In support of Thwaites' motion

[Mosiah]

In support of Thwaites' motion

Thursday, November 29, 2007

Dear Editor,

I wish to publicly support the private member's bill raised in the Parliament recently by Member of Parliament Ronald Thwaites, calling for certain amendments to the Education Act and its related regulations and code. I trust that the motion will be debated in Parliament soon and the appropriate corrective measures adopted.

Effectively, Mr Thwaites is calling for an end to the current practice, which sees students being promoted from one grade to the next without regard for their mastery of each grade. Such a practice, I firmly believe, has contributed largely to the continued high level of illiteracy or semi-literacy that affects too many of our people, leading to increasingly greater challenges to our economic and social systems.

It was pleasing to read, as reported elsewhere in the Jamaican press, that first-time government MP, Mr Gregory Mair, was supportive of Mr Thwaites' motion. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of another Jamaica Labour Party first-time MP, Mr Tarn Peralto, who was reported as considering the motion "foolishness".

I am not sure on what basis Mr Peralto adopted this view. I hope that Mr Peralto did not take such a view merely because the motion was coming from an Opposition People's National Party member. For such a sad practice must be retired in the public interest, and parliamentarians, regardless of which side of the House they sit, must support measures based on whether they are good for Jamaica and not based on which party raises the motion.

Kevin KO Sangster
New Jersey, USA
sangstek@msn.com

[Mosiah]

Willi, maybe you can explain your friend's feeling that Thwaites motion was foolishness. Is Tarn Peralto serious about mature governance and not the partisan crap?

[Willi]

I dont understand any more than you!

Dont see why the 2 Georgians should clash over this. RT is Georgian too, as is T Munro, Wehby, Bruce and Dwight Nelson.

I hope they all remember the motto AMDG.

[Willi]

From a practical point of view, given the current average quality of education, I suspect that if we hold back students cause dem not up to scratch, the lower grade populations will EXPLODE and the overall population in school will expand exponentially.

Imagine a water tank, if the outlet rate is exceeded by the inlet rate, what happens?

Perhaps that is Tarn's fear??

The reporting is lacking though, as at no time is an indepth analysis of the opposing views elaborated.

Perhaps if it was better, you would be supporting Tarn and not RT!! Or maybe neither! All now the full has not been told.

[Mosiah]

Yes, but remember this is a letter. I don't expect it to have the whole story, but I do wonder if the original report did justice to the issue and the parliamentarians' stance.

The point is, even if Tarn felt, like I do, that we would have 2 people in 5th form and 500 in 2nd, the response, at least in this case should not be "foolishness". Save that for internet fora.

[Willi]

I forgot it was a letter.

Parliament is a ruffhouse place, so I can imagine how the response evloved from earlier banter.

We reasonable people here would quickly identify the ensing problem of capacity in lower grades and evelove the argument to address that. One apparent top-gap solution could be to set a minimum bar for advancement. For example, no advancement if grade averge is below 35%...that would just affect the very lowest achievers and slow the impending capacity issue. Then maybe a remedial systemn or better teaching methods could then be introduced to finally solve the problem. It certainly is not a short term solvable issue.