Jimmy Carnegie died Tuesday, July 10, aged 69. One could ask, which Jimmy Carnegie? Is it Jimmy Carnegie the historian, Jimmy Carnegie the author, Jimmy Carnegie the teacher, Jimmy Carnegie the sports commentator, Jimmy Carnegie the housemaster, Jimmy Carnegie the vice-principal, Jimmy Carnegie the principal or Jimmy Carnegie the jazz enthusiast? Jimmy Carnegie was certainly all of these things.

Carnegie's deep interest in jazz was known only to his close friends and to those who were either teachers or students when he lived at Jamaica College. As a teacher, Carnegie marked examination papers while listening to jazz. Jimmy Carnegie was mentor for thousands of students, particularly at JC. He taught me history for three of my seven years at JC.
In this time of a pending general election, there are two aspects of what I could call, "The philosophy and opinions of Jimmy Carnegie", which stand out in my mind. One was "goals win matches". At one stage at the JC boarding school, Carnegie was my housemaster. He always told the house that "pretty play" on the football field was not enough. "Goals win matches," he would say.

I have argued that it matters not which party is ahead in the polls in terms of the overall popularity vote. In the marginal constituencies for the election scheduled for August 27, it is the party with the organisation to bring out the voters on election day that will win a majority of seats and with that the general election.

The other aspect of the Jimmy Carnegie philosophy which is relevant to this election period is something I heard at gatherings of JC Old Boys. He would say that "free education is not free". I was a teacher of history and civics at the Lluidas Vale Youth Camp (now Heart Academy) on May 2, 1973. On that day as I watched television, Michael Manley as prime minister announced in his contribution to the budget debate that as of September that year "the government will be embarking upon a system of free education in this country".

So Bruce Golding (who was JC headboy between 1965 and 1966 when Jimmy Carnegie was on JC's teaching staff) got the year wrong. Free education was introduced in 1973 and not 1974. As of 1974, however, there were also free uniforms and free lunches. In 1974, the bauxite levy was introduced and it was used for free education. As some of the bauxite companies pulled out, the money for free education had to be found somewhere.

So Edward Seaga as prime minister of Jamaica introduced the education tax in the 1980s. That was the real end of free education, although parents did not have to pay any direct tuition. A cess was required for all Jamaican students at the University of the West Indies, and the system of free uniforms was abolished. All of this happened before 1989.

Cost sharing was introduced in 1994 by the Patterson-led PNP administration. It was in response to a view that free education was impractical and even irresponsible, a position held by upper-class Jamaicans at the time. Many even said that it encouraged the "freeness mentality".

But by 2002 the Jamaica Labour Party was promising free education. If the JLP wins the coming election, I suspect the money will be found by increasing the education tax.

Jimmy Carnegie attended Jamaica College as a youngster. He gained a bachelor's degree in history from the University of the West Indies and returned to JC to teach in 1963. He completed his master's degree a few years later while still on staff at JC. In 1970 he became acting vice principal and was appointed in this post in April 1971.

After marrying Veronica Blake in his late 30s, he left his post at JC in December 1975 to become assistant director of the Institute of Jamaica. After four years there he became the first principal of GC Foster Sports College, resigning on a matter of principle a few months later. From there his jobs varied from Grace Kennedy to Mutual Life and back to GC Foster to do special projects.

During this time he authored and co-authored several books. One such was Some aspects of Jamaica's politics 1918 to 1938. In this book he highlighted some of the factors that led up to the ferment of 1938. Carnegie also continued writing as sports commentator for many publications, which included the Gleaner and the now defunct Public Opinion.

I recall that Jimmy Carnegie as staff adviser to the student council suggested that we submit a list of subjects for the school curriculum to the Ministry of Education as he thought that many of them were irrelevant. I helped to gather the list from all JC students, which was submitted to the ministry of education. It was never acted upon, probably ending up in "file 13", commonly called the dustbin. At the time Hugh Shearer was prime minister and Edwin Allen was minister of education. But the idea should be revived. My condolences to Mrs Veronica Blake Carnegie and the rest of the Carnegie family.

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