LAST WEEK I said I would finish off what I was saying about children having cellphones in school and a good few people agree wid me. A good few of dem are teachers and people who does work wid children or in the education field. These are people who should know what they talking ’bout.
Now, I read what Miss Mary Redman who is the president of the Barbados Secondary Teachers’ Union, said in dat story ’bout cellphones in schools. She said, you cannot begin tuh imagine what children do wid cellphones in schools if you are not there.
She said, we are there each day and we know; and then there are the problems related tuh theft, security of exams and such like. She warned, too, dat while the ministry was talking ’bout guidelines dat would govern access tuh school Wi-Fi networks, she anticipated dat students would come tuh school wid their own data plans that would allow dem access tuh whatevah duh wanted.
Now dat is the same thing I was talking ’bout last week. Wunna think wunna playing wid dollies or muppetts? These children nowadays ain’t like the ones from my generation where you would say doan do this or the next and the majority o’ children would be obedient fuh fear o’ getting some good lashes in duh tails or serious punishment.
Bending the rules
The majority o’ the children nowadays ain’t like dat. Fuh one, the very people from my generation who grew up pon some serious but good discipline, is the very ones who bending the rules dat make dem in tuh the kind o’ men and women dem is today. Doan ask me why.
You would hear a lot o’ dem talking ’bout how dem grow up wid strict parents or a mother who was a strict disciplinarian and if it was not fuh her, they would not be where they are today. But these is the said same people who does want tuh give their children the L, the R and the eleventh star because, as they say, dem nevah had, so dem children gotta come along and get nice things. I ain’t know if dem understand wha’ duh doing yet.
Look, I am only a simple woman, but I have always heard dat common sense ain’t common and you see wid all the big brains dat a lot o’ people ’bout here got? Well I think dat it does make dem forget tuh use something as simple as common sense.
Ya does see dem sitting down in duh nice air- conditioned rooms behind closed doors, holding long drawn out meetings and writing down a lot o’ words dat sound and look good pon paper, making certain decisions but in reality ain’t making nuh kinda sense at all.
I doan understand how people could compromise on certain things; duh like duh ain’t realise dat it gine come back tuh bite dem in duh tail later on down the road.
Then, dem gine be dead and gone and it gine be somebody else’s problem so dem ain’t gine have tuh deal wid it. So ya see what I mean by common sense? Dem forget dat it is their own grandchildren who gotta live in the chaos and confusion dat dem created.
We compromise our standards, we compromise our beliefs, we compromise our values and our principles. At times we compromise our very thoughts, despite knowing what we think is the right thing but because we want tuh be popular, toe the line or be a part of the in-crowd, we compromise our very selves.
I have a nephew going tuh secondary school; he is in fourth form and now think he is a hard seed. Now, all the boys does get together and dare one another ’bout who got and who ain’t got what, so duh does be telling him dat he ain’t got something dat he tell dem he got.
So tuh get dem off he back, he would go home evah single evening and harass the mother tuh allow him tuh take the phone or tablet tuh school. She even catch him trying tuh sneak it out . . . . Well, she like she finally got fed up and tell he tuh guh ’long wid it, do wha’ he like. Well you know the next thing dat gine happen? The thieves gine like it better than he. Ya see the confusion?
I think the people at the ministry should haul and pull pon this cellphone thing and let dem phones stand just where dem is. Who got, got but doan make nuh law ’bout it. I always hear dat when ya play wid fire, ya does get burn.
Mavis Beckles was born and raised in The Orleans. She has an opinion on everything.