Jamaica’s High School And it’s “Problems”
Articles, Interesting, Jamaica/Politics February 23rd, 2008
As a High School student i somehow feel obligated to address such an issue. This seems to be an island wide problem with High Schools at this point in time; Andrew Holeness surely has his hands full, Maxine Henry Wilson must feel good to be relieved of the position or feel good to know she isn’t the one handling the problem.
If it’s not Indiscipline, Sex in schools or violence then it’s the matter of the lack of furniture or some other complicated matter that apparently has no solution, but what seems to be the biggest problem right now is the matter of violence towards teachers and weapons in schools. Education Minister Andrew Holness said yesterday, during a post-Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House, that “students are too often merely given a slap on the wrist when they are found with offensive weapons seized by school authorities.”
He went on to say that he wants all such incidents reported to the police and the students charged under the Offensive Weapons Act.
Such a law did not or does not prevent Gun Men from carrying guns, so why do they think it’s going to stop a student from carrying an offensive weapon to school…when a student, male/female decides to put that knife, gun or whatever other offensive weapon into his/her pocket, they are aware of the consequences and they have made up there mind that whatever happens, happens.
I think the government is approaching the situation with pure aggression, instead of actually looking into the matter and hearing both sides of the story the just automatically switch into offensive mode., not all teachers are saints, we’re all human beings and we’re all flawed, but because they have title of teacher they get all the privileges. There are cases where teachers hit students and the students react by hitting the teacher back. And if i heard right, “Hitting a student is a Big No No”. I have to mention once again that threating the students with charges will not change anything, the ones who fight are usually the troubled ones, the ones without guidance or proper parenting. They don’t care what happens to them.
I also have a problem with the fact that the Gleaner was not hesitant in mentioning Christiana High School in one of it’s recent articles because of an alleged confrontation of the Vice Principal by two female students at the institution. They happily named the school in the article, but the other schools were not mentioned, what the Gleaner is insinuating is that CHS has no integrity to uphold, but the other “Prominent” High Schools do?, bullshit if i say so myself, they should have said a school in Manchester and not blurt out the school’s name in the paper like that, if your not going to name one school don’t name the other, prominent or not, regardless of if the school was mentioned on television or not.
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February 23rd, 2008 at 1:47 pm
I have seen the reports of violence towards teachers in the news and it is really disturbing. This increase is a bad trend and is an ominous sign of the future of Jamaica. I think just suspending these students is a slap on the wrist indeed, they should have harsher penalties such as expulsion. As you rightly said, from these children make up their mind to do a certain action they must be prepared to deal with the consequences. It’s true, not all teachers are model teachers, but attacking a teacher or calling ones family or outside friends to attack the teacher is a no-no and the attacker and instigator should be charged.
As for the media, dat a idiot thing, if they are going to call names they should call the names of all the schools especially the prominent “town” schools!
February 23rd, 2008 at 7:59 pm
Yes, indeed, the media is definitely exhibiting a high level of hypocrisy and double standard, with respect to the public naming,outing, and disclosure of certain schools experiencing sundry forms of violence while protecting the so called prominent schools which are also experiencing significant levels of violence in terms of a nondisclosure policy.
February 24th, 2008 at 1:21 am
Things are really dire in the high schools. I think the schools should adopt a policy of random searches. That should help a bit. As for Christiana being named, I don’t think its so much a matter of integrity as it is influence. Past students, parents and all other interested parties belonging to the “prestigious” high schools have a great deal of power, and will wield that power if their school’s name is dragged in the mud.
February 24th, 2008 at 11:14 pm
I do agree that Andrew Holeness is not taking the right step in solving this matter …………even though as you’ve mentioned disruptive students are aware of the consequences of their actions………nevertheless should be given a second chance…..we are all human, we are not pefect.
It is not fair at all to blurt out the school’s name like that an keep the prominent schools under the cover.
February 24th, 2008 at 11:28 pm
I guess he’s frustrated
February 26th, 2008 at 1:32 am
I noticed the “prominent high school” phrase immediately and had to stop myself from firing off a letter to the editor, which they wouldn’t print anyway. The double standard in the media — shaming some schools and the students who attend them, while protecting others from the disgrace of being labelled as teggeregs — has contributed to the way we perceive the violence in schools. I really don’t think that there is a dramatic increase in the number of whole families declaring war on teachers, etc. Rather, the change has been steady and observable. We just haven’t been paying the right amount of attention.
Based on my reading of the news, what has changed is the frequency and the tone of the reportage; violence in schools adds a lovely flavor to the melodrama and overt sensationalism of crime coverage, thus ratcheting up the stress level and sense of victimization on the part of the teachers.
The teachers themselves have also become more verbally abusive and antagonistic towards students, and disrespectful to the parents, both out of frustration as well as blatant disregard for people’s feelings. So, there’s ill will on both sides.
But what is even more unconscionable is that the violence that has been going on in the schools for years, and which directly affects the students, has not prompted this kind of collective action on the part of the teachers until now. The JTA et al. have been all too content to malign the students and to use dubious terms like “lack of socialization” to attribute what is happening as the fault of the parents and family environment. I maintain that Jamaican teachers still don’t know how to relate to students beyond the doctrinaire and authoritarian approach of “I teach and you learn”. Challenging as the new school environment is, most teachers simply don’t have the education, skills or training to relate to children as children. Schools can’t be everything for children; family and school have to work together. I would love to find one, just one, example of a school that has taken on this concept wholesale and have tried to make it work.
March 16th, 2008 at 9:48 pm
Ok, why are we all so appalled when we hear stories of sex and violence at school .. I have completed high school long time and its nothing new to mean. Ever since 97 it was happening at my school.
So let’s really remove ourselves from this static position we are in when we hear of these things and face the damn reality. Thats why first world countries will forever be progressive … they face the harsh realities of time and they just roll with it… instead we talk about the stupid ole days when a parent from up the road could beat your child and he/she dare not tell u in the evening if he/she hopes to be spared from a second round!
How ridiculous! And let’s realise that we cant go back there … So time to move on into 2008.
Our problems are a multiplicity of factors and none of it will ever be dealt with if we continue to hide the truth from ourselves, fail to listen to those affected, take this top notch approach to bandaid everything … and - i wont continue to list all we have been doing wrong …
But seriously, school seems to be the hot topic for 2008 … textbooks removed a second time … condoms in school, school sex tapes, corporal punishment banned in schools at all levels, teachers and principals to get police training .. lol ..
what’s next on the list of things to do for schools?
hmmm .. let’s see .. how about:
performing arts programme in all schools
1) proper human resource strategies to motivate teachers (esp. the ones who just in the job to get a salary)
2) remove suspension and expulsion
3) remove teachers who continue year on year off to have even 50% passses
4) change the old guidance counsellors - who are guiding us on the sole basis of morals
5) allow all students take every subject at high school - its not the teachers decision to decide who is ready for cxc (at least thats our excuse) - stop protecting school image
6) introduce alternative learning in schools - skills, dj, music mixing, graphic design, cosmo, etc
7) compulsory after school hours for studying
9) pump money into schools sports programmes
Now thats something worthwhile doing.