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Beat the drums Hartley Neita, Contributor
TO well in examinations require "blood, sweat and tears" on the part of students. This, of course, cannot be filmed in blazing colour and shown on our television screens and it is not an angry topic to lash out at Burchell Whiteman on the radio call-in programmes. So apart from the news items published in this newspaper on the front page this week, and maybe on newscasts on the air (which I have not heard), the successes of our young students recently announced, have gone by generally unnoticed. Let's list them: Of course, this is not the first time Jamaican students have excelled in the world. I can recall Rafael Swaby placing first in the world in the Certified Secretary examinations. And there were several accountants and auditors who were equally successful. What I remember more than these, however, is the times when our students have been below standard in comparison with our neighbours and the international community. Words like "disgraceful" were used to paint our teachers and schools and calls on the Education Minister-of-the-day to resign. Instead, now, there is national silence. Not one mumbling word from our concerned organisations and institutions. Is it that they only speak in times of tragedy? I would have loved to hear from the Jamaica Teachers' Association, the Parent-Teacher Associations of these schools, the citizens' associations of the communities in which these students live, the Sixth Form Association, the various bodies in our private sector and the NGOs. More halos are thrown over the heads of our sports teams (when they are winning), our entertainers (before their profanity frightened us awake), and our models and beauty queens, than our achievers in education and science.
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