'GSAT unfair!' - Non-traditional high schools feel cheated;

[Karl]

Principal Aljoe's skewed vision

Principal Aljoe's skewed vision

Published: Tuesday | June 23, 2009



Principal of the Rhodes Hall High School, Loreen Aljoe, peruses the GSAT scores for the instititution's new cohort set to start attending the school in September. The institution has been receiving students with the lowest GSAT scores in the island since it opened its doors in 2006. - file

The Editor, Sir:
There is no question that there is unequal access to quality education in Jamaica. Even with the mostly anecdotal data from which we extrapolate to talk about unequal educational outcomes, we know that rural and low-income students constantly get the short end of the stick: fewer educational resources, declining educational facilities, poorly trained teachers, lower academic content, lower expectations, less respect from teachers and peers. Like so many arenas of social life here in Jamaica, there is simply no tacit acceptance of the right to a good-quality education.

It is in this vein that I read The Sunday Gleaner and encountered the words of a "disappointed Loreen Aljoe, principal of the three-year-old [Rhodes Hall High] school" who has been given a "school which has five state-of-the-art science laboratories, two computer rooms and a well-designed layout - a well-equipped school" but who does not want to "waste" these resources on students who she sees as not worthy of them.

Apparently, Principal Aljoe does not know that the quality of the learning environment has a direct effect on students' learning experiences. If she listened to the stories of other principals and teachers who talk about the challenges of educating children under the most dire circumstances, she would recognise that there are many other schools, some mentioned in The Sunday Gleaner's coverage, who would want even one-tenth of the resources she has been given. What is a blessing is being treated with much disdain because of her sense of entitlement to having "good" students. Indeed, all of our students should have, and are entitled to, access to this kind of education environment.

Nor does Principal Aljoe seem to recognise that, perhaps, it is not the students who are flawed, but a system, complete with instructors who are not interested in investing their students with value and helping students to uncover their hidden talents, even in difficult circumstances. Instead, Jamaican teachers, even by Principal Aljoe's admission, seem to be more comfortable with taking credit for students' academic success that comes directly from their own high regard for people who come from and reflect middle-class backgrounds. It is not surprising then, that students who don't do well at the primary level are written off by the very teachers themselves, damning them to "vocational" status, thus helping to produce the very skewed educational outcomes that we have come to expect.

Contrary to her claim, Principal Aljoe has not been given basket to carry water; she has been given a solid, uncontaminated barrel that can hold and produce more than she even imagines.

Ironically, this school also provides an excellent test for what happens when the resource issue is resolved, and allow us to see the effects of educators' expectations more clearly.

It is now for Principal Aljoe to decide how she will re-orient her and the other teachers' values and attitudes so that she can use the resources she has to unveil the untapped potential of the students who will enter the doors of Rhodes Hall in September.

She and other principals need to be reminded that the children who will enter those doors are not damaged goods, leftovers or spoils. They are our future generation, brimming with promise as they walk into these institutions with excitement and anxiety, believing that all the teachers have their best interests at heart. It is our teachers and principals who can either ignite or kill our children's joy for learning, based on how they approach their responsibilities as educators. Here's hoping Principal Aljoe and her crew of teachers have a serious change of heart between now and September.
I am, etc.,
VERNA KITSON
vernakitson@gmail.com
Montego Bay

[Historian]

It's Absolutely No Problem!!

I missed your comments. ...and if there are others whose comments I missed...please forgive!

You are correct when you say I have not a clue of the experiences and career paths of most on the forum. ..but I was merely 'pulling the foot' of some of the Massive and taking a light 'jab' at others. I thought the 'juke' would have been taken calmly and in the spirit I meant.

Sorry, sah! Truly sorry!
Please forgive!
I am sorry you were upset. I had no intention of creating 'serious hurt'.

Karl, no problem whatsoever (lol)! I was upset for only maybe two minutes, and then I returned to my normal state permanently !

I responded like I did simply because I have always been very, very much against the tendency of many in Jamaican and USA society to arbitrarily place blame on teachers, some of whom are highly dedicated to their jobs and often make sacrifices for the students in their care! But the fact is that many teachers are in effect given baskets to carry water!

So, when I say you inadvertently lumping me among members of the public who display the very attitude that I criticize, I was understandably upset!

Parents, certainly, should share the blame for any poor performance by their youngsters, but the fact is -- and this is what many people refuse to acknowledge -- the youngsters themselves often should share a huge part of the blame!! Do posters (not you, Karl, as I know you were in education years ago) know how many students lie to their busy, stressed-out parents about not getting homework, or spend their time on social network sites like Facebook, etc. while their busy parents are fooled into thinking they’re doing homework?

But, everyone (including the current Minister of Education who sometimes makes less than well thought out utterances) seems to feel that they have the answer to underperformance!

[Gamma]

historian, while agree that at a point children play a part......children lying, spending time on social network sites and other such behaviour is nothing new.

children, by and large, will always try to get away with as much as they can and a vigilant parent sets the boundaries very early and THAT is the main difference. a stressed out parent is no help to the child whatsoever and may in fact be a liability.

i remember being a guest in a house with "little junior" who was being rude and his mother kept saying "junior don't _____" (fill in the blank) which he completely ignored and you could TELL that the reprimand was confusing the hell out of the child becuase that is the way he was accostomed to behave and thus the reason for ignoring.

some people say spanking children is showing them that violence is a way to resolve conflict..i disagree! with the parent child relationship, there is no conflict...conflict is between siblings. you are the authority figure! it tells them 2 things, respect authority and there are consequences for not respecting authority.

it seems to me that when corporal punishment (and i do not meant abuse...boxing kicking and flinging things at children) was more popular there was more discipline in schools and in society in general...now ther is no respect because somewhere along the line teachers and parents CEASED to be authority figures and became equals to the children.

[Historian]

Gamma, think about this....

historian, while agree that at a point children play a part......children lying, spending time on social network sites and other such behaviour is nothing new.

children, by and large, will always try to get away with as much as they can and a vigilant parent sets the boundaries very early and THAT is the main difference. a stressed out parent is no help to the child whatsoever and may in fact be a liability.

it seems to me that when corporal punishment (and i do not meant abuse...boxing kicking and flinging things at children) was more popular there was more discipline in schools and in society in general...now ther is no respect because somewhere along the line teachers and parents CEASED to be authority figures and became equals to the children.

I understand what you are saying, Gamma, although I find it difficult to support all of the points you raised.

You run the risk of glossing over and simplifying the reason why “teachers ceased to be authority figures and became equals to the children.” Do you know what the legal repercussions are for a teacher in Jamaica today who implements flogging on any child? It is not that many teachers are no longer disciplinarians. Rather, the flogging you mentioned in your post is something that became illegal in Jamaica’s education a couple of decades ago!!

First, I’m a natural liberal, but nonetheless I really think we need to focus on the politicians, lawyers and the Ministry of Education, because that is where the emasculation of educators in the classroom began and is continuing!! Do you realize that even a simple matter as expelling violent students has largely been taken out of the hands of the supreme authority figure on the spot, the principal? Do you realize that a teacher who hits a child in self defense (a child who attacks him) can get in serious trouble and be hauled before the courts?

Secondly, some parents will inevitably become a “liability,” as you stated, because mothers and fathers are only human! This is really sad, but it is one of the unfortunate facts of living in the world we do today. Let’s take, just to cite two examples, the working policeman and nurse in Kingston today. Do you realize that the average policeman and nurse in Kingston must be among the most stressed out people in our part of the Western world? These people, I’ve always felt, should get counseling on a regular basis (but of course, they don’t). Do you think that such an individual would be able to always monitor their children’s school work at home very effectively? In a country where violent injuries and violent death has become the norm, don’t you thing that a bath and bed is among the priorities of the average over-stressed nurse and policeman when he/she returns home?

By the way, the matter of reprimanding or lack of reprimanding is much different from the task of closely monitoring children each night! The task of properly raising a child, which of course includes proper and effective methods of reprimanding, is much easier to achieve (even easier when certain values are instilled from a very early age). The rigours of regular monitoring of a child’s school performance and results, while just as important, is not as easily achieved in this fast paced, modern world!

[Gamma]

historian thank you for this and pointing out the risk of oversimplifying the authority of the teacher....the reasoning is relevant.

on the last point, it is not really about how easy it is to monitor the children, it is about ensuring that it is done in some way, extended family or otherwise because too much is at stake if it is not done! children do not just go away because one is under stress.

i think a related point is the number of single parent households with multiple children and what is the genesis of that?

[Karl]

A feel betta areadi!
Respek, boss!

[Historian]

Good Point!

historian thank you for this and pointing out the risk of oversimplifying the authority of the teacher....the reasoning is relevant.

on the last point, it is not really about how easy it is to monitor the children, it is about ensuring that it is done in some way, extended family or otherwise because too much is at stake if it is not done! children do not just go away because one is under stress.

i think a related point is the number of single parent households with multiple children and what is the genesis of that?

Well, even if I wanted to argue, I couldn’t because of the validity of what you’ve said in this quote, Gamma. You’ve made a very crucial point about the importance of finding some way of monitoring children regularly, and I certainly fully agree with you that “too much is at stake if it is not done,” stress-experiencing parent or not.

Regarding your second point, the single-parent household with multiple children is another matter, although that is certainly closely linked with the values adults were taught when they were children. But our society at large has played a role in the frightening growth of these single-parent homes, and maybe now you might begin to understand some of the crucial reasons why in the past I’ve been so scathing and bitter in my attacks on our culture today, in particular dancehall and the implicit and explicit messages that this genre disseminates. But I won’t go there now, as such criticisms by me are not popular or acceptable in the minds of many/most Jamaicans.

But one day I’ll look at some of the ways in which some of our cultural practices have helped to sink Jamaica deeper into the morass of failure (in the past I’ve focused on the “informer fe dead” aspect that is so deeply ingrained in young people and adults today).

[Mosiah]

The woman graduates "Rhodes" scholars. Why should she worry?!?