway. According to Duane, the teachers appointed him form captain some months ago. "They asked me to write down the names of the children who misbehave," he explained. "But when I do that, they don't do anything, and then me and the other children fight over it, so I just don't bother."

A class full of so-called 'problem students' can be difficult to handle. Most of the students are slow learners. They chat loudly, they don't understand much of what is being taught and they are not very willing to learn. Attendance at school is infrequent, and homework is rarely done. Just getting them to settle down for class can present a challenge, class teacher *Patrick Green said.

"It's disheartening," said Mr. Green. "The main problem is that they are slow learners, and because of this they tend to be disruptive. Some show no interest in class, nothing appeals to them."

As Mr. Green explained, the low performance and disruptive behaviour of these students could be as a direct result of being grouped together in one class. "They feel like they are outcasts. It lowers their morale and self-esteem. They tell themselves that nobody cares what happens to them, so they don't care either."

Sixteen-year-old *Jerome Mendez wants to be an engineer. He too is a student in the delinquent class, but that has not distracted him from his ambition. 'I have some books on engineering at home that I read a lot. I want to know more about it because that is what I want to do," he said.

Jerome lives with his mother and uncles, and says they communicate well. The ninth grade student admitted to fighting a lot while in the eighth grade, but said he did it to defend himself from the bigger boys.

He likes school, he says, and although he giggled with the other boys who were doing their own thing in class, he showed much interest in the lesson being taught.

Mr. Green feels that the behaviour of these students would improve if they are placed in classes with 'brighter' students. He suggests grouping them in pairs, so that a bright student can assist a slow learner to catch up.

Mr. Green's suggestion has been aired before, by other educators dealing with similar problems of indiscipline. But some teachers feel that this strategy might have the counter effect of slowing down the brighter ones. In a school that has had to deal with its fair share of conflicts between students, and sometimes teachers, the solution might not be as simple as moving the students around.

For students like Duane, Peace Day is a fallacy. "I can't bother to do anything for Peace Day, it is just another day," he said
quietly.

*Names have been changed to pr