THE EDITOR, Sir:
LAST WEEK Friday, March 10, with little or no publicity, the sixth-form students who, in the various subjects, topped the Island in their CAPE exams (called A'Levels in my time) were recognised by way of an awards ceremony at the Merle Grove Auditorium. Prizes were given for those who placed first, second and third in the respective CAPE subjects. This event represented for us, a nation in crisis, a breath of fresh air, if not relief, from the daily reports of murders carried out by and often against our children, young men and women of like age group as the awardees.
The proud recipients of these awards gleamed with pride, after sleepless nights of studying, while other youths were busy idling, applying make-up in the school bathrooms, handling guns and knives and exploring dangerous sexual practices, among the other distractions we all faced as kids. These awards in excellence could not have been achieved without the guidance, assistance and dedication of a few underpaid teachers. These stalwarts are out there, giving service beyond the measure of their lean pay cheques, changing would-be criminals into productive minds.
I have no knowledge of the details of various challenges and obstacles faced by the recipients except for one young man who has been known to me from birth. He topped the island in one of the subjects. Here is a young man whose mother is a domestic helper. He has never been dropped to school or picked up in a motor car. He has never had the benefit of all the books he requires. He has no Internet service at home. No family member sits on his school board. Attending school on some days without lunch money is a norm for him. He had, however, wealth of a different kind. This young man was nurtured by a mother who knows she can't give up. He has as his theme the words of Jimmy Cliff's rendition "You can make it if you really want it". He advises his fellow youths and boys in particular that it's not just the wish to make it, but you must "try, try and try, til at last you will succeed".
REFUSED ENTRY
He reminds me that one of our Ivy league high schools refused him entry to their sixth form when some of his CXC grades three years ago were not good enough. They even refused to allow him to repeat their fifth form. These negatives represented a turning point in his life. He decided to prove to them his mettle. He enlisted in a private evening school, repeating the subjects he did poorly in, greatly improving those grades. He was thereafter accepted at another high school's sixth form. There he won a national essay competition last year and this year achieved the award he so proudly smiled and walked away with Friday last.
The point he has proven is that many of the excuses adults make about not being given ample opportunities while they were in school, are ill-founded. Here is a young man who did not sit all the CXC subjects he wanted to because he could not afford the entry fee. He has always been surrounded by poverty. However, he used that seeming hopelessness to motivate him, listening carefully at all times to the counsel of his dear mother. He made me feel confident that there is hope for a young man out there, tempted to take up the gun, to draw on this young man's experience of life, being the son of a domestic helper.
I am, etc.,
BERT S. SAMUELS
Bianca@cwjamaica.com
Attorney-at-law
33 Duke Street
Kingston
