It's all about the arithmetic
Published:Tuesday | May 28, 2013 | 12:00 AM
THE EDITOR, Sir:
I wish to add my voice in support of a letter by Esther Tyson ('Educator cries shame on JTA', Gleaner, May 27, 2013) in which she chides the Jamaica Teachers' Association (JTA) representative, former President Dixon, for abusive remarks against the minister of education, Ronald Thwaites.
Mrs Tyson, the former principal of Ardenne High School, herself a standard-bearer, is correct to point out that the suggestion on the part of Minister Thwaites that study leave cannot be afforded in the present fiscal circumstances is not personal. She is correct that the conflict between the JTA and the minister ought not to have been brought, as it has been by the JTA, to the level of personal abuse.
racial slur
I would add, also, that the reference to Minister Thwaites as 'backra massa' by another former president, combined with the 'mongrel dawg' comment by former President Dixon, is a racial slur. We ought to have learned more from our history in this fair land than to make these kinds of racial slurs.
The suggestion that study leave in the current context, as well as the available leave benefits to teachers, cannot be afforded has nothing to do with exploitation or elitism. It is arithmetic!
The JTA has done itself no favours in its response to the minister. If anything, it may well have confirmed the view of some that under the watch of the current JTA leadership, Jamaica's teachers, and by extension Jamaica's children, are not in good hands.
I call on the JTA to make a full retraction and a contrite apology to the minister.
GARNETT ROPER
President, Jamaica Theological
Seminary