The 2010 Crop Over Festival is about to reach its climax. Tonight will see the staging of Cohobblopot which is being promoted with all local performers; a departure from the past two years. Tomorrow the masqueraders will take to the road to jump on Kadooment Day on a new route which has generated the usual controversy among the band leaders. All in all the NCF directorate seems to be happy with how the festival has gone so far. Not sure the criteria which is being used.
Before the festival closes we want to share our opinion on the growing popularity by adults to wearing their school uniforms to Crop Over fetes. The fetes are openly promoted as ‘Back to School Fetes’, to be admitted a school uniform must* be worn. There was one such fete a couple weeks ago by Power X 4 which attracted thousands of party people and the police had to stop the fete for security reasons. If Barbadians did not have an opinion on the matter the outspoken Minister of Education Ronald Jones provoked many given his position on the matter.
“. . . Because of the profound respect I had for the uniform of my school, I am not wearing that to any fete, before school, after school, or even during school, especially during vacation; unless it was a special programme organised by my school where you ask the students to turn up in their uniforms.
“How far we have drifted. The kind of respect we hold to certain symbols that give us authority, that give us presence in our schools. There are so many things that people can do to enjoy themselves. I want them to leave the uniforms alone. I want them to leave the uniforms for the symbols of the schools,” Jones said” – Nation Newspaper.
So far no bad behaviour has been reported arising from Barbadians attending ‘Back to School Fetes’. By and large it appears Barbadians have acted responsibly at the many Crop Over parties by having some clean fun. According to our sources the Ellerslie Back to School Fete was so well attended the bar was unable to service patrons who in some cases had to resort to the trunks of their cars to quench their thirst. BU understands Minister Jones’ concern given the problems his ministry is having with indiscipline in the schools. Is it possible students maybe observing the adult behaviour and reinforcing ill advised behaviours of their own? We just don’t know although commonsense suggest this is likely It should be easy for our social scientists to test this matter using scientific methods. Isn’t this why we boast of an educated workforce?
Here is what we know. Many of our schools are struggling to attract interest from parents to discuss their* children’s progress. Many of our schools are struggling to install vibrant Parent Teachers Associations. Many of our schools have little or no old scholar involvement. It is surprising therefore that many of these proud old scholars are motivated to attends the many ‘Back to School Fetes’ in the thousands.
Yes we agree with Minister Ronald Jones that our adults need to respect the school uniforms. The bigger issue for BU is why the support for the fetes by our adults and not the same support for important school activities by our adults? Is it a case of misplaced priorities? Is it a case of a society driven to rivalry because of the economic pressures they have been subjected?
Is it…?
The blogmaster invites you to join the discussion.