Video of schoolboy with chopper reflects wider society
Dear Editor,
The video making the rounds on social media of the vicious attack by some Green Island High School boys on a bus man and his bus is rather disturbing. The video shows five boys in khaki uniform, one with a chopper, boxing, shoving and wielding the chopper at a bus man. The boys went on to rain stones on the bus smashing the windows as the driver tries to escape the onslaught.
The voices of schoolgirls were heard cheering on the attack and echoing expletives as one student played the role of reporter.
It is reported that the police have charged three of the five boys in connection with the incident. The mother of one of the boys was on the news condemning the incident and apologising for her sons actions. She stated that her son’s actions were not a reflection of how she is “growing him”, but from him following company.
While the video is unfortunate, it represents only one of the many fights and attacks by children in and out of uniform caught on tape. The fights are normally supported and egged on by other students, instead of trying to prevent an altercation. This has become our Jamaican reality in which the children’s courts across the island are bursting at the seams with cases of children who choose fighting as their way of solving conflicts. This way has led to numerous injuries and even deaths in schools over the years.
Teachers and school deans, too, are having a hard time contending with machetes, knives, ice picks, and believe it or not firearms. Now metal detectors are being used to assist in the safeguarding the environment of teaching and learning at schools.
What is being reflected in our children is our rotten society in which there is no respect for our fellow men. The national pledge for schools is embarrassed by our current school happenings.
Hezekan Bolton
h_e_z_e@hotmail.com