Simplistic arguments

The Editor, Sir:

Maureen Henry from Westmoreland has fallen into the trap of simplistic arguments and baseless reasoning in the arguments she proffered in her letter to the editor published in The Sunday Gleaner of April 25.

An extract from an international salary survey of 2005 from the website Http://www.worldsalaries.org/teacher for second-level teacher jobs shows a median salary of US$2,500.50 in 2005 for 14 countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Finland, the Philippines and the Czech Republic.

The array of data starts with a high of US$4,005.00 monthly, to a low of US$1,042.00 monthly. Using the Consumer Prince Index from the STATIN website http://satinja.gov.jm, and on the basis of the median value of the data, the monthly salary for a second-level teacher job in 2009 should be J$355,235.48.

This is 2.72 times Maureen Henry's present salary, or her present salary is 37 per cent of the computed value. Essentially, the salary she now earns is below what is computed for 2006. This value is J$75,579.55.

In order for Maureen Henry's argument to go beyond simplistic thinking, she should show the immoral nature for the call of the president of the Jamaica Teachers' Association 'to action'.

I am, etc.,

NEVIL ROBINSON

St Catherine