Byron Blake | Wean boys away from 87 and 90 Octane

Dr Garth Rattray’s perceptive piece ‘Glimpse into a gunman’s world’ in The Sunday Gleaner of September 29 should be a wake-up call for us in our quiet posh suburban homes. It clearly says “do not covet our neighbours’ mansions”. We do not know how they got their wealth. We do not know how well they sleep at night.

But more, it should cause us pause. Jamaica has a problem that will not be solved any time soon. It certainly will not be solved by any strategy that targets, lockdown, and brutalises ghetto or poor communities. It helps us understand why there is so much support for such failing strategies by those of us with access to the media and to policymakers. It redirects attention. It should also help us to understand that even the most moderate progress will over require time and a resolve by the few to pursue systematically and strategically members of all three classes of criminals as opportunity presents themselves.

In this piece, I will focus on the Octane 90 class. While not recognising it as a specific category of criminals I have watched that group grow for more than three decades. At the core of this group are some of our brightest young men. They have been betrayed by our school/education system. I have observed the phenomenon since the 1980s. Bright, very bright boys, in crowded classrooms, with inexperienced or frustrated teachers, and syllabuses irrelevant to their interests. Those 13 to 15 or 16-year-old adolescents who want to discover, to be challenged and to do practical things are often labelled rude, and disruptive. They are soon pushed out of our schools. Bright boys who need to be taught and treated differently are pushed onto the streets, in this “anancy” and criminal society. They are soon organising and leading less intelligent criminals.

DECLINING PERCENTAGE

At the same time, we have been seeing a declining percentage of males in our tertiary educational institutions. Instead of being horrified by the phenomenon we have focused on, and taken comfort in, the growing participation of females in these institutions. We have refused to ask ourselves, “Where are the bright young men? We have failed to read the reality underlying the story told by the Barry Chevannes-led study in the 1990s that the genius quotient on death row in Jamaica was 13, against an expected three to four in the general population. We have failed to make the link that our education system has been systematically feeding the pipeline of “90 Octane” criminals.

While we cannot reverse the past, we can change the future.

We often hide our failures behind “the lack of market”. But here, the increasingly technology-driven global market since the 1980s has provided an immense market opportunity. The technical, hands-on skills it demands are the areas of greatest appeal to curious bright boys. Instead of grasping it, we continue to hold fast to an educational system – the curriculum, promotional, examination and reward structure – that pushes students who don’t have the intellectual and academic ability into the technical and vocational streams/schools. The technical/technological areas are stigmatised even as we push our bright boys onto the streets.

If we can bring ourselves to recognise and accept that (a) our present education system is based on historical prejudice, (b) boys, especially bright boys, are curious, learn differently and seek out challenges, and (c) boys need male role models, we can begin to make a significant difference within present budget ceilings. Reprioritisation and reallocation could play a major role in the short term.

EQUITABLE SUBSIDY

For example, a more equitable per-student subsidy between my alma mater, The University of the West Indies and University of Technology, and between the traditional grammar (high) schools and the technical/vocational schools, and with equal respect given to graduates across the system we could see a significant shift in the proportionate student intake in the short term. There is another source of funds that could encourage the shift. The government has, by policy, mandated that students spend six years at the secondary level, and the HEART/NSTA Trust has decided that its resources can be used to facilitate this policy in traditional secondary schools.

The HEART/NSTA Trust could make a disproportionate amount of such funds available for students who select the technical/vocational programmes. Also, there are international and bilateral programmes, for example, the recently announced programme by PAHO for persons in the health sector. These are all current funds which, with a little imagination and creativity, can be deployed in areas that can attract and retain our brightest boys. In the medium term, better employment and earning prospects as these graduates enter the local and global markets will encourage others and sustain the change.

The Government tax revenues will be enhanced. Crime and violence in our schools will decrease.

Importantly, both the incentive structure and the push factor for bright boys to leave the system and become 90 Octane or even the 87 Octane criminal will change positively. No one is born a criminal and very few would choose to be a criminal in the face of attractive alternative pathways.

We thank Dr Rattray for opening our eyes. Now the ball is in our court as policymakers, educational administrators, educators and parents to lay aside our deep prejudices, embrace the new opportunities and rescue our bright boys.

Ambassador Byron Blake is former deputy permanent representative of Jamaica to the United Nations and former assistant secretary general of CARICOM. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com