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PM responds to 5 year-old's plea for a library
BY ALICIA DUNKLEY, Observer staff reporter dunkleya@jamaicaobserver.com
Monday, June 08, 2009
Ever since he uttered his first word, which was not the traditional 'dada' or 'momma', Jaiden Morrison has been a stunner.
Prime Minister Bruce Golding presents five-year-old Jaiden Morrison with one of the 400 books which he presented to the Free Town Primary School in Clarendon on Friday. The books were a gift from Golding in response to a letter written by the youngster, last year, asking for a library filled with books for his school. (Photos: Llewellyn Wynter)
His high-pitched voice and height are just about the only things that are five-year-old about the youngster, who is light years ahead of his peers in maturity.
Jaiden's latest exploit was a letter authored by him when he was four years old with a plea powerful enough to bring Jamaica's Prime Minister Bruce Golding to his school in Freetown, Clarendon with 400 books in tow last Friday.
Up to then, everyone but Jaiden had forgotten about the letter, which his parents had posted just to humour him. "He wrote it with pencil on his book page and then he told us about it," Jaiden's dad, Kharela Morrison, told the Observer. "He was begging us to post it and we were trying to discourage him. We were saying 'Okay, wonderful letter', but we didn't take it seriously. One day he called me at work and said 'Daddy, talk to Mommy, tell Mommy to get my letter posted'.
"So we sent it off just to appease him. He was very much serious. He was four years old then and in grade one, at the time."
Morrison could very well remember his son's reason for writing the letter, but the contents were left up to Jaiden to recall.
Prime Minister Bruce Golding (right) in conversation with Kharela Morrison (centre) and his wife Cassandra, the parents of five-year-old Jaiden Morrison (2nd left). Golding paid a visit to Free Town Primary School in Clarendon on Friday bearing 400 books in response to a written plea from the youngster - a dedicated bookworm - for a library filled with books for his school.
"I told him what was the name of my school and I asked him the name of his school. I told him I wanted a library because I don't have any library at my school," the mature-sounding youngster said of the letter he wrote to Golding.
Asked how he felt to see his wish fulfilled, he replied: "I felt happy, I mean, I felt happy."
His ambition, he said, is to one day be a judge, "but someone told me I have to be a lawyer first,"
(must have been gamma who told him) young Jaiden soberly informed the Observer.
His dad, an accountant, said his boy, who did not utter his first word until he was three years old, is interested exclusively in books and cars.
"His first word, at age three, was 'car'. He doesn't watch cartoons, he doesn't watch television," said Morrison. "If you buy him a new book now he is engulfed in that until it's done. He's fascinated with vehicles, he can tell you about every car on the road."
Although he's only five years old, Jaiden will this September be placed in the third grade because of his enormous aptitude. Not bad for a child who started speaking late and did not set foot in a school until he was four years old.
"I thought he wasn't hearing because he wasn't saying anything, but his mother was convinced that he was hearing. I took him to a consultant who told me he was hearing fine," said Morrison.
"One day, there was a car passing by and he jumped up and said 'car, car'," Morrison added, laughing at the recollection.
"He started school last year; he had never been to school before that," his father said.
According to Morrison, the principal at the first preparatory school Jaiden attended placed him in grade one as was requested by his parents, who were sold on his ability. However, his stay there was very short.
"She put him in kindergarten two," said Morrison. "Two weeks after, the school called to say he was being disruptive. His mother went to see what was going on at school and saw that he was way past what the teacher was teaching."
Morrison said he called Freetown Primary School, which offered to take the child. "I took him there and they put him in grade one at the time. He is now in grade two, at the age of five, and will be going to grade three come September," the proud father said.
Golding, during his visit to the school on Friday, said he was impressed by what was written by Jaiden, who has been assessed by the Mico University Child Assessment Unit as being seven years ahead of his expected grade in reading and spelling. He also congratulated the child's parents and teachers.
"We must give attention to the parents who have taken the time to sit with him, encourage him to learn more, to read more and to reach for more knowledge," said the prime minister. "This is how he will become one of the powerful symbols of achievement in this country."
Jaiden is the only child for the couple who has been married nine years. His mother, Cassandra, is a nurse.
On Friday, the prime minister also pledged to provide assistance to build a proper library at the school.
Jaiden might have struck a chord in Golding's memory of his experience when he was denied a free place after he sat the Common Entrance examination, in 1957 on the grounds that he was not yet 10 years old and could, therefore, afford to wait another year.
The young Golding, unknown to his parents, went to St George's College armed with his Common Entrance scores. He was in the process of explaining his plight to the headmaster's secretary when the headmaster himself, Father Edward Donahue, entered the office and overheard the conversation.
He took the young Golding into his office and after listening to his story agreed to accept him as a first form student, subject to the willingness of his parents to pay tuition fees since he did not have a free place award from the Ministry of Education.
BY ALICIA DUNKLEY, Observer staff reporter dunkleya@jamaicaobserver.com
Monday, June 08, 2009
Ever since he uttered his first word, which was not the traditional 'dada' or 'momma', Jaiden Morrison has been a stunner.
Prime Minister Bruce Golding presents five-year-old Jaiden Morrison with one of the 400 books which he presented to the Free Town Primary School in Clarendon on Friday. The books were a gift from Golding in response to a letter written by the youngster, last year, asking for a library filled with books for his school. (Photos: Llewellyn Wynter)His high-pitched voice and height are just about the only things that are five-year-old about the youngster, who is light years ahead of his peers in maturity.
Jaiden's latest exploit was a letter authored by him when he was four years old with a plea powerful enough to bring Jamaica's Prime Minister Bruce Golding to his school in Freetown, Clarendon with 400 books in tow last Friday.
Up to then, everyone but Jaiden had forgotten about the letter, which his parents had posted just to humour him. "He wrote it with pencil on his book page and then he told us about it," Jaiden's dad, Kharela Morrison, told the Observer. "He was begging us to post it and we were trying to discourage him. We were saying 'Okay, wonderful letter', but we didn't take it seriously. One day he called me at work and said 'Daddy, talk to Mommy, tell Mommy to get my letter posted'.
"So we sent it off just to appease him. He was very much serious. He was four years old then and in grade one, at the time."
Morrison could very well remember his son's reason for writing the letter, but the contents were left up to Jaiden to recall.
Prime Minister Bruce Golding (right) in conversation with Kharela Morrison (centre) and his wife Cassandra, the parents of five-year-old Jaiden Morrison (2nd left). Golding paid a visit to Free Town Primary School in Clarendon on Friday bearing 400 books in response to a written plea from the youngster - a dedicated bookworm - for a library filled with books for his school."I told him what was the name of my school and I asked him the name of his school. I told him I wanted a library because I don't have any library at my school," the mature-sounding youngster said of the letter he wrote to Golding.
Asked how he felt to see his wish fulfilled, he replied: "I felt happy, I mean, I felt happy."
His ambition, he said, is to one day be a judge, "but someone told me I have to be a lawyer first,"
(must have been gamma who told him) young Jaiden soberly informed the Observer.His dad, an accountant, said his boy, who did not utter his first word until he was three years old, is interested exclusively in books and cars.
"His first word, at age three, was 'car'. He doesn't watch cartoons, he doesn't watch television," said Morrison. "If you buy him a new book now he is engulfed in that until it's done. He's fascinated with vehicles, he can tell you about every car on the road."
Although he's only five years old, Jaiden will this September be placed in the third grade because of his enormous aptitude. Not bad for a child who started speaking late and did not set foot in a school until he was four years old.
"I thought he wasn't hearing because he wasn't saying anything, but his mother was convinced that he was hearing. I took him to a consultant who told me he was hearing fine," said Morrison.
"One day, there was a car passing by and he jumped up and said 'car, car'," Morrison added, laughing at the recollection.
"He started school last year; he had never been to school before that," his father said.
According to Morrison, the principal at the first preparatory school Jaiden attended placed him in grade one as was requested by his parents, who were sold on his ability. However, his stay there was very short.
"She put him in kindergarten two," said Morrison. "Two weeks after, the school called to say he was being disruptive. His mother went to see what was going on at school and saw that he was way past what the teacher was teaching."
Morrison said he called Freetown Primary School, which offered to take the child. "I took him there and they put him in grade one at the time. He is now in grade two, at the age of five, and will be going to grade three come September," the proud father said.
Golding, during his visit to the school on Friday, said he was impressed by what was written by Jaiden, who has been assessed by the Mico University Child Assessment Unit as being seven years ahead of his expected grade in reading and spelling. He also congratulated the child's parents and teachers.
"We must give attention to the parents who have taken the time to sit with him, encourage him to learn more, to read more and to reach for more knowledge," said the prime minister. "This is how he will become one of the powerful symbols of achievement in this country."
Jaiden is the only child for the couple who has been married nine years. His mother, Cassandra, is a nurse.
On Friday, the prime minister also pledged to provide assistance to build a proper library at the school.
Jaiden might have struck a chord in Golding's memory of his experience when he was denied a free place after he sat the Common Entrance examination, in 1957 on the grounds that he was not yet 10 years old and could, therefore, afford to wait another year.
The young Golding, unknown to his parents, went to St George's College armed with his Common Entrance scores. He was in the process of explaining his plight to the headmaster's secretary when the headmaster himself, Father Edward Donahue, entered the office and overheard the conversation.
He took the young Golding into his office and after listening to his story agreed to accept him as a first form student, subject to the willingness of his parents to pay tuition fees since he did not have a free place award from the Ministry of Education.
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