Dear Editor,
On Thursday, November 27 my wife and I along with the parents of some 92 graduates descended on St Joseph’s High School to experience a pivotal milestone in the life of our children. My only regret is that I didn’t walk with some sandwiches as it did last some hours, and the grumblings of hunger were less than subtle. However, the ideals and symbolism sustained us to the last ecstatic moment of this refreshing ritual, which to me began with The National School of Music’s mini-steel orchestra’s rendition of ‘The Breeze and I.’ I want to applaud these young people for their musical interludes and the work done by Pan masters Ras Camo Williams and Andrew Kendall with these talented youths. It was refreshing and hopeful for Guyana, and if the natural potential of the next generation is mirrored in other schools as it is in this one, then we will transcend this dark period of our history with an innate integrity, in defiance of the negative values thrown at us by those who have governed this country over the last twenty years.
But like all things, everything has a beginning, and in relation to this beginning, I can only summarise from my experience as a parent of children, comparing St Joseph to other schools like St Gabriel’s which was of a similar ilk though in a different category, and then those where dismal management will be remembered. History credits the victory of battles won primarily to the leadership of the commanding general; likewise, my experience of St Joseph rests with the dictates and strategies of its commanding general/headmistress, Ms Gail Primo.
At the graduation it was the students who summarized what parents had discussed over the years in the speech by the Valedictorian, young Saquan Jack. He captured the essence of those parental observations, known to many parents when we were in school, viz, the simplicity and uniformity of dress; that you entered the school on the merit of work done; and that ‘cool’ was not ‘in’ at school. The headmistress and her staff maintained the values that de-emphasized the hyped trivia imposed because of the nouveau riche whose experiment with indulgence, included their unfortunate children, and which had a serious impact at all levels of our social ethos. It was the staff at St Joseph that in this case arrested the innate delinquency of adolescence, that society bemoaned at the bus parks, instilling an alternative perspective, ie, to dig into your studies and achieve substance.
My wife couldn’t understand why the headmistress wouldn’t agree with her in the case of having to buy the school’s recommended footwear that was available, when this footwear was in fact, a Chinese leatherette and cardboard rip-off that could not be stitched or even pasted for more than a few days. The headmistress stoically advised her to buy more than one pair, because they’re cheap. We eventually laughed it off consoling ourselves that definitely the ‘Bush Clarkes’ and ‘Yachtings’ from back in our day, were not made in China. The saddest part of the graduation was the subtle announcement that the headmistress was retiring due to age; this is a young woman with a success philosophy, which has led to a considerable boast for Saint Joseph in a country where ‘failure’ is not even ashamed of itself any more.
Are priorities really channelled in the nation’s interest? I could call without hesitation, ten horribly bad decision-makers in high office who should be immediately exiled. If out of her own satisfaction Ms Primo is leaving, and I was managing education, I would have made it attractive for her to stay on for a few more years, rather than lose crucial skills when the nation requires such expertise. I can well remember a teacher at Saint Pius who had laboured with my eldest child enabling her to ace Common Entrance, and before I could formally thank her, she had migrated to a more lucrative working sphere. I close by again saying thank you to Ms Primo and her staff, and I sincerely wish her all the best with her future endeavours. To abridge and emphasize the Chief Education Officer’s reference, “She still has much to give.”
Yours faithfully.
Barrington Braithwaite
