It is not often that this newspaper can place a picture of a police vehicle laden with detainees on its front page without expecting to elicit at least some negative reaction. After all, such images are most often associated with the periodic sweep operations, that have long been part of police work in some inner-city communities.

But, in yesterday's picture, the people sitting in the police vehicle were not the expected near uniform young men with the vacant gaze that says 'been there, done that'. They were actually in uniform, those of the various high schools that they should have been attending when they were picked up in downtown Kingston on Thursday morning.

Hope for dialogue

So, we commend the lawmen from the Island Special Constabulary Force for this effort, especially in light of the all-too-common kidnappings and murders of young students. And, we sincerely hope (against hope, perhaps) that there is dialogue between teachers and parents or guardians in instances where a pattern of truancy is detected.

However, we have to acknowledge that not all adults care as much, as they should, about the whereabouts of children and young adults under their care, at times when they are supposed to be attending school but are not. Many may feel, indeed, that they simply cannot afford to care. And, it is a waste of resources to have the police repeatedly chasing students, who do not care about their education ("school start anytime me get there", one of Thursday morning's detainees told The Gleaner) in the streets.

Hence, it is clear that it is the students themselves, who have to be discouraged from 'sculling' school, and we suggest that the way to do this is that they be put to work if caught out of school repeatedly.

While we concede that making a connection between work and punishment can be a detriment to productivity in the future, we believe that if someone constantly abandons their schoolwork, for idle pursuits on the streets, they are inherently opposed to productivity in the first place. And, having them do something constructive may actually be a turning point in their attitude towards work.

Of course, we are not suggesting that repeat truants be humiliated, publicly or privately, by the nature of tasks they are given to do. Nor are we proposing that someone who is caught out of school is automatically and immediately put to work on doing something like packaging pamphlets at a government agency for distribution to various institutions, which is the sort of task we have in mind.

Take fun out of 'sculling'

But, we believe that where a pattern of consistent truancy has been established, and efforts at voluntary compliance have failed, the next step is to take the fun out of 'sculling' school.

Picking them up and attempting to make sure they attend school is one thing. Making them understand that productive engagement is mandatory, whether in academics or physical work, is another. It is the latter stage that we wish to get to.

The opinions on this page, except for the above, do not necessarily reflect the views of The Gleaner. To respond to a Gleaner editorial, email us: editor@gleanerjm.com or fax: 922-6223. Responses should be no longer than 400 words. Not all responses will be published.