OPPOSITION Member of Parliament St Aubyn Bartlett says the results of the 2003 CXC examinations show that the country was not understanding how best to help students get to where they want to go.

“Our children are saying to us, show me the money and I will go there. While we are trying to fashion an education system based on our adult reality…they are saying forget the intangibles and let us have the alternative,” Bartlett, the deputy spokesman on education for the Opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), said as he spoke in the sectoral debate in the House of representatives.

“Every person today is turned on by beautiful clothes, good food, beautiful cars, nice homes and they all want to be in business. They think that if they are in the business of agriculture, food processing and preparations, they can make money. They think that if they become designers they will make a lot of money. They are, however, finding it difficult to relate to Mathematics and life, physics and life, chemistry and life and all the other intangibles,” the Opposition spokesman noted.

He said that the results of the 2003 CXC showed that English Language and mathematics remained the two subjects which continue to challenge students and teachers the most.

For example, he said, between 2000 and 2003, pass rates in mathematics remained at the 30-37 per cent level, while English Language maintained passes in the 40-48 per cent range, except for 2001 and 2002 when it was 57.9 per cent and 53.7 per cent, respectively.

In the area of technical and vocational training, two subjects had pass rates of over 90 per cent – agriculture and clothing and textiles. Building and Technology, Food and Nutrition, Home Management and Office Procedures had passes over 80 per cent and Agricultural Science, Mechanical Engineering Technology, Principles of Accounts and Principles of Business had passes of over 70 per cent. Bartlett said that these figures were “quite telling.”

“CXC is showing us how to get our children to where they want to go, but it seems as if we are not listening,” he continued. “Principals need to listen and hear; our teachers need to listen and hear; the minister needs to listen and hear; our government needs to listen and hear. Universal access, universal enrollment and universal attendance to educational institutions are not all.

“The minister says money is not all, while our students are saying, through their performances at CXC, we see where the money is and we are going there.”

Bartlett said that he was not saying that academics were unnecessary, but that the basic level provided the candidates with sufficient academic understanding of the subject to enter the workforce. He noted further that the problems associated with education was a microcosm of the wider society, which liked to talk but not to act.

“The CXC results show that we are listening but we are not hearing. We get bits and pieces of a story, but we do not find out the entire story. So we are never in a position to analyse the problem in its entirety and devise strategies to solve it,” Bartlett said.

“It is time to stop. Jamaica can ill afford to face international competition with graduates from a high school system who see where Jamaica’s competitive advantages lie, but are being hampered because the system has failed to recognise these opportunities and put strategies in place to build on them.”

He called for a system that speaks to the skills and abilities of every Jamaican, rather than one designed for a “homogeneous output” which goes against the individual nature and creativity of the people.