THE EDITOR, Sir:
RECENTLY DR. Dennis Minott published findings from a study he did on the performance of various high schools across the island. In this finding, Dr. Minott ranked schools according to their performance and this has caused much debate in the society. Most principals and parents have come out against Dr. Minott and have condemned the ranking.
I take a different view. You see, I am an optimist and so in everything I look for the positive. It is my humble opinion that instead of administrators and parents condemning the ranking, they should seek to use it as a management tool, to work harder and to improve the performance of their students next time around. We have to recognise that we are living in a market-driven economy wherein competition is the order of the day. In this sort of environment, every institution should aspire to be the best and so the schools that are ranked below Immaculate, Campion, Wolmer's Girls, and so on, should aspire to beat them at performance next year.
PRAGMATIC APPROACH
As a matter of fact, this sort of ranking can do the education system a world of good if administrators and parents should adopt a more pragmatic approach towards nurturing the lives of our young people.
Instead of people chastising Dr. Minott for his work, I believe that we should spend more time encouraging parents to spend more time with their children. By this I mean that they should ensure that their children attend school on a regular basis and make sure that they monitor their performance at school. It is so easy for us to blame teachers for our children's inability to read and write, but what happens to the parents of that child who have brought him or her into this world and have a moral, spiritual, biological and social obligation to ensure the literacy and numeracy of that child?
From the pre-primary to secondary level, a child is exposed to 15 years of teaching. During this time the child changes different teachers but there is one factor that remains constant and that is the parent. How can a parent have a child going to school for 15 years and don't know of the child's inability to read or write? We must cut the foolishness in this country and start doing what we are supposed to do and stop blaming others for our failure.
My mother is poor and there was no father in the home (a common feature among most Jamaican youths). However, my mother ensured that I developed an insatiable appetite for education and even after I got blind and was unable to complete my education at St. Mary High School, it was implanted in my head that "education is the key" and so I worked hard to achieve one.
GOOD PARENTAL SUPPORT
It would be interesting to do a study on those students who have done well and to see the linkages with good parental support.
On the surface, it seems as if there is a strong correlation. It is graphically demonstrated in the top 10 rated schools as parents play a pivotal role in the lives of their children and schools.
One should not give the cheap reason that the parents of children attending Campion and Immaculate have money and so they are able to pay for extra lessons for their kids and hence them doing very well. Instead, kudos should be given to those parents for spending and supporting their children so well.
There are a number of poor people's children who have done well in spite of their poverty but the difference is that those parents have instilled a level of discipline in the lives of their children. They spend time with them reading and they send them to church, not to the dance or the latest 'bling-bling' session around the place.
The latest 'passa passa' about Dr. Minott's ranking is, in my estimation, much ado about nothing. We must look at it from a more pragmatic and forward thinking standpoint and stop shooting the messenger. We all agree that there are some serious problems with our education system and we must concentrate on fixing them rather than condemning an individual who has nothing to do with the bad performance of so many of our children in school.
I am, etc.,
FLOYD MORRIS
Senator & Minister of State
Ministry of Labour and Social Security
