By William Doyle-Marshall
There is a very strange pre-occupation with the exploits of post-slavery days and people of African heritage. The latest such endeavours to cross my path is a book that highlights the struggles of an African American cyclist Marshall “Major” Taylor believed to be that nation’s first black sports celebrity.
The presence of this book on the literary scene ironically coincides with the historic democratic turn recorded as Americans elected their first African American – Senator Barak Obama -- to run their affairs in the White House as President.
In “Major – a Black Athlete, a White era and the Fight to be the world’s fastest human being” produced by Crown Publishers of New York, Todd Balf tells a gripping story about the cyclist’s challenges at the hands of unconscionable colleagues who applied quite a few nasty tricks to defeat the cycling giant of his day. We are talking about a period between 1899 and 1904.
Louis Birdie Munger, inventor of the Birdie special bicycle; Bill Brady, a dreamer and promoter of events and Harry Sanger, manufacturer of the chainless wheel were among Taylor’s supporters.
Louis’ father Theodore Munger originally of Southern Ontario fled the chaos of wartime America, bringing his family back to his native Canada shortly after Louis' birth. They joined a rich and growing collection of exiles in southern Ontario, just across the Detroit River and the U.S. boundary. They included fugitive slaves, former British loyalists, displaced Native Americans and the most recent exiles, the Civil War runaways and conscientious objectors.
As a young boy Louis would have been exposed to one of the most dynamic eras in American ingenuity. The author captures the mood of the time: “In the time after the civil war the entrepreneurial urge to create was seemingly infinite. There was the telephone, incandescent light and Coca Cola. Among the successful, World's Fair bound items that passed across Munger's desk were those of Elijah McCoy, a famous inventor who lived in the area. McCoy was awarded 70 patents, his most famous being a lubricating mechanism that prevented steam engines from overheating. Anywhere but the oddly color-blind border region between Ontario and Michigan, McCoy would've stood out for another reason, too: he was black.”
For the first ten years of his life Louis (Birdie) Munger grew up in a tolerant, diverse and unusually democratic part of the world. A third of Colchester, One of Ontario's southernmost towns, consisted of black settlers. They'd come from Kentucky and points south, Colchester being the first cross-border stop on the Underground Railroad. In the distinctly egalitarian environs, the black settlers excelled, producing a slew of formidable achievers.
Floyd McFarland was Taylor’s lone and serious rival but being no match for the African Americana cyclist, he resorted to dishonest means and tactics like forming a new cycling body The American Racing Cyclist’s Union (ARCU) to break away from the League of American Wheelmen (LAW) in October 1898. Banning Taylor for life from entering major cycling events in the United States of America was a prime action of the new body. Naturally this impacted on Taylor’s ability to continue ruling the cycling world.
But this action resulted in economic hardship for cycling. Gates were down. Cynical spectators had begun to sense that the sport was tricked up and according to an article in the New York Herald, “the public has been so disgusted with these tactics that it is now no uncommon occurrence for a bicycle race to be ridden amid the vociferous jeers of an on looking and not too easily fooled crowd.”
Certainly racism imposed itself in the minds of challengers who vowed to do Taylor in even the champion felt the fire of dishonesty wherever he went. “He found the business of living in a white world exhausting,” the author wrote. Balf reports that in September 1897 Bearings magazine, alluding to Taylor’s August performances, noted, “the position of the negro is a trying one, for every rider is anxious to top him. Another publication, the Wheel wrote that ever since Taylor became prominent there had been reports of “efforts to ‘do’ him. That the white men who compete against him strain every nerve to beat the coon, as they term him, is an admitted fact. The Wheel has heard them so state.”
“Marshall Taylor, coming of age, followed the speeches and activities of both leaders (Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois). He felt the same conflicts as civil rights era athletes caught between the fiery, emotion-laden rhetoric of Malcolm X and the restrained pleas for non-violence of Martin Luther King. Jr. Taylor thought he embodied the Washington model – influence and progress through reasonable accommodation – but was beginning to understand Du Bois’ impatience.”
At a time in 1898 when the automobile speed record was 39 mph Taylor had set records on his bicycle at the rate of 46 mph. “For the first time the prominent black newspapers put him on page one, calling him the wonder of the 19th century. The white press pointed out that the gentleman rider was a lovely anomaly: a black man with well-developed white character traits. Finally, the sporting journalists marvelled not only that he had succeeded but that he had done so in wintry conditions.
“It has been a long theory that neither man nor beast could exert his full speed powers while the weather was cold …. Either this belief is fallacious, or the dusky whirlwind with the military title is an extraordinary individual,” Balf writes.
Friday, January 14, 2011
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Muslims now Targets for U.S. Media Abuse
By William Doyle-Marshall
A violent and rather inhumane act – nigger breaking -- practice principally against enslaved Africans in the United States of America, is now believed to be used by American media networks frequently. And Muslims are now the latest victims.
Esteemed African American scholar author and playwright, Ishmael Reed, makes this disclosure in his latest book “Barak Obama and the Jim Crow Media -- The Return of the Nigger Breakers” which was launched in Toronto recently. The event was organized by A Different Book List and the publishers Baraka Books and hosted by Dr. George Elliott Clarke, award winning poet and scholar of the University of Toronto.
Professor Clarke cited Dr. Reed’s earlier work “Flight to Canada” as very instructive about North America’s propaganda of liberty and which the continent projects into the world particularly the United States. However Clarke disclosed that Canada too after supposedly being in Afghanistan in part to spread liberty and democracy is also engaged in spreading its own very self-serving propaganda.
Dr. Reed, the author of numerous Op-Ed pieces for leading U.S. publications refers to the U.S. media as a white owned enterprise with billions of dollars at their disposal. And their revenue stream is based upon holding “unpopular groups” to scorn and ridicule, a formula for ratings that dates to the early days of the mass media.
Since 911 and the worldwide hunt for terrorists, Muslims have now joined the league of communities that have tasted the wrath of the American media, Reed contends. Among ethnic groups, it’s the African Americans who have been the permanent 24/7 group that is subjected to the media take down, the scholar notes. “Mexican Americans, Chinese and Japanese Americans and Jewish Americans and even Italian Americans have taken turns being the targets of their abuse,” Dr. Reed alleges.
“The token black, Hispanic and Asian American commentators are those found non-threatening to the media’s white subscribers and submissive to the editorial line coming from the top. They are like the black servants in “Gone With the Wind” who remained loyal to their masters even the Union troops were approaching the city,” he continues.
That nigger breaking technique is now directed to the U.S. President Barak Obama. According to Dr. Reed. He believes the media has not been kind to the President and he makes the point in his book that over 800 minority journalists have lost their jobs over the last few years. With the disappearance of African Americans, Asian Americans, Hispanics and others from journalism, Dr. Reed is disturbed that the president is confronted with an ‘all white jury’.
“They always bring in an all white jury when the normal rules and procedures don’t work like they did in the O.J. (Simpson) trial, when they lost the criminal trial they brought in the media and whether he was guilty or not the media convicted O.J. They are not obliged to abide by the normal rules of the court, courthouse procedures. So they are doing the same thing. They couldn’t win the election somehow they probably consider it a fluke that he got over, now they are using all the power of the media to raise a mob against Barak Obama the same way that the media raised mobs against black men throughout history,” Dr. Reed argues.
As he constructs a case that the media do not embrace President Obama, Dr. Reed recalls attempts made to destroy him with Reverend Wright; by using Obama’s remark about white working-class people clinging to their guns and religion; by the Republican Party comparing and trying to link him to O.J., by linking him to all the black men involved in scandals. “They tried their best to dirty him and they began with the Clinton campaign. These people are supposed to be liberals, these people are not liberals. I mean the fact that they would try to portray him as somebody who is a drug addict and then even as a drug sales person, salesman; they tried to screw him all along,” Dr. Reed insists.
“Barak Obama and the Jim Crow Media -- The Return of the Nigger Breakers” is packed with pointed analysis about issues and concerns that illuminates a rather disturbing reality – racism is alive and well. With some cosmetic changes here and there especially within the boundaries of the Dominion of Canada, Muslims and other ethnic groups must be aware that resistance to change is an ongoing activity.
Now that the Republicans have regained control of the House of Representatives and they are trying to turn back some of the President’s policies especially in the area of health care, it is advisable that Americans read Dr. Reed’s critical offering about the one-sided and wicked relationship American media is pushing against the Chief.
A violent and rather inhumane act – nigger breaking -- practice principally against enslaved Africans in the United States of America, is now believed to be used by American media networks frequently. And Muslims are now the latest victims.
Esteemed African American scholar author and playwright, Ishmael Reed, makes this disclosure in his latest book “Barak Obama and the Jim Crow Media -- The Return of the Nigger Breakers” which was launched in Toronto recently. The event was organized by A Different Book List and the publishers Baraka Books and hosted by Dr. George Elliott Clarke, award winning poet and scholar of the University of Toronto.
Professor Clarke cited Dr. Reed’s earlier work “Flight to Canada” as very instructive about North America’s propaganda of liberty and which the continent projects into the world particularly the United States. However Clarke disclosed that Canada too after supposedly being in Afghanistan in part to spread liberty and democracy is also engaged in spreading its own very self-serving propaganda.
Dr. Reed, the author of numerous Op-Ed pieces for leading U.S. publications refers to the U.S. media as a white owned enterprise with billions of dollars at their disposal. And their revenue stream is based upon holding “unpopular groups” to scorn and ridicule, a formula for ratings that dates to the early days of the mass media.
Since 911 and the worldwide hunt for terrorists, Muslims have now joined the league of communities that have tasted the wrath of the American media, Reed contends. Among ethnic groups, it’s the African Americans who have been the permanent 24/7 group that is subjected to the media take down, the scholar notes. “Mexican Americans, Chinese and Japanese Americans and Jewish Americans and even Italian Americans have taken turns being the targets of their abuse,” Dr. Reed alleges.
“The token black, Hispanic and Asian American commentators are those found non-threatening to the media’s white subscribers and submissive to the editorial line coming from the top. They are like the black servants in “Gone With the Wind” who remained loyal to their masters even the Union troops were approaching the city,” he continues.
That nigger breaking technique is now directed to the U.S. President Barak Obama. According to Dr. Reed. He believes the media has not been kind to the President and he makes the point in his book that over 800 minority journalists have lost their jobs over the last few years. With the disappearance of African Americans, Asian Americans, Hispanics and others from journalism, Dr. Reed is disturbed that the president is confronted with an ‘all white jury’.
“They always bring in an all white jury when the normal rules and procedures don’t work like they did in the O.J. (Simpson) trial, when they lost the criminal trial they brought in the media and whether he was guilty or not the media convicted O.J. They are not obliged to abide by the normal rules of the court, courthouse procedures. So they are doing the same thing. They couldn’t win the election somehow they probably consider it a fluke that he got over, now they are using all the power of the media to raise a mob against Barak Obama the same way that the media raised mobs against black men throughout history,” Dr. Reed argues.
As he constructs a case that the media do not embrace President Obama, Dr. Reed recalls attempts made to destroy him with Reverend Wright; by using Obama’s remark about white working-class people clinging to their guns and religion; by the Republican Party comparing and trying to link him to O.J., by linking him to all the black men involved in scandals. “They tried their best to dirty him and they began with the Clinton campaign. These people are supposed to be liberals, these people are not liberals. I mean the fact that they would try to portray him as somebody who is a drug addict and then even as a drug sales person, salesman; they tried to screw him all along,” Dr. Reed insists.
“Barak Obama and the Jim Crow Media -- The Return of the Nigger Breakers” is packed with pointed analysis about issues and concerns that illuminates a rather disturbing reality – racism is alive and well. With some cosmetic changes here and there especially within the boundaries of the Dominion of Canada, Muslims and other ethnic groups must be aware that resistance to change is an ongoing activity.
Now that the Republicans have regained control of the House of Representatives and they are trying to turn back some of the President’s policies especially in the area of health care, it is advisable that Americans read Dr. Reed’s critical offering about the one-sided and wicked relationship American media is pushing against the Chief.
Friday, January 7, 2011
New Canadians need not fear Canadian military, says Army Commander Deschamps
By William Doyle-Marshall
The upper echelon of the Canadian Air Force does not reflect the current diversified Canadian society. Lieutenant-General André Deschamps the new Commander made this admission during a round table discussion with members of the National Ethnic Press and Media Council.
Deschamps admitted this is one of the military’s challenges as the service is not very visible in the big centers like Toronto and Vancouver, where the country’s diversified cultures exist.
“Because we are not very visible and present it is hard for them (ethnic communities) to understand what they can contribute to the Air Force,” Deschamps said. Consequently his meeting with ethnic media personnel was one step to address the situation.
The air force administration is certainly feeling a lot of pressure to get the right balance of people in so it would be viable for the next ten, 15 or 20 years. The Commander of the Air Force is aware of the need to rebalance otherwise it’s going to be difficult to sustain. He and his recruitment team understand if they don’t get people coming in, in the right numbers, with the right quality sustaining the force in the future would be very difficult.
With this in mind there is an outreach programme to attract members from Canada’s diversified communities so that they get to understand there is a role for them to play in national security.
Changing the face of the military is vital so there is a definite need to include the diversified Canadians so they would be inside the agency. The Air Force is certainly a case in point where our population is aging and there are two existing demographics. “We have the very young new people coming in and we have the exit crowd, myself included, at the end of their service career and we have a big hole in the middle where we should have experience people – the 15, 20-year experience. But we lost those people in the downsizing in the mid nineties,” Lieutenant General Deschamps who took over command of the Air Force at the beginning of October explained.
With respect to new Canadians in communities that typically would not be very pro-military, the commander noted “Culturally it is something they don’t feel comfortable with. So I think we have a decade where we have to overcome that bias where people that are new Canadians or just coming to Canada are either fearful of the military, don’t trust the military; they don’t think it is a career that they want their families or their children to be in. So we have to overcome those barriers otherwise we would have significant challenges in the coming decade to find enough good people to populate our Canadian Forces because we need that large chunk of demographic in the military to make sure we have the right people but also it is the right of balance of people so that Canada is represented in this military,” Deschamps added.
The Air Force’s recruiting centers, through advertising are trying to reach out to those communities that typically are coming in from countries where the military is not seen as a positive force in their country. The Canadian military is one of the most highly trained and respected forces in the world. Above all, the Canadian Forces value strength of character, and team contributions. On its website promoting diversity the force stresses “regardless of your gender, religion or ethnicity, the Canadian Forces invite you be a part of its team and to explore the opportunities it has to offer”.
In the meantime, the Air Force’s key role is to protect Canada and to do that it has bases across the country for search and rescue effort, domestic airspace surveillance and control. It supports other government agencies like the RCMP and provincial police. This year alone its security operations included the Vancouver Olympics, G8- G20 Summits. “We have a lot of assets we can bring to help – communications and surveillance – so we bring those capabilities to help our government partners through their primary mandates of these security operations,” the commander emphasized.
Its air wing consists of helicopters and tactical mobility equipment used for supporting the army as well as the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles that are flown from ground stations in support of the army operation on the ground in Afghanistan.
“To be able to support what we do in Afghanistan requires a fully large effort because the Chinook doesn’t exist in Canada. We bought six of them just for Afghanistan so we had to actually find the people within our existing structure – technician and air personnel -- to take them to the U.S. to train them on the Chinooks and then deploy them and we have to keep doing this for two years.”
December 8, 2010
The upper echelon of the Canadian Air Force does not reflect the current diversified Canadian society. Lieutenant-General André Deschamps the new Commander made this admission during a round table discussion with members of the National Ethnic Press and Media Council.
Deschamps admitted this is one of the military’s challenges as the service is not very visible in the big centers like Toronto and Vancouver, where the country’s diversified cultures exist.
“Because we are not very visible and present it is hard for them (ethnic communities) to understand what they can contribute to the Air Force,” Deschamps said. Consequently his meeting with ethnic media personnel was one step to address the situation.
The air force administration is certainly feeling a lot of pressure to get the right balance of people in so it would be viable for the next ten, 15 or 20 years. The Commander of the Air Force is aware of the need to rebalance otherwise it’s going to be difficult to sustain. He and his recruitment team understand if they don’t get people coming in, in the right numbers, with the right quality sustaining the force in the future would be very difficult.
With this in mind there is an outreach programme to attract members from Canada’s diversified communities so that they get to understand there is a role for them to play in national security.
Changing the face of the military is vital so there is a definite need to include the diversified Canadians so they would be inside the agency. The Air Force is certainly a case in point where our population is aging and there are two existing demographics. “We have the very young new people coming in and we have the exit crowd, myself included, at the end of their service career and we have a big hole in the middle where we should have experience people – the 15, 20-year experience. But we lost those people in the downsizing in the mid nineties,” Lieutenant General Deschamps who took over command of the Air Force at the beginning of October explained.
With respect to new Canadians in communities that typically would not be very pro-military, the commander noted “Culturally it is something they don’t feel comfortable with. So I think we have a decade where we have to overcome that bias where people that are new Canadians or just coming to Canada are either fearful of the military, don’t trust the military; they don’t think it is a career that they want their families or their children to be in. So we have to overcome those barriers otherwise we would have significant challenges in the coming decade to find enough good people to populate our Canadian Forces because we need that large chunk of demographic in the military to make sure we have the right people but also it is the right of balance of people so that Canada is represented in this military,” Deschamps added.
The Air Force’s recruiting centers, through advertising are trying to reach out to those communities that typically are coming in from countries where the military is not seen as a positive force in their country. The Canadian military is one of the most highly trained and respected forces in the world. Above all, the Canadian Forces value strength of character, and team contributions. On its website promoting diversity the force stresses “regardless of your gender, religion or ethnicity, the Canadian Forces invite you be a part of its team and to explore the opportunities it has to offer”.
In the meantime, the Air Force’s key role is to protect Canada and to do that it has bases across the country for search and rescue effort, domestic airspace surveillance and control. It supports other government agencies like the RCMP and provincial police. This year alone its security operations included the Vancouver Olympics, G8- G20 Summits. “We have a lot of assets we can bring to help – communications and surveillance – so we bring those capabilities to help our government partners through their primary mandates of these security operations,” the commander emphasized.
Its air wing consists of helicopters and tactical mobility equipment used for supporting the army as well as the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles that are flown from ground stations in support of the army operation on the ground in Afghanistan.
“To be able to support what we do in Afghanistan requires a fully large effort because the Chinook doesn’t exist in Canada. We bought six of them just for Afghanistan so we had to actually find the people within our existing structure – technician and air personnel -- to take them to the U.S. to train them on the Chinooks and then deploy them and we have to keep doing this for two years.”
December 8, 2010
Nevis surveillance cameras to deter gangs
By William Doyle-Marshall
Surveillance cameras, a new Police Station, barracks to accommodate more police officers and new police cars for Nevis are among ventures of the Nevis Island Administration’s anti-crime plan.
Premier Joseph Parry while addressing a Town Hall Meeting here recently as part of a North American tour disclosed that these were being pursued vigorously.
Parry said surveillance cameras are being installed in Charlestown and other parts of the island including New Castle and all those areas where gangs are being formed. “We must see what they are doing midnight and whenever; and if they think that they can go and destroy those cameras, the cameras will catch them and their pictures will be seen and they will be identified,” the Premier promised.
Premier Parry announced that movement on the boats and other locations are going to be monitored because some of the criminals in Nevis are working with those in St. Kitts.
“We have gotten cars. We say you can’t move around? You have people going around the place and doing stupid things, now here you are police officers, you are able to get to places very quickly,” Parry reported.
He admitted having some difficulty with the young men who get into trouble so easily for doing silly things. Parry was concerned that jail is like a training school for them as it is an opportunity for them to mingle with the hardened criminals and when they come out they start moving in a road that is unwanted.
That situation has been compounded with the returnees. The premier lamented some returnees are criminals and the police have difficulty in controlling them. “But we keep trying and we are hopeful that we can keep things under control,” the Premier continued.
“The Cottonground Police Station is being constructed on the main road and it is expected to be completed in the next few months. It will be responsible for policing the whole of Nevis.
Regarding education, every government primary school has a new bank of computers. This is in keeping with a federal government promise during the last elections. “So we are having computers on the island of Nevis as well and we have gone further and we have said look we want computers for the sixth formers,” Premier Parry announced.
However, he said stringent steps have been taken to prevent children from doing mischievous things like going on websites that are not related to education. These computers will have restricted use mainly for education. Parry said a government owned system that will be in place to help the children access the Internet free. It will also support surveillance cameras around the island.
In addition the Charlestown Secondary School has been expanded with the building of four classrooms and the size of the staff room has been increased. According to the Premier it is the first time the school has been improved since 1976. “It created comfort for teachers and it created comfort for teachers who would be more willing to teach the children. The Charlestown Secondary and the Gingerland High School have had outstanding results over the past years and have been getting better and better,” Parry told the Toronto gathering.
Surveillance cameras, a new Police Station, barracks to accommodate more police officers and new police cars for Nevis are among ventures of the Nevis Island Administration’s anti-crime plan.
Premier Joseph Parry while addressing a Town Hall Meeting here recently as part of a North American tour disclosed that these were being pursued vigorously.
Parry said surveillance cameras are being installed in Charlestown and other parts of the island including New Castle and all those areas where gangs are being formed. “We must see what they are doing midnight and whenever; and if they think that they can go and destroy those cameras, the cameras will catch them and their pictures will be seen and they will be identified,” the Premier promised.
Premier Parry announced that movement on the boats and other locations are going to be monitored because some of the criminals in Nevis are working with those in St. Kitts.
“We have gotten cars. We say you can’t move around? You have people going around the place and doing stupid things, now here you are police officers, you are able to get to places very quickly,” Parry reported.
He admitted having some difficulty with the young men who get into trouble so easily for doing silly things. Parry was concerned that jail is like a training school for them as it is an opportunity for them to mingle with the hardened criminals and when they come out they start moving in a road that is unwanted.
That situation has been compounded with the returnees. The premier lamented some returnees are criminals and the police have difficulty in controlling them. “But we keep trying and we are hopeful that we can keep things under control,” the Premier continued.
“The Cottonground Police Station is being constructed on the main road and it is expected to be completed in the next few months. It will be responsible for policing the whole of Nevis.
Regarding education, every government primary school has a new bank of computers. This is in keeping with a federal government promise during the last elections. “So we are having computers on the island of Nevis as well and we have gone further and we have said look we want computers for the sixth formers,” Premier Parry announced.
However, he said stringent steps have been taken to prevent children from doing mischievous things like going on websites that are not related to education. These computers will have restricted use mainly for education. Parry said a government owned system that will be in place to help the children access the Internet free. It will also support surveillance cameras around the island.
In addition the Charlestown Secondary School has been expanded with the building of four classrooms and the size of the staff room has been increased. According to the Premier it is the first time the school has been improved since 1976. “It created comfort for teachers and it created comfort for teachers who would be more willing to teach the children. The Charlestown Secondary and the Gingerland High School have had outstanding results over the past years and have been getting better and better,” Parry told the Toronto gathering.
Weak households, poor economics impact on parenting, cause of violence?
By William Doyle-Marshall
Toronto -- Caricom governments have to strategically spread their resources over the life cycle of the their country’s population ensuring whatever needs they have can be adequately served. This suggestion comes from Andrew Holness, Jamaica’s Minister of Education in a recent interview here.
The minister was discussing the regional concern of young men getting involved in violence and he identified two issues that need attention in this regard. One is weak households and economics that impact on parenting combined with values and attitudes.
The minister was here for the annual fundraiser of the PACE Canada organization that makes major contributions to the development of early childhood education here and in the Caribbean. He promised his Government’s continued support to the organization, which was founded by retired educator Dr. Mavis Burke.
Holness suggests government strategy has to be very direct as it deals with strengthening households and family so that they are able to support and maintain a strong values and attitudes framework and at the same time provide the economic base so that males can have greater participation in education.
From the Jamaica government’s perspective, the minister said “we are going to make sure that we are effective at the early childhood level so that we don’t create 21 year olds who need lifecycle treatment that would be appropriate for primary school students.”
Male under-participation in the mainstream is heavily linked to the household and the home and male seem to be particularly affected by a weak household and a weak home, the minister observed. Their under-participation results in over participation elsewhere, he added.
The Government of Jamaica is working on two major projects with United Nations International Children’s Educational Fund (UNICEF) in the area of education related to making schools of the region friendlier. Holness disclosed that a Behaviour management strategy and a Child Friendly School Initiative are currently being developed.
Corporal punishment as it relates to schools is about to be repealed in Jamaica. Very soon teachers will not be able to administer corporal punishment in schools the minister disclosed. The move creates a problem because culturally, corporal punishment is still seen as the quickest and most effective way of disciplinary instruction, he noted.
While teachers rely on it, Holness said the country’s Early Childhood Act prohibits corporal punishment at the early childhood level but it says nothing at the primary and high school levels. But as government is trying to create a less violent society, the minister said it simply couldn’t support corporal punishment as a means of controlling behaviour so together with UNICEF it is developing a new Behaviour Management Strategy, which to be fully implemented within two years.
“What we have seen is at the high school the use of corporal punishment can create a destabilizing force because students are quicker to respond and react to teachers and you are really setting up a point of conflict in the high schools,” the minister observed.
At the primary level where there is a large student population and some parents are being sensitive about their children being hit so corporal punishment can create a problem for the government, Holness said.
Teachers would have to be trained in new methods in disciplinary management. “Implementing a Behaviour Management strategy such as that which requires cultural change is not something that would happen over night,” he added.
Meanwhile, UNICEF’s Child Friendly Schools Initiative that requires all forms of violence are to be removed from the school environment is one that the Government of Jamaica endorses and the minister believes other Caricom countries like Trinidad and Tobago and St. Lucia, are taking it on.
The introduction of methods of conflict resolution that are more peaceful in nature is a pillar of the initiative, making the school environment more friendly; so that learning is seen as fun. UNICEF is trying to promote these kinds of things regionally and Jamaica has basically adopted them and I believe other countries have adopted this child friendly approach to education.”
Toronto -- Caricom governments have to strategically spread their resources over the life cycle of the their country’s population ensuring whatever needs they have can be adequately served. This suggestion comes from Andrew Holness, Jamaica’s Minister of Education in a recent interview here.
The minister was discussing the regional concern of young men getting involved in violence and he identified two issues that need attention in this regard. One is weak households and economics that impact on parenting combined with values and attitudes.
The minister was here for the annual fundraiser of the PACE Canada organization that makes major contributions to the development of early childhood education here and in the Caribbean. He promised his Government’s continued support to the organization, which was founded by retired educator Dr. Mavis Burke.
Holness suggests government strategy has to be very direct as it deals with strengthening households and family so that they are able to support and maintain a strong values and attitudes framework and at the same time provide the economic base so that males can have greater participation in education.
From the Jamaica government’s perspective, the minister said “we are going to make sure that we are effective at the early childhood level so that we don’t create 21 year olds who need lifecycle treatment that would be appropriate for primary school students.”
Male under-participation in the mainstream is heavily linked to the household and the home and male seem to be particularly affected by a weak household and a weak home, the minister observed. Their under-participation results in over participation elsewhere, he added.
The Government of Jamaica is working on two major projects with United Nations International Children’s Educational Fund (UNICEF) in the area of education related to making schools of the region friendlier. Holness disclosed that a Behaviour management strategy and a Child Friendly School Initiative are currently being developed.
Corporal punishment as it relates to schools is about to be repealed in Jamaica. Very soon teachers will not be able to administer corporal punishment in schools the minister disclosed. The move creates a problem because culturally, corporal punishment is still seen as the quickest and most effective way of disciplinary instruction, he noted.
While teachers rely on it, Holness said the country’s Early Childhood Act prohibits corporal punishment at the early childhood level but it says nothing at the primary and high school levels. But as government is trying to create a less violent society, the minister said it simply couldn’t support corporal punishment as a means of controlling behaviour so together with UNICEF it is developing a new Behaviour Management Strategy, which to be fully implemented within two years.
“What we have seen is at the high school the use of corporal punishment can create a destabilizing force because students are quicker to respond and react to teachers and you are really setting up a point of conflict in the high schools,” the minister observed.
At the primary level where there is a large student population and some parents are being sensitive about their children being hit so corporal punishment can create a problem for the government, Holness said.
Teachers would have to be trained in new methods in disciplinary management. “Implementing a Behaviour Management strategy such as that which requires cultural change is not something that would happen over night,” he added.
Meanwhile, UNICEF’s Child Friendly Schools Initiative that requires all forms of violence are to be removed from the school environment is one that the Government of Jamaica endorses and the minister believes other Caricom countries like Trinidad and Tobago and St. Lucia, are taking it on.
The introduction of methods of conflict resolution that are more peaceful in nature is a pillar of the initiative, making the school environment more friendly; so that learning is seen as fun. UNICEF is trying to promote these kinds of things regionally and Jamaica has basically adopted them and I believe other countries have adopted this child friendly approach to education.”
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