I watched with grave concern the recent 'lashings' that Education Minister Andrew Holness has been giving all the persons he believes to be major contributing factors to the poor levels of education being experienced in our country today, especially at the primary level.
While I agree with the minister that a number of persons are going into teaching as a last resort, I hope he agrees with me that the profession is really not a lucrative one. When a teacher takes home a paycheque of $60,000 after a month of being lawyer, nurse, policeman, soldier, judge and jury, facilitator, parent, counsellor/psychiatrist, nutritionist, drug enforcer, not to mention lunch money providers - in addition to the prescribed roles - this does not do well in cultivating and watering a serious love for the job. Yet, there is so much hassle about whether or not teachers deserve to get even a meagre salary increase.
The only real reward we gain is the satisfaction of seeing any form of positive change in the lives of our dear children. A colleague recently revealed that each night before she retires to bed, she can hear a voice saying "Miss, Miss". A number of teachers report 'tremors' from time to time. This is a reflection of how much the days' activities are impacting the nerves of our teachers. Trust me, you can't pay a teacher to be a teacher! And those who have been in the profession at the grass-roots level, especially within the last decade, know fully well what I am talking about.
The reality
We could say all we want about teacher quality and principals not doing their jobs, but have we stopped to look at the raw material that is being poured into the mixture? Has anyone ever really stopped to wonder why a child would leave grade six and does not even know the letters of the alphabet? Many are speculating and passing judgement on the teachers from within their air-conditioned offices without having a clue as to what is really happening in the schools.
You can blame the baker, the oven and the utensils all you want, but don't give me bad flour and eggs and expect lovely, light and airy angel food cake.
The moral fabric of the society has deteriorated to a serious point and what is being overlooked or brushed aside is the impact and influence that this has on our children. The children are being exposed to many of society's ills and wanton behaviours, and the only place most of them receive any form of correction or instruction is at school.
So much of the teacher's and school administration's time is spent addressing behavioural issues.
Behavioural disorders
Our children are coming to school with various behavioural and learning disorders, impairments, experiences of being emotionally and physically abused, physical challenges, unhealthy home situations, absent or neglectful parents, or parent (or child) on drugs. This list is by no means exhaustive.
An increasingly alarming number of children do not respect adults anymore - including their teachers (and don't tell me that it is based on how their teachers treat them!) They talk to their parents and other adults anyhow, and some do not make the distinction when they enter the classroom. They are very quarrelsome, aggressive, angry, have low or no self-esteem and say anything in front of anybody. Manners are not being taught at home (some parents DON'T have any to begin with) and no matter what you teach, the child comes to school each day with a blank slate, formatted by the activities at home and in the community.
The child comes to school without the necessary prerequisite skills, and none is fostered or encouraged at home. The children are severely underexposed (except to the latest songs and dances) and are unable to relate what they learn at school to what happens around them. They have reading and learning disabilities and very few parents really care enough to work with the school to address the problem. There is no accountability at home. Sometimes parents are sent for and they do not respond ,or do so at their own leisure. When they turn up they come in defence of the child and his or her disruptive behaviour.
The truth is that some schools seem to be doing so much better than others because they are now in the process of screening the children who they admit. As a result, the burden is left on other schools willing to accept challenged students. I am m not saying that these children can't 'pick up' during their time in school, but from observations, some of them end up as deviants.
They are passing through the system with conditions that neither the regular classroom teacher nor the guidance counsellor is able to address. Their behaviour and attitude heavily impacts the teaching-learning process within the classroom, so that even 'normal' students are being seriously short-changed. If research is done, I am almost certain that these are the same students who go on to high schools, and later become responsible for many stabbing incidents, such as those we are seeing today.
Attention-related problems
Recently, a prominent psychiatrist, who is a past student of the school where I teach, visited my classroom to give my students a motivational talk. Within half an hour of his visit he remarked that more than half of my near 40 students needed intervention, as they had attention-related problems. It is apparent that the guidance counsellors' loads continue to be really heavy and the children are not benefiting adequately from their services. In fact, from experience, there are so many of our children who operate beyond the realm of what guidance counsellors can offer, but require psychological or even psychiatric attention.
In light of these many challenges, it is high time that persons at the ministerial level wake up. Stop investing money on task forces, councils and other programmes. Stop introducing more tests for the students to fail and more systems that are wearing out the resources at the school. Sort out the head space of the children so that they are more amenable to the teaching-learning process. Upgrade the facilities for assessing children (no, not GSAT and NAP) but at care centres like MICO. There needs to be many more institutions like that to handle the workload.
Strengthen the Special Education arm of the ministry - they need to be proactive and visible. Team up with mental-health personnel so that each school can have access to speedy and necessary assessment or even psychiatric evaluation. Spend money on researching the children by sending psychologists into the schools to observe their behaviours and the impact on the teaching-learning exercise, and to make recommendations to the teachers or prescribe a course of treatment. There are some factors that can only be pinpointed at a hands-on level. Pass laws that encourage accountability on the part of the parents.
Instead of building new, so-called model schools, take urgent steps to abolish the shift system in the schools. The children are given the maximum four to seven hours per day which forces everyone into an adrenaline rush. That plus the fact that the children are overwhelmed by the number of people sharing similar facilities, and the chaos and confusion that arise from this, is a melting pot for psychological challenges leading to poor performance.
When the honourable minister or his team visits a school, what he sees is not a true reflection of what we face daily. The children are 'prepped' so that he is not exposed to the dirty end of the stick, because any day - given the right school - he steps into the real world, he will no doubt experience some of what I am alluding to.
No excuses
I am not making excuses for mediocrity. I am not diverting attention from what appears to be the result of valuable research about principal performance and teacher quality, and all the other factors cited by the honourable minister as major contributors. I would just like to suggest that washing the clothes does NOT solve the glaring problems of bad stitching or the many tears in the fabric.
Mary Gordon is a teacher who has been in the classroom for about eight years.