THE EDITOR, Sir:
I write to express my feelings about the Cliff Hughes programme that aired on Sunday, March 28th, 2004. The show dealt with the G-SAT exam, the host Cliff Hughes asking the question, is the G-SAT exam child abuse? On the show (the segment I watched) were a vice-principal, a representative from the Ministry of Education, Youth and Culture, a parent and a classroom teacher.
I did not like what the parent had to say.
In the main I understood her to be saying that with only 14,000 preferred spaces and
49,000 students taking the exam it becomes onerous on the children because they must get a 90% upward grade for the exam to get such a space.
Fine, but suppose the child can't get this grade, we at some point have to access what our child is capable of. We also have to realise that a child does not bring him or herself up, it is the family, the church, the school and the community (but most importantly the family) that rears a child. If my child does not get the name-brand school, then the school my child ends up at will have to do and if I am the one to make a difference, so be it. The name-brands were not always so, they had to be worked on, it took collaboration between parents and teachers to accomplish the task.
What am I saying, do I want my child to end up anywhere? No I do not! There are schools that are too far from home, schools that are in violence-prone areas, and schools that do not have principals in place. There are problems, but sometimes it appears to me that we parents also make a large part of the problem.
So many of us came from backgrounds that made us into the men and women of substance that we are today. Why are we denying the children of today what they need to become good citizens? I read the article on Cliff Hughes in the Sunday Gleaner. Look at who he is today, would that have been the case if he had been pampered?
We do no justice to our children when we molly-coddle them to the point where they can't function in the real world. Pressure is not the problem, it is how we react to it. We teach our children what life is about. What are we teaching them, that everything must be easy and handed to them on a silver platter?
I am etc,
CHRISTOPHER GIVANS
givans_ja@yahoo.com
Kingston 5
Via Go-Jamaica
