EDITORIAL - Mr Dixon and the peculiarities of democracy

One of the uncomfortable facets of democracy is having to accept the right of the majority to make bad decisions. As we expected, that is what teachers have done with the election of Doran Dixon as their president-in-waiting.

He received over 61 per cent of the ballots cast.

In this case, though, the preference of teachers for Mr Dixon says more about the Jamaica Teachers' Association (JTA) and its members than it is a critique of democracy, or the flaws thereof. It is in that context that Doran Dixon was the ideal candidate.

It is perhaps significant that hardly anyone outside the teaching profession knew who his competitors were, or what they stood for, which was, like Mr Dixon, judging from his public pronouncements, little that is transformative for the education sector.

Mr Dixon purports to be a senior lecturer at The Mico University College (Mico), an institution for the training of teachers, where we expect critical thinking would be an essential component of the curriculum. Ideas should be in ferment on the Mico campus.

Second stint as president

Yet, Mr Dixon previously served as president of the JTA, of which his merit, in so far as we discern, was the decibel levels at which he resisted teachers being held accountable for anything. They could bear no blame for the poor outcomes from a poorly performing education system.

Mr Dixon has offered himself to lead again, at a time when there is not only pressure for improved outcomes, but the Government has made it clear that it can no longer afford perquisites such as long holidays and study leave, including with pay, enjoyed by teachers. Ronnie Thwaites, the education minister, seems serious about pursuing the reforms.

Unfortunately, there has been no serious, qualitative public engagement of Mr Thwaites by the JTA or any of its spokesmen on any of the issues raised by the education minister, except, perhaps, that there were benefits which they would fight hard to preserve.

'Mongrel' controversy

And there are the contributions of the quality of Mr Dixon's. He likened the mixed-race Mr Thwaites to a mongrel. He started a subsequent speech to teachers with the barking and chants of a popular song with canine imagery.

In the face of a public outcry, Mr Dixon refused to apologise.

The JTA, undemocratically and in clear breach of natural justice, removed Mr Dixon from the election, but was forced to reinstate him in the face of threats of legal action. He could paint himself as a martyr.

Mr Dixon's rants were suitably juvenile and populist to satisfy the majority of teachers who voted for him, and whom he divorces from the fact that around 40 per cent of Jamaican students enter high school not ready for secondary education; that a third drops out by grade nine, and that only half of the cohort make it to grade 11. Of those who complete those five years of secondary education, only half sit the CXC exams and only 16 per cent pass five subjects, including English and math, at a single sitting.

Maybe Mr Dixon can shed the perception of himself as the guard dog at a rampart against poor performance and inefficiency among teachers, even as they demand more from taxpayers. That would require a quality of leadership, of which we do not believe Mr Dixon is capable.

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