Socialising our youth
Dear Editor,
It hasn’t been any clearer to me, from then to now, that the formula to our youth behavioural breakdown is socialisation of our young people.
Growing up, my mother would always say, “Plant a seed and watch it grow!” It seems as if proper parenting has declined. I have noticed that our children nowadays have no idea as to how to conduct themselves. If you travel on public transportation and you see the behaviour of our youth, it is shocking. The cursing and lack of respect for the environment around them is disturbing. There must be some social intervention; not only by Government, but also by our communities and churches. I will go as far to even add our peer groups.
I attend the Sts Peter and Paul Church and one of the greatest things about my church is our youth group. The youth group consists of children from different social and economic backgrounds. When you interact with them it amazes me the concerns of our youth. Whether it be about issues facing our society, sexuality, fashion and trends, academics, or even the theology of the church, they have opinions.
It’s evident that the solution to a brighter future for our youth is socialisation. Let us take, for example, a group of young boys in the inner city, what level of socialisation do they receive? The extent of their socialisation starts and ends in the community they come from. I can recall some time ago being in Woodford Park with my friend Fabian, and as we walked the community I engaged a couple of youth. I asked them what they planned to do in the future. The response from many was “to turn police, so mi can fire gun”, or something to that effect. There you have it — problem number one!
Our youth have come to a point where they praise criminal activities. I turn my attention to a youngster in Swallowfield, who is involved in a police youth club, 4-H clubs, and extra-curricular activities at school. Do you think the answer would be the same? I think there’s a 95 per cent chance it won’t.
It’s now time that our Government partner with our churches to create more accessible youth programmes. We do understand the financial difficulties this may come with, but I am sure we can lean on corporate Jamaica for support in some way.
The formula for such programmes will be tatical:
1 Create clusters which will have a community leader as cluster manager.
2 At least once a month each cluster will have one social event.
3 Each cluster will report to a branch of the Ministry of Youth; however, this will be 100 per cent voluntary service. Stipends could be given to clusters, if possible.
4 This project can be called behavioural modification.
5 We could have an annual national award ceremony, where our governor general and prime minister could then proceed with even a lunch date to boost morale and interest of the participants.
It will take creative and innovative ideas to come up with solutions to fix or behavioural problems. It’s never too late to fix our society, but it must start from the seed to the plant before it becomes a tree. I will be willing to partner with any government or corporate representative in making this dream a reality.
Zukie jarrett
Zukie.jarrett@gmail.com