Simply, No Single Solution

One of the most fundamental flaws we have as a society is the apparent notion that for every challenge there is a single effective and practical solution. This is quite far from the truth. Equally flawed, perhaps, is the assumption that societal challenges occur in isolation, rather than within the complex, interrelated landscape of socio-economic changes. Presently we are entangled with two major crises or possibly two sides of the same figurative coin. That of educational transformation and the more brutal criminal activity.
Let’s start with those who make the best of their educational opportunities. It is a norm where many graduates endure years of struggle before securing an entry level position. Many employers perpetuate the paradox of demanding experience from new graduates while denying them the opportunity to obtain said experience. This diminishes the role of education as a viable path to upward mobility.

Those Who Fall Through The Cracks

Next, we have those who fail. Some fail as a result of a lack of enthusiasm or support, others having underlying learning difficulties all of which, if properly examined, have a direct correlation to the environment at home. To date, the system is still understaffed as it relates to expertise required to diagnose and treat many learning difficulties. Which implies that regular home visits for parental support is severely lacking. Quite often social programs targeting parenting are reduced to corporate workshop sessions that offer very little long term effectiveness beyond supporting political rhetoric.

Teachers As Social Workers

So for our nation’s children and to appease international commitments for the rights of a child we rest the burden on teachers. In many cases it is left to teachers not only to facilitate education but also to provide pastoral care that is equivalent to the specialized expertise of psychiatrist, psychologist, and social workers while managing the expectations and tempers of disillusioned parents.

Misguided Comparisons

We often reference education systems like Finland and how their system is a beaming example of excellence. What we however neglect to recognise is how the wider socio-economics and cultural aspects of Finland play into the success of their education system. For one, they have a large social welfare system fueled by a high progressive tax rate. Finland’s success cannot be transplanted into a Caribbean context without acknowledging their deeply embedded culture of trust and civic duty, well-resourced welfare state, and economic superiority. Currently we struggle with basic continuous maintenance of school plants, and welfare advancement to create an equitable classroom is conceptual at best. We preach educational transformation as a continuous process but with no set targets it is but a vague imagination.

Colonial Roots, Modern Chains

One major motivation highlighted for educational transformation has been the woke idea of moving away from a system that was designed to support the socio-economic structure of our colonial past. It was built to supply obedient labour and uphold a condescending hierarchy. A model where students were silenced into submission, seen but not heard, and often disciplined into conformity. I dare say that while we have embraced political independence and formally severed ties with the colonizer, we have not yet left the plantation. True emancipation, psychological, economic, and institutional, remains elusive. In many ways, we continue to replicate the very hierarchies we claim to have dismantled, sometimes cloaked in the language of modernization.

The reality is that much of the value created by the average worker is extracted by employers, leaving employees with just enough to keep the lights on and return to work. Worse still, many face inhumane working conditions and policies designed to exploit them with ruthless efficiency. And this exploitation is not limited to minimum wage earners. The financial system, too, appears to be structured in ways that ensnare even middle-income earners in debt traps, often under the guise of upward mobility.
Take the mortgage, for instance, a binding contract that, for many, becomes a modern form of indentured servitude. It promises ownership but often delivers decades of economic constraint.

The Lure Of The Streets

With a high cost of living and insufficient income it is not hard to see why people would look towards other means of income. This may highlight why many financial scams have proliferated across the society. One must note that illegal activity, while risky, can offer means of fast cash. Take marijuana for example, while legally the economic enfranchisement of marijuana has been out of the reach of the average person. Associated policy has liberated the use of said drug. Thus creating a demand and ultimate market. This is only one example of many illicit drugs that are in circulation.

Imagine Pam, a university graduate who, two years after earning her degree, is still packing bags at a supermarket. Her mother is rarely home, working long hours just to keep up with the mortgage, car
payments, and mounting bills. Even then, there’s barely enough left for groceries. Meanwhile, Joe is on the block, stepping out of the latest ride, wearing the newest Jordans and everyone knows he didn’t even finish school. That contrast alone can be enough to lure an impressionable mind toward illegal activity.
Now add the layers: the constant paranoia for safety, the altered states brought on by drugs, the emotional strain from home, and a pervasive gun culture glorified through music. In such an environment, gunplay and rising crime become not just likely, but almost inevitable.

Behind The Scenes

While many of these young men may find it easy to pull a trigger, the sourcing and importation of firearms require a far more sophisticated and organized criminal network. Therefore, as we work to strengthen community policing and remove guns from our streets, equal attention must be given to disrupting the supply chains of illegal weapons and drugs. This includes a coordinated effort to halt
the inflow at the borders and to hold those behind these operations accountable through the justice system.

Interconnected Crises Require Integrated Solutions

Education and crime are not separate crises, they are deeply interconnected symptoms of the same systemic conditions: a society still grappling with the enduring shadow of colonialism, entrenched inequality, and institutional decay. While neither issue can be resolved with a singular or simplistic solution, neither are they beyond repair. Meaningful progress demands a nuanced, sustained effort grounded in the socio-economic realities of our context.