But Mr Holness has to be careful about how he frames his argument about shortcomings in the examination that Jamaica's students have to take at grade six to determine their readiness for and placement in high schools.

two Jamaicas

The critics say that this exam, the Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT), is too involved and too stressful for 11- and 12-year-olds. They argue that it perpetuates the notion of two Jamaicas, a socio-economic divide that becomes glaringly apparent with the streaming done at high schools. The best performers at GSAT and its predecessor, the Common Entrance Examination, get placed in what are considered the best high schools. Others make do with the rest, which, mostly, is not very good.

"It is effectively a meritocracy," said Mr Holness, complaining, it appeared, last week. "GSAT pairs the highest-performing grades with the choices (of schools) of those students."

While we appreciate some of the concerns of Mr Holness, and others, about the nature of GSAT, and support the need for reform, we hope that this does not descend into an anodyne lurch to mediocrity.

Indeed, we agree that some students at the age of GSAT may need different forms of stimulation, and that some will not perform best at the strictly academic inventories that grade-six students are expected to master. However, literacy and numeracy, and the capacity to reason are critical components of education and the foundation for the accumulation of knowledge. These cannot be sacrificed if Jamaica is to have any reasonable chance of surviving, much more competing effectively in today's world.

Nor as a society should we be afraid of competition, or of rewarding on the basis of merit. Any promotion of a process that appears to frown on individual brilliance in favour of combined mediocrity would not only be wrong, but potentially dangerous.

Our essential argument is that those who have responsibility for education must be exceedingly careful about how they frame the narrative of reform. Sure, adjust and expand GSAT, and continuously assess outside of a big exam. But we would argue that there must be two other fundamental and primary undertakings.

An absolute priority must be lifting the mean average test scores at GSAT, which at present are not far above 50 per cent. This has to do with enhancing the quality of education in primary schools.

There has to be a concomitant effort to improve the actual and perceived quality of the so-called upgraded high schools, whose performance, as a group, lags substantially behind the older grammar schools, most of which, truth be told, are themselves in no great shape.

budgetary constraints

This must include the investment of additional resources, which the Government, given its budgetary constraints, will have to find creative ways to source. More important, as Mr Holness suggested recently, is demanding performance and accountability from principals and their staff.

Providing principals with fixed-term contracts and linking emoluments to educational outcomes and other defined deliverables are good places to start.