THE EDITOR, Sir:

I HAVE heard many education policymakers with the slogan "Every child can learn, every child must" and I don't think that they have a clue about this thing. The word 'must' implies that they are not asking the children to learn, they are demanding it. Yes, all children ought to be in school and they should be given equal opportunities to learn, but who is going to make them learn if they do not want to learn? I would like someone to answer that for me.

I am an educator at an upgraded high school and daily I see students, especially boys, playing marbles during class time, running up and down on the block, hiding away from class, running away from their teachers and doing all manner of evil. Most times it's the same students. I go to a class and students make no move to take out their books to do any work. When the books are checked, repeatedly there are pieces of work that are not done or are incomplete. I have repeated "Take out your book and do some work" so often that it is like a mantra now. I turn my back and they stop working, start talking or find something else to do.

The parents of delinquent students are called in, the students are punished, but a few days after, the same students are back to the same thing. Many of these students are just not interested in school and learning and if they do not want to learn, how can the society and those policy-makers expect us as educators to make them learn? How do I make education a priority for these students? I would really like to know.

I am, etc.,

BRIDGET THOMPSON-DUNKLEY

amelia_dbunk@hotmail.com

Kingston 20.

Via Go-Jamaica