Gordon Robinson | We need a revolution in education

In probably its most significant move towards national progress since first elected in 2016, this Government recently tabled a new-look Education Bill.

The purpose of the Bill, inter alia, is expressly “to recognize and promote teaching as a profession; to contribute to improving the quality of teaching and learning in Jamaica by regulating the entry and standing of members of the teaching profession.” I say “Hallelujah!”.

To that end, the proposed act defines “teacher” as someone with a bachelor’s degree in education or its equivalent or a first degree with a post-graduate diploma in education.

Surprise! Surprise! The Jamaica Teachers Association (JTA) reacted like a child suddenly forced to adapt and threw its toys out of its pram.

That venerable organisation, seemingly anxious to continue forcing on our children catch-as-catch-can education from too many underqualified, underperforming members damned the proposed Bill with a quote from Sykes J (as he then was):

“… can legislation be used as a guise to remove persons from employment without any kind of hearing or process, thereby gutting the protection given to public sector workers by the Constitution of Jamaica and case law developed over many decades?”

Nooooo, it can’t. But nothing of the sort is being attempted here. Instead, for the first time, at last, sensible qualifications for ENTRY into, not exit from, the teaching profession are being set. Jamaica’s system of education has, for decades, produced results that scream that this is essential.

The Bill provides that only registered teachers may teach. Only qualified persons may be registered. Then registered teachers must participate in a continuing teacher training education programme. There are exceptions for schools that can satisfy the council if they can’t find licensed teachers but have candidates with the skill sets and experience to advance children’s learning. So JTA, get used to education’s priority being students’ interest NOT teachers’.

Instant Karma’s gonna get you;

gonna knock you right on the head.

You better get yourself together.

Pretty soon you’re gonna be dead.

What in the world you thinking of

laughing in the face of love?

What on earth you tryin’ to do?

It’s up to you, yeah you!

Sykes J’s comments came as he was deciding whether leave should be granted for Deborah Patrick-Gardner, who alleged that she had been removed from her post, transferred, and demoted after taking leave to pursue a law degree, among other reasons.

The judge made no final decision at that stage (especially on disputed fact or law) but simply found that the complaint was arguable and so should be ventilated in a judicial review application. In that case, the applicant was ensuring that she acquired higher qualifications, not insisting that she be allowed to retain a job for which she was unqualified.

TEACHING FAR MORE IMPORTANT

The JTA is upset at the level of fines to be levied if someone is convicted of teaching without a licence. Really? Seriously? Which teacher wants to be operated on by an unqualified doctor or represented in court by a village lawyer? How much should the “doctor” or “lawyer” be fined? We must stop pussyfooting around a chronic, deeply entrenched obstacle to national progress and get it through our thick skulls that teaching, as a profession, is far more important to Jamaica’s future than medicine or law. Teachers make future doctors and lawyers. They MUST be highly qualified and highly paid.

Instant Karma’s gonna get you;

gonna look you right in the face.

Better get yourself together darlin’

Join the human race.

How in the world you gonna see

laughin’ at fools like me?

Who in the hell d’you think you are

A super star?

Well alright you are

Reaction from UWI was more tempered, and although making some pointed and reasonable requests for clarification, concluded that “the Bill is overdue and was long-awaited. It is anticipated that the series of consultations and feedback will lead to its eventual passage in the Parliament of Jamaica”.

A friend of mine (a Queen’s Counsel) told me a story of his daughter, who attended St Andrew High School for Girls. After taking her CXCs, she came home in tears. “Daddy,” she sobbed, “I’m sure I’ve failed most of the exams.” The father replied, “Don’t worry. We’ll find your future path no matter what.” On that note they started to research available institutions of advanced learning. They met with nothing but disappointment until they looked at Mico Teacher Training College that required only five CXCs. “There you go,” said a relieved father. “You can become a teacher!”

Well we all shine on

like the moon and the stars and the sun.

Well we all shine on

Everyone come on

The story has a happy ending as when results were in, the worry-wart daughter had aced her CXCs. Mico was no longer an option.

People, we must stop worshipping at the altar of tradition for tradition’s sake. There’s no more important sector than education. We cannot continue to make teaching an interim start-up job until something better comes along. We must face the fact that no student has ever failed any exam. Every failure is a teacher’s failure.

This education omelet will NOT be successfully made without breaking some egos. For too long we’ve accepted underqualified, underperforming teachers as a contagion with which we must live.

Instant Karma’s gonna get you

Gonna knock you off your feet

Better recognise your brothers

Everyone you meet

Why in the world are we here?

Surely not to live in pain and fear?

Why on earth are you there

When you’re everywhere?

Come and get your share

The current status quo wasn’t always so.

I hope you’ll permit me one more irritating story of the “good old days”.

The Campion College I attended in 1965 wasn’t a school held in high esteem. Traditional schools had Campion as a laughing stock and Campionites as “sissies”. But Campion insisted on focusing on liberal arts-style academics and discipline (no cane required), with sports a necessary adjunct to education but nowhere near a priority. So we were dismissed using the athletic standards by which educational success was measured then and now.

When I reached third form (now Grade 9), the USA sent a new diplomat to Jamaica. He brought his son. He was two years older than we but was placed in our third-form class. He struggled to keep up.

A STUDENT’S ‘FAILURE’ IS THEIR FAILURE

Fast-forward 40 years when The Old Ball and Chain accompanied the eldest of her troublemakers, SkullDougery (a.k.a. Skullhead III, a.k.a. The Computer Whiz) for “orientation” at Ithaca College (upstate New York). When Old BC returned, she regaled me with stories of how impressed she was with the education philosophy. His class contained students from all nations AND his teachers were insistent that he succeed. If he wrote a bad paper, the teacher met with him and helped him to improve and resubmit it. The Jamaican “gotcha” attitude (teaching by rote and examination by trick question) wasn’t an option.

Insofar as USA liberal arts colleges are concerned (the Ampersand, who, ironically, is the one making computer coding his livelihood, had similar experiences at Lawrence University, Wisconsin), the education-for-life on offer surpasses anything here. In the USA, teachers understand a student’s “failure” is their failure!

Well we all shine on

Like the moon and the stars and the sun

Yeah we all shine on

On and on and on and on

“Instant Karma!”, written by John (Ono) Lennon, was released as a single on Apple Records in February 1970 and argues that the cosmic backlash from one’s actions is immediate. This is in direct conflict with Psalm 121:3-7 ( “God don’t sleep”) that promises God (a.k.a. the sun and the moon) looks over us permanently, so retribution will eventually arrive. The song was produced by Phil Spector in a comeback from his 1966 retirement. In the USA, it became the first solo single by a member of the Beatles to sell a million copies.

We need a revolution in education. This Teachers Council Bill is a first step on a very long journey to real education for life. We won’t solve our sociological problems without this Bill. Much more is needed but this, like twenty lawyers at the bottom of the sea, is a good start. We MUST find a way for our children to ALL shine on.

I congratulate the Government on this initiative. Government MUST resist any populist urge to politick this by watering it down because of squeals from large voting blocks. THIS is a hill on which Government must be prepared to die.

If the PNP prefers a remote chance at garnering a plurality of votes to securing our children’s education, then shame on them! Let them join the cacophony for crass, callous, chronic, colonial continuity. Instant Karma will deal with them.

Peace and Love!

- Gordon Robinson is an attorney-at-law. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com