Americanised education system

THE EDITOR, Sir:

AS Jamaica and the Caribbean become more and more Americanised, certain high points in terms of culture and education become shadowed and in some instances, lost. The superiority once attached to education is on its way out as the system becomes infiltrated with the American way of things.

One such example finds itself in the introduction of the Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) to replace the Common Entrance Examination. The policy dictates that all students are placed in either the "traditional" high schools or junior high schools or all-age schools. Seemingly, the grades attained in the exam do not really matter in the placement of students. Thus, those not placed in high schools (instead junior high or all-age) have to wait until the Grade Nine examinations.

Now this exam results in students going into high schools only to have to repeat Grade Nine. To what extent can this be fair to those young minds who got excellent grades in GSAT and ended up being placed back in all-age or junior high schools?

And another question has to be the effect that this way of placing students will have on our young minds thus completely destroying our superiority in education. Sure, every child deserves a fair enough chance, but what about those who actually worked to obtain a place in high school?

I am, etc.,

ANYA ELLIOTT

E-mail:beautifuldimples@hotmail.com

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