THE EDITOR, Sir:
PLEASE PERMIT me to share with your readers a matter that gives me great concern. Before I even begin to express this concern, let me hasten to say that I believe the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ) and the Government mean well. The persons whom these labels fit are human beings with a genuine interest in the progress of this country and education in particular. They have no vested interest in destabilising the education system, creating dislocation and frustrating those who have devoted their lives to educating the nation.
Although I am not privy to the details of the recommendations of the PSOJ, from what I have heard and read in the newspapers, I think we are heading in the wrong direction. The wisest man is a fool to what he does not know, but he knows that he does not know.
THEIR LOGIC
The following quotation from The Gleaner's editorial entitled 'PSOJ spotlight on education', Wednesday, July 28, is particularly disturbing. The business leaders working on the Partnership for Progress plan, many of them graduates of the University of the West Indies, have brought their own logic to the analysis of the education system and concluded that overall priority needs to be shifted from tertiary to early childhood education. There is nothing wrong with people bringing their own logic to an analysis of anything, but an analysis of the education system needs more than the logic of people who are not educators.
It is interesting to note that graduates of the University of the West Indies are now seeking to deprive others of the benefit of what they have had. Goodwill, dedication, commitment, and professionalism cannot be legislated. A licence does not a good teacher make. If we want to improve the education system, instead of wrecking it, we need the involvement of educators at all levels of the education system in planning the way forward so that more than the logic of a few influential persons in the society can inform policy decisions concerning education. We cannot fix the problems in education unless we know and understand what they are.
I am, etc.,
WINNIE
ANDERSON-BROWN
winab@cwjamaica.com
Bagatelle District
Ashley P.A., Clarendon
