Gordon Robinson | Old BC remedies remedial reading

Buckle up folks, the Old Ball and Chain is off on another of her rants.

This time she’s rabbiting on about her bonnet’s favourite bee namely education. She was triggered by a December 28 Gleaner report headlined Literacy Leap. Don’t be fooled by her mild mannered start. It gets warmer.

Old BC: I don’t care what Old Grey Balls wants to write or say. We should all applaud Grace Baston and her team for the work they are doing in remedial education through the Grade Seven Academy. We should never give up on even one child’s education. But it should not end there. The Ministry of Education should be implementing a system that would prevent the necessity for remedial education.

Old GB: You clearly live in Utopia. It matters not what the Ministry does. I get that its approach is backward and ineffective. But the need for remedial education will always be present wherever children are found.

Old BC: Maybe. But how does a child attend primary school for six years; pass an exam called Primary Exit Profile (PEP); and not know how to read or add in their first year of high school? What is their primary profile? Are their teachers teaching or babysitting?

Old GB: Well, it looks like Grace Baston’s Academy gets them at Grade Seven which I used to know as first form and is doing a good job of addressing that issue. The Gleaner article reported that Academy Students including those from Holy Trinity High School were “functioning well below their grade level”. So that seems to confirm what you are saying but at least something is being done and the Ministry is an active partner.

Old BC: I’m not at all comforted that the problem is being addressed at Grade Seven. What was happening at Grades four to Six? Is it that the teachers don’t go to work? Is it that they don’t care? Or is it that the teachers are not qualified? Whatever it is don’t blame the child. The Ministry and successive Governments have a lot to answer for. It’s time we hold them accountable.

Old GB: There’s lots of blame to go around. You can’t dump it all on Government. This Government has tried to pass a Jamaica Teaching Council Act with the objective of professionalizing, regulating, and elevating the teaching profession by establishing the Jamaica Teaching Council as a statutory body to license, register, and enforce standards of competence and conduct for all teachers. But the pushback from a Jamaica Teachers Association (JTA) that often behaves like a political party or trade union has been fierce. JTA acts as if the teaching profession exists for the benefit of teachers alone and not students. Why would JTA not want teachers to be highly qualified and regulated? At least Government is trying.

Old BC: Trying is not enough. We are in a crisis of under-education and it is government’s duty to ensure we have an educated population. There comes a time in every Government’s life when it must do the right thing; pass the necessary legislation; and enforce it no matter how hard vested interests resist.

Old GB: Easy for you to say. You don’t have to contest an election every five years. Not only that but it’s a vicious cycle because the voters all come out of the same traditional system of education that teaches them how to be sheep instead of shepherds. Governments must deal with voters who are hungry, poor and just want more. They don’t appreciate that change will eventually give them more. They want more now! So they get more of the same.

Old BC: This is so infuriating. It’s no point politicians complaining about poverty, lack of social development or a non-productive society if they are the reason the population is not given the tools to avoid these problems. There is only one appropriate tool and that’s EDUCATION. We will never produce an educated population using the current system.

Old GB: So how do we end up with an educated population?

Old BC: We must begin with a curriculum that enables the end product and teachers who are qualified to teach our children the skills to get there. Change the old style British tradition of learning by rote. Study the Finnish system that focuses on teaching every child according to the child’s needs. Literacy and numeracy are essentials. We can’t be continuing to need “remedial” education in reading, writing and numeracy. It matters not how well the Grade Seven Academy does. We must have the goal of making their work redundant.

You know how I plan to win this argument. It works every time.

Old GB: Yes dear

Peace and Love.

Gordon Robinson is an attorney-at-law. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com