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Babes and sucklings
February 18, 2001
By Denis Solomon
IN LAST Sunday's Express, Raffique Shah condemned the leaders of the Government and the Opposition for using the schools as platforms for party political propaganda, in the context of the constitutional crisis.
This abuse began long before the crisis. Even before the election, in fact. Every time the Prime Minister addressed the opening of a school during the campaign period he took the opportunity to rubbish the Opposition. An Express editorial on November 11 took Kamla Persad-Bissessar to task for her address at the opening of the Debe High School. In that address she regaled the students with an account of the UNC's record in school-building, criticised the PNM's supposed failures in education policy, and pretended to believe that an Opposition MP had called the children of Blanchisseuse douens and wild animals. The Express editorial continued:
"If this were not dishonest enough, she said it in her capacity of Minister of Education...By all means discuss the building of schools. But put it in the context of the evolution of education policy as a whole, regardless of who was responsible for which success or to blame for which failure. Douens and wild animals, like pipes, must be kept for the election platform."
It would be futile to hope that people of the stamp of Panday, Manning, Ramesh and Kamla could ever muster enough intellectual integrity to discuss the crisis objectively with students, giving all points of view, explaining their opponents' position fairly, and putting the whole matter in the context of constitutional theory.
Nevertheless, I disagreed strongly with Raffique Shah when he said that politicians should be kept out of the schools while the crisis lasts.
There is a principle of learning theory called "saliency". Briefly, it says that learning occurs most effectively not in the abstract, but rather when the material to be learned is thrown into relief by context: i.e. when it is brought to the learner's attention by his or her needs or interests.
Raffique is right when he says that the ignorance of teachers and pupils about politics is appalling. But he attributes this ignorance to lack of relevant elements in the curriculum. Also, one of his reasons for objecting to the presence of politicians in schools during the crisis was the danger that pupils would lose respect for public figures.
But ignorance of civics and unthinking respect for public figures go hand in hand, and reinforce each other. Too many people think politicians should be "role models" for the young. These are the people who criticise Kamla Persad-Bissessar for her double entendres on the election platform, but ignore the intellectual irresponsibility of her addresses to school pupils.
Politicians have been hiding for too long behind the colonialist concepts of "respect" and "good behaviour" (and their legal manifestation, our archaic defamation laws).
I will never forget the occasion when Patrick Manning, who was then Prime Minister, came to UWI to address the students. I forget what subject he was to talk about.
Before Manning took the floor, some idiot from the University administration took it on himself to warn the students that if there was any disrespectful behaviour, the session would be terminated instantly.
Any students worthy of the name would have pelted that clown with everything that came to hand. If there is one place where a Prime Minister ought to expect to be barracked and heckled as a matter of course, it is a university.
Furthermore, no one has the right to assume that students will be "disrespectful" without good reason.
Our students were not worthy of the name. They listened impassively to whatever pap Manning had to dispense, asked no questions, and dispersed quietly to study for their degrees in political science.
Children are not fools. Nor do they have what Raffique calls "untainted minds". Sigmund Freud put paid to the myth of childhood innocence.
Children do, however, tend to be more idealistic and less cynical than adults, and for that reason they must be more troubled than their elders by what is happening in the country.
So I join Raffique in applauding the initiative of teachers and students in inviting public officials to address them. But I disagree that such events should be confined to "normal times" (if any time can be called normal). If ever there was a situation of saliency in T&T politics, it is the present.
The stand-off is over, but the crisis continues. Teachers, students and parents should seize the opportunity to get as many of the protagonists in the crisis as possible into the schools. Whenever possible, they should invite representatives of opposing sides at the same time.
They should bombard them with as many stupid or intelligent questions as they possibly can, and get a debate going that can only be to the advantage of all concerned. A clearer idea of the real basis of both politics and respect would certainly emerge.
Furthermore, such a debate might well contribute to the solution of the crisis. Why shouldn't a Constituent Assembly have its beginnings in the schools?
Copyright © 2004 Denis Solomon