THE NEW EDITION of the Pocket Oxford Dictionary gives three different meanings for the word “education”, but for this purpose I have selected numbers one and three.
“1. systematic instruction” and “3. development of character or mental powers.” I am surprised and very concerned that as stated in the WEEKEND NATION of Friday, September 24, the principal of the Garrison Secondary School had sent home 50 students for not strictly adhering to the dress code.
These are 200 less than were sent home at the beginning of last year’s school opening.
The NATION has also reported that a circular was sent to parents in which it was pointed out that the enforcement of the dress code was part of the expression of the theme for the year which is A Whole New Attitude.
The newspaper relayed how many days the students would be suspended for their uniforms not being to the required condition.
It appears to me that there are two separate and distinct matters which the principal of Garrison Secondary should take into account: To what extent are the children who are sent back home losing out on being adequately educated?
And, is there no other way in which the children’s uniforms could be brought two inches below the “biscuit” without sending the children away from systematic instruction and the development of their mental powers?
Everyone who has ever gone to school in this country knows that some rules are breached by children either voluntarily or involuntarily.
But many of these schools have always found a way to deal with such breaches without resorting to a situation where the children would be away from the teaching and learning process.
PHYLLIS O. MURRELL
