Statistics don't tell the full story

E. Elpedio Robinson, Guest Columnist

On July 1, 2014, your paper carried an article by Shawn Harrison titled 'Don't criticise what you don't understand, son'. In his column, Mr Harrison seeks to put things into perspective in light of recent published statistics of schools' performances and the resulting supporting opinions, especially Jaevion Nelson's, which were very critical of teachers.

In paragraph six of his article, Mr Harrison points out some of the unsung things teachers have been doing for their students in order to debunk the general misconception that teachers are not doing enough for students to lift their performances. Some of these things include buying lunch for students, assisting them financially in various forms, and giving up weekends and holidays to help them.

I was a beneficiary of some of those gratuitous things about which Mr Harrison writes. When I attended what was then Christiana Secondary School, I had absolutely no parental support; I was basically on my own. Many days, I was without lunch. My then teacher of art, Jacob Hamm, through the most unobtrusive way, realised my predicament and sought to help in an equally unobtrusive manner. Many days, he was responsible for my eating lunch. He took me under his wings and mentored me.

The two subjects (mathematics and art) with which I left school were paid for by Mr Hamm. It was he, along with Mr Depasse, then principal, who was responsible for my going to the then Jamaica School of Art. He stood the cost of all the preparatory work. It was he who took me to Kingston to do the necessary examination and paid for all of that out of his meagre teacher's salary. Boy, did he do something good!

We seem to be of the unfortunate tendency to make policies and form judgements based on a few bad exceptions. Now, there is no gainsaying that there are teachers who should not be in the classroom, but we have to be prudent with our pronouncements, lest we discourage the many good ones like Mr Hamm.

Joint effort

May I remind us that educating our children is not solely the responsibility of the teachers, as Mr Harrison rightly points out in his article. It is a concerted effort among teachers, parents and Government. The responsibility of the Government is to ensure that all schools are properly staffed, equipped, and all necessary amenities in place to make the institution conducive to teaching and learning.

It is the responsibility of parents to ensure their children get their full support, get to school on time in a state to learn, and to collaborate with the teachers in their teaching endeavours and the teachers will carry out their responsibility to teach, and teach well they will.

Now, this brings me to the efficacy of the recent publications of school performances. How can one intelligently compare a school that enjoys an almost 100 per cent parental support, gets students with average of upward of 96 per cent passes, has some of the best facilities, etc, with a school that is used as a dumping ground for unwanted children, gets students with average of 50 per cent downward, has few if any facilities, gets very little governmental support, and staffed by overworked and demotivated teachers? This sort of publication only serves to discourage the Mr Hamms in the system.

I have one challenge for those fond of statistics. The schools we often so proudly hold up as the paradigm, for one year give them a set of students with an average of between 30-50 per cent passes, who have a 'don't-care' attitude and get no parental support and from a home where studying is an impossibility and from a community that is severely impoverished, and see what happens after five years.

Remember, while a picture is worth a thousand words, statistics are worth only a few numbers and never tell the full story.

E. Elpedio Robinson is a fine artist. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com or andelpediofineart@yahoo.com.