Jamaica All Island Secondary School Rankings

[Willi]

My point is that he focuses on football when TRACK would fit his argument better based on the number of students involved and the COST to run a top tier track program. Manning Cup costs and impact pales in comparison.

[Jangle]

Is that what I said? You edited my post to your twisted understanding the post as if I said that. Your argument is still flawed. If you are saying Campion took the best of the island then what does that say for Mt.Alvernia and Westwood?

These schools are akin to specialized schools in NYC; therefore based on their strong academic program not all students are prepared and ready to enter. At the same time this does not mean that these same students that didn't achieve the grades to enter will not surpass some of the students of these schools later. What Ja must cease from doing is to let the students that didn't enter these schools feel as if their lives are lost. Not all parents can afford to pay for the extra lessons in order to get their kids prepared for these schools. Therefore these kids may need remedial work or a different learning environment.These kids may well be the creative geniuses that saw through the exams as memory drills thus they get bored and turned off. Consequently Ja may well be throwing away the best civil engineers, physicists, mathematicicans, economists, historians et al (all who could realy pull the economy out of a rut) The "top schools" may well be preserving the professors and teachers.

Boss if you can't handle street brawls , how the hell you plan to enter Shaolin and challenge the grand master? Know thy self

[Time]

Karl notice that the school for girls is doing way better than those for boys. Could it be that the girls don't have to contend with sports (such as Dcup & Man.cup) hence they are able to focus on academics. It's no secret that schools "buy" players to win soccer games. These individuals aren't prepared most of the times for academic work; therefore they become disruptive in the classsroom. I could go on to bet that a number of these players that are being brought into the schools to play soccer need special education.

Last note: Studies have shown that boys are more emotionally fragile than girls. Now given the enironment in Ja (gangs, peer and social pressure, bullying et al) mixed with the fact that your school is aping a sports academy, the results aren't surprising at all.

Yes sir, girls develop mentally faster than boys are less emotionally fragile. They are also more strongly supervised by parents (because of fear of pregnancy) and are therefore more likely to be at home studing than handing out.

I believe that sports is a factor. I can speak about Wolmers. We can get sports scholarships for boys at WBS but it's almost impossible at WGS. That is one of the reason why WGS academics are better than WBS academics. I would guess that most of the students who get sports scholarships to high schools in Jamaica can't pass 5 subjects. Sports scholarships drag down academic performance but they do give a section of the population a change to attend high school and receive academic support. Wolmer's and ST George do have strong support systems for athletes. Wolmer's will take them from their parents home if that is what is necessary to help them academically.

[Willi]

Natalia Whyte 8 subjects passed, M. Manley 8,Chad Walker 7 & Shanice Reid 7...not sure about the Grades.

[Jangle]

Willi I don't think that is the way to look at it. It's not about wether sports has a role to play in school life. It does. However priorities matter.

When the Cbar community can raise US $100k to win Champs but have these kinds of academic results that tells a story. What does the science lab look like? What is being done in terms of non-athletic co-curricular activities? Not saying they should drop their excellent athletic program but as Jawge says you are operating a public school not a sports academy.

Iman, FYi, there is a lot that is being done behind the scenes by the Past Students bodie(S) to raise the academic standards at the school. However, the statistics can be misleading depending on how you look at it. Calabar has one of the biggest student population amongst Jamaican high schools. That large pool can skew the results.
According to the blog, the writer sets a standard of: Schools ranked by percentage (%) of grade 11 cohort of attaining of Five (5) subjects with English and/or Mathematics.

Consider these:

1. What about a student passing 6 subjects WITHOUT English AND Maths? Jawge raised the point about a more artistic student going on to excel in that field. Calabar has always had a strong Drama and Music Department. Are they failing the students? The results of our boys going on to successful musical careers are glaring. Examples are: Vybz Kartel, Baby Cham, Dennis Rushton (one of my classmates who was poor at Maths), Father Hugh Sherlock who wrote Jamaica's National Anthem.
2. Denham Town, Paul Bogle, Inswood, Trench Town and Robert Lightbourne High, are schools located in the innercities or rural farming areas. Many of the parents' of these kids struggle to find money to send their kids to school on a daily basis, much less to find money to send them for extra lessons. Back in my days of doing CXC, I remember how my mother struggled to find the J$ equivalent of the US$30 per subject to sit the exams. I don't know what is the requirement to do the CSEC exams today, but I can just imagine a poor parent making the choice of paying for her son's auto-mechanic test rather than say English, which he already speaks. Compare the number of kids sitting these exams between a Campion or Immaculate versus a Trench Town or a Robert Lightbourne High. It's probably about 10 to 1.
3. How many jobs are available in Jamaica for the hundreds of UWI and UTECH annual graduates? How many subjects did Usain Bolt, Asafa Powell or Chris Gayle pass? Did Bob Marley even finish school living in Trench Town? Even though Jawge makes a valid point about the stigma that perpetuates in Jamaica for students who are not "fortunate" enough to go to one of the big traditional schools, he one, along with yourself who seem to hit out against schools who excel at sports. What are you to do with the other 90% of kids who struggle to pass a test?

Sports is an integral part of high schools and schools like Calabar, KC, JC and Georges shouldn't be apologizing for excelling. Not everybody can be lawyers, doctors or engineers.

[Mosiah]

What is meant by number 3?

It's easy to cite those who made it without one subject but you can't prepare students like that. Can't even begin to explain the folly in 3.

[Mosiah]

Munro getting better? Why am I thinking we were getting worse?

[Islandman]

I don't disagree with most of what you say here Jangle.

I don't for a minute expect all of even most of our children to be rocket scientists. My concern is more the intensive focus on sports, not even sports as an industry or a recreational activity but competitive sports among elite school athletes. There are just as few children who are exceptional at football and track as there are only a few exceptional at calculus and algebra. The majority of our children are leaving school with nothing in the way of any skills, including most of them who play competitive sports.

You mention Bob Marley and other musicians, how many of our schools have a decent music program, not only to teach students the technical skills required to play musical instruments but also the skills that would be useful for someone to succeed in the music industry? Music production, etc? How many schools are producing skilled craftsmen?

What are the pass rates in subjects like electrical, building and industrial technology? Pi$$ poor last I heard. How much support do school programs like Junior Achievement that promotes young entrepreneurship, get? I am damn sure it is nothing near US $50K much less US $100K .

That is the problem I have and maybe where we disagree. Our school alumni generally are FAR more interested in SPORTS success than anything else. That is what gets them excited even when the same schools are falling apart at the seams otherwise. In no way is this isolated to C-Bar or any other individual school, it is a cultural phenomenon.While I am very happy to see Georges and JC recovering from their unfortunate declines , those schools should have NEVER got to that stage given their history, alumni base and contribution to Jamaican society.

What i want to see is students leaving school with more skills. MOST of them will require a solid academic base because they will not be Bolt, Gayle or Marley. We are not giving them that. Even if they are exceptionally talented, they may still want to know how to do basic maths and understand when they read a few paragraphs of text so they have some level of confidence with managing their money and have some understanding of what they are signing.

[Don1]

However, the statistics can be misleading depending on how you look at it. Calabar has one of the biggest student population amongst Jamaican high schools. That large pool can skew the results.

This is true. A huge school population of ~2000 boys does make maintaining high academic standards difficult... Boys overall lose ~7%-10% on standardized tests in Jamaica compared to girls and the bigger the school the greater the academic challenge is.

But this is just a reason to double down and be creative with academic programs boys relate to. Mi naw name none doh

Calabar has always had a strong Drama and Music Department. Are they failing the students? The results of our boys going on to successful musical careers are glaring. Examples are: Vybz Kartel, Baby Cham,

You might want to reconsider these examples

Sports is an integral part of high schools and schools like Calabar, KC, JC and Georges shouldn't be apologizing for excelling. Not everybody can be lawyers, doctors or engineers.

The sports argument is a largely false one... a red herring. If overemphasis on sports exists it's a relatively small issue limited to a handful of schools. No one has even measured or studied the issue... all we hear is anecdotes

The false sport issue just shrouds the real problem ...how to improve the bottom 70% of schools which have really atrocious results and no real support for change... Incidentally very few have ANY sports program of note.

That bottom level won't be fully fixable until the primary schools feeding them are upgraded imho. Absent that they'll just be remediation centers mostly.

[Peter R]

Iman, FYi, there is a lot that is being done behind the scenes by the Past Students bodie(S) to raise the academic standards at the school. However, the statistics can be misleading depending on how you look at it. Calabar has one of the biggest student population amongst Jamaican high schools. That large pool can skew the results.
According to the blog, the writer sets a standard of: Schools ranked by percentage (%) of grade 11 cohort of attaining of Five (5) subjects with English and/or Mathematics.

Consider these:

1. What about a student passing 6 subjects WITHOUT English AND Maths? Jawge raised the point about a more artistic student going on to excel in that field. Calabar has always had a strong Drama and Music Department. Are they failing the students? The results of our boys going on to successful musical careers are glaring. Examples are: Vybz Kartel, Baby Cham, Dennis Rushton (one of my classmates who was poor at Maths), Father Hugh Sherlock who wrote Jamaica's National Anthem.
2. Denham Town, Paul Bogle, Inswood, Trench Town and Robert Lightbourne High, are schools located in the innercities or rural farming areas. Many of the parents' of these kids struggle to find money to send their kids to school on a daily basis, much less to find money to send them for extra lessons. Back in my days of doing CXC, I remember how my mother struggled to find the J$ equivalent of the US$30 per subject to sit the exams. I don't know what is the requirement to do the CSEC exams today, but I can just imagine a poor parent making the choice of paying for her son's auto-mechanic test rather than say English, which he already speaks. Compare the number of kids sitting these exams between a Campion or Immaculate versus a Trench Town or a Robert Lightbourne High. It's probably about 10 to 1.
3. How many jobs are available in Jamaica for the hundreds of UWI and UTECH annual graduates? How many subjects did Usain Bolt, Asafa Powell or Chris Gayle pass? Did Bob Marley even finish school living in Trench Town? Even though Jawge makes a valid point about the stigma that perpetuates in Jamaica for students who are not "fortunate" enough to go to one of the big traditional schools, he one, along with yourself who seem to hit out against schools who excel at sports. What are you to do with the other 90% of kids who struggle to pass a test?

Sports is an integral part of high schools and schools like Calabar, KC, JC and Georges shouldn't be apologizing for excelling. Not everybody can be lawyers, doctors or engineers.

Since when do they have an oral exam in English?? English Language and Literature are about being able to read, write and analyse... I get your point though, choices have to be made for some. But, IMO, EVERYONE MUST DO English! It's the language of learning and instruction, and communication of ideas, regardless of what a student goes on to specialise in.

[Islandman]

If overemphasis on sports exists it's a relatively small issue limited to a handful of schools.

While this is true given the overall poor performance, I would make the argument that they are the schools with access to the most resources and the ones with the most national prominence, the trend setters if you will. That is not a good situation in my view.

[Tilla]

But, IMO, EVERYONE MUST DO English! It's the language of learning and instruction, and communication of ideas, regardless of what a student goes on to specialise in.

Add to that, it is maybe the most common language for business. I guess communication covered that, I just wanted to be specific.

[Islandman]

PeterR, they are actually in the process of introducing an oral exam for CSEC English.

I think there is a need for it given Jamaicans problems with mastering standard English even among some who are fairly well educated.

[Don1]

Many of last year Champs stars did excellent in their exams. Sports have little or nothing to do with this. Its the life outside of school that is important. Gangs, poor role models, etc. Girls are curbed more by their parents than boys.

Absolutely

[Peter R]

I didn't know that. Interesting...