‘Tis such fools as you

That makes the world

Full of ill-fated children.

— Shakespeare, As you like it, 111, 3

And yes, I mean you, fool that you are for making the world full of ill-fated children. That is, if you fall into the category of allowing children to do whatever they please and get away with it. Very few children are just born to do bad things. Well, my granny used to say that some children are born wicked, and worse, it’s in the family genes, for when the blood bad, it’s just bad.

That may hold true in some cases, but in the main, the average child will keep in line if given the right supervision and guidance. As the Bible said, ‘So the twig is bent, it shall grow.’ And Lord have mercy, some twigs grow up into gnarled, distorted, ugly guango trees. And we know that ‘God don’t like ugly’.

Now, between the genders, boys seem to be more spirited, rambunctious, adventurous, rowdy, exciting, daring and troublesome. What are little girls made of? Sugar and spice and everything nice! And what are little boys made of? Toads and snails and puppy dog tails! Ugh. So went the ditty of a time long gone, which reflected the view of how terribly boys were looked on.

No wonder many people shake their heads and justify the behaviour of boys by saying, “Oh, boys will be boys,” or in Jamaican parlance, “A suh bwoy pickney stay.” Listen, not even some dogs like it when young boys walk pass their yard, and will growl and bark at them, all because many young boys love to harass and stone dogs.

Boys will be boys. We’ll see how right after these responses to ‘Fish nor fowl’.

Hi Tony,

We are indeed living in confusing times. I have learned that there are also ‘gender queer’, people who identify as either having an overlap of genders, or having two or more genders, being bi-gender, or pan-gender. Is this all part of a master plan for humanity, or are we going to hell in a hand basket?

Philip

Hey Teerob,

I give up, I simply give up. I thought that I had seen it all, but your revelation of neither fish nor fowl blew my mind. When did this start, when did we get this way, and where will it end? Our young people are growing up confused with no gender identity. Children have two mothers or two fathers, now they have two parents with no gender. Truly, these are the last days.

Jonathon

Boys have always been a handful, not only to their parents, but to society on a whole. In any school situation, it’s the boys who mostly get into scuffles, fights, altercations and general mayhem. Well, the girls seem to be catching up, but it’s still the boys who hold sway when it comes to troublemaking. In the same way that girls outnumber boys in the educational stream, the boys outnumber the girls in the badness stream.

As a result, boys constantly need supervision and guidance. This applies even in the animal kingdom. Years ago I saw this documentary on National Geographic about this group of adolescent male elephants that were bad to the bone. They ran amok in the jungle, uprooting trees and attacking other animals without provocation. They were out of control.

So what did the game wardens do? They introduced a few adult male elephants into the area and instantly the teenage rebel elephants quit their un-elephant-like behaviour and settled down.

The mere presence of adult males was enough to put the fear of elephant god into the upstarts, and they showed respect and toed the line. Now, if even elephants can do that, what about humans?

Now, you know where I’m going with this. Oh yes, that now infamous incident or incidents at Calabar High School a few weeks ago. Let me make this clear, I have nothing against Calabar, for boys from other schools also exhibit bad behaviour.

My cousin went to Calabar, as did my best friend, and also my nephew, whose son also attends that famous institution. My son’s uncles went to Calabar, so did my son’s grandfather, the lauded ombudsman and jurist Judge EG Green — all people of honour and integrity. The point is, I am surrounded by Calabar people who I love and respect.

What I find most disturbing about that incident with the physics teacher and the students wasn’t so much the behaviour of the boys, but the reaction of some adults after. Like I said, boys will be boys and will step out of line and push boundaries, but it’s up to the adults to put them back in line. To date, I have not heard even one person in authority come to the defence of the teacher who made the report against the boys.

Instead, he has been vilified, cursed, mocked, accused of lying and having ulterior motives, had epithets hurled at him and accused of wanting to derail the school’s chances at Champs. “Is lie him telling; him grudge the boy dem and want to sabotage Champs.” All this and more from people who, with a knee-jerk reaction, jumped to the star athletes’ defence.

Not one person said to me, “Hmm, I wonder if he is telling the truth about the incident?” The man was treated like a rape victim who was blamed for being raped. Someone in authority even publicly stated on the radio that ‘he failed to follow proper procedure’. Suddenly the victim became the villain.

When did we get this way, when a child’s word is given more weight than an adult’s, especially a teacher, with the latter being hauled across the coals? I do not know the man, but I have heard parents of students call radio programmes and speak passionately about his character and dedication to his profession and sacrifices that he made for his students.

And yet, he was made to run the gauntlet and put on the trial of public opinion for reporting the incident. Sure, boys will be boys, whatever school they attend, but they need the presence of responsible adult male elephants to give a semblance of order to the herd.

Many adults placed in authority are failing our boys and then we wonder why they turn out the way that they do. When a former head boy of Calabar spoke passionately about the breakdown of discipline, he too was accused of holding a grudge against the institution. No one wanted to hear what he was saying. If I showed you the WhatsApp messages and e-mails that I got from adults who soundly berated the teacher and the past head boy for their stance, you’d be amazed. But then again, you might not be.

I remember my days at school, teachers were respected, adored even, and no one even thought about back-chatting or abusing them. I heard a prominent past student of St George’s (STGC) state that back in his day, if a student even gave a teacher a dirty look, he would be disciplined.

I mentioned it in my footnote previously, but I’ll repeat it now, the number one star goalkeeper of KC’s Manning Cup team last year was cut from the squad for indiscipline. KC went on to win the Manning Cup.

What I see now hurts my heart. I was a boy once and we all did boyish things, but we feared the consequences of our actions. It is the responsibility of adults to guide youngsters and let them know right from wrong.

Even that infamous chant disparaging the students of KC, calling them homophobic names wouldn’t bother me if it was done on the street or under a tree somewhere. We all have chanted and said nasty stuff about each other, describing genital size and sexual preference. But to do it at devotion-assembly in front of teachers was disturbing.

There was no regard for authority, no fear of authority, for authority let them down. When boys are allowed to do as they please, they will do as they please, with no fear of consequence.

It pained me to see those two promising excellent athletes from Calabar end their track career at Champs on such a dismal, disappointing note, going out not with a bang, but with a whimper. I do not blame the boys, but put the onus squarely on the shoulders of the adults who should have guided them better.

Boys will be boys yes, and boys will always push the envelope, but no boy should show disrespect to adults and made to feel that he is above consequences. It was Shakespeare who penned, ‘Tis not good that children should know any wickedness.’

More time.

seido1yard@gmail.com

Footnote: I have been writing that after a while no man will be able to say anything to a woman or even casually touch her in an innocent way for fear of cries of harassment. Well, the time is here. Look what’s happening to former US Vice-President Joe Biden who has been accused of inappropriately touching women on their shoulders, sniffing their hair and whispering in their ears. All seemingly innocent, innocuous gestures of affection, done in the public domain, in full view before thousands of people. Men will now have to be like soccer players and abide by the handball rule, keeping their hands down by their sides and don’t touch any women.