We just don’t seem to get it!

05.JUNE.09

Editor: It pains my heart to see so many of our youths, especially the males, falling by the wayside. We are all so much taken up with our own circumstances that we hardly take note of their plight. In the lower grades of primary school, the proportion of males and females is just the same. But as you move to the secondary and tertiary institutions, there is a significant difference in favour of the females. This tells you that the males are falling out somewhere in the system.{{more}}

We have had many gender programs in the past trying to enhance the development of women. Now there is definitely the need for a similar effort on behalf of the men. Even us as men tend to focus more on the development of women. I wonder why?

The problem with this country is that one or two persons sit in an office trying to plan this entire nation’s future, without the involvement of the people. We always claim to know what the young people want. Any time a political party is bringing a young candidate, they always claim that it would bring a youth perspective on board. Well, it has never turned out to be so.

Look at our employment record and I would like someone to tell how many females have been employed by the Government over the last ten years, then compare this to the number of males. In the schools there are simply too many female teachers. It was the male teachers who took the boys to the parks after school. Do you want the female teachers to take the boys to the netball courts? We have to get more males to attend the Teachers’ College by any means necessary.

Our education system is simply shameful. There is hardly any emphasis on sports and music. We need to put serious programs in place. Look at the administration of the Ministry of Education and tell me if any of them has any interest in sports. These are things NESDEC and other organizations are supposed to be discussing. Classes in schools should end an half of an hour earlier in order to put serious sports programs in place. An international footballer or basketball player earns more than the combined wages of all the nurses we have working overseas.

Look at the developed societies; even though they place emphasis on the upbringing at home, they see the children as the property of the country. They put programs and laws in place to protect them.

We are simply a people with a passion for only politics and religion. We must hang our heads in shame when we look and see where we are in sports today. Too many of the young males in this country are in prison. They simply need more opportunities.

Remember, “a mind is a terrible thing to waste,” and we are certainly wasting many. We simply do not get it.

The Mystic