Tweet
.. in education... and a consensus around its revolution.
Poor education a driver of crime and violence
published: Sunday | August 3, 2008
The Private Sector Organisation of [COLOR=orange! important][COLOR=orange! important]Jamaica[/COLOR][/COLOR] believes there is a crisis in the education [COLOR=orange! important][COLOR=orange! important]system[/COLOR][/COLOR], which is affecting crime and violence. In this May 2008 file photo, [COLOR=orange! important][COLOR=orange! important]Education[/COLOR][/COLOR] Minister Andrew Holness talks to children from the Spanish Town Primary School. - File
JAMAICANS ARE very concerned now about the rate of crime in Jamaica. Although we are reportedly ranked as one of the most unsafe countries in the world, Deputy Commissioner of Police Mark Shields has refuted this (and rightly so), pointing out that the majority of our murders are gang related.
However, as we say in Jamaica, 'Tek sleep and mark death'. So what can we do about it?
Commissioner of Police Rear Admiral Hardley Lewin and the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) have put forward their plan to reduce crime in Jamaica and they must be supported in every way possible.
As a country, we cannot only look to short-term measures, as it is not possible to arrest every budding criminal there is in Jamaica. We have to look at the underlying reasons why our youths (boys and girls) choose gangs and what causes us to [COLOR=orange! important][COLOR=orange! important]resort[/COLOR][/COLOR] to violence to settle disputes. (Domestic violence is our second-highest cause of murder.)
A sense of belonging
When someone addresses a situation in an aggressive manner we often say, 'Im ignorant, eeh!' suggesting that if persons do not have adequate information, whether it be through words, exposure or a sense of reasoning, it is harder for them to discuss a disagreement and come to an amicable resolution.
Studies have shown that people often join gangs in an effort to have a sense of belonging, a sense of purpose and value. What can we, as a country, do about this? In our [COLOR=orange! important][COLOR=orange! important]schools[/COLOR][/COLOR] we have a captive audience of more than 90 per cent of our young people between the ages of six and 15 and about 70 per cent of them between 15 and 18. This presents a great opportunity to make an impact on what our population chooses going forward. We currently place a great deal of emphasis on the academics in our schools, which should not change, as this is the primary purpose of a school. However, we must recognise that we have another role to play: We must not only give our students the words, but also a sense of belonging, purpose and worth.
This is traditionally the role of the parent and the family and these are the values that we need to restore. However, we must accept that the quality parents we have today are those that, as a society, we have created. The quality of teachers we have today are those we have created. So, together they can only give what they have been given. We must break the cycle. The end game we want is to create a population that is self-assured, informed, and one that uses the creativity with which we are so blessed to create wealth and well-being for themselves and, as a result, their country.
In this process, we must remember our slogan for education, 'Every child can learn and every child must learn.' What we often forget is that every child IS learning. So, if we are not contributing to that process, then the choices children make are limited to the things to which they are exposed.
What can we do differently?
1. The education system must accept there is a parenting role that it has to play. (Some school, principals and teachers already do this, but it is not widespread enough.)
The curriculum must purposefully shape our value systems. (This is not new; it has been done before.)
Our schools must be a safe place for our children, where they can make mistakes, the appropriate consequence applied, but where they are given a chance to continue to develop.
Our schools must reward our children into success and not punish them into submission.
Our teachers must be retrained to understand this task and their role, so we can stop making our children feel that they are no good or do not belong anywhere because their parents have not shown up or spent more money on themselves rather than the children.
2. The education system must recognise it is more than just completing the curriculum, but it is the children's resultant learning that counts.
Meet our children where they are. Where necessary make our schools remedial. Believe in our children and help them to achieve the mastery they need to move on to the next level.
Assess every child and reorganise our system to allow our children to truly achieve mastery in each grade and not move them on because the age has passed. (Some attempts are being made with this at the grade-four level.)
It is now time for us to take this on as an emergency measure and not wait for it to work out in the long run. Every year that we put children through the system and they continue to feel inadequate and 'dunce', we run the risk of creating more and more angry people and criminals. Each cohort is 50,000 children; if 50 per cent of them do not understand what is happening for them at school, then we run the risk every year of having 25,000 students who are 'ignorant', more likely to choose violence as the way out. (That is 25,000 at risk only if you can control those who are in the classroom, so we only count the graduating class).
In this emergency, we can't ignore those who would have spent more than 10 years in our system, but they have not achieved mastery even at the grade-four level for some.
Let us show our children that we believe in them. Let us invest more in our children, give them an additional two years in school, but make sure we are teaching them and not completing another curriculum.
3. Prepare our teachers to be able to take on remedial teaching for literacy and numeracy. If the children have this foundation, they can learn anything else.
4. Invite our retired teachers to come out and help in this process, whether to train our teachers or to help with the teaching.
Resultant crisis
As the adults of this country, we (Government, private sector, churches and citizens) have to come together and recognise that we have a crisis in education in this country, and a resultant crisis in crime and violence.
We must come together and declare a state of emergency for the education system and let our children know by our words, our actions and our use of resources, that we believe in them; we believe in their potential and we will do everything in our power to ensure they get the opportunity to learn, not only math and English, but to love themselves and be productive and creative citizens and better parents than we were. Every child can learn, every child must learn, every child is learning.
Poor education a driver of crime and violence
published: Sunday | August 3, 2008
The Private Sector Organisation of [COLOR=orange! important][COLOR=orange! important]Jamaica[/COLOR][/COLOR] believes there is a crisis in the education [COLOR=orange! important][COLOR=orange! important]system[/COLOR][/COLOR], which is affecting crime and violence. In this May 2008 file photo, [COLOR=orange! important][COLOR=orange! important]Education[/COLOR][/COLOR] Minister Andrew Holness talks to children from the Spanish Town Primary School. - File
JAMAICANS ARE very concerned now about the rate of crime in Jamaica. Although we are reportedly ranked as one of the most unsafe countries in the world, Deputy Commissioner of Police Mark Shields has refuted this (and rightly so), pointing out that the majority of our murders are gang related.
However, as we say in Jamaica, 'Tek sleep and mark death'. So what can we do about it?
Commissioner of Police Rear Admiral Hardley Lewin and the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) have put forward their plan to reduce crime in Jamaica and they must be supported in every way possible.
As a country, we cannot only look to short-term measures, as it is not possible to arrest every budding criminal there is in Jamaica. We have to look at the underlying reasons why our youths (boys and girls) choose gangs and what causes us to [COLOR=orange! important][COLOR=orange! important]resort[/COLOR][/COLOR] to violence to settle disputes. (Domestic violence is our second-highest cause of murder.)
A sense of belonging
When someone addresses a situation in an aggressive manner we often say, 'Im ignorant, eeh!' suggesting that if persons do not have adequate information, whether it be through words, exposure or a sense of reasoning, it is harder for them to discuss a disagreement and come to an amicable resolution.
Studies have shown that people often join gangs in an effort to have a sense of belonging, a sense of purpose and value. What can we, as a country, do about this? In our [COLOR=orange! important][COLOR=orange! important]schools[/COLOR][/COLOR] we have a captive audience of more than 90 per cent of our young people between the ages of six and 15 and about 70 per cent of them between 15 and 18. This presents a great opportunity to make an impact on what our population chooses going forward. We currently place a great deal of emphasis on the academics in our schools, which should not change, as this is the primary purpose of a school. However, we must recognise that we have another role to play: We must not only give our students the words, but also a sense of belonging, purpose and worth.
This is traditionally the role of the parent and the family and these are the values that we need to restore. However, we must accept that the quality parents we have today are those that, as a society, we have created. The quality of teachers we have today are those we have created. So, together they can only give what they have been given. We must break the cycle. The end game we want is to create a population that is self-assured, informed, and one that uses the creativity with which we are so blessed to create wealth and well-being for themselves and, as a result, their country.
In this process, we must remember our slogan for education, 'Every child can learn and every child must learn.' What we often forget is that every child IS learning. So, if we are not contributing to that process, then the choices children make are limited to the things to which they are exposed.
What can we do differently?
1. The education system must accept there is a parenting role that it has to play. (Some school, principals and teachers already do this, but it is not widespread enough.)
The curriculum must purposefully shape our value systems. (This is not new; it has been done before.)
Our schools must be a safe place for our children, where they can make mistakes, the appropriate consequence applied, but where they are given a chance to continue to develop.
Our schools must reward our children into success and not punish them into submission.
Our teachers must be retrained to understand this task and their role, so we can stop making our children feel that they are no good or do not belong anywhere because their parents have not shown up or spent more money on themselves rather than the children.
2. The education system must recognise it is more than just completing the curriculum, but it is the children's resultant learning that counts.
Meet our children where they are. Where necessary make our schools remedial. Believe in our children and help them to achieve the mastery they need to move on to the next level.
Assess every child and reorganise our system to allow our children to truly achieve mastery in each grade and not move them on because the age has passed. (Some attempts are being made with this at the grade-four level.)
It is now time for us to take this on as an emergency measure and not wait for it to work out in the long run. Every year that we put children through the system and they continue to feel inadequate and 'dunce', we run the risk of creating more and more angry people and criminals. Each cohort is 50,000 children; if 50 per cent of them do not understand what is happening for them at school, then we run the risk every year of having 25,000 students who are 'ignorant', more likely to choose violence as the way out. (That is 25,000 at risk only if you can control those who are in the classroom, so we only count the graduating class).
In this emergency, we can't ignore those who would have spent more than 10 years in our system, but they have not achieved mastery even at the grade-four level for some.
Let us show our children that we believe in them. Let us invest more in our children, give them an additional two years in school, but make sure we are teaching them and not completing another curriculum.
3. Prepare our teachers to be able to take on remedial teaching for literacy and numeracy. If the children have this foundation, they can learn anything else.
4. Invite our retired teachers to come out and help in this process, whether to train our teachers or to help with the teaching.
Resultant crisis
As the adults of this country, we (Government, private sector, churches and citizens) have to come together and recognise that we have a crisis in education in this country, and a resultant crisis in crime and violence.
We must come together and declare a state of emergency for the education system and let our children know by our words, our actions and our use of resources, that we believe in them; we believe in their potential and we will do everything in our power to ensure they get the opportunity to learn, not only math and English, but to love themselves and be productive and creative citizens and better parents than we were. Every child can learn, every child must learn, every child is learning.
Comment