Ainsley Walters, Staff Reporter 
Semaj
LAST week's violence at Frome Technical High School was indicative of problems a modern economy faces with troubled young men, psychologist Leachim Semaj told Living, commenting on the ugly incident which resulted in serious injury to two students and the arrest of seven others.
"They start by practising in the school community and where they live," said Semaj, referring to the street-like brawl which involved machetes and knives at the Westmoreland school.
Pointing to deficiencies such as poor education, lack of socialisation, mothers raising sons on their own and peer pressure as contributing factors, Semaj said British financial publication, The Economist, had predicted what it described as a "western phenomena" seven years ago.
Since then, there have been several school shootings in North America and most recently Germany where a 19-year-old gunned down 16 people in a rampage at his old school recently.
"What we're seeing are major variations," the psychologist explained. "A lot of petty crimes are committed in the school environment. When these boys leave school they lack the capacity to productively engage a modern economy.
"The biggest problem the western world faces are males who are young, unmarried, uneducated, unemployed and, most of all, unemployable."
Already wild cannon, some schoolboys move on to the stage Semaj termed "parasitic" as they get older.
"Begging, parasitic, is the first phase then they become predators," he said, adding that parents should be held accountable for wayward children but more Children Services facilities are needed to aid the socialisation of such kids before any action is taken against wards.
Ways should be devised, Semaj said, for spotting and pulling troubled children from the formal education system before they "contaminate" other students.
"We have to assess and diagnose them then pull them out for treatment," the psychologist pointed out. "In most schools, it's only a dozen or so boys who are the real problem.
"If it's not done at that stage then they're going to clog the justice system. It will certainly cost us more later for security guards, police and eventually prisons."
SINGLE MOTHERS
Too many mothers raising sons single-handedly remains a problem in Jamaica, Semaj said.
"Recently, there were reports that a large number of fathers' names were missing from birth certificates. This means there are too many boys out there without fathers, he said.
"Mothers can't contain boys' energy," Semaj explained. "Imagine a boy saying: 'If I go home late my father will kill me' as opposed to 'If I go home late my mother will kill me'. Also, imagine a boy hearing his mother say: 'Just wait until your father comes home'."
Parents are also doing poor jobs at socialising their children before unleashing them on teachers, he indicated.
"Some are never there or don't know how to do it," he explained. "This child is then let loose on the school. Such action is equal to a younger child not being toilet-trained from home.
"For kindergartens, a criteria is that at a certain age children should be toilet-trained. Are older children, especially boys, socialised before they reach high school, Semaj asked?
"At school, when hormonal imbalance kicks in, the bulk of teachers' time is taken up with socialising, which never happened during their formative years."
Semaj described the gang stage after school as "the most destructive", saying gangs attract such boys because it takes a lot more to be productive, which they aren't equipped with, than it requires to be disruptive.
"We either pay for socialisation now or more prisons later," he concluded. "The first is easier and cheaper."
