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It's graduation season again, and I would like to share with you the sort of message I delivered to graduates this year.
I have lived through more or less the first 50 years of Jamaica as an independent country, and you graduates are likely to live through the second 50. I hope you do better with your 50 than my generation did with ours.
The generation before mine could put the blame on their colonial masters for the state of Jamaica in 1960; my generation collec-tively have only ourselves to blame for the state of the country in 2010. You, sitting down there in your lovely caps and gowns, will have to take responsibility for your nation's future.
My generation inherited an education system designed to support an island of plantations, needing only a few educated managers at the top, and a large mass of slightly literate manual labourers below. We could have changed that, but we didn't. What we did is to adopt the vision our colonial masters had of us, and we have not made many changes to that system we interited.
The 'right' one
And so every year, tens of thousands of Jamaican parents jockey to get their children into the 'right' primary school, so that six or so years later they can battle to get their sons and daughters into the 'right' high school. But so many children never even learn to read properly, and many fall through the huge cracks in the system to become social problems down the road.
It will be the task of your generation to make more schools 'right', and to build more 'right' primary and secondary schools so that we do not waste the human resources that God has endowed us with.
Following their urge for progress, some of my generation have confused building construction with development, and in the process we have despoiled much of the natural resources that God has endowed us with. During the last century, more than 100 rivers have dried up; we have so depleted our fish stocks that we may have the most overfished waters in the world! And dozens of animals and plants found only in Jamaica have gone extinct, have disappeared from the face of the Earth - forever!
My generation has a poor environmental record, and graduates: it will be the task of your generation to usher in an age of genuine sustainable development in Jamaica - the only road to sustainable prosperity! And you are better prepared than my generation was, for you know more about water conservation and soil conservation, and about solid waste disposal and climate change, than we did.
Corruption
The generation before mine negotiated political independence with our colonial masters, and in the first 50 years of Jamaica's political independence we said we were trying to build a nation, a good place to live and work and raise our children. But what have we actually built?
Despite having more churches per square mile than any other country on Earth, my generation did not build a nation free from public corruption. People at the bottom can buy a driver's licence, or pay a money to pass a car; and people at the top can buy influence with politicians through campaign contributions.
It was during the tenure of my generation that the phenomenon we call 'garrisons' was born and grew and matured, and recent events have shown that garrisons are alive and well, and are prepared to flex their muscles and strut their stuff.
Graduates: It is going to be the challenge of your generation to do better than mine, and to break the link between politics and criminality, between the private sector and influence-peddling.
You must study hard as you prepare yourselves for your chosen career, and then you must work hard to build a new and better Jamaica.
Peter Espeut is a rural development sociologist and a Roman Catholic deacon.
I have lived through more or less the first 50 years of Jamaica as an independent country, and you graduates are likely to live through the second 50. I hope you do better with your 50 than my generation did with ours.
The generation before mine could put the blame on their colonial masters for the state of Jamaica in 1960; my generation collec-tively have only ourselves to blame for the state of the country in 2010. You, sitting down there in your lovely caps and gowns, will have to take responsibility for your nation's future.
My generation inherited an education system designed to support an island of plantations, needing only a few educated managers at the top, and a large mass of slightly literate manual labourers below. We could have changed that, but we didn't. What we did is to adopt the vision our colonial masters had of us, and we have not made many changes to that system we interited.
The 'right' one
And so every year, tens of thousands of Jamaican parents jockey to get their children into the 'right' primary school, so that six or so years later they can battle to get their sons and daughters into the 'right' high school. But so many children never even learn to read properly, and many fall through the huge cracks in the system to become social problems down the road.
It will be the task of your generation to make more schools 'right', and to build more 'right' primary and secondary schools so that we do not waste the human resources that God has endowed us with.
Following their urge for progress, some of my generation have confused building construction with development, and in the process we have despoiled much of the natural resources that God has endowed us with. During the last century, more than 100 rivers have dried up; we have so depleted our fish stocks that we may have the most overfished waters in the world! And dozens of animals and plants found only in Jamaica have gone extinct, have disappeared from the face of the Earth - forever!
My generation has a poor environmental record, and graduates: it will be the task of your generation to usher in an age of genuine sustainable development in Jamaica - the only road to sustainable prosperity! And you are better prepared than my generation was, for you know more about water conservation and soil conservation, and about solid waste disposal and climate change, than we did.
Corruption
The generation before mine negotiated political independence with our colonial masters, and in the first 50 years of Jamaica's political independence we said we were trying to build a nation, a good place to live and work and raise our children. But what have we actually built?
Despite having more churches per square mile than any other country on Earth, my generation did not build a nation free from public corruption. People at the bottom can buy a driver's licence, or pay a money to pass a car; and people at the top can buy influence with politicians through campaign contributions.
It was during the tenure of my generation that the phenomenon we call 'garrisons' was born and grew and matured, and recent events have shown that garrisons are alive and well, and are prepared to flex their muscles and strut their stuff.
Graduates: It is going to be the challenge of your generation to do better than mine, and to break the link between politics and criminality, between the private sector and influence-peddling.
You must study hard as you prepare yourselves for your chosen career, and then you must work hard to build a new and better Jamaica.
Peter Espeut is a rural development sociologist and a Roman Catholic deacon.
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