'Educated Boys Have More Options' (Jamaica)

Anthropologist Dr Herbert Gayle visited Ardenne High School in St Andrew on Wednesday to enforce that young men who are educated have more options than those who are not. Gayle lectures in the Department of Sociology, Psychology and Social Work at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona. He said he had three messages - one for the students, one for teachers and one for parents. "Keep yourselves in school, struggle, whatever it takes, make sure you are in school so you have maximum advantage," Gayle reminded the boys before he left. To the teachers, he said: "Teachers in my hearing, do not ever, ever, pursue a policy where you have one standard for girls and one for boys. Your job is to reshape the society, have one standard and let the boys reach up to it because they are bright!" And to the parents: "In order for boys to do well, they need one and a half times more food than girls." The crowd, made up of hundreds of Ardenne boys, exploded in cheers at that remark.

Gayle spoke as the school observed 'Male Awareness Day' under the theme 'Bright and Brave: Lead the Change'.

The lecturer is also involved with Fathers Incorporated, an organisation that provides counselling for fathers and promotes a positive image of fathers in Jamaica.

Struck by message

Leonardo Coombs, 12, a first-form student, said he was struck by the positive messages that gospel artiste Horace Hall (better known as 'Shepherd') and Gayle imparted.

"All that marijuana smoking," Coombs began, "I don't want it for myself. The people that came really gave an understanding about life."

Sean Chen, 17, who is in lower sixth form, said he was not looking forward to going to school on Wednesday.

"I didn't think (Male Awareness Day) would be important but I learned something," said the student whose mother encouraged him to go to school. "Dr Gayle and Shepherd really made me see the value in today."

Shepherd, unlike Gayle, shared life experiences that sometimes had the young men in roaring support of what he said, and at other times, sombre.

He spoke about his fascination with the gun, and his marijuana and crack smoking days before he turned his life around.

Gayle, to help raise awareness of their own sex, reminded the boys that they are wired differently from girls. He cited the XX and XY chromosome make-up in genetics to support his brief presentation to an auditorium filled with restless young men.

He noted that the X chromosome contains the monoamine oxidase type A (MOA-A), which allows girls to evaluate their options whereas boys have half the capacity for this.

"Back in the days when we used to hunt, if we see a lion coming, if we had two X chromosomes, we would stop and argue.

"Jennifer," he improvised, pretending to be on a hunt, "a lion is coming, what you think babyyy?"

The crowd was in stitches.

"So when we see the lion ... yow tek weh yuself," he said to giggles.

Serious side

But he noted that there is a serious side to the study of males for biological anthropologists.

"In order for you to think through things very carefully before you act, which is not something that males do very easily, you have to have training in order to raise the platform of the MAO-A, because you only have one piece, and you have to come to school and get training in order to raise that platform," he said.

Gayle pointed out to the young men, that a man who is uneducated has very few options in life.

"An untrained male can be quite savage. That is why every single country in this world that wants to have low levels of violence make sure bwoy pickney inna school!"

To that, there was applause.