COMPETITION is arguably the most pronounced contributor to development and evolution in human history. This is true in all forms as it forces entities to improve their offerings in order to improve their standings in the stratum.

It is particularly staple in capitalist societies, like our own, in which competition determines whether we sink or swim. Competition is not just good; it is necessary for a developing nation. However, I believe our application is faulty as institutionalised classifications subject some students to wearing a permanent mental sash of a “dunce bat”.

Coming up, I was not the best at academics. Consequently, I was placed in a technical class with others of similar averages to learn trades like woodwork and plumbing, while my more ‘promising’ peers were placed in the S-class, in which they learned the sciences.

According to the classification, who were the dunce bats? My classmates and I wore the sash — not proudly, but deservingly, as we were socialised to think. A certain mental limitation becomes your reality as you begin to think yourself unteachable and that some things are just outside of your realm of understanding — things that the more capable S-Class student can.

Who is a dunce bat? A student who institutions have failed to educate and is now heaped with fellow results of teaching inadequacies in ‘lesser’ streams of education. Whether it be an S-class to a technical class, an A-stream to a B-stream, or bright school to a dunce school, these sorts of classifications need to stop as they are the catalysts of the stain of prejudice now prevalent in our society. If I was socialised to believe S-class students were better than myself it only makes sense that S-class students thought themselves to be better than me. Being young and impressionable, the majority of students will accept their positions and treat each other accordingly.

Competition

I would be lying if I told you I did not care which schools my children attended. I would also be lying if I said every school offers the same quality of education. Yes, my children went to good schools and I am proud of them, but definitely not proud of the fact that there are bright schools and dunce schools. The classification should never be attributed based on the quality of education being offered, but instead the area of specialisation.

I don’t subscribe to the idea of using education as a competition — a proving ground on which we can prop up one student over another. Instead, I’d like it if we used education as a means to properly identify strengths and make recommendations based on the findings.

Admittedly, there have been some improvements since I was last enrolled, as some schools now have career days when students can learn of the different professions and gain an appreciation for each. However, a stigma is a hell of a thing, and the reason you are going to be a plumber can’t be because you can’t spell or do long division.

This brings me to my next point, test results. What do the results reveal? It ought to be more than which student could recall more things. I believe tests at primary and secondary level should be constructed in such a way that the results reveal aptitudes. I believe this to be the healthiest method of classification, because now Hugo is in technical class because his results revealed that he has an aptitude for technical subjects.

In the words of the great Marcus Garvey, “If you have no confidence in self you are twice defeated in the race of life.” Truer words have never been said, because how is the future of our country supposed to compete in the working world when the system that certified them robbed them of their confidence in the process? As educators we ought to be mindful of what we are teaching when we are not teaching.

Competition in school can be a key motivator for students to perform well; however, their failures are not an indictment on their ability to learn. If they have not learnt you have not taught them, and if our teachers cannot teach them, then we have not trained our teachers well enough. Surely there might be a few exceptions, but it cannot be a whole “technical class” of exceptions. A school’s purpose is to arm students with everything they need for the working world — where the real competition begins.

I often rely on the teachings of our forefathers for guidance as I attempt to resemble the citizens they sacrificed themselves for us to be. I believe they made our national anthem a prayer intentionally. You cannot make a better argument against prejudices than the company Jesus kept. Jesus preached love and unity regardless of class, race or transgressions. Guided by His works, our forefathers did similarly when they coined our motto, “Out of many, one people”. Prejudices need to stop and they can only be stopped where it starts, in our schools.

Hugh Graham is CEO of Paramount Trading Company Limited and Member of Parliament for St Catherine North Western.