Changing behaviour through public education

PAOLO KERNAHAN

IGNORANCE comes at a cost – one we pay with our peace of mind, tranquillity of our communities, and even our lives.

Humans aren’t born with pre-installed programming to co-exist harmoniously with others in a shared space. Parents are typically the ones who bequeath values of civic responsibility, morality and human decency to their spawn.

If parents, though, haven’t been exposed to such teachings in their formative years, then their offspring will inherit their deficiencies of character. Such failings become the shared burden of the wider society – we all suffer the consequences of untreated ignorance among us.

It’s a difficult equation to unravel – violent crime, bullying and fighting in schools, environmental destruction, pollution, wanton littering, reckless driving and road fatalities are noxious elements of societal decay that can, in many instances, be traced right back to malignant ignorance that flourishes in the absence of public education.

I often ask myself, why are Trini people so markedly inconsiderate and lawless? The manifestations of our dark qualities are so widespread, I sometimes wonder whether the problem is me – can it be that I don’t belong here? Am I unreasonable to expect that the same behaviours I demand of myself be reciprocated by others around me?

The manifestations of this ignorance are legion. The frequency with which people park either directly in front of your gate or obstruct your egress by parking opposite is a commonplace feature of this island life. We're all in dis together – if I strugglin’ you have to struggle too. If I can’t get through, neither can you.

That corrosive mindset shows up in all areas of public life. It explains, in part, why Trinidad is so "nasty," figuratively and literally. Notwithstanding the small size of our economy, garbage collection is fairly regular. Bush and tree cuttings in many areas are collected by the regional corporation. In some communities, decommissioned appliances, furniture and other household detritus are taken away when placed out on the road. Yet, indiscriminate dumping is an unchecked epidemic. One discarded broken chair becomes a mountain of white waste, rusted swing sets, and soggy mattresses within a day.

Beyond the eyesore and diseases that are products of a defiantly ignorant people, such thinking, or avoidance of thought, carries more serious consequences. The fact that there are those among us who argue passionately that speeding and reckless driving aren’t the primary causes of road fatalities – that motorists who drive “too slowly” are the real culprits behind mangled wrecks emphasises this truth: ignorance is lethal.

When I see people saying that speeding on the road demonstrates skill at the wheel, I’m reminded that ignorance and, more uncharitably, stupidity, exist in the vacuum of public education.

There is this common misapprehension that schools are responsible for imparting life values to children. That, however, isn’t in teachers’ job descriptions any more than it is their role to referee bloody gladiatorial contests among high-schoolers, both on and off school grounds. Many parents are unfortunately raising these children under the same deficient conditions under which they were raised. Worse still, kids today are under the 24/7 toxic sway of social media. Impressionable youth are exposed to a constant stream of intellectual effluent with few countervailing influences.

Ultimately, the state must intervene with weekly public education programming on state-owned TV and radio stations in addition to content created for social media channels. When TTT-turned CNMG reverted to TTT, there was a massive relaunch with gilded promises of BBC and PBS-type programming; that hasn’t materialised. Public education is the state’s obligation because the private sector won’t invest long-term in anything that isn’t directly linked to sales and profits.

Recently, the Ministry of Planning announced a public survey on biodiversity. It will be interesting to see what results are gathered from respondents. In general, knowledge about wildlife, ecosystems and biodiversity in this country is abysmal. We are a people who wholeheartedly believe domesticated cats belong in a wildlife sanctuary. Few citizens understand the role a healthy environment plays in supporting healthy conditions for humanity. Such knowledge isn’t intuitive; it’s learned.

The government has to get to grips with the dollars and cents of public ignorance – healthcare burdened by lifestyle diseases, lost productivity and capital owed to crime, road fatalities, deployment of state resources to clear rivers clogged with rubbish – the list is endless.

Consistent public education goes beyond creating a considerate, law-abiding, civilised society. Investment in the shaping of a better quality citizen is a public good which ultimately spurs the development and growth of a nation as a whole.