A couple weeks ago I wrote about how pervasive ignorance is among our kids these days. That ignorance extends into all areas of their daily lives. This week there were a few instances that jumped at me, again during the Schools' Challenge Quiz (SCQ) Competition.

I attended DeCarteret College and I like to see them do well. They recently won the BlackBerry Developers Competition and over the past few years they have been doing well in several sports. So you can imagine how horrified I was when during the SCQ when a question was thrown out to them that to me, and perhaps to most people watching, was easy.

In which sport is there the position silly mid-off? That was the question. I sit back in my recliner thinking that this question should be a piece of cake for these kids. After all, cricket is a sport that is played at DeCarteret, as it is in most schools right across the island. So you can imagine my shock when I heard one of the team members blurt out "Baseball!"

I was in such shock I immediately googled 'baseball' positions to see if maybe I had forgotten what the field positions were. Sure enough there were, as I thought there were: pitcher, shortstop, catcher, centre-fielder, right fielder, left fielder, first baseman, second baseman, third baseman. Nope, no position called silly mid-off. That term, I do believe, is reserved for the sport of cricket.

But it gets better. I watched Charlemont dismantle Wolmer's Boys, a school that my newborn soon seems destined to attend. His mother is a past student of Wolmer's Girls and, unless Jesus tells her otherwise, he will be enrolled at Wolmer's in about a decade or so. Between both schools they were unable to identify either André Russell or Krishmar Santokie, two of Jamaica's standout cricketers.

disappointed

I was particularly disappointed in Wolmer's failure to recognise the players because the school has a tradition steeped in cricket history. The school boasts the distinction of fielding six wicketkeepers who have represented the West Indies, among them Jackie Hendriks, Jeffrey Dujon and Carlton Seymour Baugh, so at the very least they should know their cricket. Kingston College currently teaches Kingston College history to their first-formers; perhaps that is something Wolmer's should consider.

This is also an issue that the Jamaica Cricket Association needs to think about as well. No wonder the stands are empty when Jamaica is playing or when Senior Cup matches are being played. It almost seems like these kids don't even know there is a sport called cricket.

Then also this week I am in Mandeville attending the launch of the Milo Western Champs. Double Olympic silver medallist Juliet Cuthbert is delivering another engaging motivational chat when she asks, 'Does anyone know who Nanny is?' Not one hand was raised. A teacher sitting in the back muttered "What a pickney dem wicked." I was thinking something else.

Now, I am almost certain that there are children out there who know all these things. They know their academics, they know their sports, and they also know their civics. The question is, how many of them know all three? It seems to me that the education system is not the only ones failing the children. Their parents are, too, because I am wondering if the parents of these children ever sit with them and talk about the people who helped make Jamaica what it is today. By that I mean the country that produces great men and women in all spheres of life, not those who are hell-bent on destroying it.

Send comments to levyl1@hotmail.com