Dear Editor,

The 2019 Graduation Class from the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts (EMCVPA), as a result of the valedictory speech, depicts a bad batch off the production line.

It cannot be and should not be that valedictorian Waldane Walker, after completing four years of studies, found it fitting to close his speech with, “Big up unuh b..c.. self.”

What is alarming, too, is that there are staff and faculty members that support his behaviour, using excuses which range from the speaker having endured hardship to complete his studies, to just being creative.

When did indecency start being seen as creative? It would be foolish of me to think that we can now expect presentations from the EMCVPA to have no regard or respect for their audience.

Here is my advice, especially to the faculty, at no time in our lifespan should we witness wrong superseding the morals of right.

And to aid in the teaching I reference the Bible, James 4:17 (English Standard Version): “So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.”

As leaders, we are giving the opportunity to maintain law and order to sustain the Earth for others. Decency is decency.

So as to ensure we all get a taste of what life can be, society creates a place and time for just about anything we desire. A graduation ceremony is certainly not the place for expletives, certainly not in a valedictory speech.

I request that the board of the college think about its purpose and who the institution is catering to.

Please, expand innovation and creativeness, but preserve the mind of the child.

Neville Grant

nevillejamrock@gmail.com