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.....someone gets it at last.
This while the dunce PNP/JLP politicians promote "bangarang" "termites" and other assorted nonsense....ignoring the real root problems the country faces...and possible solutions.
Integrated social problems
Published: Friday | September 18, 2009
The social problems we have in Jamaica are interlinked; they feed upon and reinforce each other, and interweave into a coherent blanket, covering us all.
Our plantation economy requires unskilled manual labour, and we have created an education system which produces large numbers of males suited for precisely that; this education system favours women and pushes them on to university where they excel, but then many cannot find suitable life partners.because the men are elsewhere. and so family life is damaged, with many educated women either unmarried or sharing men, and having children out of wedlock. Many uneducated men unable to find women descend to rape and other dysfunctions.
But sexual profligacy in Jamaica did not begin here. Slaves were not allowed to marry, and the masters "had their way" with their slave women. Sexual self-control is not a respected value in Jamaica.
Our damaged families produce dysfunctional children - especially boys - many unable to benefit from the little education they are offered; to impress the opposite sex in a highly competitive market many take short cuts into crime, the only easy way an uneducated man can earn enough to afford the bling; dwindling numbers however, do play the game and work on the plantation, as the national economy and society spiral downward.
Thrives on dependency
Complementing all this is the political system which thrives on dependency, for economically independent persons do not need politics or politicians. The people at the top have been made to depend on politicians for contracts, and those at the bottom have become addicted to jobs and handouts. Politicians themselves need campaign contributions, and votes to legitimise themselves. The system works because everyone is captive.
Who benefits from this system? Not everyone to be sure! The private sector benefits, for they get cheap labour and a direct line to politicians who owe them favours. The politicians benefit, for they have (limited) power and much prestige, and a source of revenue additional to their salaries. And there are others who benefit to a greater or lesser extent - middle managers in the private and public sectors, and certain middle level political functionaries and hangers-on.
But the vast majority of Jamaicans suffer with poor education and life skills, unhappy - even depressing - family situations, feelings of personal insecurity and occasionally falling victim to crime and violence; and yes, poverty and deprivation with its uncertainties and misery.
An integrated problem requires an integrated solution, but many people do not see this.
You cannot fix the crime problem while leaving everything else intact. Jamaica's high crime rate is inextricably linked to our sub-standard education system and dysfunctional family structure. Our plantation economy depends upon having a sub-standard education system and lots of unemployed people to drive down wages. Our political system depends upon a venal private sector and dependent (therefore governable) masses.
Apprehend and dispose
Try to fix any one social problem in isolation, and the other linked-in problems quickly choke and neutralise the efforts. Were we somehow able to apprehend and dispose of all the present crop of criminal gunmen, a new crop would soon be produced from the desperation of our inner cities Fix the education system alone and our many high school and university graduates will find out that there are no jobs for them here; they will migrate, wasting the country's investment in them. Focusing on building mega-hotels to grow the economy will only degrade the natural environment. Introducing casinos and mega-lotteries will not create new wealth, but only take what is there out of the hands of the gullible.
Students of social change and human development know you have to work on several fronts at the same time, in a co-ordinated way; you have to avoid sending mixed signals.
We must invest to improve human capital,
not only through high-quality academic and technical education and training, but also by inculcating values of self-discipline and self-control - and putting them into practice, including in the sexual area. Emphasising the availability of contraception and abortion encourages the opposite of self-control.
Entrepreneurship, alive and well in Jamaica, needs to be taken to a higher level. If the link between politics and crime is not cut, all the above will come to naught.
Jamaica will never be able to overcome our problems as long as the process of national development is in the hands of politicians who are a big part of the problem.
This while the dunce PNP/JLP politicians promote "bangarang" "termites" and other assorted nonsense....ignoring the real root problems the country faces...and possible solutions.
Integrated social problems
Published: Friday | September 18, 2009
The social problems we have in Jamaica are interlinked; they feed upon and reinforce each other, and interweave into a coherent blanket, covering us all.Our plantation economy requires unskilled manual labour, and we have created an education system which produces large numbers of males suited for precisely that; this education system favours women and pushes them on to university where they excel, but then many cannot find suitable life partners.because the men are elsewhere. and so family life is damaged, with many educated women either unmarried or sharing men, and having children out of wedlock. Many uneducated men unable to find women descend to rape and other dysfunctions.
But sexual profligacy in Jamaica did not begin here. Slaves were not allowed to marry, and the masters "had their way" with their slave women. Sexual self-control is not a respected value in Jamaica.
Our damaged families produce dysfunctional children - especially boys - many unable to benefit from the little education they are offered; to impress the opposite sex in a highly competitive market many take short cuts into crime, the only easy way an uneducated man can earn enough to afford the bling; dwindling numbers however, do play the game and work on the plantation, as the national economy and society spiral downward.
Thrives on dependency
Complementing all this is the political system which thrives on dependency, for economically independent persons do not need politics or politicians. The people at the top have been made to depend on politicians for contracts, and those at the bottom have become addicted to jobs and handouts. Politicians themselves need campaign contributions, and votes to legitimise themselves. The system works because everyone is captive.
Who benefits from this system? Not everyone to be sure! The private sector benefits, for they get cheap labour and a direct line to politicians who owe them favours. The politicians benefit, for they have (limited) power and much prestige, and a source of revenue additional to their salaries. And there are others who benefit to a greater or lesser extent - middle managers in the private and public sectors, and certain middle level political functionaries and hangers-on.
But the vast majority of Jamaicans suffer with poor education and life skills, unhappy - even depressing - family situations, feelings of personal insecurity and occasionally falling victim to crime and violence; and yes, poverty and deprivation with its uncertainties and misery.
An integrated problem requires an integrated solution, but many people do not see this.
You cannot fix the crime problem while leaving everything else intact. Jamaica's high crime rate is inextricably linked to our sub-standard education system and dysfunctional family structure. Our plantation economy depends upon having a sub-standard education system and lots of unemployed people to drive down wages. Our political system depends upon a venal private sector and dependent (therefore governable) masses.Apprehend and dispose
Try to fix any one social problem in isolation, and the other linked-in problems quickly choke and neutralise the efforts. Were we somehow able to apprehend and dispose of all the present crop of criminal gunmen, a new crop would soon be produced from the desperation of our inner cities
Fix the education system alone and our many high school and university graduates will find out that there are no jobs for them here; they will migrate, wasting the country's investment in them. Focusing on building mega-hotels to grow the economy will only degrade the natural environment. Introducing casinos and mega-lotteries will not create new wealth, but only take what is there out of the hands of the gullible.Students of social change and human development know you have to work on several fronts at the same time, in a co-ordinated way; you have to avoid sending mixed signals.
We must invest to improve human capital,
not only through high-quality academic and technical education and training, but also by inculcating values of self-discipline and self-control - and putting them into practice, including in the sexual area. Emphasising the availability of contraception and abortion encourages the opposite of self-control. Entrepreneurship, alive and well in Jamaica, needs to be taken to a higher level. If the link between politics and crime is not cut, all the above will come to naught.
Jamaica will never be able to overcome our problems as long as the process of national development is in the hands of politicians who are a big part of the problem.
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