Mark Wignall | Damion Crawford was on point

Two Wednesdays ago, I was disappointed at seeing two primary schools competing on a TV quiz programme. It seemed to me that the fates of society and the education sector had conspired against these eager, well-meaning young children. The final results told me that the students had no one expressing to them that reading was an imperative.

Immediately after the quiz there was a news feature about the lack of adequate workers in Jamaica. Both things were connected. If Jamaica has been consistently missing key targets in early childhood and primary education, it could hardly be surprising that our high schools were not producing school leavers who could easily fit into a training mode that could feed into the trades that were always in short supply in this country.

Last Tuesday, I was pleasantly surprised at the words that came forth from Damion Crawford, shadow spokesperson for education. He was on radio.

Mr Crawford was hitting all the right notes. Even as he came in for tough questioning and what appeared to be withering criticism from the interviewers, Crawford held his ground and defended the PNP’s position on education.

From shortage of textbooks to the paltry sums available for the poorest children, Crawford insisted that it was the duty of the party to include the same education component in the PNP’s manifesto even though, as the journalist insisted, it was rejected by the voting population at the last election.

At that juncture of the interview, the young Crawford was a little bit too dogged in clinging to a core value (in education) while not accepting that a key component in politics is the fashioning of a value or an item that makes it more attractive to the voting population.

In other words it is a foolish politician who continues to push a bland pastry item of politics that has low take-up at election time. Maybe it needs more condiments or better yet, a sugary glaze on the surface. But political pragmatism must enter the equation long before campaign season.

SPECIALIST TEACHERS’ SEARCH IS ON

It used to be that high school students who were more ‘book bright’ and less inclined to dabble in, say, carpentry, auto mechanics, etc, would head to university immediately after completing school.

The technical schools provided a foundation for those who were more adept ‘with their hands’.

In many instances, though, some boys who gravitated towards the trades and eventually secured adequate certification in their skills would go on to open small businesses like machine shops and earn income at levels that could compare with those who opted for university years before.

Because of this, it was always going to be difficult to find a man skilled in the trades to teach in a technical school. The trade off in earnings was never going to be a good selling point.

So while many young men through apprenticeships become highly skilled mechanics or machinists, they still lack certification because that first start needed in the high/technical school was never there.

That will not be changing any time soon.

CRAZINESS CONTINUES WITH DONALD TRUMP

Until America and its Department of Justice takes the bold decision to indict the dangerously corrupt, cruel, and authoritarian Donald Trump, the more time it provides him to refine and unleash his angry, violent mobs in urban centres in the USA.

During his presidency, he discovered that bluster and policy dunceness could be used to mask his corruption and mob-boss mentality. He also discovered that it could be used as a conduit to further the corruption. At that stage, losing the presidency would expose him. Panic set in as he saw the Oval Office slipping away.

With him basically commandeering official documents and stashing them at his home in Mar-a-Lago, he has exposed himself to charges as critical as espionage.

He genuinely believes, based on his ‘Teflon don’ experience, that he will escape indictment.

He believes that holding the prospect of violence like a huge guillotine over the head of the DOJ will cause all to back down and hope and pray that he disappears into the tawdry dustbin of history.

That will not happen, so the American society will have to face when that clash of wills occurs.

The rest of the globe stares on and is being given a grand lesson on how delicate is this balance between democracy and a fully blown fascist state.

Trump survived two impeachments and the Mueller probe into Russian interference in the 2016 elections. Fully supported by the GOP Senate, who opted for raw power over loyalty to the constitution, Trump laughed at them all and is still in the game like 50 tons of dynamite ‘safely’ in the basement.

The other main lesson being demonstrated is the ease with which a despotic Trump has roused other like-minded racists and more than a clutch of Christian nationalists. They are waiting on him to attain power again after which the final dissolution of the American republic will be complete.

At that stage, many will say to themselves how easy it was to provide him with presidential power but how most difficult it was to rid the nation of the indelible mark of this modern-day beast.

Mark Wignall is a political and public affairs analyst. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and mawigsr@gmail.com.