Norman Jarrett: A genius marks 100 years

Norman Beresford Jarrett turned 100 years old on July27 and Janice Jarrett considers herself fortunate to have the benefit of her 82-year-old mother and centenarian father around so she can give back to them. She is particularly impressed with the sense of values they instilled in all their children.

She recalled that while attending the Queen’s School in St Andrew, if she scored 80 per cent in a test, her father would consider that to be a “fair” achievement and it was only when she scored 100 per cent that she was satisfied that she had done well.

“You grew up understanding that the highest excellence was just good enough and because of that we tend to be over-achievers and our children too,” she shared during an interview at their home.

“For a man of 100 years old, he is mathematically inclined. He knows his numbers so you can’t play with him financially. He can hold a lucid, intelligent conversation. He is very up to date on current affairs, but you recognise that his short-term memory is not as strong as his long-term memory. He has his mobility and is pretty self-sufficient,” she said in summing up Norman.

The experience and skills he developed as an educator led him, along with Cecile, his second wife, to take up teaching in The Bahamas before returning home to make a significant impact on the schooling of children in downtown Kingston who were failing miserably. A 2014 Gleaner article spoke to the impact of the Norman and Cecile Jarrett Literacy Improvement Programme (LIP), which provided 54 students at St Alban’s Primary School with well-needed resources to help in the development of their literacy skills.

The recipients, all boys, who were selected based on needs, were each presented with literacy skills textbooks to assist with their preparation for the Grade Four Literacy Test, courtesy of this programme with support from Jamaica National Building Society Foundation with the textbooks part of an ongoing effort to improve literacy among students in inner city-based schools.

Cecile explained then, the rationale behind their effort.

“This programme is for primary schools within the downtown region. This was a concerted decision, as often these children miss a lot of opportunities and are generally at risk because of the lack of resources,” she noted, adding that it received significant backing from the Ministry of Education. Another component of LIP was the ‘competitive’ phase, which involved the staging of a reading competition among grades three to six students, with 12 winners emerging from the respective grades.

Letter from principal

However, it was the letter from the principal of the St Michael’s Primary School that still stands out to the Jarretts.

“After the programme was introduced instant motivation and character-building took place; reading competitions, literacy skills books, quizzes, prizes, surprises, awards, cash awards and most significant of all, an increase in literacy averages. Our literacy rose from a low of 31 per cent in 2012 to an all-time high of 81 per cent in 2014.

“Our school population has doubled since, moving from 98 in 2014 to 79 presently. The LIP programme was a complete success. Students now stand in front of an audience and read proudly and confidently, as they participated in the reading competitions hosted by LIP and its founders, Mr and Mrs Jarrett.”

For Norman Jarrett, it is still a source of pride that LIP became the signature programme for the Kiwanis district comprising eastern Canada and the Caribbean.

Even at their advanced ages, the Jarretts are still having an impact on the education sector with a small home school run by Janice with help from her mom. The students, usually between 16 and 20, are prepped for the Primary Exit Profile (PEP), with some of them special needs children who tend not to thrive in the traditional school environment.

“We started off as an evening institution on Saturdays and expanded as the demand got greater because our children do well in and they tend to be at the top in their classes. We don’t advertise, but people just keep calling and saying ‘I got your name from so and so’.”

The reason for their incredible success rate is the fact that they provide customised lessons suited to each child’s needs, as Janice explained.

“How we teach this child in the same setting may be different from how we teach the child sitting because one may be a visual learner and the other may be an aural learner or a child in the same class may be a tactile learner. So you have to use different modalities to make sure you that they all get the lesson and that’s part of my father’s legacy as well, because it has its beginning with him.

“I am blessed to have the opportunity to look after my father and I don’t do anything without consulting in particular my mother. Dad has been a role model to my son and they are very close and he always says that his grandson remind him of himself. With eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren and my father has provided stability for the generations to come.”

christopher.serju@gleanerjm.com