Dear Editor,
The article on page 5 of the Catholic Standard of November 13 titled ‘Teaching children good manners’ came none too soon after I heard a Pastor who was delivering a homily at Smith’s Memorial Church on the said Friday state that the church was all too silent on a number of serious issues confronting our society. I share the view of the Pastor and had told my Bishop at a meeting of parishioners soon after he arrived in Guyana that it is my opinion that the Catholic Standard had become very docile of late in addressing a number of those issues. Perhaps the entire Church in Guyana needs to experience a Reformation as it has become impotent in publicly confronting social issues head on.
In addition, going through the content of the CS article I wondered if the authors would admit that the terms, ‘Yes Sir’ or (Mister) or ‘Madam’ had seemingly become obsolete and had been replaced by ‘Big Man’ or ‘Biggah’ and ‘Uncle.’ In addition, did ‘Sir’ or ‘Madam’ invoke in some cases resentment and anger towards the user, as indicating superior breeding which belonged to an era long past?
It is well-nigh impossible for children or youths to have good manners if they come from homes where they are daily inundated with threats from their parents or young grandparents prefixed by ‘f’,’ ‘r’ and ‘s’ expletives. These find no other way of expressing themselves mainly because of their background and in a number of cases because of illiteracy and unfinished basic schooling. This is in spite of the fact that many may have moved from the long yards to single-home dwellings.
Even in a long yard at 348 East Street (Nello Luckie’s yard) in the 1950s these expletives were not heard and youths were taught to round their mouths when pronouncing a word with the vowel ‘o,’ not be ‘brawling’ and ‘common,’ and even to cultivate a proper gait.
There is no effort in the society to combat crimes committed against the quality of life, and there is a gross misconception as to what constitutes the standard of life – given the ease with which certain consumer items could be obtained these days in the marketplace – as compared to the quality of life. Marine and lumberjack language can be heard being uttered at almost every twist and turn by both sexes, schoolchildren being no exception. The teachers at Queenstown RC, St Ambrose, Moravian and Bedford schools would never have turned a deaf ear to such foul language five or six decades ago.
The article in CS stated that manners and respect were inseparable, and in the past, to prevent ‘peer pressure’ our parents and guardians taught us such adages as, “Show me your company and I’ll tell you who you are”; and “One bad apple spoils the whole barrel”; or “Speak properly and you will write properly”; and “Quiet speech is a sign of refinement.” These sayings were intended to prevent us from cultivating undesirable traits or company which was incompatible with the discipline and behaviour and modesty ingrained in you at home by your father or mother. The ‘I is’ and ‘Wha yo deh pun’ syndrome did not then raise their despicable heads, and our teachers both at primary and secondary school spoke grammatically correctly and saw to it that their wards did likewise. In the home you were told to leave the trash talk at the gate.
Despite the hype these days about the environment and the garbage strewn on the seawalls, the sanitary inspector of old reigned supreme when it came to a tidy environment in a long yard. A tenant would be stigmatized on being hauled before the courts for having untidy surroundings. Today we litter with gay abandon oblivious to the resultant ugliness of parapets, verges and drains and without any fear of prosecution. The school environment in most cases is no different.
Editor, there is a very serious scenario which has came to the fore, mainly functional illiteracy underachievement, and dropouts from school. There is the inability of persons in several communities to engage in logical and meaningful or edifying discussions and a blatant refusal to simply agree to disagree on points raised by one or the other. Most would crassly defend a position which is of benefit to them regardless of the adverse effect on others. It is for this reason that our youths have to be exposed to basic logic from early childhood and in the school system – if the parents and teachers are capable of imparting basic principles. The alternative is that which has recently permeated the society – a resort to threats and acts of physical violence, hence, the commonplace urging of “Bus ’e head,” etc, that erupts at many football matches. Such behaviour did not occur at the ‘yachting shoes’ football matches a generation or two ago at the Parade Ground, even though a great many of those youths who flocked to the matches came from the bottom of the ladder.
I have concluded that today’s politics seem to be all controlling, with the result that legitimate space for social organizations to function is very limited. The work done by those social organizations is invaluable in teaching young people skills and virtues. I would like the public to recognize this invaluable contribution and I urge them to support those organizations and NGOs with the resources so that they could function effectively and thus promote a more suitable environment for our youths to look forward to upward mobility and the attendant benefits.
Finally, Dr Ian McDonald’s article ‘Guard against the slide’ of June 10, 2007, says, “Even the best of people don’t like to act against the obscene. Even the best of people don’t want to interfere. Even the best of people delude themselves into thinking that the natural course of events is for the good which will soon reassert itself. Even the most intelligent of people doubt that the gutter will ever run through their own front rooms.”
I dare to state that the gutter is running through a number of our front rooms and we blatantly refuse to recognize it or, if we do, to do anything to halt the flow of sewage. Who is left to be concerned?
Yours faithfully,
Aubrey Alexander