Lack of Social Engineering in Jamaica

I agree that parents are responsible for the development of their offspring's. I agree that parents should guide and protect their offspring. I agree that parents should make sure their offspring's are properly socialized, understanding their roles within society. I agree that parents should teach their children manners, morals and proper problem/solution skills. Making sure they know that violence is not the solution to every problem. I agree that parents should properly integrate their children into society, promoting good social values and behavior over anti-social behavior. In order to teach better, you must know better and if you do not know better, thinking your dysfunctional lifestyle is the norm and acceptable, then how are you going to teach better to your children?

In the real world, I think we overuse the word parents and apply the word to people who should be parents, but they are not parents because they were never educated to be parents and as such, they do not know how to be parents. A parent is not just a person who can create life. There is a huge difference between a parent and a careless breeder. Parenting is a learned skill passed down generations. Some parents are perfect examples of what to do, while others are perfect examples of what NOT to do as a parent.  

Having a child does not make you a parent, it does not unlock a perfect parenting part of the brain. In many cases having a child only makes you a mother and father and even the names mother and father is overused in a lot of these instances because most are just sperm and egg donors. A lot of people who have children, do not know how to be mothers and fathers much less parents. 

Leave it up to the parents is a stupid idea, when you have poor quality parents. Poor quality individuals, make poor quality families, and poor quality families create poor quality society which affects us all. It will not be long before this reaches our doorstep and we are forced to pay the price, at times with our lives.  

We live in a society where indiscipline is widespread, celebrated and accepted as if it was a God Given Right. In Jamaica the definition of freedom, is the freedom to be indiscipline, to not follow any rules.

We are a society where anything and everything goes and is accepted. We live in a society where some people who are having children, are themselves children. Even if they are not a child in age, they are a child in terms of immaturity and do not even understand the basic concept of taking responsibility for the Children they create. They live what they learn. 

In order to teach better, you must know better and if you do not know better, thinking your dysfunctional lifestyle is the norm and acceptable, then how are you going to teach better to your children?

We live in a society that is removing the concept of standards, morality and values from everyday life. We are dismantling these concepts daily because we want a life without personal responsibility and accountability. We want to live, how we want to live. Anything goes and every man and woman for him and herself. This is the environment our children, their parent and the parent’s, parent was socialized in. Generations after generation growing up with diminishing morals, values and standards brought us to this. 

The people who should know better are not demanding better. Members of the Religious Class are product of this environment. The Teachers are a product of this environment, The Police are members of this environment. So, too are members of the political class, they are a product of this environment. All the people who should be setting an example, defending and demanding higher standards of morality and values were socialized in this environment, void of morality and values. Then we act surprise, shocked when our children act out and live what they learn from society.

Our children live what they learn.

Our children did not become dysfunctional on their own or dysfunctional overnight. They grew up in a dysfunctional society and learn the ways of that dysfunctional society from the adults of society. It is the norm for them, because as a society we normalized dysfunctional behaviour, stewed to perfection and call it freedom. 

Our children live what they learn.

The "dysfunctional behaviour" that is now commonplace in our society is bigger than just one parent and good parents are going against that tide. Like trying to go up the down escalator and in many cases fighting a losing battle. The tidal wave of bad dysfunctional behavior within society is just too great to overcome and consumes everything it rolls over. Trying to blame individual parents is just an excuse by society at large and by the stake holders of society, to not take responsibility for our lack of well-defined morals, values and standards. 

If we ignore the small rules, then we are opening the floodgates for them to break the bigger rules. Since we failed to instill in them the discipline, morals and values they need to become valid members of society. Too many Jamaicans are saying that children should not be forced to follow simple school rules. We cannot pick and choose which rules should be enforced and which should be ignored. That is sending the wrong message to youths who need discipline and structure. Schools are not just about reading and writing, it is much more than that. Even if schools are only about reading and writing, then looking at the numbers, it is clear they are failing. School is about creating the next generation to have morals, values discipline, structure, and to employ critical open and objective thinking. Currently most of them are not fit for purpose. Some are dunce, semi-literate and ignorant with zero problem solving skills. The future look dark!

Society is sending mix messages to young people. Society is saying, that we as a people have the Right and Freedom to be indiscipline, to be rude and vulgar. Our Society is saying that we as a people have the Right and Freedom to live any way we want, without morals, without standard and without values, without respect for anyone, not even the rule of law. Our Society, is saying that we as a people have the Right and Freedom to be greedy, selfish, consumed with our own self-importance. Most do not have any respect for anything and anyone, not even human life. This is the environment in which we socialize our children and young adults and this is the future of Jamaica.

Murder Rate on My Rock

When one looks at the murder rate by country, Jamaica is consistently in the top 10 and most of the countries that are in a worst economic and poverty position than Jamaica, are not even in the top 50 murder rate position. There are countries that are poorer than Jamaica, live with never ending famine and drought, cannot find food to eat and yet they do not murder each other at the same rate as Jamaicans.

Haiti is the poorest country in the Caribbean with 59% of the people living below the poverty line but have a murder rate of 6.7 per 100,000 people. Meanwhile Jamaica with a poverty rate between 12% and 17%, with a murder rate of about 46.2 per 100,000. The global murder average is 6 per 100,000 and the average for the Caribbean region, is 16 per 100,000.

I am not saying that Poverty does not influence crime but if poverty is a major caused of crime then all the countries that are worst than Jamaica, suffering more than Jamaica, should have higher murder rate than Jamaica. This tells me the dynamics that are causing Jamaica’s record high murder rates over the years are different and far much more complex than just screaming Poverty by day and enjoy merriment by night.

The Jamaican Society is not conducive to producing good parents. The stock of parents in society is only as good as the people within that society. If the people are good, properly developed then the people who become parents will be good and properly developed. Creating children who are good and properly developed. If the people are bad then society will produce bad, poorly developed and poor excuse for parents and children.

GIGO, Garbage In, Garbage Out, the end product is only as good as the ingredients that goes into making that product. Creating good parents requires an investment in human development, instilling the right morals and values and demanding those morals and values daily. We are who we are, simply because we have developed this sense of entitlement, greed, selfishness, nastiness, self-importance and a callous disregard for our Environment and human life. Our society is suffering from diminishing morality, lack of self-respect, no personal responsibility and declining human decency. These are the inputs that goes towards creating the next generation.

Just look at the age group of our criminals. Most in there teens and early twenties. 65% of young people leaving school do not have One Subject. Only about 15% of the entire working-age population have some form of tertiary qualification. The informal economy is over 60 per cent of our formal economy which means we are a nation of hustlers. 

The Jamaica Productivity Centre notes that Jamaican labour productivity in particular has declined an average of nearly 1.5 per cent a year, meaning the average Jamaican worker has been progressively contributing less to national economic wealth over the past 40-plus years.  Jamaica has one of the Lowest Productivity in the Caribbean region. Low productivity is deeply engrained into Jamaican life. 

A recent survey showed that 65% Of Jamaicans Aged 25-54 Have No Examination Passes at Secondary Level NO NATION BUIDING CAN TAKE PLACE WITH THIS!

Individuals will try to point to the fact that they also grow up in the society that I have described, and they did not turn out bad. They will point out that they have morals, values and standards so why can’t other people. No two humans share the same, exact experiences, no two humans assimilate and process external stimuli the same way. Two people might have similar (not same) experiences while growing up but turn out completely different because they are different human beings and while the experience might seem similar it is not processed the same way. I have two friends both grew up without a father and each process this situation differently.

Friend one said because his father was not a part of his life, he would never subject his children to what he experienced. He will always be there for his children, he will always be a father to them.

Meanwhile Friend two, declared that he grew up without a father and look how well he turned out. He said his children will be fine without him in their lives just like how he is fine. His father had 14 children by many different women, and my friend is on child number 4 by three different women.

Friend Two like so many Jamaican men have normalized not being a parent or a father and not taking responsibility for the children they create. The statistics of fatherless single female household is proof that his behaviour is normalized by society. My friend processed being hurt by not having a loving father in his life differently. A hurt he somehow pushed to the far corners of his mind but we know how he grew up and we saw him cry many times as a child over the fact that his father was not a real father and not in his life.

"Fatherlessness is the most harmful demographic trend of this generation. It is the leading cause of declining well-being in our society. [It is the engine driving our most urgent social problems — from crime to adolescent pregnancy to child abuse to domestic violence against women.] Yet, despite its scale and social consequences, fatherlessness is a problem that is frequently ignored or denied. (David Blankenhorn)" ....

What is required within our society, is for us as a society to consistently stand up for and demand morals, values and standards. If possible, we also need to legislate this morals, values and standards. However, what I have experienced in our society is that we consistently stand up, defend and normalized bad dysfunctional behavior as a right, on the grounds of Freedom and Democracy. 

I am a huge supporter of social engineering within society. I think it is the natural tendency of society to become disorderly and dysfunctional when left to its own devices. Society is an artificial human construct that must be designed and constantly tweaked. We as human beings must actively define and redefine the type of society; we want to live in. 

It is not much different from the concept of Permaculture farming, where if you leave a piece of land to nature it will grow up in an unorganized way that is not very beneficial to human life. The design process is a big part of Permaculture development, designing for maximum yield. By allowing the natural development of the land and helping nature along the way to design the outcome that benefits human life. 

Politicians need to start thinking about the vote less and doing the right thing more. All the stakeholder within our society needs to put greed and selfishness aside and get back to Nation Building, thinking about the Greater Good and the needs of the many. If you know better, do better and demand better.

So, who is going to step up to plate and lead the people to the promised land? Members of our Political Class, our elected leaders promised the world and delivers more of the same. I see no vision, no innovation, no plans just quick one-liners like Prosperity Time Now! But prosperity for whom?

Dr Coombs: We have to break the destructive cycle of poor fathering

Dr Michael Coombs, regional technical director, Southern Regional Health Authority, shares these statistics, drawn from US and local research:

• 90 per cent of homeless runaway children are from fatherless homes
• 63 per cent of youth suicides are from fatherless homes
• 85 per cent of children who exhibit behavioural disorders come from fatherless homes
• 80 per cent of adolescents in mental health hospitals are from fatherless homes
• 77 per cent of teenagers and kids in chemical abuse rehab centres come from fatherless homes
• 71 per cent of high school dropouts are from fatherless homes
• 71 per cent of teenage pregnancies are to children from fatherless homes
• Girls who are raised in fatherless homes are 64 per cent more likely to become pregnant before marriage, and 92 per cent more likely to dissolve their marriage when they get married.
• The absence of biological fathers increases by 900 per cent a daughter's vulnerability to rape and sexual abuse.
• 85 per cent of all youth (75 per cent of teenagers) in prison grew up in a fatherless home
• 72 per cent of all teenage murderers grew up without fathers
• 85 per cent of rapists come from fatherless homes
• Fatherless children are 11 times more likely to exhibit violent behaviour than children with both parents at home.

What we are is not serious about trying to solve any problems. Preferring instead to pay lip-service to it. We are not performing any deep statistical analyst, to identify root causes. We have not collected any relevant statistical data because we are afraid to open pandoras box. We do not have any real information about these incidents, and I am not talking about what person A might have said to person B. I am talking about an in-depth statistical study to find out who Person A and Person B really are. Where do they come from, what are their living conditions and how were they socialized in society. Who are their parents and how were their parents raised. Do they have parents or guardians? Are they from single family broken homes? Did their parents migrate? Is there a father at home, are they barrel children? What is the literacy level of the parents. How old were they when they became parents. If we collected enough data, then we should be able to see patterns and trends highlighting root-causes which would help us find solutions. For example, If we analyze every prisoner in Jamaica, then maybe we get enough data to identify problems and possibly formulate solutions to minimize those problems. 

One politician the other day was encouraging migration because all he could see was remittance. He did not care about the short term and long-term negative effects of migration on society.  Too many of our leaders are simple-minded and shortsighted.