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Education without access
Heart to Heart
With Betty Ann Blaine
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Dear Reader,
More and more of the country's children, especially our girls, are doing exactly what their parents are telling them to do. They are working hard and excelling in every area of the formal education system. The CXC results this year provide evidence that the nation's children are buckling down and are achieving record scores in every subject area available to them.
Of special note are those children from the lower socio-economic grouping who excel despite formidable odds, and whose parents sacrifice everything to see them graduate at the top of their class. I have come to know many of those parents who toil to send their children to school every day and the admiration that I have for them cannot be overstated.
I met one of them when I stopped at the corner of the road to buy coconuts from a vendor. Her story was one of the most inspirational I have ever heard. As she spoke the lines that creased her face told the full story of hardships, but her eyes shone with hope and she smiled often as we spoke. "I struggled with all my five children", she began, "but thank God every single one of them pass the worst, and all five of them are doing very well with their careers." I was taken aback when she told me that three of her five children had received doctorates from universities overseas, and that her only son was practising medicine in the United States.The youngest, a daughter, was about to go into sixth form. "My children want me to come to America, but I don't want to go", she smiled as she spoke, "and I have to stay until the last one finish school."
"I did everything to make sure that my children got a good education," she told me. "I sell on the streets, I do day's work, and I make sure that they go to church", she added. "With God, everything is possible", she emphasised.
Another of those tireless mothers has become one of my best friends. She has six children, all of whom have graduated from high school. She reminisces from time to time about the days when she was forced to sell oranges downtown in order to send her children to school. A high school graduate, my friend who has been working as a household helper only because of the lack of opportunities, is the epitome of who a good parent is. She never misses PTA meetings or any function in which her children are participating, and she and her children are actively engaged in church activities together. Sacrificing at every step of the way, she witnessed the eldest of her two daughters earn her bachelor's degree in finance last year, the first in her family to do so. Since then her daughter has been unsuccessful in finding a job in her career field or in any other area related to finance.
Many of the young people who have studied so hard and performed so brilliantly tell me that it appears as if everything is stacked against them in a society that has very little room or concern for the young. "And it's doubly worse for those of us who are poor," one young woman remarked.
"If we put our real address down on our application forms, I'm afraid that we won't get hired", she continued. "Some people don't look on our faces or on our achievements, the first thing they look at is where we live."
Every single day I get requests from young people looking for work or wanting to pursue higher education. What is especially heartbreaking are the thousands of graduates from the lower income bracket with multiple passes in the CXC exams, many with distinctions who cannot afford to go on to sixth form, which is the accepted pathuray to colleges inside and outside of Jamaica.
With dwindling opportunities here at home, many look to the United States for academic scholarships or for work-study programmes. "There is nothing here for us in Jamaica," one young woman lamented, "I would prefer to stay in my country and build it, but everywhere I turn there is another road block." As a result, parents are mustering up every cent they can find to get their children into summer overseas work programmes for which most of our college students are overqualified. My friend's daughter while a senior at UTECH, opted to work as a "chambermaid" in a hotel in the deep south of the United States, a place so remote that she had to ride a bicycle to and from work. It was the only option open to her to save money and continue her college education here at home.
While we understand that the dignity of any job and a good work ethic are important for young people to inculcate, there must be concerns about what is open to our young people and what the potential risks are when they go overseas for work.
But despite the many odds, Jamaica's youth must be encouraged to fulfil their God-given potential, and those of us in the society who are their advocates can help to carve out opportunities and to offer ideas for them to work and study. My constant recommendation is for our young people to engage in volunteer work while they seek paid jobs. There is something about helping others that builds empathy and character, and often lead to bigger and better vistas.
With love,
bab2609@yahoo.com
Heart to Heart
With Betty Ann Blaine
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Dear Reader,
More and more of the country's children, especially our girls, are doing exactly what their parents are telling them to do. They are working hard and excelling in every area of the formal education system. The CXC results this year provide evidence that the nation's children are buckling down and are achieving record scores in every subject area available to them.
Of special note are those children from the lower socio-economic grouping who excel despite formidable odds, and whose parents sacrifice everything to see them graduate at the top of their class. I have come to know many of those parents who toil to send their children to school every day and the admiration that I have for them cannot be overstated.
I met one of them when I stopped at the corner of the road to buy coconuts from a vendor. Her story was one of the most inspirational I have ever heard. As she spoke the lines that creased her face told the full story of hardships, but her eyes shone with hope and she smiled often as we spoke. "I struggled with all my five children", she began, "but thank God every single one of them pass the worst, and all five of them are doing very well with their careers." I was taken aback when she told me that three of her five children had received doctorates from universities overseas, and that her only son was practising medicine in the United States.The youngest, a daughter, was about to go into sixth form. "My children want me to come to America, but I don't want to go", she smiled as she spoke, "and I have to stay until the last one finish school."
"I did everything to make sure that my children got a good education," she told me. "I sell on the streets, I do day's work, and I make sure that they go to church", she added. "With God, everything is possible", she emphasised.
Another of those tireless mothers has become one of my best friends. She has six children, all of whom have graduated from high school. She reminisces from time to time about the days when she was forced to sell oranges downtown in order to send her children to school. A high school graduate, my friend who has been working as a household helper only because of the lack of opportunities, is the epitome of who a good parent is. She never misses PTA meetings or any function in which her children are participating, and she and her children are actively engaged in church activities together. Sacrificing at every step of the way, she witnessed the eldest of her two daughters earn her bachelor's degree in finance last year, the first in her family to do so. Since then her daughter has been unsuccessful in finding a job in her career field or in any other area related to finance.
Many of the young people who have studied so hard and performed so brilliantly tell me that it appears as if everything is stacked against them in a society that has very little room or concern for the young. "And it's doubly worse for those of us who are poor," one young woman remarked.
"If we put our real address down on our application forms, I'm afraid that we won't get hired", she continued. "Some people don't look on our faces or on our achievements, the first thing they look at is where we live."
Every single day I get requests from young people looking for work or wanting to pursue higher education. What is especially heartbreaking are the thousands of graduates from the lower income bracket with multiple passes in the CXC exams, many with distinctions who cannot afford to go on to sixth form, which is the accepted pathuray to colleges inside and outside of Jamaica.
With dwindling opportunities here at home, many look to the United States for academic scholarships or for work-study programmes. "There is nothing here for us in Jamaica," one young woman lamented, "I would prefer to stay in my country and build it, but everywhere I turn there is another road block." As a result, parents are mustering up every cent they can find to get their children into summer overseas work programmes for which most of our college students are overqualified. My friend's daughter while a senior at UTECH, opted to work as a "chambermaid" in a hotel in the deep south of the United States, a place so remote that she had to ride a bicycle to and from work. It was the only option open to her to save money and continue her college education here at home.
While we understand that the dignity of any job and a good work ethic are important for young people to inculcate, there must be concerns about what is open to our young people and what the potential risks are when they go overseas for work.
But despite the many odds, Jamaica's youth must be encouraged to fulfil their God-given potential, and those of us in the society who are their advocates can help to carve out opportunities and to offer ideas for them to work and study. My constant recommendation is for our young people to engage in volunteer work while they seek paid jobs. There is something about helping others that builds empathy and character, and often lead to bigger and better vistas.
With love,
bab2609@yahoo.com