Camille Swapp
Kinisha O'Neill, Staff Reporter
IF YOU have a minute or two and care about children and the development of our society, you can't help but listen when Camille Swapp talks.
True, the 37-year-old mother of two has a lot to say but when she tells you about her dream of how children should be treated, when she points to how we have pushed, tortured and traumatised our children, all through the guise of education, you find yourself sparing her more than the moment or two you had intended.
The first thing that grabs you is her passion. This is a woman with a cause and, she's ready to put on the gloves to fight for a better education system and by extension a better Jamaica. Swapp, a theology and guidance counselling student at the Jamaica Theological Seminary in Kingston, can leave you squirming, nodding, wondering, and tapping into your own childhood and education - all in one sitting. By the end, her penetrating, insightful, provocative comments and questions, also has the listener ready to take up arms.
A stay-at-home mother until a year ago, Swapp says that like many Jamaicans she went with the flow of the education system until she returned from an 18-month stay in Sweden.
"I tell you, a little learning is a dangerous thing," she laughs.
Her experience in Sweden and the frustration of setting her 10-year-old daughter back into the island's school system on their return have taught her several lessons, she explains.
We are pushing our children too hard, too fast. The ramifications, she believes, spell disaster for the children and society. Burnout, rebellion, low self-esteem and under-achievement are just a few of the consequences, she says. These issues, she reckons, grow into many of our larger social ones.
Now Swapp wants to be heard and has been knocking on the doors of educators, parents, and just about anyone who will listen.
WHAT LED HER TO THIS POINT
My daughter (the 10-year-old)...was doing very well when we lived in Sweden. When we came back to Jamaica, they wanted to send her into fourth grade. She would literally cry about the homework she got. I was very upset and angry about all the homework they sent her home with. I took her out of fourth grade and put her back into third. Since then, she's been doing well.
I was put into high school...too early at age nine. By second form I had to repeat. I was bright in prep school, I was just not mentally developed enough to handle high school.
The other day I saw a mother...actually stoning her child to go to school. The child was only about five or six. If school was fun, then she wouldn't have to do that. It also shows the mindset in Jamaica in terms of how parents treat their
children.
I lived in Sweden...and observed their school system. I read that Scandinavian countries are doing very well. They give their children a slow start. Their teenagers are excited and happy to learn. School is fun. So Jamaica needs to change its mindset that work has to be hard with long hours.
Pre-school started in the United States...because they tested children in Grade One with drugged out, crack-addicted parents and started a programme for them called 'Head Start'. When middle class parents heard about it, they wanted a head start for their kids too, and that's how pre-school came about. It wasn't for children who could get nurturing from their parents at home.
I learned in Sweden...that if you're a mother who stays at home that you're not allowed to send your child to nursery free of cost. The best place for a child under six is at home.
WHY SHE'S FIGHTING
Our children are more than a grade...more than an A, B or C. They have a name. GSAT tells them that if they don't do well enough, they can't go to the school of their choice. Common Entrance - which was replaced by the Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) several years ago - made kids think they were dunce. A lot of them grew up believing that. If you tell children at 10 they're not good enough, they'll grow up thinking it.
Maturity is important...for children to receive information. Babies should not be going to school. Why does a child who is bright in preparatory or primary school fail so miserably in high school? Because they're tired.
Separate from family and economic issues...children get tired by the time they reach fifth form. They don't want to continue.
I'm saying to Jamaica...yes, we need more money pumped into education, however, our mindset need to change as the level of work given to children at a tender ages causes them stress -- headaches, stomachaches, sinusitis, ear infections. A lot of it could be stress.
Education has come to mean...getting a free seat in high school. Even the children will tell you that if you ask them.
Some educators say...it's the parents who are pushing the children. On the other hand some parents will tell you that the teachers are pressuring the children. However, it's the task set at the very top to get the free seat.
They don't guarantee children...a sixth form seat and so many children leave school at 16. Where are they going before they reach 18? In other countries, they're guaranteed a spot until they're 18. They're not mature enough to go out there and be adults yet.
There are a lot of people out there...in my age group who were told they were dunce. How come these 'dunces' go away to the States and do the best in their classes?
WHAT SHE'D LIKE TO SEE
When we look at crime in Jamaica...we need to build better human beings. Jamaica needs to be kinder to children through family life, community and education.
My dream...is to see that all children get the same education, not specific schools for the rich and poor. Pre-schools need to be more like a nursery and not academic-orientated. Build language skills before writing.
The Ministry of Education needs to...ensure that people are not stressing out children. The Ministry also needs to put money into smaller classes and better facilities for primary schools so that we don't need private prep schools. Then we'll have money to send our children to secondary school.
Child should either...be older going into Grade One or their workload lessened. Psychologists say 69 per cent of all people are normal, the rest are either gifted or dunce. So why do we have such a hard education programme when most of us are normal?
If they can't do away with GSAT...then at least limit the exams that GSAT brings.
HER CHILDREN
The 10-year-old...is in the fifth grade and she's doing very well. I don't have to push her because she's at the place she's supposed to be at.
I'm not putting my younger child...age four, into prep school until she's five or six. The academic programme just looks too hard for them. I've placed her at Wee-Care Pre-School and Nursery. I told the teachers that I want no homework and no report cards. At four years old, I want to keep her loving it. The day I tell her to pick up her book, that will change.
If when my children get to high school...they begin making Cs, I won't be outraged. My child is not a grade. There is much time to improve. When my brother was in high school he wasn't a good student, and now he's very, very successful. Grades don't mean everything.
LAST WORDS
If we don't care about other people's kids we'll have to put more money into making more jail bars.
If education is the foundation of what the country will do, then we'll have to correct these things in order to make our country a better place.
I'd like parents out there to join me and really begin to think about things differently."
