Fortes en Fide et Opere

[Don1]

ok..will do

BIG Pickcha Fi Eva... ah suh mi dweet

[Mosiah]

but Sass, if we don't look at the big picture, every year we will be having this debate. dat mek sense?!?

yuh know what's sad about this report, Barbados did not make the top 3...yuh tink dem worried about dat? why not?

[Assasin]

Mosiah there is two way about this, not one. Every country have their elite universities, top high schools etc. Some parents going to try harder to get their kids the best education. Some of these schools are not all rich people. Some have these schools have great parent teachers association and other organization to back them. It is more than just one thing make these school great.

We have the schools that are not doing well and that is a lot of school. This shouldn't have anything negitive to do with our good schools productivity. We have to deal with the case and adopt some of the principles of these schools. To think it is only because a uptown and bright kids go a these schools why they are great is not even half of the picture.

You went to Monro and the said thing is said about it in some quarters. It has to be more than that. The only debate we should be having is making the other schools better and based on my experience it takes more than just money but commitment from our community at all level. We can't have pickney a go a dance till 7 am, parents drink out them pickney lunch money and fail to take part in any school activity and teachers and principals who don't care if they are in a classroom or cornation market.

The same passion that drive Campion is needed in Trench Town and Windward road primary.

[MdmeX]

Another thing Jamaican schools need is aggressive involvement of Alumni...this has proved to be tremendous force multiplier to improve schools...

When alumni just sit and yap from the sidelines...they only multiply hot air..

present company excepted perhaps

Some alumni do try to keep involved, but you have some school administrators, who won't give alumni - the time of day, except of course - when dem begging 'cash". It is a hard fighting battle. I've been living through it.

[Assasin]

There are some things we can adopt from Campion though. The parents and community involvement. The discipline and structure.

Regardless these are some of the basic thing we need to go forward.

[Don1]

i agree... but keep fighting sis

[Don1]

Mo did go Monro?

[Muadib]

Suh dem nuh muss gi back tuh di poor dat dem rob fram ?

Conscience mussi a bite dem..

[Peter R]

Don,

While congrats are due to Campion, I agree with your position.

I could beat my chest and feel proud that my two daughters are graduates of St Josephs Convent (Port OF Spain); there is one in San Fernanado but the one in the survey is POS... both girls are doing well, one doing her doctorate another in 3rd yr at McGill... I digress.

I could beat my chest and I do in that I am glad they (pickney dem) are doing well.. but I recognize that the SYSTEM is elitist and unless you have what it takes to succeed in an elitist system (and I'd say, unscientific as my estimation is, that's only 10% of the population here will thrive in such a system), you're doomed to failure.

Individuals will rise above the system yes, but until the system begins to serve 70% plus, and not 10% of the population we spinning gig in mud.

[Don1]

tru dat... mi glad certain man cyan separate di individual achievement from di general good....an know what a clack a strike...

more powa tuh yuh dawta dem kingman....

[Mosiah]

Mo did go Monro?

Mo don't kno bout no Monro!!

[Mosiah]

but why is it some of us thought you were dissing certain schools?! (well, maybe the detractors are only proving your point, wen yuh think about it.)

Campion should be proud of its achievements. Yes, the best of the best go there, not just rich kids, but many rich kids because they are the ones who have parents who are themselves educated, who surround them with books, computers and the like and they don't have to dodge bullets on the way home and all the rest! But Campion could have dropped the ball. Yes, it would have been difficult to do so, but it could happen.

And we must remember, Campion was not always like this. Campion was not even my second choice when I did my common entrance. Neither was Ardenne, another school with a good reputation now. It was the same for girls high schools. Can't remember my sister (who is a serious brain box) even thinking of a Campion. But these schools have worked hard at building a reputation and they should be lauded for it. In my days, Hampton was our darling sister school, our darling dunce sister school. At least, that's what we thought. Nowadays, Munro boys should feel good say dem can talk to girls who not just brown but bright as well!

But we have to find a solution out of this crisis. Sending the 50 duncest kids to...Main Street High School helps nobody.

And by the way, Assasin, yes, people think of Munro (or Monro "U" or "O" they are both vowels, who cares!) as a rich kid school. Well, let me tell you that the vast majority of students there are from St. Elizabeth! St. Bess nuh have nuh rich people to dat!

[Assasin]

"But we have to find a solution out of this crisis. Sending the 50 duncest kids to...Main Street High School helps nobody."

I bet you if given the right attention at least 10 of those kids could compete with some of the better kids.

"And by the way, Assasin, yes, people think of Munro (or Monro "U" or "O" they are both vowels, who cares!) as a rich kid school. Well, let me tell you that the vast majority of students there are from St. Elizabeth! St. Bess nuh have nuh rich people to dat!"

Sorry to spell your school name wrong but the point I am trying to make is our stereo type in many cases are just that. We can't beat down the achievement of some schools as we try to big up. The fact is for many people who are not from St.Bess, they have your school Munro as an one of those school.

The fact is we sterotype too much. We have the beat down to build up mentality. So it is always about the Rich and poor, brown or black and never about us. Always identify an enemy.

[Mosiah]

The fact is we sterotype too much. We have the beat down to build up mentality. So it is always about the Rich and poor, brown or black and never about us. Always identify an enemy.

And sometimes those enemies are real! Classism (brown-manism) in Jamaica is real and should be beat down!

[Mosiah]

"But we have to find a solution out of this crisis. Sending the 50 duncest kids to...Main Street High School helps nobody."

I bet you if given the right attention at least 10 of those kids could compete with some of the better kids.

I want to see the miracle worker who can do that. And when yuh find him/her, tell him/her that I have 5 of the Captain's hard-do bread and 2 sprat right here!