Remember Boo’s ‘School Bag’ Song?

This week, the Wednesday edition of Timothy Poleon’s Newsspin programme focused on the upcoming celebrations for Saint Lucia’s 40th year of Independence. Early on in the show, the official song for independence 2018—All in by Ronald ‘Boo’ Hinkson—was played. The song calls on all Saint Lucians from all walks of life to come together as one to “shape and share a brighter future”. At one point during the show, special guest and Independence committee member Toni Nicholas said the feedback for the song has been great and he is confident it will capture the popular imagination and inspire citizens to get on board. 

One can only hope that Boo’s latest composition will have a greater impact than one he penned over twenty years ago, entitled School Bag which features these lines: “It suddenly hit me that the turn of the century is not far away/Like most people say, it’s time to study what’s in store for me country/I done see she history and culture, what I want to study is really she future/ I thought I should get a crystal ball, I decide I don’t need that at all, no/The school bag will tell me what’s in store at the turn of the century.”

What did the school bag tell the songwriter? The song goes on: “You finding knife and gun in the school bag/Packets of condom in the school bag/At the turn of the century me country in jeopardy/they hiding blue movies in the school bag; stolen jewellery in the school bag/The future of this country not looking good to me, I done see the whole of the future of this country Saint Lucia/And it looking bad.”

His advice: “So when the children come and they leaving home/Go through the school bag with a fine toothcomb/Like we old-time granny used to do and save some of we.” Hinkson says when the song was released everyone loved it but he has reason to believe its message never quite registered. “People just talked,” he said this week. “But there was total inaction. There should have been more decisive action by the decision makers. Not just the authorities, but also parents.”

News broke this week of an alarming incident at the Corinth Secondary School, where a fifth former was allegedly handed back a gun he had earlier reported lost. Reports are that another male student found the gun, and then the teacher was told there was a missing item. Later, the teacher was given a container but was unaware what was inside. Upon realizing what was actually in her possession, she returned the gun to the student, but only after he had threatened that if she did not, someone might be killed.  

“I’m not surprised,” said Boo Hinkson, referring to the incident. “I don’t know why anybody would be surprised. That’s exactly what I was writing about twenty years ago. The problem in the schools is not just guns, it’s a lot of other things: drugs, all kind of things.” 

He acknowledges searching students’ bags is not the only solution, but believes it is an important measure that should be taken; also that the society must deal with the ethos that creates the kind of individual who would go to school with a gun, and thinks it’s all right to do so.

“We cannot address the child alone,” he said. “The problem is the environment that creates that individual. It’s not just a matter of installing metal detectors either. We have to find out what is causing our society to produce children like that, and that is what we have to address.” 

He says our schools should also be places for social reform and not only to teach students how to pass exams. He lamented that a song written two decades ago is as relevant today as when it was first released. “Unless I can see some evidence that the authorities are deeply concerned about the plight of our youth, I will remain pessimistic.”  Meanwhile, the police say they are investigating this latest matter. Seems we’ve also heard that song before. All attempts to reach the principal for comment proved futile.