Dear Editor
Our Jamaican society tends to pattern everything that the United States does and so upon this premise, I would want us to take a closer look at the Boot Camp System that is implemented across the US to reform students.
The approach that I would like to recommend is that unruly students, upon recommendation from the school and after evaluation, should be transported to Up Park Camp in marked army vehicles, where they will be handed over to a group of already competently trained officers of the army. These officers would have already been authorized to administer discipline to adult men and women who deviate from the norms of the army and so would be able to do the same to juveniles in getting them to conform to set standards of behaviour.
This programme should be of such that they are taught the discipline of waking up early, keeping their sleeping area and clothes impeccably clean and tidy, exercising rigorously, doing chores, completing assigned schoolwork in keeping with their grade levels and learning to have respect for others, God, and their property.
We can be assured that they would interpret the experience as gruesome, yet they were selfishly prepared to inflict this same treatment on innocent peers. These juveniles would only be released when they can prove that their behaviors have changed, and their mindsets renewed. It should also be noted though, that there are indeed students who are being influenced to behave badly by the groups that they affiliate with in their communities and schools and that the minute you take them out of that setting, they become different individuals. A lot of parents are helpless in this regard, and I am sure they would welcome this assistance of finding alternative places of safety for the children once they have been reformed.
Being reformed can be achieved in various ways. I watched a very enlightening movie many years ago on television called “Scared Straight.” It portrayed a group of students who were identified as instigators of mischief and misconduct. They were all taken inside a prison to spend a day or two. The moment they walked through those metal gates, they were slammed shut behind them, and that was the first eye opener and the beginning of an appreciation of life, behind bars. They were taken to an area where selected inmates would have sessions with them, revealing their experiences of the lifestyle that they lived on the outside of prison, which caused them to be incarcerated and what they had come to now regret. These prisoners at times would ask the juveniles what kind of trouble they were giving and if they intimidated others by fighting them. The prisoner would then challenge them to bring the fight to them instead. Without weapons in hand and no instigators to cheer those juveniles on in their wrongdoings, they were powerless and helpless and therefore many of them cried out for help from the prison authorities. They were not left alone during the sessions. They also engaged in other sessions away from this exercise, where they got a chance to reflect.
Many of us like to try to stand in the way of the discipline that we often need to enforce in order to see change, because we feel it is too harsh; but many of us, now older in years, look back and smile at the discipline that we had to endure, (which seemed hard and unreasonable at the time), nodding our heads in appreciation of the training received. We have, in changing our laws from training our children in the ways that they should go (not encouraging abuse), and replacing the power into the hands of our minors, handed over our authority in this way and are reaping the sour fruits that we can do nothing about, if we fail to change course.
Just try to imagine, shocking someone with the role play of what their actions could result in prior to it becoming a reality! It could change the course of many youths and allow them to be thankful for the freedom that they now experience, when the possibility of losing it can be staring them in the face around the bend. If Jamaica is serious about seeing a change, maybe, if we start right now, then more lives can be spared and our future will take a turn for the best and true transformation for our society will begin.
I am,
Michelle Goulbourne
