The Editor, Sir:

My common sense has always told me to beware of any and all information presented under the headline 'The truth about'. In Sunday's In Focus, April 26 article, 'The truth about school-based assessment', finally, Professor Stafford A. Griffiths, chair of UWI's Institute of Education, lays down the law on a subject that has been thrashed about for some time now in the Jamaican press.

In something less than 1,600 words, logically presented and well detailed, I think the good professor has managed to clarify and explain almost everything that a prospective educator wants to know on the subject. It made me miss the good- old days of my college psychology courses, for as boring as some of them were, this particular article made me feel like a student who was being punished for thinking that common sense had anything to do with education or at least not having had enough coffee before a lecture.

Propriety of SBA practices

In conclusion, Professor Griffith wrote: "I trust that a consideration of these basic points would allow the teacher and the wider public to make more informed judgements about the fairness and propriety of SBA practices encountered." Oh, I agree most unequivocally, and in contrast to the length of his explanation, I think the best response would have to be as brief as his was long.

No doubt, after being 'more informed' and, as it happens, simultaneously winning the fight against an overwhelming urge to fall asleep while becoming so informed, at least Jamaican teachers will now know where to draw the line between helping their students learn and helping them cheat on tests, even if they don't do it.

I am, etc.,

ED MCCOY

mmhobo48@juno.com

Bokeelia