I am a gambler. I bet you that in 2028 illiteracy will still be rampant in Jamaica. On the present trajectory I cannot lose. Jamaica consistently punches above its weight in many fora. We "run things" in business, health care, etc, in many countries, but we do not run things well at home. We take a few to the heights, but we cannot take our masses even to modest success. A few establish the brand, but it is the masses who will sustain it or destroy it.

Literacy in English must be our goal, as otherwise poverty eradication can't work. Patois needs no academic support, literacy does. Patois is well entrenched in all of us. Literacy is not. Academics give no support to literacy. I can name a dozen CEOs who serve literacy. You name one academic! Lecturers write a lot on patois, none on literacy. Yet none credits her success to patois.

We must stop "pimping" poor people for selfish purposes. Let us put money into a "Literacy Rights" movement, as literate people need no group to speak for them. Regrettably, our activism follows fashion, not our people's needs. Activism for literacy has little traction. It is time for the government to state its policy on creole and English to avoid confusion, and save people's time and moey.

My inbox is swamped with email on my recent "Patois and English" article. I got no email from any illiterate person. Some ignorant ones, yes. Clearly, it struck a nerve! I congratulate the Observer on a newspaper which, from my mail, is read as far afield as Brussels, Toronto, London, New York and universities in Jamaica.

I am angry at the schools and the education system and the academics who allow poor people to be disadvantaged in their job and social lives (locally and internationally) because they speak patois only.

I was flogged in their emails. Their scholarship was palpable, but they were silent on the reality or prospects for those who speak patois only. I challenged their scholarship and their careers, not their consciences.

No human condition continues for long where powerful people do not benefit from its continuance. I am open to proof that no group benefits from the illiteracy of our people. Illiteracy persists because it benefits someone.

My plumber came from rural Poland - a white Third-World country - about two years ago. His pay is 10 times that in Poland, and his goals are like ours. On arrival, he spoke no English and his children had never heard English. They now attend primary school. They speak Polish at home; father is learning English and mother speaks none. After six terms at school, his kids now aged seven and 10, are fluent in English. They are not special. A million Poles (Poland has no history of English) came to the UK in the last three years.
Their kids learn English when no one in their family speaks it, yet our academics say our children can't. We have no patois newspapers, prayer books or race forms as no one can read or write it, and there is no demand. I welcome the Patois Bible - it will be a good door 'cotch' for many homes!

We will not develop or control crime until the poor have the same tool kit as the rich to make a future for English is the key to the door of opportunity!

To the professors, linguists, interpreters and philologists who cussed my interfering in your field, I surrender. patois is a language! Now we are on the same side, please leave my inbox, and give Jamaica some public answers:

*How will the disadvantaged benefit from our creole which all of us speak, but only you and other patois experts can read and write?

*How useful was patois to you in earning your degrees and getting your jobs?

*How many years will it take for patois to be "standardised"? You all told me how English was standardised over many centuries. How long must we wait?

*When will books on how to read and write patois and patois texts in physics, auto repair, law and fields vital to development be available?

*Will patois assist the poor who wish to travel, study and work in Caricom and our global partners? Will it make Jamaicans eligible for jobs with foreign governments, colleges and global agencies like those in which you work?

*You lectured me on how English and Greek evolved. How did patois evolve?

*You told me that our children do not learn English as their parents do not speak it at home. My friends were posted to Colombia and they took their helper and children aged three, five and seven. After three years, the children now speak Spanish, English and patois.

Trinidad has five languages, one creole, and 97 per cent literacy in English; St Lucia has two creoles (French and English) and 95 per cent literacy in English; Barbados has one creole and 99 per cent literacy in English, and this has been so for decades. Please explain these miracles!

The patois in your emails are all different, but I understand them. Whose version should we study? By the way, how are your own children, nieces, nephews and grandchildren doing with their patois studies? Do you speak patois at home to them? I am sure they will be patois geniuses when they grow up. You must be so proud!

Finally, I beg those who threaten to call my employers because I dare to express my own views, please don't. Jobs are hard to find and I love my day job!

Dr Franklin Johnston is an international project manager with Teape-Johnston, currently on assignment in the UK.
franklinjohnston@hotmail.com

Trousers in Denim

Cream of the 'Crop'

Cheeky's World