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Teachers get basket to carry water
HEART TO HEART
Betty Ann Blaine
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
Dear Reader,
There is a saying that goes, "When all else fails, read the instructions." In this case the maxim is, "When all else fails, give it to the schools." Just in case you haven't noticed, Jamaica's schools are now being called upon to be the panacea for all the ills in the society. Teachers are expected to be all things to all people - educators, administrators, parents, mentors, mediators, social workers, psychologists, condom distributors, and the most recent - and without doubt, the most bizarre -policemen and policewomen.
In this convoluted, de facto reclassification of schools, even those in our midst with the soundest minds could easily forget that schools are first and foremost the places where children go to be educated. It appears as if we all have to be reminded that schools are not "holding areas", half-way houses, child guidance clinics or social support centres.
They are places of learning where new and time-tested ideas, principles and methodologies are imparted with the objective of producing well-rounded and well-adjusted citizens, with the help of parents and the community.
One gets the feeling that the official thinking is that it is easier to fix schools than it is to fix society. The introduction of free tuition and the recent pronouncement by government of wanting to erect more school buildings, are proof positive that it is "style" over substance, that is being pursued.
Nobody in their right mind could argue against the principle of free tuition. In fact, in a 21st-century world, anti-free tuition arguments are not even worth considering. Tuition ought to be free up to the secondary level, and ideally, up to the tertiary level. There is no doubt also, that Jamaica could do with some additional school buildings, if only to eradicate the dysfunctional two-shift system. But the problem of education is much bigger than free access to schools or the number of buildings anyone can count. The fundamental problem facing our teachers and our schools is the degree of social and spiritual poverty that is rendering the pedagogy ineffective, and threatening to make the value of education obsolete.
What's the point of free tuition or larger numbers of classrooms, when more and more children are being kept away from school to maintain themselves or to supplement the incomes of their parents or guardians, when at any given point, hundreds of children are out of school on suspension, when children are unable to attend because of lack of bus fare and lunch money, and when violence renders attendance impossible?
Even more fundamental is, how do you educate children who themselves are victims of violence or who have witnessed their parents or family members being gunned down; children who live in communities with unrelenting violence; children who are students and yet are heads of households at the same time; children attending school who are students and sex mates of adult men who "look after them", and school boys who smoke chillum pipes or burn ganja spliffs before going to school? The point is that there are a plethora of problems affecting education, and arming teachers with the powers of arrest, is like putting a bulldog in charge of a flock of birds.
If you ask me, our teachers are being given "basket fi carry wata", and their mouthpiece, the Jamaica Teachers' Association, ought to be clear and vigilant about the role and responsibilities of their members. Teachers can't be expected to focus on curricula and achieve multiple exam passes when they are overburdened with the serious social and behavioural problems that exist in the classrooms.
Teachers cannot be expected to be surrogate parents and social workers all wrapped up in one, and I can't imagine that there is any place in the school for the teacher to be the arresting officer. In a culture where people don't trust the police, I'm hard-pressed to understand why anyone would suggest giving teachers police powers. It would be interesting to watch the "WE WANT JUSTICE" placards being moved from off the streets on to school compounds. One shudders at the potential for chaos and mayhem in the system.
Our teachers have to be careful that they are not being set up to be scapegoats for failure to deliver the educational goods. If there was ever a time for teacher activism, that time is now. Teachers ought to demand that certain prerequisites are met in order for them to practise their craft effectively. It seems to me that the most urgent precondition is a guarantee from the government to provide security protection for school children and the communities in which they live. You can't effectively educate children who live in volatile, crime-ridden zones.
Teachers should also insist that the government allocates time and resources to tackling the crippling problem of parenting and family life. It doesn't matter how good a teacher is. Children who are poorly socialised cannot be effectively educated.
Most important, it must be made clear that education is not a "political trophy" or something that can be used as a political football. The urgency for wide-sweeping educational reform not only requires unflagging teacher input, but sincere and active bi-partisanship.
With love,
bab2609@yahoo.com
HEART TO HEART
Betty Ann Blaine
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
Dear Reader,
There is a saying that goes, "When all else fails, read the instructions." In this case the maxim is, "When all else fails, give it to the schools." Just in case you haven't noticed, Jamaica's schools are now being called upon to be the panacea for all the ills in the society. Teachers are expected to be all things to all people - educators, administrators, parents, mentors, mediators, social workers, psychologists, condom distributors, and the most recent - and without doubt, the most bizarre -policemen and policewomen.
In this convoluted, de facto reclassification of schools, even those in our midst with the soundest minds could easily forget that schools are first and foremost the places where children go to be educated. It appears as if we all have to be reminded that schools are not "holding areas", half-way houses, child guidance clinics or social support centres.
They are places of learning where new and time-tested ideas, principles and methodologies are imparted with the objective of producing well-rounded and well-adjusted citizens, with the help of parents and the community.
One gets the feeling that the official thinking is that it is easier to fix schools than it is to fix society. The introduction of free tuition and the recent pronouncement by government of wanting to erect more school buildings, are proof positive that it is "style" over substance, that is being pursued.
Nobody in their right mind could argue against the principle of free tuition. In fact, in a 21st-century world, anti-free tuition arguments are not even worth considering. Tuition ought to be free up to the secondary level, and ideally, up to the tertiary level. There is no doubt also, that Jamaica could do with some additional school buildings, if only to eradicate the dysfunctional two-shift system. But the problem of education is much bigger than free access to schools or the number of buildings anyone can count. The fundamental problem facing our teachers and our schools is the degree of social and spiritual poverty that is rendering the pedagogy ineffective, and threatening to make the value of education obsolete.
What's the point of free tuition or larger numbers of classrooms, when more and more children are being kept away from school to maintain themselves or to supplement the incomes of their parents or guardians, when at any given point, hundreds of children are out of school on suspension, when children are unable to attend because of lack of bus fare and lunch money, and when violence renders attendance impossible?
Even more fundamental is, how do you educate children who themselves are victims of violence or who have witnessed their parents or family members being gunned down; children who live in communities with unrelenting violence; children who are students and yet are heads of households at the same time; children attending school who are students and sex mates of adult men who "look after them", and school boys who smoke chillum pipes or burn ganja spliffs before going to school? The point is that there are a plethora of problems affecting education, and arming teachers with the powers of arrest, is like putting a bulldog in charge of a flock of birds.
If you ask me, our teachers are being given "basket fi carry wata", and their mouthpiece, the Jamaica Teachers' Association, ought to be clear and vigilant about the role and responsibilities of their members. Teachers can't be expected to focus on curricula and achieve multiple exam passes when they are overburdened with the serious social and behavioural problems that exist in the classrooms.
Teachers cannot be expected to be surrogate parents and social workers all wrapped up in one, and I can't imagine that there is any place in the school for the teacher to be the arresting officer. In a culture where people don't trust the police, I'm hard-pressed to understand why anyone would suggest giving teachers police powers. It would be interesting to watch the "WE WANT JUSTICE" placards being moved from off the streets on to school compounds. One shudders at the potential for chaos and mayhem in the system.
Our teachers have to be careful that they are not being set up to be scapegoats for failure to deliver the educational goods. If there was ever a time for teacher activism, that time is now. Teachers ought to demand that certain prerequisites are met in order for them to practise their craft effectively. It seems to me that the most urgent precondition is a guarantee from the government to provide security protection for school children and the communities in which they live. You can't effectively educate children who live in volatile, crime-ridden zones.
Teachers should also insist that the government allocates time and resources to tackling the crippling problem of parenting and family life. It doesn't matter how good a teacher is. Children who are poorly socialised cannot be effectively educated.
Most important, it must be made clear that education is not a "political trophy" or something that can be used as a political football. The urgency for wide-sweeping educational reform not only requires unflagging teacher input, but sincere and active bi-partisanship.
With love,
bab2609@yahoo.com
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