I found the article ‘Education STEAM-ing in the wrong direction’ published in the Jamaica Observer on November 10 interesting and instructive.

It is thought-provoking because it highlights the abusive and improper role of political leadership in advancing their personal legacy projects instead of working in the general interest of the country. It is enlightening because it argues that it is useless and wasteful in advancing this STEAM (science, technology, education, arts, mathematics) projects at the expense of neglecting the wider and existing problems in the system of education.

This STEAM is an importation of a foreign blueprint. Its application is like adding another Band-Aid to a severely broken system. The poor performance in education in general and in mathematics and science in particular cannot be improved or transformed by the application of an imported blueprint. This approach is consistent with the thinking produced by the colonial philosophy and its practical application of rote learning that resulted in dependency in thinking and reliance on the metropolitan centre for new ideas and validation of policies. Critical, creative, innovative, and independent thinking are all victims of the colonial framework that guides our system of education.

It is time to decolonise society and education in Jamaica. There is no need to be moving away from British imperialism into the spheres of American imperialism. Is Independence a lost reality?

This STEM system was developed in the USA in the very early 2000s. It emerged as a response to the scientific revolutions and their influence on the rapidly changing workplace and the need for world-class workers. The A was added to the acronym to represent the arts, which is critical for the learning process in this integrated curriculum. It started out in Jamaica also as STEM and later changed to STEAM.

The wholesale importation of a foreign blueprint in education is intended to develop a world-class work force, but it is inadequate for Jamaica. Jamaica needs, on the basis of its home-grown research, to develop a new thinking that will guide not just the development of the workforce but transform the entire system of colonial education. Education has to do with more than the development of a workforce.

The transplanting of STEM or STEAM to a dysfunctional educational system is a recipe for failure and a monumental waste of scarce resources. Prime Minister Andrew Holness is making a bad gamble with our scarce national resources and these legacy projects, but this is the nature of post-Independence-born political leaders.

We have had the experience of British colonial education. Enveloped in cultural imperialism, it was imposed on us under colonialism, and now this post-Independence political leader is importing the STEAM curriculum from the USA, a fine illustration of the current system of cultural imperialism: looking abroad for solutions to our problems as well as for validation of our national policies. Are we going forward or backward?

The time has come to build that well-needed sense of independence from this continued dependence on foreign for ideas and validation. I think reawakening the struggles for the decolonisation of society, economy, and education is the greatest legacy any political leader can leave at the 60th anniversary of Jamaica’s Independence.

This new thrust towards the decolonisation of education must pay serious attention to historical and cultural issues with emphasis on language and the teacher training crisis in education. I am confident that educational researchers at The University of the West Indies, Mona, over the years, have done monumental work on the history and barriers to an effective and dynamic education system in Jamaica. The knowledge is here, we can use a little outside help, but it is time for us to develop home-grown medicine to deal with our unique problems and maladies.

Importantly, there is the need to decolonise the teacher training centres that were part of the colonial design for education in Jamaica. It must be very clear that a transformed teacher training system is critical to an improvement and change in the system of education. I must appeal, once again, to the Ministry of Science, Energy and Technology to reactivate the annual secondary school science competition.

It is my thinking that there is the need to advance science, scientific research, and development to the wider Jamaican society, especially in the area of technical and vocational education, and with emphasis on the application of science in agriculture.

There is the need for a science-based curriculum for all students — science is not only for bright people. A scientific literacy campaign to unleash new thinking about science and its application to the everyday, lived experience must accompanying this approach.

No country has ever developed without the application of science, especially in the area of agriculture. Why didn’t the chemistry and physics used in sugar, rum, and molasses production not spread to the wider Jamaican society, in terms of curriculum and application? It was the application of science to the sugar cane plant, albeit under slavery, that made Jamaica the wealthiest entity on Earth during the sugar era. Therefore, let us consider the implications when science is applied to agricultural activities. We must seize this opportunity to unleash upon this country a revolution: a revolution in science for national development; a revolution in science to promote and advance an intelligent citizenry; and a revolution in education to produce concrete products to satisfy demands locally and to increase our exports. The size of a country is no barrier to its bold and advanced standing in the global community.

Louis E A Moyston, PhD, is a consultant and radio talk show presenter. Send comments to the Jamaica Observer or thearchives01@yahoo.com.