The Editor, Sir:

I read recently an editorial in your newspaper which left me with some concerns. The editorial suggested that the principals of schools that did not do well, according to the ratings published, should be ashamed. I must admit that I am not.

This suggestion, I think, is meant to embarrass us into doing better. We all try to do better every year. By the results seen, we fail to do so, sometimes. We are disappointed, but not ashamed.

Whenever we learn that many of our students have to use flashlights under the bed to study, in order to prevent the gunmen from seeing lights in their houses; when our students have nowhere to live; when the boys' parents want them to work and drop out of school; when the girls become bed mates for their stepfathers when the mothers go away; when so many of them face the anxieties of living with step-parents, sometimes several in a short time; when the problems at home become unbearable for our students and we can't take them home with us, we are overwhelmed, but definitely not ashamed.

Look at the prerequisites

In order for students to pass examinations, they must first have the prerequisite knowledge for the lessons being taught: attend classes regularly; participate fully in the class; complete assignments and prepare for the examinations with the teacher and on their own.

If we look at the prerequisites that a student placed in the top 10 schools according to your ratings, and compare them with those in the bottom 10, you will see that those (or most of them) in the top 10, are already prepared to get a grade one in English. We are a little envious of that, but not ashamed. When our students do not attend classes for so many non-school, related reasons, we are frustrated, but not ashamed. When our students do not participate in classes because they are sleepy or not interested, or their teacher has to be attending to some disturbance or providing materials for someone who doesn't have, when the homework is not done, when we do not see them studying as we think they ought to and we know the potential that they have, we are frustrated, because we try everything we can, but we are not ashamed.

When students transform

However, when our students move from a non-reader to a reader, from a shy person to one who leads the discussion in class, from a stammering introvert to one who leads the general assembly; when we see the sometimes metamorphic transformations, having been encouraged to use their gifts and talents, strengthened by the culture of their school, we are extremely proud. When our students return to school to thank us for making an impact on their lives, although they did not pass any examinations while they were in school, we are satisfied that they are contributing to nation building. For this we are extremely proud and definitely NOT ASHAMED.

I am, etc.,

CYNTHIA P. COOKE

cookelp@cwjamaica.com

Principal, Camperdown High School

Kingston 16