The Editor, Sir:

I hasten to concur with your recent observations about graduations. Too often we rush to imitate aspects of North American culture which are senseless and ludicrous and holds no place in our culture and value systems.

It is so sad that we burden our children and parents with this false sense of achievement and occasion. By the time the child gets to secondary school, having 'achieved' so much and experienced the fanfare, what is there to strive towards?

It saddens me when I see a sea of faces in their finery, video lights and cameras illuminating their confusion, sitting at a graduation ceremony and being lauded for what they have achieved. For it has been proven that when the CSEC results are released, on an average, less than 50 per cent of these students gain passes in five or more subjects. To add salt to the wound; many of these students graduate, while reading way below their grade level and are unable to master basic computation skills.

As parents, communities and institutions, we need to wake up and stop giving our children a false sense of achievement. We need to be realistic and spend some of these resources which are expended at the end of each stage of the child's schooling while the child is in the process.

We can do this by buying books and other basic equipment, help the school to modernise labs (as the Government is not doing this), and increase the use of technology in the teaching and learning process. Then, we will be helping our children and nation to achieve. Then we can graduate our children as worthwhile citizens who are able to think and contribute to their society.

I am, etc.,

CHARMAINE CHUTCON

chutconcharm@hotmail.com

Via Go-Jamaica