Tanya Stephens Says Society Has Failed Following Teacher-Student Fight
The public responses, including that of the Education Minister Fayval Williams, to a video of a 56-year-old female teacher at the Tivoli Gardens High School in Kingston, engaging a 16-year-old male student in combat, has drawn the indignation of Reggae/Dancehall superstar, Tanya Stephens.
According to Stephens, the debate about which of the two is wrong, is pointless and ought not to be the crux of the discussions, but instead, the fact that Jamaica has failed as a society, if incidences such as teacher-students fights are even remotely possible.
The boy in question has since been charged with malicious destruction of property and assault occasioning bodily harm, which has resulted in an outcry from Jamaicans who say the teacher too, who was the aggressor, ought to be charged as well.
In the video, the boy is seen pushing away the teacher who grabs a metal desk to hurl it at him, as other children laugh in the background. However, the boy grabs it and tosses it aside. The teacher then makes another advance, this time striking the child who shoves her away, before she grabs him by the necktie and strikes him in the upper body and face. As other boys try to break up the fight, the teacher, still holding onto his necktie, aims at the boy’s face. The boy then tries to pull away and lashes out at her, as the clip ends.
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On Tuesday morning Stephens took issue with persons whom she said were “reasoning out the matter as if the teacher and student are power equals in the school environment” despite there being “no measure which can apply to them equally”.
“One is a misbehaving child whose life we have no insight into, and the other is an adult professional whose training should have been at least adequate enough to defer if she can’t peacefully resolve on her own. Our rigid authoritarian stance has caused us to retrogress beyond recognition and we too arrogant fi apply real fixes,” the Rebelution artiste noted after viewing the responses to the video on ZJ Sparks’ Instagram page.
“A fist fight, hand to hand combat. A pickney and a teacha in a classroom in a hand-to-hand combat and we are trying to figure out which one a dem wrong inna di situation. Why wi need fi know dat? What wi need fi acknowledge is that all a wi have failed fi we have waa society in which that is even possible. And that is going to become the landscape because we now actually a validate it by debating it when dat nuh need no debate,” she added.
Stephens also took to her own page to share the response of the Education Minister, who was quoted in a newspaper headline as “condemning violent, antisocial behaviour in schools and the wider society”. Taking full aim at the Minister, Stephens said that she should be moved to another Ministry forthwith, as she lacks the capacity to manage.
“First of all, we need a different Minister of Education. Miss Williams’ statement is indicative of an infertile mind, rooted in the low self esteem driven superiority complexes of the past which pointed fingers and demanded fixes from those who report to them instead of actively engaging in the creation of NEW and RESULT DRIVEN programs. The old ways brought us to THIS POINT. Stop pretending they worked! Anything which preceded this is abject failure. Start by being honest about that or brace yourselves for more and worse. You can’t beat the youth. They will ALWAYS innovate to amplify your energy and burst your eardrums with it,” she wrote.
“Either yuh a guh step down or allow somebody else to do this work, weh yuh cannot manage. Girl, mi naw judge yuh; mi a observe yuh. Yuh naw manage,” she said later in an IG live session.
Continuing on her Instagram post, Stephens said that when the classroom “becomes too much to bear teachers should leave for the sake of the children but, also for the sake of their own sanity and safety”.
“Only in the mind of the intellectually depraved could it make sense for a teacher and student to be engaged in combat… regardless of who is at fault. Those 2 are not power equals in the school environment. One is a child (regardless of activities being engaged in) and the other is the trained adult professional willingly standing in the nurturer position.,” Stephens emphasized.
Coming out in defence of Jamaica’s young generation, Stephens said children who tend to be disruptive are not “bad”, but are misguided”, and that teachers have a tole to play as nurturers to make them be their best selves, and not engage in tussles with them.
“A lie oonu a tell pon Jamaica pickney dem. Dem nuh bad. Guh weh. None a di pickney dem nuh bad. Di pickney dem a act outta dem circumstance… a we a fail. Wi a fail dem, and wi a fail wiself. And wi a fail generations to come,” Tanya said.
According to Stephens, the teacher, by her own untoward attempts to punish the boy, without thinking of the consequences, had put her own self in a precarious position, as students would now have no respect for her, and will never again see her as an authority figure.
“Even di one dem weh bruck up di fight, dem will neva si dah teacha deh as waa authority figure. Dem haffi move har outta di school. She caan effectively teach deh suh. She can’t. She just can’t and this is not a criticism of her capacity to teach. This is an observation of the position weh shi find herself inna. She cannot successfully engage these kids again. Dem naw teck har serious,” she said.
“Mi a guh tell you dis, if me did a guh a dah school deh, straight clowning. Eediat dat. Mi couldn’t have no respect fi har. She couldn’t get back my attention, eva. And if wi siddung yah suh and pretend seh she can continue fi teach deh suh, den wi don’t want a solution – wi love problem… Dah woman deh, bow. Shi bow out. Listen, shi a guh be one legend weh handed down through di grades. When first form pickney dem come een dem a guh learn from dem friends above, seh dah ‘techa deh a eediat’,” she added.
She added: Look here , mi naw seh dis, fi meck shi si dah video yah an feel hurt enuh. Mi a try to bring clarity to the situation fi oonu know seh actions have consequences.”