Letter of the Day | Save the boys, save the nation
Published:Monday | May 12, 2025 | 12:06 AM
THE EDITOR, Madam:
There is a silent crisis across Jamaica. Our boys, once bright-eyed, curious, and full of promise, are being lost to violence, hopelessness, and neglect. The stories paint a grim picture, but behind every cloud of experience is a face, a name, and a story that deserves to be told, and, more importantly, saved.
I was born and raised in Waterhouse, one of Kingston’s most volatile communities. I know first-hand what it feels like to grow up in an environment where guns are more accessible than guidance, and where violence often feels like the only way to be seen or survive. If it weren’t for strong parenting, firm discipline, and the fear of God instilled in me from an early age, I could have easily taken up a gun myself. But someone believed in me, and that made all the difference.
Violent crimes in Jamaica are overwhelmingly committed by young men. They also make up the vast majority of those involved in gang activity, gun violence, and lottery scamming, a lifestyle driven by a dangerous ‘get-rich-quick’ mentality that glamorises criminality and materialism.
Social anthropologist Herbert Gayle painted a most striking picture of the vulnerability “that boys in Jamaica are more likely to die than woman and girls combined, which puts Jamaica in a unique position globally”.
However, the crisis doesn’t stop with crime, it begins much earlier.
Educationally, boys are falling behind at an alarming rate. They are dropping out of school more frequently and consistently underperform in national examinations compared to girls, particularly in critical subjects like mathematics and English. This growing gap in academic achievement signals a serious challenge that demands immediate attention and strategic intervention to ensure that boys are not left behind in the education system.
The gender disparity becomes even more pronounced in higher education, where female students significantly outnumber their male counterparts in undergraduate programmes. This growing imbalance highlights the urgent need for focused strategies to encourage greater male participation and success at the tertiary level.
Many boys begin engaging in sexual activity before they fully understand the emotional, physical, and social consequences. Without proper guidance or comprehensive education, they are often left vulnerable to risky behaviours and long-term challenges.
What we are witnessing is not simply a generation of lost boys, but a generation that has been failed. Many are growing up without strong male role models, in homes fractured by poverty and trauma, in schools that do not cater to their unique learning styles, and in a culture that suppresses their ability to express vulnerability.
We see the symptoms all around us: high drop-out rates, unemployment, mental health issues, incarceration, and premature death. But these are not the diseases; they are the outcomes of neglect, silence, and societal disengagement.
Churches, schools, families, and government agencies must unite in a coordinated effort to reach the boys before the streets do. We need mentoring programmes, community engagement, educational reform, and a culture that allows boys to feel, express, and grow. It’s time we stop asking what’s wrong with them and start asking what happened to them.
We must call on our national leaders, entertainers, athletes, educators, and spiritual leaders to rise and stand in the gap. Our boys need to see that there is a better path, a path of purpose, discipline, and dignity.
Saving our boys isn’t just a task, it’s a national emergency. Because when we lose a boy, we lose a future father, a leader, a protector, a builder. We lose part of ourselves.
REV. COURTNEY FAULKNOR
Founder/chairman
Talk About It Limited