In the June 12 edition of The Gleaner, writer Petrina Francis carried remarks made by Andrew Holness, minister of education, about the real possibility that the GSAT is a tool of the perpetuation of the idea of two Jamaicas unequal and unjust - a kind of well-designed and questionable meritocracy.

This issue of a divided and unequal society was analysed from a historical and anthropological perspective in the 1955 publication of Philip Curtin's book Two Jamaicas (Then role of ideas in a Tropical Colony 1830-1865).

Curtin's research and insights led him to conclude that post-emancipation Jamaica was an unequal duality of African Jamaica and European Jamaica. He argued that the African side was peopled by the black slave caste, characterised by illiteracy and cultural practices that were ridiculed and defined by the eurocentric castes as primitive and backward.

According to Curtin, the European Jamaica was the domain of the white and coloured castes. Against the established constructs within this group, the brown men, who were the illegitimate sons of the planter class, spent much of their energies denying the presence and influence of their black mothers whose rape became the symbol of their status, and continues in the contradictions of caste, class and shadism in contemporary Jamaican society.

Religious ideologies

Philip Curtin argued that the rigidity of the two worlds, of necessity, had to adapt to mutual interests especially in light of the fact that the European world saw black people's souls as the fodder for their religious ideologies and the slaves' bodies as the source of labour that would maintain the two worlds.

From this historical and anthropological perspective the future blurring or continuation of Jamaica's caste system was captured in the following lines:

"Religion was the Negroes area of special interest and coincidentally the area in which European ideas were most readily available. They borrowed therefore, in order to find a satisfactory religious solution. Ideas rarely move without being transferred in the process, like the chameleon, they change to fit their background."

The role of the churches and the evolved independent state in the crafting of the public educational system must be understood as the foundation on which the duality of the Jamaican society is maintained.

Young Minister Holness understands this and he has signalled to the society that under his watch there must be dramatic changes in the public educational sector in order to ensure the betterment of all the people of his country. I fully endorse the minister's sentiments.

Of course, it would be naive and foolhardy to conclude that Jamaica is the only society in which one major evaluative tool determines the destiny and life chances of the majority of the young citizens.

This was demonstrated in a recent article originating in Tianjin, China and published in the June 13 edition of the New York Times. This report titled 'China's college entry test is an obsession' beamed a searchlight on the high test (Gao Kao) which, in 2009, will 'determine the fate of more than 10 million Chinese students.

High test time

The testimonies of a number of these students reveal the 'pressure cooker' conditions which characterise the reality of the typical student and household when the high test time comes around. The Chinese test which has the comparative value of American SAT is a nine-hour test 'offered just once a year and is the sole determinant for admission to virtually all Chinese colleges and universities'.

Because only three in five students are successful in this test there is great pressure on parents and students to go beyond the possible and find inhumane and questionable methods of ensuring high marks in this defining educational tool.

One story reported in the article said that "in Sichuan Province in Southwestern China students studied in a hospital, hooked up to oxygen containers in hopes of improving their concentration".

Also, it was reported that "some girls take contraceptives so they will not get their periods during the exam".

Along with these student-impact extremes and pressures to get good marks at all cost, parents also stress themselves out and offer expensive gifts as incentives for achievement.

Others keep vigils outside exam rooms and experience many anxious moments as their sons and daughters try to bring home the glory of entering institutions that were not open to their parents and grandparent's generation.

Besides these concerns with the yearly competitive national boiling point in the Chinese society critics of the Gao Kao argue that this streaming tool "stresses memorisation over independent thinking and creativity "and it also discriminates against rural students". These critics also noted that the art of cheating has been enhanced through technological innovations and the pressure to succeed at all cost.

In short, in such pressured environments the issue of success in an unethical atmosphere devoid of a moral compass should be of concern to all the leaders in any society.

From the anecdotes and concerns raised about the GSAT (Jamaica's super social and educational streaming tool) there seem to be some similarities between the Chinese system and our local situation.

We hear of parents who shop around for after-school expensive tutors. Many of these persons can best be described as 'moonlighters' who are incapable of providing the requisite body of knowledge in the classrooms where they are being paid from the public purse to educate all students.

In rural Jamaica, it is instructive to note the number of poor parents who are stressed out to find taxi fares, unhealthy snacks. sugary box drinks and lunch money in order to send their little girls and boys outside of their communities so that they can attend all kinds of 'prep schools' of questionable standards. Far too many of these parents are locked into this pattern because they do not believe that the primary and basic schools which they and their parents attended will get 'good passes'. For instance, in the communities nestled in the Santa Cruz mountains in south eastern St Elizabeth a 'good pass' is one that allows poor people's children to qualify for the traditional Hampton and Munro or the successful non-traditional Black River High School.

Traditional schools

When the one boy or girl from St Albans Primary School - my alma mater - beat the odds and get a place in the traditional schools, the good folks of the district, noticeably start holding their heads at an interesting angle and the women jump higher as they give glory to their maker in the local Pentecostal church on Sunday mornings.

If such children have identifiable fathers, the domino players at the one-stop shop will notice the resurgence of the 'six love' passion for a few weeks.

Passing the GSAT for the traditional schools might be mistaken as a marker of superior intelligence by those who do not understand the impact of class and caste on cognitive development. This idea of the 'brightest of the flock' gives great joy to the ego of the middle class whose self-definition is tied closely to their children's achievements. It is these achievements that ultimately cement their space in the hierarchy of the more desirable Jamaica.

By the same token, poor parents see such achievement as the social currency that can move them across the rigid divide of the two Jamaicas.

Perhaps rather than spending their time defending their territory, all the stakeholders in education should take a deep breath and reflect on the social, economic and spiritual realities of the Jamaican society. In this process, they will take the challenges from Holness as a clarion call for the serious and sustainable changes that could result in a more equitable and just society

Unequal access

The two Jamaicas discussed by Curtin at an earlier period and raised recently by Holness is still being realised any which way that we slice the Jamaican pie.

We have the highly valued traditional versus the not-so-valued non-traditional schools; the urban - rural divide reflected in unequal access to basic services, infrastructure and employment; the uptowndowntown divide; the rich and the poor; the church-going older religious denominations and the born-again folks who are convinced that they have a free ride to Heaven; the Christians who are the majority and who smugly marginalise the members of other major world religions; the unequal and contentious gender divides and the continuing efforts to keep obviously unambiguous black people, especially the women, off the social pages.

These dualities in the Jamaican society are the outcomes of the historical inequities of classical plantation societies. The tragedy of our times lies in the fact that when we can no longer point to the external oppressor we refuse to look at ourselves in the mirror and confront our predisposition to create a more rigid and oppressive plantation system.

In this discussion, I firmly support Holness' concerns reported by Petrina Francis in the June 12, 2009 edition of The Gleaner.

Each of us must do what we can to make sure the necessary reforms in the educational enterprise serve all the people equitably and in a framework of social justice.

Glenda Simms is a gender consultant. Feedback may be sent to columns@gleanerjm.com.