Eagle Eye posted this in the Guardian and I find some of this to be applicable to ALL children out there and parents on a whole
Here are some problems and solutions.
I'll start with a slightly humourous aside: Most Europeans and certainly Scandinavians would say that 90%+ of Trinbagonians are black.
Here are some real issues and some real solutions:
1. FRAGMENTATION. Many Afro-Trinis don't have strong or long family units. It's a fact that slaves were randomly mixed so that there were many differing languages and reduced ability to mount uprisings. Also, we have had many single individuals and couples migrating to Trinidad from other Caribbean islands. This has led to many Afros in Trinidad not having long and strong family lines like some other groups. Indentureship was a different experience with people better knowing their fore-parents and their history.
This plays out in business because of two things. One... your first source of cheap capital is entended family. Second, your first customers and clients should be your extended family. This has serious implications in business and is a serious factor in issues surrounding some Afro businesses. Family would give good interest rates and grace when the bad times inevitably come. But banks and credit unions are quicker to shut down businesses.
This fragmentation also comes from disrupted family units and insufficient father figures. But so many of these factors are interconnected. (More below).
Among the SOLUTIONs are greater use of clubs and organisations such as JA (Junior Achievement), The Boys and Girls clubs, Scouts etc. (Note: this is not a panacea. A multi-faceted approach is required.)
2. SELF-ESTEEM. The self esteem of our youths are attacked on 3 fronts:
a. Exam Results. Our Educational system has children failing Academics until age 15 before we say... they should learn a Trade.
SOLUTION: Adopt the German model in which children are put into programs that match their natural abilities around age 11, rather than putting them through a 'harmful' sequence of failing Academics.
b. Giving people 'fatigue'. We need to stop this nonesense of telling people what they look like, that their head is big, they have a five-head (big forehead) etc, when nobody designs him or herself in the womb. We didn't have a choice in our physical features at birth.
SOLUTION: In many modern schools such behaviour is categorized as a form of bullying and is not tolerated.
c. Tradition. We so frequently debase our youth and even treat them badly. (Even like how slaves were treated.) "Ah go box you down/" "Ah go put one planass on you (to a child)." And so many are CHILDREN "as long as they live under my roof."
Shawn Fanning started Napster at 19. Mark Zuckerberg started Facebook at about 20. Could similarly aged youths raise the capital etc to start businesses in Trinidad. "Nah, he too young."
We don't treat young men and women properly. And young girls seek to *prove/demonstrate* their womanhood by making a baby. And the boys: they walk with an ice-pick, knife, or gun to improve their self-esteem. Those that don't, resort to American style materialism and displays of gold teeth and chains, cars, fancy clothes etc to improve their self-esteem and the respect they get from others.
SOLUTION: Align students into music, and trades sooner and let them progress through their Secondary school in fields they are actually good at.
3. CORPORAL PUNISHMENT. Violence begets violence. Children learn more by emulation. Children are learning if someone hurts their feelings or wrongs them, that you can lash out at them.
SOLUTION: Make corporal punishment of children illegal. For more on the whole psychology and repercussions, visit nospank.net
4. NUTRITION. Many children are doing poorly because their diets are not well-balanced and too high in sugar. This leads to short attention spans, sleeping in class, hyperactivity and restlessness and sometimes lethargy. Some parents remember that when they were young they like Corn Curls or Chocolates or Ice Creams but could not get enough. So they shower their children with all this 'nice stuff' to show they love them or are providing for them what they lacked while growing up.
SOLUTIONS:
a. Ban the sale of soft ('C') drinks in schools. All schools should have milk, fruit, carrots and tomatoes instead. This would spur farming (and create employment) in mangoes, oranges, pomeracs, governor-plums etc.
b. We used to periodically receive High Protein milk biscuits in Government school. (Many students loved the biscuits but not the milk.) Ensure that those biscuits are available in shops and supermarkets.
c. The ministry of Education and Health should mount campaigns (including TV ads) that help people with suggestions on: proper breakfasts for students (including: don't skip breakfast), good lunches to pack, etc.
5. CLASS SIZES TOO LARGE. Many students attend classes with about 40 students. It is not possible for teachers to give sufficient attention to students in this way. Teachers have so much homework to correct that they can't do remedial work with students.
SOLUTION: Make maximum class sizes 20. (For first-world countries it is about 18.) This would require more teachers... but it helps in solving another problem.
6. LACK OF MALE ROLE MODELS.
It is quite possible for a student to progress through primary school and only have female teachers. This is not good. Many boys don't have good positive role models that they see or interact with daily.
SOLUTION: Make it so that schools are required to have a 50%-50% ratio of male to female teachers + or - 5%. With the extra schools and classes constructed from point 5, that should allow many of the existing female teachers to be distributed, and for male teachers to be installed accordingly.
These are just some of the issues and some suggested solutions.
