THE EDITOR, Sir:
I recently attended a workshop that was facilitated by Dr. Leachim Semaj. A uniquely refreshing component of the session was, in my view, his use of Jamaican patois at different points throughout the presentation. Not only was his use of the cultural language a seemingly effective way of reaching out to the participants, it was, from a philosophical standpoint, a factual reminder that education is indeed culturally and contextually situated.
The argument that teaching/learning patois is a deterrent to teaching/learning formal English is really without merit, and can be challenged on several different fronts.
There is no empirical evidence to suggest that learning (formally or informally) a cultural language is pre-emptive to advancement in any academic area. And those who have taken it upon themselves to advance this unsubstantiated claim must get to work to establish a credible basis to support the same.
Second, the use of patois in professional practice by persons such as: Leachim Semaj, Miss Lou and Winston Witter, Tony Laing, and Antonnette Haughton-Cardenas, to name a few who are known to be highly proficient at using the English Language, refutes the claim that it (patois) is an underlying reason for poor performance in English as an academic subject.
Third, to date there is no definitive scientific explanation telling us why our unconscious ability to acquire knowledge, gain skills and adopt attitudes is so much more sophisticated and rapid than our conscious ability to do so.
We know for sure, though, that any person born and raised in any culture will unconsciously adapt to the dominant cultural norms. Jamaica, patois is the dominant cultural language, and English, objectively speaking, merely an intervention in our lives to enable us to communicate with the wider world.
I am, etc.,
KORNEL BROWN
kabcu222@aol.com
Port Maria P.O.
St. Mary
