The Editor, Sir:

I am concerned by what I have seen developing over the years and revealed further in the Thursday Gleaner article titled 'Infant graduations costing a pretty penny'. I concede that these infant graduations can provide excite-ment, encouragement and motiva-tion for these infant students in moving forward with their education and life, a good moment for celebration and pride for parents and their children. However, I caution that we should not go too far with it.

Imagine a young infant girl not being able to afford or receive a nice graduation dress because her mother cannot afford it, and as a result, may not attend the graduation, or go in 'lesser' attire compared to his or her peers - thereby developing a sense of deprivation and even seeds of resentment within those formative early years.

We have to be very careful on how our values in Jamaica are shifting towards a material focus, at the cost of those intangible values and attitudes. The reality is that we are living in an in-creasingly materialistic world which will reflect itself in all social institutions. However, education must hold true to the objective of being the 'great social equaliser' that it has the potential to be. Therefore, as mush as possible, from our basic schools all the way up, we must try to control instances where status differences portray themselves in our institutions of learning.

I am, etc.,

MARK PIKE

xtraboy2001@hotmail.com

Mandeville, Manchester