Alumni Associations asked assume Ministry's responsibilities

[Time]

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/2...ead/lead4.html

"It's not formal yet, but I have asked Wolmer's, which is a pedigree school and located across the [National Heroes] Park, to extend the brand to Kingston High, and to meet with them and see how they can share facilities, staff and opportunities between the two schools," Thwaites said

So let le get this straight. We do fund raising for so that we can maintain the Wolmer's brand name and provide what the Education Ministry will not provide to Wolmers. Now they are asking us to share what we have with another school? What is the role of the Ministry of Education?

[Don1]

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/2...ead/lead4.html

"It's not formal yet, but I have asked Wolmer's, which is a pedigree school and located across the [National Heroes] Park, to extend the brand to Kingston High, and to meet with them and see how they can share facilities, staff and opportunities between the two schools," Thwaites said

So let le get this straight. We do fund raising for so that we can maintain the Wolmer's brand name and provide what the Education Ministry will not provide to Wolmers. Now they are asking us to share what we have with another school? What is the role of the Ministry of Education?

To whom much is given, much is required yuteman. Education requires an all hands on deck approach....not Ivory Towers or Silos.

This school like several others, is owned by a private trust...but enjoys grant aid from government. If a few schools like this one are fortunate enough to have access to resources that others don't and students are suffering... there's everything right about sharing.

Improving education is not only about Government action. It takes a village... not a miser

[Time]

To whom much is given, much is required yuteman. Education requires an all hands on deck approach....not Ivory Towers or Silos.

This school like several others, is owned by a private trust...but enjoys grant aid from government. If a few schools like this one are fortunate enough to have access to resources that others don't and students are suffering... there's everything right about sharing.

Improving education is not only about Government action. It takes a village... not a miser

Miser? We donate money to non Wolmerian schools! This is about maintaining standards!

Tell us what happened to JC standards when the Education Ministry flooded it with students beyond its normal capacity?

Why should we allow students who get maybe 30% on GSAT to sit with students who get over 90% at GSAT?

Who is going to supervise these KH student between classes at Wolmer's?

Who is going to pay for damages to Wolmer's property by KH students?

if a KH student is injured at Wolmer's then who is going to pay?

The Minister has a grand plan to bleed the overseas alumni by using them to fund the education budget. This is what this is all about.

http://jis.gov.jm/education-ministry...alumni-groups/

[Don1]

=Time;504828]Miser? We donate money to non Wolmerian schools! This is about maintaining standards!

Sorry. I thought it was about development assistance

Tell us what happened to JC standards when the Education Ministry flooded it with students beyond its normal capacity?

What happened? JC finally saw the big needs of our 2K students (up from ~800 in 1980) ...then raised the huge resources from alumni to start bringing our infrastructure, faculty, management systems and ultimately the standards of our disadvantaged kids up to snuff. If not we...who would?
We didn't downsize, set up an associated private prep school or admit higher performing girls like others... JC could have easily switched to those conservative "flight to quality" tactics but chose to work with disadvantaged kids to raise their standards. We took (and are still taking) a lot of flak for it too

Why should we allow students who get maybe 30% on GSAT to sit with students who get over 90% at GSAT?

I haven't seen that requirement

Who is going to supervise these KH student between classes at Wolmer's?

Who is going to pay for damages to Wolmer's property by KH students?

if a KH student is injured at Wolmer's then who is going to pay?

I haven't seen it proposed where hordes of KH students would be overrunning your campus. If this is so let me know the plan please

The Minister has a grand plan to bleed the overseas alumni by using them to fund the education budget. This is what this is all about.

http://jis.gov.jm/education-ministry...alumni-groups/

[/QUOTE]

Overseas alumni already are very active in supporting schools.... of their own volition. I don't see any circumstance where any politician can "bleed"foreign voluntary charity organizations. How dat werk??


You seem to be quite the alarmist

[Muadib]

Tell him fi mi..

Is years Campion open its doors to help educate students from other schools.. for a small fee..

[Don1]

Tell him fi mi..

Is years Campion open its doors to help educate students from other schools.. for a small fee..

seeit deh

[Islandman]

I don't really have a problem with this in principle. We have to find ways to use the limited resources better. Some things might work, some things might not but we have to try these kinds of things.

Just last week I visited my high school and had a long talk with the senior maths teacher there who has now been promoted to be one of the handful of master teachers in mathematics in the island. This extends her role to working with the weaker high schools in the parish and trying to help develop their maths programs. She told me that based on her experience so far it is very clear that the problem is much more with the schools than it is with the students themselves. Very few students could do well in some of those conditions.

Unless we can lift up the 80% of schools whose performance range from poor to horrific, Jamaica will not have a workforce that can really benefit from serious investments in the 21st century.

[Sir X]

Progressive ...Thwaites

[Rockman]

Nice!!!

[Assasin]

Sharing resources can be good but also you have to look at the responsibility of the ministry of education as well. Thin line and should be a encouraged but not forced upon the schools. Congrats to your school teacher.

[Time]

Tell him fi mi..

Is years Campion open its doors to help educate students from other schools.. for a small fee..

Extra classes for those who are well behaved and academically capable is fine. I attended paid extra classes at Campion and elsewhere because I wanted to learn from great instructors. However, Campion and the other schools never had to worry about Wolmerians and others who were on the compound.

We have been there before. Wolmer's (boys and girls,) Jamaica College and Kingston Secondary were in the same cadet Company and trained together. KSS had to be replaced by Ardenne High because there were serious issues with the KSS students. We also had issues with parents who did not want their children mixing with KSS students.

Wolmer's schools are below Cross Roads and is competing with the uptown schools (Campion, Ardenne and the fast upcoming JC ) for the children of middle class parents. Parents are thinking twice before sending their children below Cross Roads, we don't need to add the KH factor to their decision making process. Maybe the best thing Wolmer's can do for KH is to form a Management Committee to transform KH and also to donate equipment and money.

[Don1]

What you describe here are attempts by some to maintain the "traditional" status of a school which has existed for centuries.. i.e. Assuring good standards by being the repository for mainly middle class & upper class students... Having associated Prep school feeders etc.

This is how the colonial education structure was set up where a few elite schools had excellent programs serving a small group only.

Yes...many want to see that shitstem continue...you included it seems

Yes... JC (which was always the archetype elite colonial school) went through the challenge of really opening up to the "masses" from the 1980s... and handled it badly. JC historically was never a school that stressed discipline as it grew out of the University of London outpost at Hope. So there was always a freewheeling, college-type atmosphere where students were allowed to question authority and manage their own affairs. This is one reason why JC has historically produced so many national leaders in every area.

In the past when the school had mainly a middle & upper middle class student body...this freewheeling, hands off approach worked very well. Unfortunately this does not work well when kids come from bad circumstances... they need rigid discipline at school and JC had zero culture of strong discipline or experience with it.

Discipline & education outcomes plunged and most alumni abandoned the school for ~20 years instead of doubling down.

Then the leadership DNA kicked in. Led by Danny Williams JC decided it had to change its business model to match what Jamaica required of it to educate students. The colonial era garbage was set aside.. and all leadership, infrastructure & systems were reformed & renovated. The outstanding success of these reforms are just now emerging

The Lesson?
Since Jamaica has changed and has different requirements & expectations vs 40 years ago...schools should also change. Being stuck with 20th Century type models, beliefs & systems means being backward and increasingly fossilized.

So leadership in education today is not about merely maintaining colonial era "traditional school" status via prep school feeders, boarding etc. It's about embracing NEW systems of teaching & management i.e. Being part of the 21st Century and dumping backward colonial ideas

Some are fated to lead with new approaches...others will just fossilize while wallowing in 1960s type thinking

[Time]

That school that you refer to in your opening statement must be Campion because the upper classes do not send their children to Wolmer's. Yes, Wolmer's is providing a privilage traditional environment for the brightest GSAT achievers but please, they are mainly from the lower middle class. We are not a school for the rich. I know because I am a fund raiser for Wolmer's.

Wolmer's faced the same challenges as JC and was also abandoned by some of our alumni but we brought in Dave Myrie (the current headmaster at KC) and he turned the school around before it hit rock bottom. JC waited until the school hit rock bottom before they fixed the issues.

Wolmer's sees a threat to its privilege status because of its location and there is no space in St Andrew to move the school. We are fund raising and we are building and maintaining our brand name. We will help Kingston High but on our terms, not under the dictate of politicians. The same politicians who move people above the hills of Harbor View and destroyed that community of lower middle class people who invested in a home.

[Don1]

Yes your school should do as it chooses...dats unnu prerogative

My argument goes way beyond the narrow school concerns you speak of.

For me it's about leadership and reforming education for the 21st Century

Too many people in the education establishment are hopelessly stuck in the mid 20th Century colonial mindset

[Muadib]

Last I checked Campion was a Govt School and people are admitted based on academic achievement.

I don't believe there is a Financial Affairs statement required to attend.