Dear Editor,

Schools and students are once again in the spotlight because of social media. Now a group of grade 10 students from St Catherine High School have been seen in a video rapping in an online challenge that is now trending. The challenge focuses on rapping extent you would go for the male or female genitalia.

The school showed its disapproval of the students’ behaviour by reportedly suspending them for five days.

Present and past students of the school are feeling embarrassed that the students disgraced the noble alma mater of the prime minister and his wife, while some think the punishment should be more than a suspension.

Now, while the students’ behaviour is seen as unacceptable, are we majoring in the minor?

We have a culture in which lewd and vulgar behaviour gets lauded and it is part of how we are entertained. Think about King Yellow Man, Tony Matterhorn, Lady Saw, Spice, Vybz Kartel; they make a living from their lewd lyrics and outrageous behaviour. The yearly carnival that is broadcast on national television shows prominent ‘society people’ scarcely clad in expensive costumes singing and gyrating in the streets, and are definitely not singing and dancing to Jesus loves me.

Anyone who travels on the Half-Way-Tree, Waterhouse, Seaview, and Spanish Town bus routes, with the many schoolchildren, has to contend with the lewd music that is blasted on the heavy-laden buses, with indecent language and highly inappropriate sexual content par for the course.

The behaviour of our children is as a result of what the society feeds them. Suspending them is like putting a Band-Aid over a sore. We should address the broader societal issue of poor parenting and the negative influence dancehall music has on our children. We need to remove the scales from our eyes to see that the children are just living society’s reality. How about creating a clean-up dancehall or proper parenting challenge?

Hezekan Bolton

h_e_z_e@hotmail.com