Recently I saw four young men enter one of our premium restaurants in T-shirts and the baggiest of dungaree shorts and head bands. Staff were reluctant to say a word because the "race" card might be played or they might complain about the "tone" of voice of the manager. Where are the standards I thought and who should enforce them?

If you ever attended St. Paul AME Sunday School, during the 'heydays' of Mrs. Lorraine Fubler, Ms Inez Kennedy, Mrs. Marguerite Place, Mrs. Ivy Harvey, Mrs. Cynthia Swan et al, you will know about the high standards they set when it came to recitations.

Unfortunately a few little ones, (even aged ten to 16 you were a little one) forgot their five or six lines for Mother's Day or a special event. You were not allowed to stay at home. With a full brigade of parents and relatives seated in the hall you would reluctantly rise to the stage and just stand there. Sometimes a tear would evoke the concern of the audience but these ladies would not let you off. Without much fanfare, one of them would stand beside you, or on the floor below you, and quietly whisper the words which you would repeat and then bow. The audience would be ecstatic with applause and foot-stumping as you bowed and you would take your seat only later to be chastised for letting down the family name. The next time you would know those lines.

But some kids caught on that you got the loudest applause if the teachers helped you. So they would not learn their lines. The exercise would be repeated and they felt like little heroes based on the applause. But the vast majority of us were so embarrassed that we never ever let it happen again. Although the teachers were encouraging, and we repeated the lines after them, we felt humiliated and tried harder every time to reach the high standards they set for us.

Entering Central School standards were set for everything. Indeed the classes were called "standards". Keeping us in during recess or lunch and telling us they would beat us if we did not learn would be called child abuse today. While I have to admit to receiving licks for failing to reach the standard for achievement in 'Analysis', I was never called up for dress, or conduct. Those standards had been reinforced at home every day and in church every Sunday.

On one occasion my parents were called to the school because the teachers were concerned that I did not talk. How could you when you heard students say that the teacher would cut out your tongue if you said a single word? It was only after I graduated and years later became the principal of my fourth grade teacher did I learn she was not the brutal dictator that other students had claimed. The fact that that teacher's reputation preceded her meant we all entered her class and never said a word. We feared her and we feared the law.

And now you know why teachers of old and the police had such excellent discipline. The fact is the standard had been set in our schools for conduct and in our church you could not fall asleep. It simply was not allowed. Sunday meant Sunday best and not the mishmash you get today where they look like they are going to a mud wrestling competition and not a service or a wedding. Families prided themselves in setting such a high standard that even though they might have been poor, they looked like a million dollars regardless of race, or economic circumstances. If you know what I mean you are over 40.

At home standards were set to the extent that even your underwear had to comply. Once while playing a cricket game I jumped to catch a ball and hit my head and collapsed. The ambulance was called because I was unconscious. Just as they put me in I came to and was asked how I felt. "I have on clean underwear," I shouted.

As a young member of Social Club, and our youth church, I could see standards everywhere. Nobody came to meetings dirty. Punctuality and decorum were always established and when they were not, people were promptly reminded of what the group norm was. And offenders dare not complain. Standards were so high that at no time did you even think about lowering them because that would put you in the "gutter class" and our pride would not allow us to go there. Hence no pants around your bottom, no writing and drawings on your arms, face and legs and you had to speak to everyone in a respectful manner by addressing them with their title.

I recall returning home as a young 23-year-old graduate and being chastised because I said "good afternoon ladies". The standard was to address each woman by their title and name. Yes, all twenty of them gathered around my proud aunt having tea. It was as simple as that.

In every organisation, financial propriety was important and Cousin Cyril Simmons was always prompt, efficient and delighted to be able to present the finances of the church. No "Mickey Mouse" business dealings going on there. He was a self-made businessman who thought he was a banker because he could account for every single penny. Had he had the opportunity, he could easily have been the executive of a bank. But the most important thing of all he had was the confidence of the people. For years he had their trust because he performed and set the standard for all future treasurers.

Having grown up in that type of environment it was often frustrating seeing standards being lowered when I was a principal. Angry parents would take charge and demand to know what wearing a tie had to do with getting an education. So we compromised and went towards open shirts. Next they challenged an "A" grade saying it was too high so that was lowered and the list went on and on. While we lowered standards, the competition for jobs as revealed in the newspapers, has almost tripled. Take a look and you will see. As I used to say: "Do you want your surgeon to be the one at the bottom of the class or at the top?" Not only are companies asking for years of experience but also qualifications and when you go in for an interview they often do not say a word but they do look at the name of your university because a degree from Little Nose University is not the standard they want compared to one from a Canadian or British University. I do not set the standard. Businesses who look at their bottom line do.

The message is clear. If you bid for a contract and you get it, you should not expect Mrs. Fubler to come along and hold your hand and help you. Sunday School was the nurturing ground. In the business world you might be given a chance but you don't get applause for poor performance, you get fired. While it is hard as Christian employers to say those words, you have no recourse because it is the nature of business to do business. Think about it. When it is your own personal project affecting your own purse what do you do. You protect that which came out of your own purse. People running clubs and organisations have a responsibility to meet the financial standards that are recognised world-wide. When they are unable to do so they should be dismissed. While we may hold their hands for a while, that is not the standard of good business and not the standards we would have with our own personal cash.

So we have some work ahead of us and the line has been drawn. If our ancestors could have such high standards then, when the odds against them were really high, why can't we? After all, the whole emphasis on black empowerment was not to lower the standards but to give those who demonstrated high standards a chance to compete at the next level. To say otherwise is a disgrace to the legacy given to us by Mrs. Fubler and left by our forefathers who were constantly challenged to rise to the occasion and they did and so can we.

The standard established by black leaders of the past in every aspect of our lives was a high one and lowering it today does not do ourselves and black young people any good in a competitive world where every other racial group is raising the bar. It is as simple as that and we do not need Bill Cosby to tell us. Our history of accomplishment is flashed across our face daily that we can succeed when we set high standards.

@EDITRULE:

Dale Butler JP MP is a former principal and is currently the Minister of Community Affairs and Sport