Latest update April 23rd, 2024 12:59 AM
Dec 11, 2014 Letters
DEAR EDITOR,
Thursday November 27th I and my wife, along with the parents of some 92 graduates, descended on St. Joseph High School to experience a pivotal milestone in the lives of our children. My only regret is that I didn’t walk with some sandwiches, as it did last some hours, and the grumblings of hunger were less than subtle, but the ideals and symbolisms of the moment sustained us to the last ecstatic moment of this refreshing ritual.
That to me began with The National School of Music’s mini steel orchestra’s rendition of ‘The Breeze and I’. I want to applaud these young people for their musical interludes and the work done by Pan masters Ras Camo Williams and Andrew Kendall with these talented youth. It was refreshing and hopeful for Guyana, that if this school embodies and mirrors in other schools the natural potential of the next generation, then we will transcend with an innate integrity, in defiance of the negative values thrown at us by those who have governed this country over the last twenty years; we will rise above this dark period of our history.
But like all things, everything has a beginning, and of this beginning, I can only summarise from my experience as a parent of children, comparing St. Joseph to other schools like St Gabriel’s of similar ilk though of a different category, and then to those where dismal management can be remembered. History credits the victory of battles won; primarily to the leadership of the commanding General, likewise, my experience of Saint Joseph rests with the dictates and strategies of its Commanding General/Headmistress, Ms. Gail Primo.
At the graduation it was the students who had summarised what parents had discussed over the years, in the speech by the Valedictorian, young Saquan Jack. He captured the essence of those parental observations, known to many parents when we were in school – the simplicity and uniformity of dress; that you entered the school on the merits of work done, and that ‘cool’ was not ‘in’ at School.
The Headmistress and her staff maintained the values that de-emphasised the hyped trivia imposed due to the nouveau riche whose experiment with indulgence includes their unfortunate children, having a serious impact on all levels of our social ethos. It was this posse at St. Joseph that in this case arrested the escaping innate delinquency of adolescence, that society moaned at the bus parks, instilling an alternative perspective, to dig into your studies and achieve substance.
My wife couldn’t understand why the Headmistress wouldn’t agree with her in the case of having to buy the school’s recommended footwear that was available, when this footwear was in fact, a Chinese leatherette and cardboard rip-off that could not be stitched or even pasted for more than a few days. The Headmistress stoically advised her to buy more than one pair, because they’re cheap. We eventually laughed it off consoling ourselves that definitely the ‘Bush Clarks’ and ‘Yachtings’ from back in our day, were not made in China.
The saddest part of the Graduation was the subtle announcement that the Headmistress was retiring due to age. This is a young woman, with a successful philosophy, which has led to a considerable boost for Saint Joseph High, in a country where ‘failure’ is not even ashamed of itself anymore, and where a glaring ‘Dunce-Cap’ is in our face daily.
Are priorities really channelled in the Nation’s interest? I could call without hesitation, ten horribly bad decision makers in high office who should be immediately exiled to the ‘Settlement’. If by her own satisfaction Ms Primo is leaving, and I was managing education, I would have made it attractive so she could stay on for a few more years, rather than lose crucial skills, when the nation requires such expertise. I can well remember a teacher at Saint Pius who had laboured with my eldest child, enabling her to ace Common Entrance, and before I could formally thank her, she had migrated to a more lucrative working sphere.
I close by again saying thank you to Ms. Primo and her Staff, and I sincerely wish her all the best with her future endeavours, to abridge and emphasise the Chief Education Officer’s reference,” she still has much to give”.
Barrington Braithwaite
LISTEN HOW JAGDEO WILL MAKE ALL GUYANESE RICH!!!
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