PRIME Minister Philip Pierre proclaimed at the 36th Annual General Meeting of the Castries East Constituency, that his government will implement programmes to get young people out of their deviant behaviours.
I had a long drink on that proclamation. However, I will not tell you the drink which I had.
Now what is deviant behaviour? Deviant behaviour is a form of behaviour which goes beyond the expected or approved behaviour of the group or society.
In the issue of the Voice Newspaper of 6th July, 2024, it was reported that a 26-Year-Old was charged in the homicide of Tanny Cherubin. It also reported that a 23-year-old was charged for ammunition and firearm possession.
Indeed, young people have demonstrated deviant behaviour for a very long time now.
Now why did I have that long drink?
Well, from 2017, I have ben writing on the following topics: “Man was born Tabula Rasa: A philosophy of Education in Relation to Violence and Crime in St. Lucia”; ‘The Open School on Preventing Behaviour Problems: What works”; and “Reducing Aggressive Behaviour in Young Children.”
As an educator and a person who have been interacting with young people for several decades, no one seems to have been taking heed.
The situation of violence crime in St. Lucia is dire and unless we come together as a people to do something about it immediately, St. Lucia and St. Lucians will pay dearly for our inaction.
The philosopher, Aristotle theorised that “Man was born Tabula Rasa.” A simple interpretation of the theory is that man was born without any prior knowledge or perception; he or she was born as a blank slate or tablet. Indeed, it is as he or she perceives of his or her environment and gains knowledge of the real world that a set of habitual behaviours, cognitions and emotional patterns evolve. By cognition, I mean the process of knowing or of learning; relating to the mind.
Youth violence is a significant public health problem in our society today. A lot of young people are very angry and they do not know how to deal with that anger. And they express that anger in multiple ways.
Indeed, our schools and society are laden with angry students and children. Students and children with a lot of “baggage.” Youth violence typically involves fights, bullying, threats with weapons and gang-related violence. These young people probably started as very good individuals. But somewhere along the way, perhaps because of how they were treated at home or in the immediate community in which they live, the influence of peers and a host of other reasons, children and students who were born ‘Tabula Rasa’, became notorious criminals.
Now, the things we say and the way in which we treat people; the non-verbal cues, and how they are received, the responses we provide to our children and students in our care are all very important variables in the concept of cognition which have lasting effects on humans.
At the first meeting of the Marchand Sacred Heart Men’s Fellowship, it was observed that men’s behaviour is used as a ‘Template’ for boys. We will explore this concept as we continue these articles on Youth and Violence.