Dear Editor,

A few days before Christmas 2001, a group of young ladies who called themselves singers, dancers or artistes came to Guyana to perform their skills to entertain Guyanese. Before the group arrived, the kind of singing and dancing they were coming to give to the Guyanese people was advertised on nearly all of our television stations, in the most vulgar form, on many programmes, while the children were at home from school and glued to their television, and their parents were at work. I was very concerned about the dancing by this group and the impression it would leave on our children. I did not have to wait long to have my fears realized, as Christmas came and at all the parties held for underprivileged children, the children performed the same kind of dirty dancing. What bothered me most was that the group came to Guyana and took away some more of our scarce foreign currency and left that kind of garbage with our babies to grow up with.

I expect to be criticized by many for writing this letter, but as a parent I could not sit idly by and see our children badly led and say nothing. The leader said I love Guyana and the Guyanese people and we want to come back next year and every year. Will somebody please show me the art in those performances? Maybe I am too old to see it. What happened to shows with the Mighty Sparrow, Bob Marley and the great Michael Jackson?

By the time this letter is published schools will be reopened after the Christmas holidays and the teachers will be given the hard task of getting that chaff out of the children' s head and replacing it with useful knowledge which will be beneficial for their future. Thank God for teachers.