Should students be allowed to transfer after 2 years

[Mosiah]

of 6th Form at another school?

[Assasin]

yes transfer to University.

[Time]

of 6th Form at another school?

Why not? If they are under 19 then keep them in school!

[Mosiah]

I understand ISSA has recently banned that practice. You want to know why?

[Mosiah]

Do you know schools in Jamaica have been transferring players form one high school to another, even after that player has done to successful years at another school? So they are doing this just for sporting purposes.

Want to guess the main schools doing this?

[Assasin]

I had a youth who was started Comm College in the states and his coach at a top school was calling him to come back and play one more season as they have a chance to win.

How is this going to help these kids? Yes these schools are all about themselves. I won't guess because one a your brethren might bex wid me .

[Mosiah]

I had a youth who was started Comm College in the states and his coach at a top school was calling him to come back and play one more season as they have a chance to win.

How is this going to help these kids? Yes these schools are all about themselves. I won't guess because one a your brethren might bex wid me .

If him waan bex, mek him bex!

I'll give you little history about the practice. You may remember my story about STETHS recruiting a Munro graduate who had passed 2 'A'levels for their cricket team. This was in the early
80s and was likely not the first time. They continued that practice for years.

I understand that very recently, the STETHS principal pushed for this practice to stop. You are probably wondering why. Well, let me tell you. It appears that when Colour went over to MC he took with a former STETHS player who had already done 2 years of 6th form. So, all of a sudden some people had a problem with it.

So yes, Munro was guilty of it and we paid the price because that STETHS player proved to be disruptive to the football program and in school generally. We should not be surprised. If all you are in school for is to play football or cricket, having already completed your normal high school career, do we really expect you to be a model student? I know I wouldn't be!

[Assasin]

This shouldn't happen. After you get 2 A levels which I assume 2 years in 6 form would give this young man or he wouldn't be qualified to play, why is he in high school??? Why not college? If he is good enough to make any top Dcup team, he is qualified to be in College.

How is this youth benefitting from his Dcup experience?

[Mosiah]

For what? So the school can win Manning Cup?

[Assasin]

My friend youth went to Georges and had two year of Dcup left but he had subjects like crazy, If he returned last year and this he would have been a superstar in DCup sense and maybe on Jamaica youth team but he got full scholarship to UWI and will finish up soon. Can't stay inna high school fi win cup. That deh bwoy parent should a beat him go straight a di school gate to rhatid.

[Mosiah]

Some schools will do anything to win these trophies.

Case in point - ISSA has been debating the possibility of having a Class IV for boys at Champs, as is the case for girls. Some schools, and they will remain nameless, are fiercely opposed to the introduction of a Class IV. At least they are honest about it. They claim their schools will be at a disadvantage because they would not have a strong Class IV.

The reason why this is the case is the talented 11 year olds usually go elsewhere as a result of the GSAT. These other high schools rely heavily on recruited athletes from elsewhere which means they usually get them around age 13 or 14, too old for Class IV.

It is said that Munro won Western champs this year only because of its Class IV. Imagine if Champs or other ISSA competitions had to level the playing field because of what was obtained at certain schools? So, for the many schools that may not have a 6th form, the cut off form would be 5 for all schools. Imagine how many times a student would repeat 5th form! Or should the age limit be 16?

What about large schools with student populations of 1500 or more, why should a school with 700 have to compete with that?

If Champs and these competitions are for development, should we care that much about which school may be at a disadvantage?

This is the kind of frank discussion we need about school competitions, minus the tribalism for our beloved alma maters.

And I do realise that each school will have its own philosophy regarding these competitions. But this idea that somehow STETHS had managed to win the all-island cricket competition 30 times out of the last 28 years because of superior coaching or talent in the school...give me a frikkin break!

[Time]

Some schools will do anything to win these trophies.

Case in point - ISSA has been debating the possibility of having a Class IV for boys at Champs, as is the case for girls. Some schools, and they will remain nameless, are fiercely opposed to the introduction of a Class IV. At least they are honest about it. They claim their schools will be at a disadvantage because they would not have a strong Class IV.

The reason why this is the case is the talented 11 year olds usually go elsewhere as a result of the GSAT. These other high schools rely heavily on recruited athletes from elsewhere which means they usually get them around age 13 or 14, too old for Class IV.

It is said that Munro won Western champs this year only because of its Class IV. Imagine if Champs or other ISSA competitions had to level the playing field because of what was obtained at certain schools? So, for the many schools that may not have a 6th form, the cut off form would be 5 for all schools. Imagine how many times a student would repeat 5th form! Or should the age limit be 16?

What about large schools with student populations of 1500 or more, why should a school with 700 have to compete with that?

If Champs and these competitions are for development, should we care that much about which school may be at a disadvantage?

This is the kind of frank discussion we need about school competitions, minus the tribalism for our beloved alma maters.

And I do realise that each school will have its own philosophy regarding these competitions. But this idea that somehow STETHS had managed to win the all-island cricket competition 30 times out of the last 28 years because of superior coaching or talent in the school...give me a frikkin break!

All ISSA has to do is to limit the number of students allowed on each ISSA team who did not enter the school via a government academic scholarship (GSAT or 9 Grade) in the first year of that scholarship. For example for Football and Cricket they could make the limit 4 registered players. I would also set a fixed number per team for T&F (and not a percentage of school population.)