THE EDITOR, Sir:

I AM writing in response to your Letter of the Day for February 24. While I am not a real doctor from an accredited university, the training I received in the Jamaican education system has enabled me to identified fallacious arguments.

Dr. Barr's letter not only lacks real substance, but is patently incoherent. For example, he claims that violence in Jamaica is rooted in poverty and lack of opportunity. Yet, his prescription is to spike the drinking water with valium. This reasoning is of a similar quality to the writing one generally sees on a written medical prescription - unintelligible.While we dorecognise that the level of violence in Jamaica is disconcerting, it should also be obvious that a relatively small percentage of the population is responsible for the violent acts.

Most reasonalbe persons would admit that there is a correlation between the level of violence in Jamaica, and the lack of opportunity, but the remedy is in the education system.

Our leaders must not just pay lip service to education, but must realise that it is the way out of our predicament. And no, Dr. Barr, Jamaicans are not by nature any more aggressive than any other group.

I am, etc.,

WAYNE BINGHAM

wayne.bingham@utoronto.ca

Toronto, Ontario

Canada

Via Go-Jamaica