Sports: Jamaica's misplaced priorities

[Willi]

This Govt???

Hahahahah

Karl yuh crack me up!
Yuh somehow think its since 2007 that Jamaica reach this state.

Fact is that all past Govts have not been up to snuff.

We have talent, just not in politrix.

[Historian]

Taking it to the Top

Personally speaking, I like this excellent post by Don1 so much (and I’m also so much in agreement with his concerns) that I’m sending it to the top again! This, I believe, should be essential reading for every Jamaican!

It would also be nice if Don1 cleans up this commentary and submit it for publication in a Jamaican daily newspaper (even using a pseudonym).

It’s one of the most relevant posts that I’ve read in a long time !

BBC America cable channel did an extensive feature on Champs & Jamaican high school athletics last night in a news segment...very nice piece....especially so since one of the 2 schools featured was the track program of a certain College on Old Hope Road.

This nice feature & the recent global recognition of Champs (of which we are all justifiably proud) inspires a re-focus on some core issues.

We all love sports and know that it is an important nation-building activity.... and vital to Jamaicans, me included. However in today's Knowledge Age ... the Info Age having passed..Jamaican's emphasis on sporting excellence over and above academic excellence is ridiculous given our current state of backwardness.

Not saying this is an either/or zero sum game...yes both CAN be pursued....but Jamaicans seem to be more interested in sports rather than academics....to our detriment. It's a matter of prioritizing...starting first with our thinking of the relative importance of different elements in the nation-building matrix.

Our over-emphasis on sports may be a case of..where there is no bread, give the people a circus.... a self delusional cultural fantasy distracting us from solutions to our real problems of development...or rather lack thereof.
When there is no bread we should apply ourselves to learning how to make it....which means an emphasis on STEM education... Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics.

What if we and our children had the same excitement about academic excellence that we do regarding sports? The answer can be seen in nations like Israel, South Korea and Denmark... all sports-loving but who seem to love smarts more than sports...so they develop faster and create more value.... so they can AFFORD to watch the entertainment creators in athletics from countries like Jamaica perform on the world stage. Problem is...we return to our backwardness and they to affluence.

Will we ever learn to create a culture of academic excellence... celebrated and promoted with the same fervour as we do sports?

Since development of our smarts will be the ONLY way we can progress in the 21st century....where are the voices demanding academic development & excellence? Where are the banner headlines in newspapers with that message? What are the stakeholders willing to do... to first plan for academic excellence and second.... achieve it? What is GOJ doing? What are parents, teachers, alumni and us as individuals doing?

Not much....except hollow chat.

Pathetic.


Selah

[Islandman]

Very good post and something I think about a lot.

Here is a purely theoretical question: If we could trade all our Olympic medals and sporting achievements generally for an economically and socially stable society, do you think the majority of Jamaicans would make that trade?

[ReggaeMike]

Very good post and something I think about a lot.

Here is a purely theoretical question: If we could trade all our Olympic medals and sporting achievements generally for an economically and socially stable society, do you think the majority of Jamaicans would make that trade?

It shouldn't be about a trade off though.

An economically and socially unstable society will eventually lead to less Olympic medals. Which athlete is going to want to stay in Jamaica if it goes down the route of other states where the society and economy have tanked? Does anyone believe Bolt, Powell or Shelly-Ann will stay somewhere where even their athletic funding might be at risk due to instability and their general safety could not be guaranteed? Athletes such as ours will not have any dearth of suitors.

In fact a stable economy and society would allow for potentially more medals as less young people (including potential medal-winning athletes) leave Jamaica to go places like the USA, Canada or the UK. Just as how we have brain-drain, I wouldn't be surprised if we have been experience a latent medal-drain which could increase to flood proportions in the coming decades if crime isn't brought under control and the economy isn't fixed.

[Karl]

This Govt???

Hahahahah

Karl yuh crack me up!
Yuh somehow think its since 2007 that Jamaica reach this state.

Fact is that all past Govts have not been up to snuff.

We have talent, just not in politrix.

Willi yuh run offa di rails!

Why did you bring this government into your response?
...why not present some facts that show that as a people...our actions and our words show we put more emphasis on sports than 'education'?

[Don1]

Willi yuh run offa di rails!

Why did you bring this government into your response?
...why not present some facts that show that as a people...our actions and our words show we put more emphasis on sports than 'education'?

did you see islandwide celebrations or a national holiday declared over some academic achievement?? Can you even conceive of such a thing?

Belay that...maybe we don't have any any academic achievement worthy of that recognition....especially with 25% illiteracy and more semi-literate

[Mosiah]

karl really need proof of dat?!?

[Don1]

Thanks for the kind sentiments Historian.

I really believe in education, especially science education where we are so way behind and therefore unable to participate fully in the knowledge economy. I guess all here would say that.

I would love to see the day when our alumni groups abroad can cooperate to execute a high impact academic project just as we do in track...to make the Penn Relays happen.

In fact I made such a proposal just last week to the leaders of about 20 alumni associations regarding getting their schools involved in an international robotics competition.... let's see what they do...apart from Immaculate, St Andrew High & Wolmers to a lesser extent these people didn't appear to have a clue.

We have a long way to go and can't depend on just government. Everyone has a part to play.

[Karl]

did you see islandwide celebrations or a national holiday declared over some academic achievement?? Can you even conceive of such a thing?

Belay that...maybe we don't have any any academic achievement worthy of that recognition....especially with 25% illiteracy and more semi-literate

Perhaps one occurs often and one is as a flash? Perhaps one is taken for granted and the is like the appearance of a prodigal son?

Perhaps we really have more academic achievements than athletic (sports) achievements? Perhaps the normal is always taken for granted?

...but no way on God's Jamaica does His Jamaican people think sports more important than scholarship!

[ReggaeMike]

Perhaps one occurs often and one is as a flash? Perhaps one is taken for granted and the is like the appearance of a prodigal son?

Perhaps we really have more academic achievements than athletic (sports) achievements? Perhaps the normal is always taken for granted?

...but no way on God's Jamaica does His Jamaican people think sports more important than scholarship!

Bwoy, mi nuh know bout dat line of reasoning. Sound like you grabbing at straws.

If academic achievement is normally good that it is taken for granted then why the hulabaloo over the relevance of exams and children failing to pass them? And why the declining literacy? Sure some people may be able to read basic sentences but in my family there are a number of educators and former educators and believe me I can't tell how many times I've just gotten sad sighs when asking them how the students fare. Some of what they tell me (and this ranges from little children in prep school to new university students) is almost horrifying when it comes to the standard of English (and let's get it straight, in an English speaking country with exams in English and students attempting to work in other English speaking countries, if your standard of English is so poor that you may not be properly understood then you will never achieve in any academic field outside of maybe maths and physics since all other fields require English as the medium of communication and not numbers).

If what you said was applied such that athletic achievement was the one which occurred often and academic achievement was the flash, then it might seem to mirror the experience presented to me by teachers and which I experienced myself when going to school. I can recall many classmates (and students when I helped out in some summer camps) who would look like they were being tortured to death in class but had grins wider than the Cheshire Cat's when on the field. If that isn't an indication of which one they prefer (and thus place in a higher priority) then we seriously need to rethink how human emotions are interpreted.

Actually not only is athletic achievement fairly commonplace but it is also treated like the prodigal son. I need go no further than do the comparison which has been in vogue for quite some time: Jamaica and Singapore.

Both tropical islands. Both small. Both former British colonies which became independent in the 1960s. Yet despite Singapore competing in 13 Olympics since (and including) 1948 they've only won a grand total of two medals (both silver). That's right. Two. One in 1960 and the other in 2008. Singapore has twice the population of Jamaica packed into an island the size of Dominica and has wealth beyond the wildest dreams of many Jamaicans (so much wealth in fact that no long ago they serious proposed and put up the money to rent an island from Indonesia for development purposes). Jamaica meanwhile has competed in 15 Olympics since and including 1948 and has won....55 medals! 13 gold! 25 silver! and 17 bronze! Not only that, Jamaica has competed in even the Winter Olympics (despite no winter sport tradition) and has only missed one Winter Olympics since competing in its first one in 1988. Singapore has never competed in the Winter Olympics. Despite all of this though, Jamaica officially feted its athletes with expensive, gala-style celebrations for the 2008 Olympics even though technically their performance was to be expected and was definitely no flash in the pan (since 1996 Jamaica has never gotten less than 5 medals at the Summer Olympics). Given Singapore's Olympic record they should have given the entire population the rest of the year off in celebration when their women got silver in table tennis in 2008 as they doubled their entire record haul in those games and managed to keep their all-silver record.

In contrast their academic based industries couldn't be more different. Singapore actually has a defence/military manufacturing industry (something which requires people who did well in math, physics, engineering, etc) and produces among other things howitzers (one of the Singaporean companies involved also produces commercial construction vehicles), rifles and one type of warship. Singapore has also built a biomedical research facility (called Biopolis) which is dedicated to biological research (with a major focus on genetics) and has companies (Novartis, GlaxoSmithKline, etc) establishing facilities there (not just distribution networks like in Jamaica). In a country like Jamaica which has so much sun and can grow sugarcane and has tonnes of water offshore it is a shame and disgrace that solar and ethanol technology is practically non-existent (and we import huge amounts of fuel) while we suffer from a drought when desalination and distillation of water are among the most basic of scientific techniques (other countries have desalination plants, why don't we?).

[Don1]

Perhaps one occurs often and one is as a flash? Perhaps one is taken for granted and the is like the appearance of a prodigal son?

Perhaps we really have more academic achievements than athletic (sports) achievements? Perhaps the normal is always taken for granted?

...but no way on God's Jamaica does His Jamaican people think sports more important than scholarship!

The proof of the pudding is in the eating:

World class sporting achievements...as a matter of routine

**************** poor education.... unfortunately also as a matter of routine



It's not rocket science

[Mosiah]

there is no debate here. but it is quite interesting to see unnu try and create one.

[ReggaeMike]

there is no debate here. but it is quite interesting to see unnu try and create one.

How u mean?

[Don1]

Don1, I fully agree with every word you’ve written here! In fact, I wish that you would decide to submit it to one of our daily newspapers, not as a letter, but as a “guest commentary” (that is, if you do not already write for one of the papers under your real name).

You could also add “entertainment” alongside sports in this critique.

I tend to post most often on sports and on music and culture, but at the same time I’ve always been very concerned at the primacy of sports and entertainment (over that of education) in the minds and lives of my people. Certainly education should take pride of place but, unfortunately, this has not been the case!

Once again, your thread starter here is an excellent discussion, and a most relevant look at an urgent need of Jamaica at this point in our history !

LOL!!! A gem from the distant past

[Rudi]

Wow. Anything is possible.