Published On:Thursday, March 18, 2010

BY DESHON FOX

MANY concerned Bahamian adults sense that there is a missing component in the machinery of our communities. This missing component is like a nut needed to tighten the leg of a chair. Without this "nut" no matter how we position the chair, it will wobble when we sit in it; it will be unstable. Using this chair to symbolise our communities, we can all agree that the collective Bahamian community is unstable; our society has spiraled into a depraved condition where senseless violence and immorality have become the norm. How did we get here? What happened to the safe and friendly Bahamas so many of us heard about from our parents, a Bahamas where windows and doors were left open at night?

So, what is this missing component, this "nut"? To adequately answer this question we will have to think outside of the box. Box thinking will propel us down the same path where we defer all responsibility for the well being of our communities to our government and religious leaders. We've been down this path many times before. We know where it leads. It's time for us to change course and to accept full responsibility for the social condition of our country.

A new sense of shared responsibility and a commitment to communal life would empower us to work together to actively confront the common challenges before us. If, for example, a park in our neighbourhood is always dirty, we should come together with like-minded neighbors to regularly clean it.

Too often and too easily we defer responsibility for addressing such problems in our community to someone else: the government, the police, the pastor and so on. What is missing from our cultural identity-and from the machinery of our communities- is a proactive attitude that drives us to address problems head on.

Escalating crime is arguably the most serious problem we face in our communities; however, I will focus the remainder of this article on what I feel is an even more fundamental problem in the Bahamas: the poor socialisation of our youth.

Our youth are in trouble. We know this. We read about the fights at school. We know about the sex rings and the drug use. We know these things. What are we-not just the government officials or the church leaders- doing to help our children and teenagers develop into thoughtful, well adjusted adults?

I believe our primary focus should be on fundamentally changing the public educational system in the Bahamas. It is not working. By "not working" I mean it is not producing imaginative, thinking young adults with inquisitive and bright minds. Aside from the uninspiring physical environments of our public schools, their standardised, outdated curriculum does not develop the imaginative and creative capacity of our students. This has to change. Parents and teachers of the Bahamas-not only the government-should examine innovative, inquiry based approaches to teaching that are proven to strengthen the critical thinking skills of students. With focused effort we could in a few years devise a new curriculum for our public schools that is progressive and intellectually stimulating.

Inevitably, as we attempt to improve the public educational system, we will be faced with the challenge of providing a moral foundation for our children. We should not, as some states in America have done, remove God from our public schools; however, we should expose our children to a broader view of God and religion. The average Bahamian teenager is likely to have as many virtual friends of diverse religious backgrounds as they do friends at school or home. This fact alone should prompt us to develop broad-based religious study courses that expose children to a wider range of religious thought. This is not a minor issue. The children of this generation are maturing in a global society where intolerance and bigotry of any kind is frowned upon.

Given this, they are naturally suspicious of narrow-mindedness and can sense, almost instinctively, when they are being fed a dogmatic diet. They may appear to swallow, but they will not digest this information; it will not reach the core of their beings.

In my new book, The Middle Theory: A Guide to Balance, I argue that "we have entered.... a time when humanity will be challenged to recognise its fundamental oneness, a time when we will come to understand that the purpose of diversity is to express God's all-encompassing beauty." If we do not respond to the aspirations of this generation, aspirations that embrace diversity of all kinds and that seek a more inclusive approach to governance and religious customs, we will continue to foster an unstable society of disempowered, wayward youth.

Although the challenges before us are great, the opportunities are even greater. By finding new, creative ways to engage our youth in our public and private schools, we can inspire a new generation of young Bahamians to be active and responsible citizens who face challenges head on and respond to ills in the society with creative solutions. This is our greatest hope for a bright and stable future.

* Deshon Fox is the author of The Middle Theory. He is also a professional engineer and columnist. To learn more about his new book, visit www.themiddletheory.com.