Stephen VasciannieI IMAGINE that students are now in the process of making decisions about the choice of secondary school which they wish to attend. What factors are they likely to bear in mind in making this choice, and what factors should they actually bear in mind?
At age 10 or 11, the typical child - to the extent that we may speak reasonably of the typical child will be inclined to attach a fair degree of significance to the external trappings of success. So, for instance, in selecting a secondary school, boys living in Kingston may well be influenced by factors such as performance in the Manning Cup and the Grace Shield, and will almost certainly attach great store on victory at Boys and Girls Champs.
Sometimes, it's not so much that you will "pick" for the school that was victorious in one or all of the foregoing. Rather, the perceptive child will try to have a sense of the school's familiarity with sporting success. Is the school "up there"? Even if it didn't achieve overall victory in the sporting arena, was it a contender, or even, did it perform respectably? No small number of boys from the 1960s and 1970s (now presumably men) will tell you that their decision to attend KC, George's, Cornwall, Wolmer's, XLCR, JC, C-Bar and so on, was influenced significantly by this factor.
On this point, things may be a little different for girls. I know at least three ladies (girls as they then were) who selected their secondary schools on the basis, they say, of the colour and cut of the school uniform. In this constellation, a scheme that I do not fully understand, Immaculate "white" had a slight edge over Alpha "blue" in the 1970s because Alpha "blue" resembled too closely the primary school tunic.
'SINTANDREW'
And, to continue my report on this line of thought, St Hugh's green, though dangerous in times of elections in the 1970s and 1980s, was roughly on par with the blue with a touch of khaki in the uniform of Holy Childhood. For female veterans from the 1970s and 80s, though, "Sintandrew" (with a soft "t", and a rolling "andrew") prompted a dilemma. For reasons that are still not entirely clear, Andrew's girls wore light purple, yellow, and another colour which escapes my memory. If outfit was a factor in school choice in the 1970s, then I suppose Andrew's was allowed three bites at the cherry.
I am not sure that prowess in sports has ever really been a factor in selection by girls. In the late 1970s, the Queen's School pulled off a historic victory at Girls' Champs (with a team that included Grace Jackson when she was small, one recalls). In the years following though, there was no strong evidence that a tradition of athletic prowess followed from this victory, in the way, say, that KC and Calabar, built on their successes one year after another by attracting top runners. But then, there is the Vere Tech tradition at Girls Champs, so one is not entirely certain one way or the other.
What about performance in academic matters, surely the main factor that should influence school choice? When Jodi Anne Maxwell conquered Scripps-Howard, giving the word "chiaroscurist" household status in Jamaica, Ardenne High's status as a magnet for the intellectually inclined was enhanced (a ranking that already existed owing to the work of Reverend Archer and his Schools' Challenge and Spelling Bee arsenal).
And, similarly, one has the sense that Glenmuir High attracts some of the brightest students in Clarendon (including at the post-fifth form level) because of its enviable record in the Schools' Challenge Quiz. Indeed, this ability to draw on talent that started out at other secondary schools is something that was the subject of wide discussion when KC prevailed in athletics in the 1960s and 1970s, much, presumably, to the displeasure of some other schools.
But I digress: academic matters should be of the highest importance in secondary school selection, and the statistics issued by the National Council on Education should be required reading for primary school teachers at "feeder schools". (After all, we know that in some instances, teachers and parents/guardians still make decisions for children, even in today's world). However, the truth is that it is sometimes quite difficult for us to know exactly what is happening at particular schools at any given point in time, and so, sometimes we only go by general reputation.
Sometimes this is sufficient. The status as schools of first choice now held by Campion, Immaculate, Andrew's, Westwood, MoBay High, and Wolmer's Girls (as well as a few others) is well-deserved, and is built not only on a close study of recent performance, but also on word-of-mouth exchanges concerning teaching abilities, classroom atmosphere, availability of resources and school discipline.
In a recent speech, the Minister of Education pointed out that some inner city schools were having special difficulties, and noted that others were able to rise above those difficulties owing to identifiable factors (such as PTA and alumni support). Another point though is that students in Kingston, where most inner city areas happen to be located, may have a choice as to secondary schools, and so, the stronger inner city students tend to go to schools outside their home area.
In most cases, students from rural parishes do not have the same degree of flexibility as their Kingston counterparts. If you are in St Elizabeth, Munro and Hampton will make a special claim on your attention, if in Hanover, Rusea's speaks for itself, and in Westmoreland, Manning's will almost automatically be the first choice; Cornwall for Boys in St James, and so on across the country.
Generally, then, two broad challenges have to be considered. The first is how we may bring non-traditional schools up to the level of the brand name schools in town and country; while the second remains how to ensure that students make their choices on the basis of considerations that will redound ultimately to their credit. And, by the way, some nuff people maintain that purple and white speaks for itself.
Stephen Vasciannie is Professor of International Law at the University of the West Indies.
