Mark Wignall | Some evangelise instead of learning sex education

“I am now 41. When I was 14 to 15, I used to kiss up some girls in school. I don’t have an ounce of lesbian in me. But, when I was in my early teens, I could barely control my sex urges. Our teachers made us believe that boys were pure trouble and we should stay away from them. But, almost every minute, I was experiencing sexual urges.”

We were talking about the recent matter about a ‘dunce’ principal declaring that two mid-teens girls attending his school and caught kissing on social media was, in his mind and mouth, nastiness.

“My mother was never there for me. The word ‘father’ enjoyed freedom in a dictionary. It had no meaning in my teen years. I sympathise with my mother because she was painfully uneducated.” said a real estate executive to me.

School principals and key members of public school boards usually come to the table with strong teaching skills and a broad knowledge of community matters. But most of what occupies the base of that knowledge is religious fundamentalism.

Most of those who failed to escape that trap of the religious zeal in the tertiary education stage are doomed to live with it for the rest of their lives. Tough as it is to admit it, most religious fundamentalists, pre- and post-marriage and in the blissful few years of marriage, have never quite accepted that sexual intimacy ought to be screamingly enjoyed instead of uttering a silent, guilty prayer afterwards.

The real estate lady poured me another glass of wine as she said, “I met a man, years ago, a very rich man who suggested that he wanted us to be in a mix-up with another woman. I told him no and he never spoke to me again. That long-term malice was such a joy to me.”

The discussion came back to the school openly displaying the ignorance of its school principal. “Those girls are experiencing their hormones flip-flopping on them,” I said.

“At times they can be held captive and, if they are not careful or properly guided, that is the stage when male friends and relatives and even ‘wutliss’ teachers are most likely to take sexual advantage of them and get them pregnant.”

We both agreed that the Jamaican teaching population is mired in very conservative approaches to sex education. It follows on the backward approach from the 1950s which stated that children must be seen and not heard.

What? Jenny feels like she wants to kiss Samantha. Solution? Expel both of them!

Of course there is also another reality. What if a parent complained that her son wants to kiss his schoolmate. Another boy?

Well, sometimes life becomes very uncomfortable. Extremely so. Like trying to get the ‘right’ answer from the school counsellor.

EVEN DPP TASTED DYSFUNCTION

This time around, we were firmly on the same page, echoing a similar response. A friend of mine, a lawyer with 25 years’ experience.

“The recent debacle with the DPP is astonishing. Apparently, the terms of the PSC members expired on March 31. Why theJLP Government never appointed a new PSC is baffling. The PM only jumped into action after Mr Golding exposed the issue and the PNP had obtained a favourable ruling in the Constitutional Court on its challenge regarding the DPP’s extension of employment.”

My lawyer friend shared the same admiration for Ms Paula Llewellyn. “The DPP is an honourable woman and an amazing lawyer. Yet she had to step aside because she could not stomach the foolishness Minister Chuck and the attorney general were spouting. How do you let the term of the PSC members expire?

“In a matter of 90 days ,the amount of stumbling and bumbling the JLP has done, one would suggest the best question to ask at this time is, ‘Is it whiskey, vodka, gin or white rum?’ “

I sensed the new thirst for violence in 1967.

Looking back now, it seemed that their testosterone levels were off the charts. The two boys were in a war with each other. KC. 1966. One carried a rusted old .22 pistol to school. The other; a shiny, sharp kitchen knife.

We never quite figured out at the time what brought about the feud, going on for about three weeks. It was a live serial a la Gully vs Gaza, and colour TV wasn’t around to hand it out to us once per week. Then the headmaster, a giant of a man known as ‘Dougs’, got involved. The solution, which was revealed many years later, was along these lines.

One of the boys was basically hungry during the schoolday. The other boy, who was in no better an economic state than the other, was loudly taunting him about his lack of lunch money. Dougs moved their desks to his office. They did basic cleaning up chores in his office attached to the sixth form block. He provided them with lunch.

One eventually became a building contractor. The other became an accountant. Two boys who were egging on the feud were eventually expelled after being given many chances. One eventually made the ‘Ten most wanted’ on the police charts. Natural causes had nothing to do with his death in his 20s.

In 1966 and 1967, Jamaican roots music via ska morphing into rock steady began to broadcast the real troubles deep in the soul of the poorest Jamaicans. And even though Marley caught the mood and hoped for the best outcome, ‘Simma down, control yu temper … . Simma down, wha mek yu hot so?’ there were many misguided young men who fell in love with ratchet blade knives and the toughness they desired.’

Three young men, one behind you with his arms and knife at your neck (gallas), the other removing your watch and rifling through your pockets, your patty money. It all escalated since that time.

The present violence in schools is troubling but it is by no means new. The main difference is, the school administration in the 1960s had a fear factor attached to it which does not exist now. Social media in 2024 enhances the salacious and the violent, and the leadership of public schools must each day walk in fear of the community and the local noise of social media.

Mark Wignall is a political and public affairs analyst. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and mawigsr@gmail.com