- Noel ThompsonThis painter who says his name is "Fabulous", adds the finishing touches of green to the door frame of a classroom at the Montego Bay Comprehensive High School.
Pat Roxborough, Staff Reporter
WESTERN BUREAU:
AUTHORITIES ARE painting the walls of the Montego Bay Comprehensive High School green in an attempt to promote peace and harmony at the institution that has a history of violence.
"We can't afford to do it all at once, but as we speak we are re-doing parts of the buildings in green," said Hugh Dawes, the principal of the school which has been the scene of several violent student fracas, which have resulted, on occasion, in murder.
The latest incident made headlines a few months ago, when a student lost an eye in a fight with a fellow student.
Mr. Dawes, who became principal in 1983, told The Sunday Gleaner that he had been advised by psychologists to use a 'positive' colour on the walls of the school, which will be known as the St. James High School when the new school term begins in September.
"We were advised to use green as it harmonises the hemispheres of the brain. This facilitates efficient learning," he said.
Other school principals who The Sunday Gleaner spoke to said that they were paying more attention to the psychology of colours which says that bright reds and oranges stimulate aggressive behaviour and militancy, while grey is depressing.
"Our school used to be painted red, orange and brown. Now the school is painted in lemon yellow, bright blue and brown and the morale of the students and staff has soared. They keep telling me how much better they feel," said Cortis Nolan, principal of Jonathan Grant High school in St. Catherine. Dr. Earle Wright, Jamaica's director of mental health, said that while it was true that bright reds and oranges stimulated aggression, one could not hold the colours of a school wall wholly responsible for the behaviour of students.
"There are a number of different variables that are responsible for student aggression. If you place students in an environment that is characterised by these 'angry' colours it does nothing to help to calm them down," he said.
Mr. Dawes said that there was a time when orange featured predominantly on his school's walls. "We did it quite out of innocence, we just chose a colour that looked good. But now we are looking more deeply into the psychology of colours," he told The Sunday Gleaner last week.
Interior designer, Andrea Spence, said that the psychology of colours was a very complex issue and that one could not take a carte blanche approach to it.
"Many factors have to be taken into consideration...the age of the students, the intensity of the colours, the size of the area where the colour is used," she said.
"In painting a school ideally we want to create a very positive energetic and uplifting environment. Using a full spectrum colour palette to create a balance of warm and cool colours, hence a good approach would be to use a neutral palette accentuated by bright colours," she added.
