THE EDITOR, Sir:
TO BORROW words from my grandmother, a dedicated and honest teacher, "A little knowledge is dangerous." When she used these words I was at a loss but after reading the letter entitled 'Shame on us' by A. White, Manchester published in The Gleaner dated December 16, 2003 I had a rude awakening. Anyone who knows very little and uses that to make sweeping generalisations is like the frog in the well. The daunting task is to facilitate an understanding of the ocean in a manner comprehensible to well dwellers, a task that the teacher in me could not pass up.
The first and fundamental blunder made by A. White was the assumption that teachers could see the variation in their salaries when the overpayment started. This problem started with the 1995 reclassification of teacher salaries. The reclassification was not done as a percentage of regular pay nor as an incremental raise, rather teachers were placed on a new scale. Their qualification and experience was considered and they were linked to the third quartile of the civil servants' salary.
The teachers had no way of knowing if they were over or under paid. They would not see a difference in their pay as they were at the level given to them by the paymasters. This raise was considered a small step in giving them what they deserved. To believe that teachers who have been beacons of altruism, dedication and honesty over the years would knowingly receive overpayments and risk criminal prosecution is blatantly ludicrous.
The shame is on you A. White and rightly so, you should be ashamed to belittle the character of teachers with your erroneous and unwarranted generalisations based on too little knowledge of the facts.
I am, etc.,
CLAYTON HALL
claytonohall@yahoo.com
White River
Buff Bay P.O.
Portland
Via Go-Jamaica
