Permit me to say my little bit on Bruce Golding's 'Dancehall Summit'. I have to disagree with the suggestion made by Richard Coore in the Friday, December 11, edition of your paper, that there would not be an outcry if the prime minister had called a meeting with 'uptown people'.

My real concern with Coore's idea has less to do with whether his assessment would prove true, and more to do with his analysis as to the value of the government's intervention. The issue, in my opinion, does not have to do with the legitimacy of the prime minister meeting with anyone if he believes that such is in the national interest. I think the timing of the meeting is the key, in that the prime minister seems to have intervened too quickly, or before so-called 'lesser authorities' did their part in quelling the crisis.

Have there been any attempts by others to mediate the conflict between Kartel and Mavado? Surely, there ought to be various people at other levels of society weighing in on the matter in constructive ways. Golding's intervention at this time suggests a failure at all levels below him and, perhaps, he even desires to make this point. But now he runs the risk of undermining any attempt by lesser lights to influence these men, since they now have gained the attention of the highest level. And what if they continue unabated with their destructive lyrical content? What then would be the next step?

There must have been some other legitimate way in which the full weight of the PM's concern could have been brought to bear upon these gentlemen.

- Pearson

davynth@gmail.com

c/o Jamaica Theological Seminary

14-16 West Avenue, Kingston 8

The minister of education should be commended for the decision announced to ban corporal punishment in schools, backed by the appropriate legislation soon.

Although the fact that students who received corporal punishment have had to obtain medical attention, and the consequences of litigation and financial liability may have influenced the matter, it also demonstrates an enlightened approach to Caribbean and other countries. This makes the decision announced even more significant.

The need to instil discipline in students is not in question, the means are. The practical solution to promote and sustain discipline is to integrate universal or human values within the curriculum. This will not only inform but also inspire the student and encourage him or her to practise these values more.

- Lalu N. Vaswani

siewibb@promotech.net

St Michael, Barbados

I am writing to congratulate the minister of education for taking the initiative to ban flogging in schools because that is one place to begin teaching our children to resolve problems without violence.

If a child does something wrong and we as adults punish that child by flogging, what are we teaching him or her? Violence begets violence, and that's Jamaica' s problem.

- M. Brown

brownbogle@hotmail.com

Ontario, Canada