THE EDITOR, Sir:
IN REFERENCE to Professor Stephen Vasciannie's articles on the generally poor performances of Jamaican students at the 2002 CXC examinations in both English Language and Mathematics, he has subtly tried to highlight the relatively good performances of his former alma mater. Having embarrassed some of the more traditional schools, could the professor clarify some concerns of mine which hopefully could bring some balance to the figures and his analysis.
As the calculations were based on the eligible cohorts of grade 11 students for each school and not on the number of students entered by the school, fair enough, please indicate how is it that Kingston College, with a student population of around 1,750 with eight forms for grade seven students
(approximately 320 students) only have 201 students eligible? What has happened to the remaining 100 to 120 students along the way? Surely it cannot be migration, as most schools, if not all, suffer the same fate. Could it be multiple repeats until frustration sets in?
When compared to the other all boys schools, Kingston College is either the largest or second in terms of student population whereas the eligible cohorts for Calabar High, Jamaica College, St. George's College, Wolmer's Boys High, and Cornwall College in 2002 were 303, 272, 242, 230 and 225 respectively.
As you have gone the route of exposing the inefficiencies within most schools, could you guide us as to the way forward so that our students could rival those of the English-speaking Caribbean within the next 10 to 15 years.
I am, etc.,
PAUL LAI
paulclai@jol.com.jm
