#SpeakingNow-Teachers must be given clarity or else . . .

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the author(s) do not represent the official position of Barbados TODAY.

Leslie Lett Jr.

Teachers should not expend their energy on merely getting upset with regard to the latest vitriolic indulgence in the wholesale disparagement of them. Not if we are serious in our rejection of such behaviour.

Vitriol has a way of obliterating thoughtfulness and rubbishing empathy, and there are a number of troubling elements (for one example, the aspect of mental health concerns and reaction to a commendably enlightened position by our Ministry of Education) in the particular polemic that should not be overlooked. But my letter has a different focus here.

It is noteworthy that this latest public engagement in what some have identified as a national pastime has exploited the platform and the studio of the radio station Slam 101.1 FM to ventilate itself.

Have teachers asked themselves: “Who owns Slam FM?”

Does the ownership of Slam stand 100 per cent behind the polemic? Where exactly does it stand? The public deserves to know.

I am still waiting to hear an official statement from the radio station clarifying its position on this matter. I believe that all teachers and those who value them should call for this clarification.

I certainly have via the “Contact” page of the radio station’s website. It can be accessed at http://www. slam101fm.com/contact/ To leave it at only a scurry to any prior disclaimer that that the views expressed in the show/segment in question are “NOT NECESSARILY” that of the radio station must be considered a wholly unsatisfactory reaction as it fails to provide the necessary clarity.

However, should the radio station contemptuously dismiss this call, or a satisfactory statement not be forthcoming from the ownership of the radio station, teachers should not hesitate to ask themselves: “Does Slam FM deserve the support and patronage of teachers and people who value them?”

“Does/Do the owner(s) of Slam FM own any other businesses? If so, do these businesses deserve the support and patronage of teachers and people who value them?”

Entities that use the particular segment to advertise their goods/services should also seriously ask themselves if they really wish to be associated in any way with the polemic.

Teachers and others who value them may wish to consider campaigns of emailing/messaging these advertisers en masse to make these advertisers aware of their opinions on the thing and on what the advertiser’s appropriate response should be.

Teachers should also be prepared to demonstrate if needs be – individually and as a collective – their disgust at, and strong disapproval of such wholesale disparagement of them in more ways than merely talking and writing … as important as these two methods undoubtedly are.

I believe that teachers must fully appreciate the importance of their organisation and solidarity in any effective address of this behaviour.

I sincerely hope that an official statement from the ownership/management group of this radio station will be forthcoming very shortly.

God, grant me the Serenity To accept the things I cannot change…

Courage to change the things I can, And Wisdom to know the difference.

[Reinhold Neibuhr]