Innercity Jamaica: The Denham Town Experience

Paul Andrew Bourne, M.Sc. (pending); B.Sc. (Hons); Dip. Edu.



INTRODUCTION



Community


The community of Denham Town (see Appendix 1-B) is an enumeration district manned by Mayor of Kingston, Mr. Desmond McKenzie, a councilor of the Jamaica Labour Party under the stewardship of a new Member of Parliament and Leader of Opposition Jamaica Labour Party, Mr. Bruce Golding. Denham Town is in the wider political space of Western Kingston. The Jamaica Labour Party predominantly governs Western Kingston, since its geo-political formation, but this space is shared by a few zones runned by the People's National Party. The Area is dynamic it regard to its political mechanism, and the influence of the political structure over life. The political space encapsulates gang violence, deprivation, aggression and hostility, musical legends, sporting prowess and is typical of a political phenomenon that is defined as a garrison. The geo-political zone affects the type of colour clothing worn, vernacular used, associations, friends, places one ventures to, and decision-taken and make, and perspective of life generally. The children are only a ?'small pawn' in the game of those communities, and so the entire populace must subscribe to the patterns of the political socialization. Students of Denham Town High school must adhere to the social space in order survive within this organic solidarity. The very nature of a student's choice is fashioned and governed unilaterally by exogenous forces, and this social reality creates aspect to the establishment of particular behaviour dilemma as he/she seeks to determine his/her self within the context of a particular geo-political space.

The entire constituency despite boasting a leader who was once Prime Minister, Leader of Opposition, Party Leader, and Member of Parliament for in excess of forty years has continued to experience geo-political turmoil. Sir Alexander Bustamante, founder of the Jamaica Labour Party and former Prime Minister of Jamaica, and later Hugh Shearer who shared the same chair help in the socio-political socialization of the people of Western Kingston. The zone shares the same socio-geographical and political ideology as Tivoli Garden compared to a different one from its bordered neighbours Hannah Town. Despite its close proximity to Wilmot "Rema" Gardens, Arnette "Jungle" Gardens, Jones Town, Craig Town, Rose Town and Mathews Lane, all those topology share particular political socialization. Those communities share diverse political ideational, and so may explain aspects of the gang warfare that residence. The students, on the other hand, are continuously interfacing with turf warfare, killings, social deviance, bloodshed, hostility in and outside the home, class stratification, prejudices levied against them from the outside publics, lack of social opportunities and the same set of experiences every day, which guides in the formation their perspective on life and in particular, how they view school.


Residents of Denham Town and its environs are largely marginalized by the social structure, unskilled, predominantly self-employed and for some their employment is referred to have "hustling" which means selling of illegal items and doing that which is necessary to attain money.

The police who continuously have to venture into those communities to solve brutal murders, and compete with the culturization of the people, which is anti-police mediation, neglect the same group of residents. One media in the retaliation against the structure and that of the security force is the barring of roadways, the burning

of tyre, and this explains the psychological condition of the people's frustration with the social system. This is within the construct of the wide access to guns, and expression of the citizenry. All of this is observed, lived and experienced by the students who are called upon to function in an entirely different whole from that to which they are accustomed when they venture into the educational sphere.


School is not viewed by the averaged students has a place of social advancement or learning that is vital to their development but a safe play from which they are able to forego some the turmoil at home or within the wider community. Hence, when the educators seek to impart knowledge, and values to their students, the pupils are highly frustrated as teacher, and students have completely different foci.

Denham Town High school is one of the recently upgraded secondary schools that within the Ministry of Education's new initiative to make all secondary school of equal value. Despite the name change and having a new principal, the institution is on the outskirt of the wider community. The institution shares the same geographical space with the Electoral Office, adjacent to the Denham Town Primary school, opposite the Tivoli Gardens community that is divided by a major roadway (i.e. Spanish Town Road), approximately fifty kilometers westerly of the Denham Town Police station and some thirty kilometers south westerly of the May Pen cemetery. Even though the school is within arms length from the Police station, the premise borders the two political divides, which makes for a particular psychological state of school personnel, students and parents. Those harsh realities make for a devastating impression on the psyche of the students and school personnel, which also may explain the social deviance and the low performance of the pupils. Could the opprobrious nature of the pupils' environ lends itself to a number of the exhibited behavours, which in and of itself be a cry for assistance?

Even though the teachers are prepared to impart particular set of values to the students, they are predominantly middle class ideals that are not the social experiences of the children. The reality fuels social conflict; pupils view life in an entirely different sphere from their teachers, who are not willing to understand the meaning systems of their pupils. Although the educators' value system seems correct to impose on the students, the irresponsiveness of the teachers to use their pupils' experiences as the medium of teaching oftentimes creates division.

Summary


The socio-geo political environment of the students who attend Denham Town High school is a multispatial one. A preponderance of the pupils is drawn from the environs, while the teachers are amalgamated from various areas in the Kingston, St. Andrew, St. Catherine and Other Towns. Compare the non-academic staffers, who are mostly drawn from the same zone as the students, there is a wider divide between teachers and students than non-academic staffers and students. This helps to explain the perspective that each group has of the other, and the perception that teachers formulate of their students and their parents, and adds to the tension between the parties.

The Denham Town High school is a few paces south of Tivoli Garden High, approximately one-hundred metres southerly of St. Andrew Technical, some sixty kilometers easterly of St. Annes High (formerly St. Annes Secondary) and is in walking distance from Kingston and St. George's College. Those realities are not the dilemma that arise but contributes to the social stigma and the isolation of the student population. Students who attend Denham Town High school are mostly draw from adjacent primary school, Denham Town while the other school house pupils from a plethora of communities in and outside the area as well as different primary, all-age and secondary schools. Compounding to the geo-political space of the majority of the students of Denham Town High is the social stigmatization and the socio-educational biases against them for attending the institution.

All the schools which are within close proximity of the institutions are perceived as boasting students of higher academic capabilities, varying socio-economic background and come in from a different geographical locale. It is subjectively perceived that Denham Town High house students of the worst socio-economic status who are drawn predominantly from within the violent environs of the school. Coupled with the low academic achievement of the parent(s) and the fact that they are mostly from the area (i.e. Denham Town, Rose Town, Hannah Town, Lizard Town, Tivoli Gardens, Wilmot "Rema" Gardens, and Arnette "Jungle" Gardens) further add to the demise and negative perception of the children. The students are seeing as underachievers by the mere fact of being transferred from Denham Town Primary, and so the expectations of them in regard academic achievement are rather low. On the other hand, students who attend Tivoli are seen as on a high rung of the educational ladder and so are those pupils who attend St. Andrew Technical and to a lesser degree those children who are schooled at St. Annes. The educational divide is even wider when one begins to compare this institution with other school like Kingston College and St. George's College. Both schools boast a rich heritage of high achievers in academics, sports, businesses and many of their past students are even prominent demagogues. This further cripples the psyche of the students Denham Town High, as high achievers are few and rare.

Parents, teachers and the wider community level much of the exclusions of the students of this institution on them. Because expectations of them are low and students are cognizant of this, in addition to be aware of the socio-educational bias to, they are in; the students' internal motivation and self-esteem is battered, and this may explain the psychosocial behaviour that they display at school. The school is a social agent of change, and if the teachers are brought to the acceptance of the low expectations of the pupils, they are highly likely to exhibit the same tendencies as the public on the students.

The frequently held belief by the publics on the people who reside in Denham Town is negative, and oftentimes the innocent children are labeled and "left for dead". A recently published article by one the top media houses in Jamaica summaries the dilemma of the stigmatization based on the level of violence in the community. Earl Moxam, a senior Gleaner writer, penned on January 5, 2005 an article under the caption ?'Plan to cut murder in Jamaica', and the emphasis was on inner city communities to which Denham Town was one singled out. Moxam cited the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Mark Shields as saying, "What we want to do is to bring a consistent and professional approach to all homicide and shooting investigations in Kingston & St. Andrew, to start with, by bringing together a task force of about 120 police officers who will be totally dedicated to ensuring that we have a professional approach investigations". This is another outside label for the students who continue to be belittled by the social agents instead of harnessing their value, worth and self-expectations in an attempt to stimulate social development.

When a Gleaner writer, Mr. Howard Campbell, wrote under the caption ?'St Andrew south: a community at war' to which Denham Town is mentioned, how are we to view the people who reside in South St. Andrew? The label does not only apply to adults but the students, and often times they are ostracized and stigmatized by the wider populace. A reporter for the Jamaica Observer, T. K. White, on December 28, 2005 in an article titled "Cops flood 'Jungle' Police dragnet in violence-torn South St Andrew communities" quoted Mr. Mark Shield:

The operation is in a specific area: Jones Town, Craig Town, Denham Town and Arnett Gardens," Shields told the Observer. "It is intelligence-led and it is based on where the killings are occurring the most. Our intention is to tighten our grip on those communities in Jones Town, Craig Town and surrounding areas in order to bring some peace and tranquility back in those communities, as the people there are frightened, they are traumatized and they are crying for our help and we are trying to answer the calls (Whyte, 2006).

The psychological stresses that are levied against people of Denham Town and other inner city communities in Jamaica are equally meted out against the children of particular socio-economic grouping within the same communities including children who attend the Denham High school. The remarks and particular deviant behaviour exhibited by certain individuals within inner city communities are often times used against the wider space, and children of those zones are mostly withdrawn from numerous educational and social opportunities that are offered to students of other socio-geographical background. People of the wider cross-section of the Jamaica society infrequently recognize labeling, and withheld opportunities as psychosocial stressors for students of the lower socio-economic strata of the society.

PREPARATION FOR NEEDS ASSESSMENT

Rationale of study

A study conducted by Lowe, Lipps and Abel (2005) on ?'depression in Jamaican high school students' revealed that depression was higher among students who attended inner city schools irrespective of gender compared to pupils who attend outside of inner city communities. The research collected data from 457 fourth form (grade 10) students of which there were 322 (70.5%) females and 135 (29.5%) males. The participants were drawn from Inner city co-educational, Elite co-educational, and All schools. Denham Town High was one of the schools sampled in this study. This study forms a pivotal arm upon which this ?'Needs Assessment' will launched.

From Lowe, Lipps and Abel's (2005) study, they ascribe the "Major depression ranked fourth in the world as the most important determinant of human in 1990 and is expected to rank second by year 2020" to Andrew and Szabo (2002) study. One author forwarded a view that showed the importance of emotion and indicated its influence on all other cross-section of the individual's perception of life (Jacobson, 1971). He said, "Moods seem to represent, as it were, a cross-section through the entire state of the ego, lending a particular, uniform coloring to all its manifestations for a longer or shorter period" (Jacobson, 1971, p.68).

According to Jacobson (1971):

From the psychoanalytic study of manic-depressive states, which show a severe pathology of the superego functions, we know that superego formation has a singular influence on the development of affect and mood control and thus of mood predisposition (Jacobson, 1981, p. 76).

Studies revealed that depression is a phenomenon, which emerged in ?'mid-adolescence' (Lowe, Lipps & Abel, 2005; Angold, & Rutter, 1992). According to Lowe, Lipps & Abel (2005), Sherlock and Bennet (1998) summarized the Jamaican social structure in saying:

Like North American societies, the population of Jamaica has been forged by an amalgamation of fundamentally different cultures: European, African, East Indian and Chinese, all of whom came to work together in neutral territory. However, unlike North America and Europe, out of this merger of different ethnic groups has arisen a society that is stratified by socio-economic class that is largely associated with skin colour (Lowe, Lipps, & Abel, 2005, p.4).

The class stratification of the Jamaican society is one of the medium, which adds to the stress levels of particular social groupings Lowe, Lipps & Abel (2005) spoke to this in chose of the word ?'amalgamation' of the society and how the issue of ?'skin colour' is a measure of class stratification and by extension social opportunities for the typology of classes. They alluded to "physical appearance to bolster ?'self-esteem' of the Jamaican youths" to findings of Samms-Vaugh et al (2001), which further explains the bleaching phenomenon that is so pervasive in inner city schools, and communities like Denham Town. The children in those zones are acting out a high probability of emotional trauma by bleaching, neglect of authority, compulsive behaviours and the neglect for type of education that they receive in comparison to what they observed being offered to other students in other schools.

The educational system in Jamaica is an evidence of class stratification (Lowe, Lipps & Abel, 2005), this is established through streaming of the children to particular typologies of school, gender placement, and geo-political topologies of institutions (Evans, 2001; Evans, 1999; Leo-Rhynie, 1978), and the students of inner city schools know this. Lowe, Lipps and Abel (2005) credited Thompson (2004) for the typology of schools and the class stratification that is
played out therein. Based on that which holds in the present education system, pupils who are placed in the newly upgraded high schools are the ?'low performers' (Thompson, 2004). This makes for the approaches taken by educators in the delivery of materials, and the attitude toward those that they teach. Therefore, the educational system exposes the children to class stratification and plethora psychological stressors.

Within the space of Lowe, Lipps and Abel's (2005) study and other researchers, students of Denham Town High (a newly upgraded) school are forced to survive in an hostile socio-geo political environ, and is affecting how they are view, treated, and how they behave within their social space. Lowe, Lipps and Abel's (2005) findings revealed that students of inner city schools to which Denham Town High was a participant are more depressed compared to students of Elite school, which highlights the need for a ?'Needs Assessment' of psychosocial state of the children in other to transform their psyche and channel a new path of social advancement through education.


The very nature of the environ, which is dominated by walls, concrete structures, debris, miniscule play ground, lack of adequate and relevant resources and the uncertainty of social conflicts between rival gangs only further go to strengthen the social condition of the citizenry. Hence, the high depressiveness of the students is automatic from their social settings. The pragmatic approach of burying the students with more rules, corporal punishment, neglect, labels, and authoritative style of management only goes to deepen the psychological trauma that they are experiencing from the wider community.


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