THE EDITOR, Sir:THIS LETTER is in regards to an insightful and well written commentary by Dr. Ralph Thompson entitled "Education in a fragmented society." I have never in my many years on this earth read such truth delivered in such a hard-hitting in-your-face manner.
Dr. Ralph Thompson, I thank you as I too am concerned for the future of our country and our future leaders. With such embarrassing CXC results compared to our Caribbean neighbours we are looking at a future that will most likely be as dismal as the passes themselves.
It is such a disgrace to the education system to see what the government has allocated towards early childhood education and education on a whole. They are failing our children and are ultimately failing us as a nation. They mask the true problems by establishing these remedial programmes that just go to show the level of incompetence in our education system.
This government needs to dramatically restructure our education system. There needs to be a greater emphasis on early childhood education. We need to mold our future generations from an early age so that they will be able to become critical thinkers and competent citizens. In beginning this process there will be many obstacles and, as Dr.Thompson outlined, the need for Standard English to be spoken without reluctance is critical to the success of molding a new generation that will lead our nation to greatness.
Teachers are the ones who create leaders and they must be scrutinised on a regular basis to see if they are providing the proper form of education to our young minds. Parents too are the ones who will teach their children a large portion of what they will learn in their lifetime. Enlighten our young because they will lead us out of this stagnant and gloomy situation that Jamaica is presently in.
I am, etc.,
AUDLEY FONG
globaldanish86@yahoo.com
Miami, Florida
Via Go-Jamaica
