BY Charlene Elson Gustard

Schools in Jamaica are constantly in the spotlight. Our education system produces scholars who compare with the best in the world. Countries like England and Japan recently lauded the professionalism and high output of educators recruited from our classrooms to theirs in recent years. Their praises briefly shone a spotlight of pride on a system that continues to be riddled with problems and inefficiencies.

For, when our education system is not being constantly criticised for the poor performance of students, it is being condemned for the underperformance of teachers. When it is not marauding, gun-wielding street gangs using school compounds as routes to escape the police, it is gangs of juveniles within some schools exerting violence on other members of their school communities. Obviously, then, schools have problems

Among the abundant persistent problems is the length of the uniforms worn by school girls. Of course, the length of the school uniforms should not matter. A student can learn just as well and perform quite creditably in skimpy PJs if you ask me. You will also appreciate, I am sure, that if the hems of tunics and skirts can be shorter, they can be more close fitting as well. The same can be said for the blouses, the boys’ shirts and, of course, their pants. The kids are young. Many of them are teenagers who are very self-conscious and particular about their fashion reputations at that age. Who can blame girls for wanting to leave as little as possible to the imagination like their icons on the big screen and fashion runways? Can we blame schoolboys on the threshold of manhood, for wanting to sag tight-fitting pants that expose their colourful underwear below equally skintight shirts like the street gangsters they idolise?

No wonder there is adult support for the students, some of whom have been denied entry from places of learning that insist on a zero-tolerance approach. The adults who voice support for schoolchildren who are negatively affected by the stance of the schools on attire are inadvertently withholding support from school administrators. How can this be?

Schools are run by appointed administrators who ought to know what is in the best interest of their charges. Maybe the preeminent assumption is that some of the adults crying foul are ignorant of things to which the schools are privy. It is possible that the people providing support for parents, who take issue with schools insisting on girls wearing markedly long skirts, are those associated with the more traditional schools where everyone behaves in a manner that is more, well, traditional.

Traditional high schools in Jamaica are scarcely found to be wrong. A student being awarded a coveted spot in a traditional school is often the result of an entire family’s sacrifice and aspiration. A place in these schools is valued by all in Jamaican society. Parents and students alike are rarely ever foolish enough to risk bending the school rules in such a way that they are denied entry even for a day. These students, upon enrolling, regardless of their socio-economic background, become part of an exclusive group consisting mostly of some of the more privileged in society. They can be seen daily going to school attired in the uniforms that are stipulated by their institutions and the society proudly beams upon them, confident in the assurance that among them walk our future leaders.

When one or two of them breach the uniform, which is one of their symbols of traditional pride, there is no need for concern. Schools quietly reassert their positions and parents understandably ensure that the deviance does not recur. No protest. No media. No press release from the Ministry of Education. These schools have standards which must be maintained, for, they are schools from which national heroes and world-renowned leaders have emerged.

The same cannot be said for our emerging high schools. Schools, some of which are yet to arrive as participants in what seems to be the competition of a classified education system. They are the once secondary and comprehensive schools. Many remain the opposite of traditional high schools despite being in existence for years. Although they have been upgraded by name and increased resources, they are definitely not schools of choice for students or their parents. Many of these students would rather access their education elsewhere and were placed in these “second-rate” schools against their wishes. Many transitioned from primary to high school with tears, heavy hearts and the oppressive knowledge that they were not brilliant enough to get into a “good” school. It is no wonder that they appear to be in constant rebellion against the uniform demands of their schools. Demands they would very likely comply with if they were attending their school of choice.

No focus needs to be placed on this perceived rebellion. The breaches regarding attire are just little examples of kids being kids. They hurt no one. Regardless of how the kids show up for school, “Every child can learn” and “every child must learn”. Let them in and get on with the business of learning already!

Teach them well, except about the importance of symbolism or rules and regulations to institutions. Never mind that the administrators of these upgraded schools have noted that the majority of their peers in traditional schools are doing better academically in their “big pants and long skirts”! Never mind, too, that some of these schools previously wore gored skirts at knee length before the tightening and shortening of the same forced the schools to adjust the style to pleated and long. God forbid it that schoolchildren be forced to wait for the weekend to don casual, party-style clothing. (I will pause here to resist the urge to elaborate on some of what goes on behind the parents backs when children turn up for school in party mode.)

People voicing support for children, and parents who find it hard to adjust to the dress code, should maybe seek to know the reason other students comply. There is a school in central Jamaica where all girls were allowed to wear knob earrings because many of them were of Indian descent and the wearing of jewellery was a major part of their custom. The privilege was rescinded when girls of (all ethnic groups) started attending school wearing all kinds of elaborate hanging earrings and sporting multiple piercings and additional earrings to go with them.

Schools should, therefore, be permitted to be reactive. Support the school’s stance that students abide by the rules of the dress code insisted upon by the school boards. However, if a girl trips over the length of her skirt or a boy suffers avoidable harm due to the bagginess of his pants, then schools should reconsider the wisdom and necessity of such rules.

A society has to be careful about allowing its children to lead it or to dictate how important institutions are governed. It is admirable when children display the inclination to lead. However, rebellion is not leadership — although many admired leaders have led societies to well-needed change through that process. Accommodate students regardless of how they turn up for school and prepare to have the adverse effects ripple across schools and into the wider pool of adult life. Will the Ministry of Education continue to include attire in the Code of Regulations for teachers when it undermines the dress code for students? Surely, if students can dress as they please.

Some people love to be able to identify who the teachers might be when they enter the nation’s schools. They also like to be able to identify the nurses at our hospitals, the police on our streets and so on. A nurse does not have to be clad in white, or scrubs, to save lives. All our policemen and women can brandish firearms and badges in civilian clothes, saving the country millions for providing police uniforms. Like the students can learn in PJs, so too can teachers teach in PJs or dancehall attire. Attire and hem lengths should not matter in places of learning, but they do. Our society should exercise wisdom in responding to the unravelling of the rules in this insignificant hem issue now, so as not to allow it to require major stitching in the long term.

celsongustard@yahoo.com

Long Uniform.jpg

Support the school’s stance that students abide by the rules of the dress code insisted upon by the school boards.

PULL QUOTE:

Of course, the length of the school uniforms should not matter. A student can learn just as well and perform quite creditably in skimpy PJs if you ask me…Who can blame girls for wanting to leave as little as possible to the imagination like their icons on the big screen and fashion runways? Can we blame schoolboys on the threshold of manhood, for wanting to sag tight-fitting pants that expose their colourful underwear below equally skintight shirts like the street gangsters they idolise?