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...sometimes the Newsletter does lapse...and produces a balanced, thoughtful editorial.
Congratulations, JC
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Congratulations are certainly in order for those who had a hand in the introduction of an aviation programme at Jamaica College (JC).
According to last Friday's edition of this newspaper, the programme, which is being offered in association with the Flying Club - a local company - under approval granted by the Jamaica Civil Aviation Authority (JCAA) for Private Pilot's Licence Ground School, will be open to students from other schools as well.
Participants will be assessed by the JCAA at the end of the course.
This is indeed an example of the way we need to approach education in this country, and the school's management, headed by principal Mr Ruel Reid, needs to be thanked for realising it.
As a result of their resourcefulness, another opportunity which many Jamaican students could not otherwise have afforded (at $18,000 per annum the programme is a steal) has been opened up .
And on the face of it, JC's historic initiative - they are, according to their management, the first secondary institution in the English-speaking Caribbean to offer such a course - seems to be a step towards socially de-classifying a profession which has been traditionally out of the masses' reach.
This, against the background of an environment in which the majority of this nation's boys have been marginalised by their female colleagues, among other factors, is most welcome.
And we hope that other schools will emulate JC by coming up with their own collaborative efforts to diversify the educational curriculum that is currently being offered to students.
At the same time, we urge parents everywhere to ensure that the efforts of the school administration do not go to waste, by getting involved in this and other aspects of their children's education.
For it goes without saying that it is impossible for the schools to do it alone.
Without the help and co-operation of the parents, the best programmes in the world will eventually fail.
In this and coming weeks the press will be replete with academic success stories featuring those who did well in the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) and other examinations.
These inspirational stories will almost always feature a strong parental factor as well, regardless of the economic or social setting.
Hopefully, those who need to, will take heed and make the effort to instil and reinforce in their children the qualities without which no education can be regarded as credible or complete.
It is these qualities - honesty, good manners, humility, the ability to empathise, etc - which often fall under the rubric of home-training and/or the informal curriculum that will really determine the ultimate success of any formal curriculum.
Without these qualities, the most academically brilliant individual is, as the celebrated man of letters Mr CS Lewis once said, no more than a monster, a clever devil.
And that, given the fact that we're running scared enough as it is already, is one species that Jamaica can ill afford to harbour.
Congratulations, JC
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Congratulations are certainly in order for those who had a hand in the introduction of an aviation programme at Jamaica College (JC).
According to last Friday's edition of this newspaper, the programme, which is being offered in association with the Flying Club - a local company - under approval granted by the Jamaica Civil Aviation Authority (JCAA) for Private Pilot's Licence Ground School, will be open to students from other schools as well.
Participants will be assessed by the JCAA at the end of the course.
This is indeed an example of the way we need to approach education in this country,
and the school's management, headed by principal Mr Ruel Reid, needs to be thanked for realising it. As a result of their resourcefulness, another opportunity which many Jamaican students could not otherwise have afforded (at $18,000 per annum the programme is a steal) has been opened up
.And on the face of it, JC's historic initiative - they are, according to their management, the first secondary institution in the English-speaking Caribbean to offer such a course
- seems to be a step towards socially de-classifying a profession which has been traditionally out of the masses' reach. This, against the background of an environment in which the majority of this nation's boys have been marginalised by their female colleagues, among other factors, is most welcome.
And we hope that other schools will emulate JC by coming up with their own collaborative efforts to diversify the educational curriculum that is currently being offered to students.
At the same time, we urge parents everywhere to ensure that the efforts of the school administration do not go to waste, by getting involved in this and other aspects of their children's education.
For it goes without saying that it is impossible for the schools to do it alone.
Without the help and co-operation of the parents, the best programmes in the world will eventually fail.
In this and coming weeks the press will be replete with academic success stories featuring those who did well in the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) and other examinations.
These inspirational stories will almost always feature a strong parental factor as well, regardless of the economic or social setting.
Hopefully, those who need to, will take heed and make the effort to instil and reinforce in their children the qualities without which no education can be regarded as credible or complete.
It is these qualities - honesty, good manners, humility, the ability to empathise, etc - which often fall under the rubric of home-training and/or the informal curriculum that will really determine the ultimate success of any formal curriculum.
Without these qualities, the most academically brilliant individual is, as the celebrated man of letters Mr CS Lewis once said, no more than a monster, a clever devil.
And that, given the fact that we're running scared enough as it is already, is one species that Jamaica can ill afford to harbour.
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