Dear Editor,

Over the last few years the educational landscape has adopted some practices that are unsettling and filled with mixed signals. One such practice is the questionable school ‘menu’ that is allowed to be served in Jamaican schools today. This negative, recurring practice has compelled me to say a few words to school administrators.

Recently, I gasped for breath upon hearing the response of a female student when asked why she was wearing a coloured pair of shoes to school. Her response was, “It’s Name-Brand Shoes Day at school.” I must have been dreaming, I thought. When did we get here? What is really happening in our schools? What really should be on a school’s list of activities? I was of the opinion that these activities ought to be structured to allow all students to participate. What should be the focus in schools?

It is incumbent on school administrators to view all school menus before they are served. These kinds of new additions (Name-Brand Shoes Day, and the like) to schools’ menus are scholastically deficient and are contributors to absenteeism, withdrawal, pressure on parents, and feelings of inferiority.

This questionable school menu forces students to make erratic and foolish decisions because they do not want to feel left out. Students whose parents are impecunious but whose friends will be at school in their brand name shoes can feel pressured to participate in illicit activities for fear of being the odd ones.

School administrators must recognise that whatever is served from their ‘kitchen’ is a reflection of them. It would be in their best interest to vet the menus of all school events and carefully weigh the pros and cons. They must become more familiar with their ‘kitchen’. They should not just know who the ‘chefs’ are but know their tastes, assess their intended menus, approve what looks to be a ‘balanced meal’, and reject anything that looks unhealthy.

A child who is deficient in vitamin D is at risk for Rickets, which causes the bones to get soft and bent. So, too, a student who is served a questionable menu containing warped values will cause the mind to bend in like manner. Sending these mixed signals must cease and the true purpose of education evaluated.

In fact, Psalm 139:14 says we are fearfully and wonderfully made; thus, we are not defined by a piece of garment or a pair of shoes attached to fallible human beings. There is nothing in a name, and schools should not be indulging in this superficial and false ideology. Students should be taught that their value is not based off externals. They should be reminded that they were bought with a price. Christ died for them and we all are precious in His sight.

Recently, there was a grade seven male student who refused to leave the classroom because his “pants was too big” and he didn’t like his shoes. He actually removed his shoes and laid them aside. This is how bad it has become. How unfortunate!

Schools should not be clasping hands with the negatives of society, and school administrators should be agents of change, making wise the simple and making the crooked thinking straight. I am not, however, oblivious to the possibility that some school administrators may also like the taste of unbalanced meals in our schools and are, therefore, unbothered. If this were found to be true, our education system would be in a sad and precarious state.

I stand resolute, however, to encourage the sanitation of these kitchens and the revamping of the questionable and unhealthy menus in schools. The aroma from the kitchen should be so inviting that all students feel inclined to partake.

Undoubtedly, questionable school menus can have deleterious consequences and school administrators should urgently correct these menus served in the hidden curriculum.

Kerene Nelson

Educator

St Elizabeth Technical High School

yaraker78@yahoo.com