Topics about education and the upbringing of our children were prominent headlines in The Gleaner of February 5, and the passion that I have for these topics has literally driven me to join the conversation.

The issues include the impact of Rampin' Shop, which I heard for the first time at a recent Parent-Teacher Association meeting.

The principal read the edited version to some of us parents who had never been exposed to the lewd lyrics that are being passed off as 'music'.

Parents as 'children'

The comments by Doran Dixon, president of the Jamaica Teachers' Association, management consultant Robert Wynter, and Miranda Sutherland, president of the National Parent-Teacher Association of Jamaica, asking parents to be more vigilant are necessary.

However, they should also bear in mind that too many parents are themselves 'children' caught up in the same debased subculture. Those parents are also in need of guidance, and the word 'vigilance', if not carefully explained, might just be lost on them.

Responsibility on the part of the media, particularly the electronic media and the relevant government ministries, first and foremost the Ministry of Education, could go a far way to curtail the playing of such lewd and obscene lyrics.

Money first and by any means has driven us into societal decadence at the expense of our children. Clearly, the Bible's admonition that "the love of money is the root of all evil" is being played out in Jamaica.

I am, etc.,

D. M.O. MITCHELL

Kingston