The Editor, Sir:

I left high school in 1973, and was drawn into Michael Manley's vision for a better society. I deferred university for two years and volunteered for the National Youth Service, teaching in what was then a junior secondary school. I grew to love teaching from that experience, and went to university, fully intending to return to the classroom. I have only recently managed to do that.

No changes

One of the very distressing things from that long ago time was the high incidence of functional illiteracy among Grade Nine students who would soon be 'graduating'. More than 30 years later, the situation is hardly different, raising many questions.

How dare politicians stand before us and claim to be concerned about the poor education standards that enmesh the majority of our youth? How, for instance, can the PNP be talking about full literacy in five years, when they haven't made much headway in the last 18? The JLP is hardly better. I don't doubt its intentions regarding free education, but is that what is needed to properly prepare our young people for the world that is upon them? Are so many of our young people poorly educated because high fees keep them out of school? Is it the inadequacy of the school learning environment? What role do poor social environments and nutrition play? Do dreadful rural roads and transportation have anything to do with it?

I would love to hear from our politicians a proper diagnosis of the problems before they rush to prescribe solutions. Unless, of course, the prescriptions are not really directed at education at all, but at the more pressing problem of vote-getting. This season of 'promise' where politicians do what they think is necessary to win votes, reminds me of a broken-down boxer trying to earn a living in a cruel sport.

Upbeat words

Between rounds in yet another bruising encounter, his handlers keep telling him that he's doing OK and has the other guy worried. Unable to reconcile the beating he is taking with the upbeat words from his corner, he finally suggests that they "keep an eye on the referee because somebody out there is beating the stuffing out of me". Many Jamaicans sometimes feel like that boxer, as they try to square the upbeat words from the politicians with the hammering they are experiencing.

I am, etc.,

MICHAEL

R. NICHOLSON

P.O. Box 5171

Kingston 6