Earl Moxam, Senior Gleaner Writer
THE PRINCIPAL of a prominent local high school has dismissed the concerns of one American college regarding the CXC's associate degree programme as mere bigotry.
"This is typical educational imperialism, nothing more, so I wouldn't worry about it," was the response of Brandford Gayle, principal of Munro College in St. Elizabeth, in an interview with The Gleaner.
Mr. Gayle was responding, in part, to concerns raised by Jimm Crowder, director of International and Transfer Admissions at Macalester College in Minnesota, United States, regarding the legitimacy of the associate degree.
Mr. Crowder, in an interview with The Gleaner, expressed grave doubts about the usefulness of the associate degree and suggested that it would hinder rather than facilitate the progress of Caribbean students in American colleges and universities.
Crowder's school, Macalester College, is among the more highly-rated private educational institutions in the U.S. and has been attended by some of Jamaica's brightest students, including Keon West, this year's Jamaican Rhodes Scholar. Kofi Annan, U.N. Secretary-General, also attended Macalester.
ENCOURAGING STUDENTS
While saying that he was not pushing for the associate degree at Munro, Mr. Gayle said he would not discourage students of the 150-year-old boarding school for boys, who were interested in qualifying for the degree, on the basis of American concerns.
"I don't know since when American educators have come to determine our agenda; I'm not particularly interested in what Jimm Crowder or George Bush or anyone else in America says!" the Munro principal snapped.
Less than 10 per cent of Jamaican students attend American universities, he said; "Furthermore, any Jamaican who matriculates for the University of the West Indies will automatically matriculate for 99 per cent of the universities of the world, so I am not worried," Mr. Gayle emphasised.
The issue took on greater proportions yesterday when Dr. Dennis Minott, CEO of Association of Quietly Excelling Students and Scholars (A-QuEST) disclosed that a group of parents, in association with his organisation, would be seeking a court injunction to bar CXC from automatically awarding the associate degree to students who qualified by virtue of the subjects passed at CAPE.
Mr. Gayle is equally dismissive, however, of Minott and A-QuEST. "What concerns me is how organisations like A-QuEST piggy back on our high schools, take our best students and send them abroad. Look at how few of them return to Jamaica. I treat them with the contempt they deserve!" he said.
The Jamaica Teachers' Association (JTA) has so far not fully embraced the associate degree. Patrick Smith, senior secretary for Member Services and a former president of the JTA, is urging caution. The matter should be carefully reviewed "because it is not something many Jamaicans are familiar with; we are not yet clear on it," Smith said on the Power 106 show, 'Good Evening Jamaica' last week.
Furthermore, Mr. Smith said, the JTA wished to examine the implications for remuneration of teachers. This, he said, would arise "because you are asking secondary institutions to deliver what could be considered tertiary level education".
