Dear Editor,

I went to St Thomas recently. For a brief moment I visited a certain high school for a quick glance on its sports day. On my arrival I was bombarded with one of the largest fashion shows I have ever seen. The “little women” and a few “little men” decked out in what was an outlandish display of clothes. There were some – few – in uniforms but it was hard to tell at the time when I arrived that it was sports day. I asked myself, how could parents dress their young children like that for a school function?

I recalled that during my years we wore uniforms to school on sports day. I thought about the cost for education and that there is such an emphasis on the material – on fashion – as opposed to an equal interest in spending on education. This is not an easy issue for both school and parents. Therefore, it is important that we as a country begin to look at the impact of mass culture and the excesses of popular culture on socialisation, especially in the area of education. Students should wear uniforms to school, even on sports day.

It was not long after the events that a report on a research project conducted by Mrs Marcia Forbes was published. It examined the relationship between mass culture (TV, cable, music videos, pop and fashion magazines, etc), and secondary school students. The researcher found that this fashion “behaviour” mirrors the style of their favourite artistes in these music videos. Of course, the discussion is not as simplistic as I portray it, but there is a point in the story. Researchers have long held the view that mass culture has dominated the traditional agents of socialisation and that has posed a serious (negative) threat to education and society. It is my thinking that “jeans day”, and programmes that involve deejays and sing-jays going around to the schools should be terminated at once.

It is time for us to stop yielding to the forces that are associated with the enabling of mediocrity in leadership and poor educational performance – the “dumbing down” of our society. The school cannot be everything for everybody. The community must step up its organisational capacities to assist the school in its roles and functions. The community could provide the well-needed fun and entertainment that were introduced into the schools recently. More important, the community should be playing a greater role in establishing homework and enrichment centres to assist students in their cultural and academic development. A heavy dose of “militarisation” is required in these schools in order to “plant” authority – without the presence of authority, learning cannot take place!

Louis EA Moyston

Kingston 8