Dear Editor,

There are things in life which are inexplicable. They defy logic and reason.

This is the case involving two areas of life in Jamaica.

Firstly, let’s look at education. It’s an open secret that the education system in Jamaica is nowhere near ideal. Children leave primary and high school barely able to read with most having little or no grasp of numeracy. Generally, fingers point to teachers and their substandard methods. There’s also the question of the qualification of some teachers.

Be that as it may, there is a massive exodus of teachers from our shores to the United States and other countries annually. Why?

Is it that once they land on foreign soil they are suddenly transformed into super teachers? Or are the systems there of such a high standard that their flaws are covered?

Could it be that the students there are so superior that our teachers’ poor teaching skills cannot retard their progress?

The second area is crime and violence, in particular murders.

Over the last decade and a half Jamaica has consistently ranked near the top of countries with the most murders annually. In fact, Jamaica has not fallen out of the top three in the Caribbean and Latin America, easily registering in excess of 1,200 murders each year. Yet dances are held nightly in some of the most volatile areas of the country. Water House in St Andrew hosts Nipples Tuesday, then there are events in Maverley, Cockburn Pen, Greenwich Farm, Spanish Town, Olympic Way, Tower Hill, Grants Pen, and Flanker in Montego Bay, to name a few.

Visitors from Japan, Italy, Sweden, Germany, USA, Canada, the UK as well as locals flock these events in their hundreds yet there are hardly any reports of shootings/killings at these events. Not to mention the state of undress by the women in attendance. Where are the figures regarding abduction/kidnapping and rapes at these dances?

Try as one might, there seems no logical explanation to the above.

Howard McGowan

dougswifftt@hotmail.com