So seems to be the message from Mr. Ruel Reid, principal of Jamaica College. That’s a pretty controversial view, of course. Is there some merit to it?

Here are some of his comments from the Jamaica Gleaner story:

“We have been talking about basic values and attitudes for such a long time and we have not been doing anything. Our politicians are afraid to stand up and say you can’t have children if you can’t afford it,” Reid declared.

“We are at the same place that we were in 1967 and, if people are continuously in poverty, their focus is not going to be on education and the data supports it, because even after we do ASTEP (Alternative Secondary Transitional Education Programme), we still have 10-14 per cent of kids who have serious cognitive deficiencies as a result of those socio-economic issues.”

 

Mr. Reid is making some problematic assumptions. First of all, what does he mean by “poor?” Second, he is conflating poverty as a state of mind with a lack of interest in educating oneself. Third, he is attacking “poor” people and unfairly characterizing them as irresponsible. Fourth, what about the rest of society? Why do government, citizens and civil society groups have no culpability in the situation? After all, Jamaica is a community, a society of people trying to improve themselves. (As a caveat, I must say that we do not have access to the entirety of his speech, so it could be just the way that the reporter portrayed the speech that creates such a negative impression).

There is no shortage of statistical studies that indicate a correlation between poverty and low education levels. But the “poor” are all too often marginalized further in the media as being lazy, uninterested in self-improvement or education and clueless. Therefore, Mr. Reid appears to believe, it is up to government to provide policies that steer them in the right direction.

“We have a very socially dysfunctional society and we are not going to get very far if the policymakers don’t wake up and decide to change our course of direction,” Reid declared.

This attitude is part of the problem as it creates an unhelpful dichotomy between the “poor” and everyone else, and in the process, all are robbed of a sense of agency.