The Editor, Sir:

It seems to me that this whole brouhaha with the textbook is all about an interpretation of the word 'may'.

The paragraph states something like "two women or two men living together in a relationship may be considered a family."

'May' has more than one meaning - which one is the book using? Is it that they may (as in they are allowed to, it's OK), or is it that they may (as in they might, it is possible, it may or may not happen)? I think that in the book 'may' means that they may (might) very well be considered a family by some individuals or by some societies.

Of course in our case in Jamaica, they are not considered a family at all - but in some cases, they may, and that is a fact and should not be withheld any more than teaching about other religions should be withheld.

standard education

Is the ministry now going to adhere to its statement: "If we are going to have standard education right across the board, then it cannot be that we have several sources of information being presented" (The Gleaner front page of November 2)?

If this is the policy of the Ministry of Education, then what about all the textbooks that teach about other religions apart from Christianity? (Religious edu-cation?) And what about sports? Are we going to ban all other sports apart from cricket and football? We could really go wild with this - and end up alone in the dark.

We are not being brainwashed by being taught about what some other people believe. We are not being brainwashed by learning about what is happening in the world. We are being brainwashed, and manipulated, by being kept ignorant of anything that the authorities do not wish us to know. And the rest is history.

I am, etc.,

STRAIGHT AND PROUD

Waterloo Mews

Kingston 10