It has been quite some time since I was a student in Jamaica, and I am positive that many things have changed since that time. Would someone or some people please be kind enough to provide an outline of the average classes taught in the Jamaican Secondary or High School. For instance, if my memory serves me correctly, the classes we were taught were:
English Language
English Literature
Religous Knowledge
French / Spanish
Mathematics
History
Science
Geography
Physical Education
Also, for my understanding, as well as for anyone else's, please clarify if students are still sitting the Oxford and Cambridge Ordinary Level Examaniations, or is it just the Caribbean Examinations that are being taken by the students.
Last but not least, would someone provide me with the correct name of the Caribbean Examinations, and compare and contrast it with the Ordinary Level Examinations.
I am attempting to get a good understandig and grasp on the current educational options for our Jamaican youth in the high school system, which is necessary before we can proceed any further with any brainstorming ideas. In case anyone has lost sight of what we are attempting to do, it is a step by step process with the objective of bringing forward to the Minstry of Education and any other relevant Ministries or Authorities, a petition to open up more options, especially the Arts, in the curriculum of the schools in Jamaica. As with anything else, the more knowledgable we are about a matter, then the better equipped we are to argue for or against it.
As an observation, one could argue that the Edna Manley School of Arts, which I understand is an excellent school, is in Kingston for those who wish to explore the arts. The first question I would ask though is how does an eighteen year old decide that he or she would like to have a career in the arts, unless he or she has been exposed to the arts at a younger age. Many of our youth will have had an opportunity to be exposed to the arts through their surroundings or being more fortunate than others in their daily exposures. However, this group represents a small minority of our youth's population, and it probably would be fair to state that unless the arts were offered even in the beginning as just an Introduction to the Arts, a lot of the children in Jamaica will be disadvantaged in that they will not be introduced to the arts at an early enough age, where they could determine or display whether or not they had the aptitude or any interest at all.
I am looking forward to receiving some response in the classes currently offered, as we should not rush this process, but we should not drag our feet either.
In the meanwhile, please do not forget to invite others to join our group, for we need all of the mind power, strength in numbers, and assistance that we can get.
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