Hartley Neita

When I was young, most children went to what were called government or elementary schools. These were children of poor parents or of parents who were what was called lower middle income.

Children of parents who were wealthy, or of the upper middle-income bracket, went to prepa-ratory schools until the age of 12. At that time they went to the grant-aided secondary high schools - the boys going to Jamaica College, Munro College, Cornwall College, Calabar High School, Beckford and Smith's and St. George's College, and the girls to St. Andrew High, St. Hugh's High, St. Hilda's, Wolmer's Girls, Hampton, Westwood, Immaculate and Alpha, Tuition was expensive at these schools.

There were also a number of private secondary schools such as Excelsior, St. Simon's St. John's and others. These catered to children whose parents could not afford to send them to the high schools mentioned earlier.

Children who attended elementary schools and who were bright went to the private secondary schools. Others, who were fortunate, won parish and trust scholarships and they entered Jamaica College, Munro College, St. Andrew, Wolmer's and Hampton high schools.

once better

At that time, these latter schools were seen to be better than the private secondary schools. The sporting competitions - the Sunlight and Manning cups, the Simpson and Olivier shields and the very popular annual Inter-Secondary Schools Track and Field competition - attracted vast crowds and received detailed publicity in the Daily Gleaner and Jamaica Standard - the two dailies at the time. Boys and girls who attended these schools were regarded as young gentlemen and ladies, and they were accorded much respect by those not so fortunate to be scholars at these prestigious institutions.

There were also not many places at these schools. At Jamaica College, for example, there were 80 boarders and about 120 day boys.

Boarders at Jamaica College had to wear suits whenever they left the school to go the movies, for example. When they arrived at the Carib, they were greeted with much respect, and even though they paid the entrance fee for downstairs, they were escorted to the balcony - the more expensive seats. On Sundays, they wore their suits all day.

Up to the end of my first year there, a man was employed to go through the dormitories and clean and shine our shoes, and clean and grease our football boots and whiten our cricket boots. Maids also made up our beds every morning. Oh, yes, we were spoilt gentlemen.

There were, of course, very strict rules. We could not leave the school without the permission of a senior master. We, boarders, were therefore punished when we walked through the main gate to cheer Michael Manley when he was expelled by the headmaster, John Hardie. The punishment was to be gated for the rest of the term, which meant we could not go to the movies, or even to Hope Gardens to meet girlfriends from other secondary schools. Note, too, our girlfriends were never from private secondary schools. That was a no-no!

special dinners

To also bring us into the class of gentlemen, once every year the chairman of the school board and sometimes, the director of education, joined boarders at dinner. At these special dinners, the menu was a full course, starting with soup through other dishes to dessert. Masters who sat at the head of each table, indicated to us which knife and which fork and spoon we should use for each dish.

Later in life I discovered another protocol, which was after a toast to the Queen, gentlemen were told they could now smoke.