The Editor, Sir:

The current hue and cry about violence in schools and what the schools should be doing to prevent this has compelled me to share my views on the matter.

What is the profile of a student who engages in violent behaviour? I can identify students who fall into three categories. The first is the chronic psychotic. He is usually alone at home for long periods of time or stays by himself at home, where he plans his dastardly acts. The second also has anti-social tendencies, but plays on the weaknesses of others and leads gangs. The others, who form the majority, are just angry.

Why are our students angry? Children need stability. Children need order. Children need to rise in the mornings at the same home every day, have their parents supervise their morning activities, have breakfast every morning, be given their lunch money before they go off to school, have a safe and reliable means of getting to school, have safe and pleasant surroundings at school, travel home safely and have someone at home to greet them and provide a meal. They also need someone at home to talk with about what happened at school and about issues that concern them. They need to do homework in an atmosphere that is conducive to learning. They need to know what they must do throughout the day. They should not have to make choices that should be made by their parents. Many of our children are growing up without most of these basic needs satisfied. The result, an angry child.

Context of high schools

In the context of the high schools, many of these needs become emphasised, as the child experiences puberty and the accompanying difficulties. The parents, who cannot understand this strange person who was once their little darling, withhold some of these entitlements from the child as a means of punishment. The result, an angry child.

As an administrator, sometimes we have more questions than answers. The student who displays chronic psychosis or serious antisocial behaviour poses a challenge to us. Usually, the parent does not want to believe that the child is behaving that way, and the child uses his cunning to avoid being caught committing his acts of violence. His victims are usually so afraid, that they will deny being hurt by him. Investigating these incidents and monitoring the activities of these individuals require so much resources, especially time, which we do not have a lot of. They need professional help. We should not be required to deal with these.

What can we do for the student who has to sleep at several homes in one week, the one who has to go to another home to collect his lunch money and ends up going to school late, the one who has to fight to get on the buses, the one whose parents have just separated and are fighting over custody of the child, the one whose mother is cheating on his father or whose father is cheating on his mother and he has to remain silent; the many who have to deal with stepfather problems, the ones who are abused sexually by people whom they know, the ones who are harassed by the gunmen to be part of their criminal activities or the ones who cannot study because of the continuous sound of gunfire at night? I could go on and on.

Create calm atmosphere

We can only try to create an atmosphere that promotes calm, that is clean and friendly and one in which the student feels special, cared for and wants to come to school every day. The school should be a sanctuary for our students.

The school cannot make violence its main focus. The students will expect violence all the time. The school must make their programmes interesting enough to excite the type of students to which they cater. The school should host a variety of events that encourages the participation of all its students. The classrooms should focus on learning and not on finding out who is out of order. Inappropriate behaviour by students should be noted and dealt with outside of the classroom.

Every adult in the system should understand that school is about STUDENTS. The school should then be able to excise from its population, every student whose presence in the school is a detriment to the students and all that the school stands for. That is, the school is there for every student, but if the one is going to destroy the safety and security of the many, then the one must go.

Yes, we have guidance counsellors. Yes, we have deans of discipline. Yes, we have other persons in positions of authority. However, the school cannot be a nursery, it cannot be a hospital, it cannot be a reform school or a police station. It cannot be a court or rehabilitation centre. Why? We do not have the expertise. Let us do what we can do. Let us be a place of learning.

I am, etc.,

CYNTHIA P. COOKE

cooke1p@cwjamaica.com

Principal, Camperdown High School