Head boy battles learning problem

Mel Cooke, Sunday Gleaner Writer

Everton Welsh took the much-less-travelled route to the Young Men's Christian Association's (YMCA) Youth Development Programme. While disruptive behaviour - to put it mildly - is more the norm than the exception, the head boy's dyslexia led him to an unsafe situation that his mother was determined to extricate her son from.

At Duhaney Park Primary, he said, "I was dyslexic, so my academic levels were very low. When GSAT (Grade Six Achie-vement Test) came, I went to Greenwich Farm All-Age". There, although there was lots of potential 'bad company', it was the bad men in the community who prompted the change of school.

"Bad men and gunmen were there - in the school and the community," he said. Some of the gunmen lived on a road across from the school's football field and Welsh says, "One time I saw a stand-off between the police and bad men. My mother said she had to get me out of there".

Now at the YMCA for three years, the 16-year-old says, "My academics are now moving to the highest level I have seen so far.

"At primary school, I never understood the teachers. Dem teach it one time and don't care if you understand. When I reach grade six, I was reading at about grade-two level. But they still let me do the GSAT (Grade Six Achievement Test) and fail," he said.

Badness is futile

Although as head boy Everton is part of the disciplinary thrust of the programme, he does not attempt to break up fights, as he has seen people get hurt doing that. And he reasons that getting involved in 'badness' is futile.

"You not going anywhere in life. If you do it, it has consequences," he said. "If you focus and put your mind to the work, when you get somewhere you cannot get arrested for that because that is knowledge you have earned.".

And when he takes the GNAT (Grade Nine Achievement Test) this year, Everton knows where he is heading to the next stage in his knowledge acquisition. His preferred subject is maths, and he instantly responds "English" to being the least favourite.

"I would like to go to St Andrew Technical High School. It has a good technical programme," Welsh said.