Recently I attended a function that a charitable organisation was holding where they were handing out annual scholarship disbursements to lucky students.

The charity is named Each One, Reach One. It is a relatively young organisation that selects students annually based on an essay competition. Monetary assistance, as well as mentorship, is provided by the charity.

It was founded some years ago by a lady named Avril Scarlett and is run by her, Dr Jermaine McCalpin, and a team of dedicated individuals.

It has impacted over 300 youngsters and has a few corporate sponsors and a number of professionals doing their bit to help young people with academic talent realise their dreams and climb the walls that exist in achieving an academic education in Jamaica.

I have always believed that this approach by everyone who has been able to achieve education and wealth could change the game for many who just never break the back of generational poverty despite their academic talent.

By this team giving their time, organisational skills, and I imagine their own scarce resources, they likely have created 300 more adults who can do likewise.

I doubt, in fact, I am certain, that none of the students who, year to year, I see attending these functions will become a gang member and contribute to spreading the misery that thousands of our young men do every day.

If we could somehow become a society in which the Jermaines and Avrils become the norm, rather than the exception, then maybe it could become our culture.

Whilst I was there watching the young people getting their disbursements and other items it occurred to me that the dominant theme in the room was academics.

This was important to me, not just because of my own personal journey through education, but because I have learnt during my journey as a police officer that educated people don’t join gangs and subsequently don’t kill.

This fact may not be limited to gang-related murder, as domestic violence does not have that caveat.

However, even in that category of violence, educated individuals are significantly under-represented.

Why though?

What is it about being educated that makes you an unlikely candidate to join a gang and become wealthy through extortion or narcotics?

Is it that you have other opportunities? This could be a factor.

Is it because you are associated to positive people in a positive environment? Maybe.

Or, is it the fact that because your mind has been opened to the process of absorbing knowledge that you think differently? I think this is a dominant factor.

However, I think that it’s all of the above and includes the fact that academia is such a time-consuming activity that it leaves space for little else. But, then again, so do sports, and the representation of persons who participate in sport and crime vs education is not similar.

There is also the entire process to becoming educated that involves parental supervision, resources that allow for regular attendance and access and proximity to good primary schools.

The end product of a number of factors create the educated person.

So, perhaps the non-violence is the result of the creation of this person, rather than the substance of the education received.

It’s an area that requires more research.

Rural Jamaica has less access to education but far less violence. This I agree. But if you conduct a study of the individuals who are educated in rural Jamaica and examine their participation in gang membership and violence I suspect it would be insignificant.

So, again, is it more than just the education received, but rather the content of the person’s character?

Well, scamming is a discussion that needs to be had. It’s relevant to this discussion.

There is a concerning representation in this group from students who attend traditional high schools that is not present in an analysis of the average gangs.

I agree this exists, but my own personal experience is that it’s the lower academic tier of the former attendees of traditional schools, not the exceptional, not the average.

This, though, really comes down to the fortunate few who do become educated to become like Jermaine and Avril and create hundreds like them.

This domino effect of many people providing what is required could change the game.

This though requires a change to what we learnt from we were babies, and that is to share.

The end of this cycle of gang activity is going to be dependent on “each one reaching many”, which is what is occurring in the aforementioned charity.

There are corporate entities doing their part. The one with which I am most familiar and impressed is the Gore Foundation that offers tuition in building technology in Rose Town that has changed many lives.

That model is a holistic approach that provides every single needed component and even provides a stipend for the beneficiaries.

At the end of the day what is missing is you and me; regular citizens who need to dedicate their time and personal resources to ensure that every child can become a person who can then be educated, and thus unlikely to become engaged in gang behaviour that will lead to murder.

It’s not going to happen by just paying your taxes. It will only happen if each one at least attempts to reach one.

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