This debate is simply disgraceful

THE EDITOR, Sir:

THIS ONGOING debate about the appointment of a female principal for St. George's College I think is much ado about nothing. It is surprising that in 2006, there exists this tight mindset about a woman heading an all-boys school, simply disgraceful. I would be led to believe that a lot of the parents with children attending this school are persons with some level of reasoning. Even though I did not attend this school or even know much about it, my friends who have attended and taught there can tell of the retrogression that has been taking place. This is the same school, if I recall, that has been having serious problems with discipline in the last few years.

I would like to question those who oppose this move. What gender would you suggest for a school with mixed gender? Should there be two principals, a male for the boys and a female for the girls? What harm will this woman do to the boys, if that is the fear? Or is it that we fear this woman will do good to them and this is not needed at this time? We speak about the indiscipline of the new generation, but are we contributing to it when we oppose these moves?

I hear us speak of loving and respecting our mothers and females, and so I think this debate should now force us to think about the message we are sending, if this woman should not be appointed on the basis of gender.

Frankly all this is a storm in a tea cup!

- Rohan McCalla

rsmccalla@hotmail.com

Gender should not be a factor

THE EDITOR, Sir:

I AM a proud past student of St. George's College. I attended the school during the 70s. At that time, it was unthinkable to have a principal who was not a Catholic priest, much less not a man. Beyond third form, all my teachers were male (and about 50 per cent were priests). There were female teachers at the school, but I guess it was not considered appropriate to expose them to the raging hormones of 14-18 year old boys.

In evaluating the considerable benefits I received from attending St. George's, I conclude that these were mainly due to the high quality of teaching and general facilities provided. These were functions of the quality of the school administration, among other things.

I don't believe the gender of the principal enhanced my educational experience in any significant way. I therefore believe that gender should not be a factor in determining the new principal.

We live in a society where personal advancement is (or should be) a result of hard work and dedication, not gender. This, more than anything, is what we need to teach our young men today. Appointing a person principal because he is male will only reinforce some of the misguided beliefs in our young men. The belief that they are somehow special because they are men and they need not work to achieve their goals (as) their mothers, sisters and girlfriends must do that for them.

Let the best-qualified person be principal.

- Hugh Smythe

10 Schooner Court

Westmoorings,

Port of Spain

'I owe my best experiences to women'

THE EDITOR, Sir:

About half my working life, some 30 years and more now, has been spent in business and industry and, the other, teaching a public school. I've had a good number of supervisors. In all that time, there were two I remember as being far superior to all others with respect to their maturity, demeanour, sophistication, insight, and more than anything else, their helpfulness.

As it happens, they were both women and both very accomplished school principals with outstanding records of service. One was a Jamaican and one was an American. I owe my best years and most memorable experiences to the singular dedication of these two amazing women.

Their lives and their leadership prove, at least to this humble educator, that men should not waste society's time arguing any sort of superiority in administrative skill or talent, and especially, not in education!

- Ed McCoy

mmhobo48@juno.com

'The issue is whether we can put in place role models for our boys'

THE EDITOR, Sir:

IN AN environment where too many fathers have abdicated their responsibilities in the homes, too many of our boys are never properly exposed to what it is to be a man. They are left to their own devices and the result is more broken homes, poverty and more abused, disturbed and abandoned children.

This problem is further compounded by the fact that education is no longer seen as a viable factor in upward social mobility, especially for males and negative male role models are aplenty.

At the same time, strong professional women are almost a dime-a-dozen. Our universities and colleges churn them out yearly. In the primary and prep schools female role models are in abundance. This is also true in the high schools, in the workplaces and in our homes. Education, based on the gender ratio, may be perceived to be a 'female' thing.

Assuming that there are qualified male applicants for the top job in our boys' schools, the question is not about the professional levels that women have attained, or whether or not a man is better able to manage the affairs of the school.

The broader and more significant issue is whether we can put in place role models for our boys, someone who will be in a position to change the feminine perception of education (at least at one of our boys' schools), and replace it with a positive 'male view' to which our boys can aspire. Yes, there may be male teachers on staff, but our boys should be able to believe they can lead such a noble institution because they have the lived experience on which to rely.

I am by no means arguing that deadbeat dads must be let off the hook but, in the interim, we must hold up positive male role models at critical points so that they provide good examples for our sons.

Our nation is in trouble with our boys, and whatever we can do to help them to become the men of tomorrow, husbands to our daughters and fathers to our grandchildren, we need to get busy doing this.

Regardless of what we may want to believe, a mother cannot father a boy. Our experience as a nation is a prime point of reference.

- Very Concerned Parent