Oh... and Another Thing

What I like and respect about the country of Jamaica is that in spite of it history of slavery, it is not a very racialized country.  The systems of racism that are weaved into the fabric of American society do not exist here.  Thus, the country's motto:  Out of Many, One People.  However, class is definitely an "ism" to contend with.

I had the opportunity to go to two graduations.  The first was Mona Prep, the elite prep school, the schools of schools.  If you are anybody in Jamaica, you more than likely attended Mona Prep.  Mona Prep has an engineering lab (ok, this is not high school this is what we call grammar school), they are top 3 in the nation in the math quiz bowl, they have 100% mastery in the grade 4 literacy test,  placed 4th in two football championships, 1st in the swimming championship, 3rd in the gymnastic championship, won 2 gold, 4 silver and 2 bronze medals in the music competition, among many other accomplishments.  They score on average in literacy and math about 30 -35% above the national average!

This is a big change from the resiliency program!

 

This is the Minister of Education who I really appreciated.  Even though he put all 7 of his children,  2 wards (orphans), and 1 grandchild through Mona Prep, his message was one of encouraging Mona graduates to not think too much of themselves and sit on their laurels but strive to become accomplished in a way that will aid the entire nation in achieving great things and closing the literacy gap.

The other graduation I went to was Shady Hill Basic School.  We'll I don't have any pictures of that one but be assured if you imagine the disparity between Princeton High School and Camden High School, you will have an accurate picture.

I am grateful that God is no respecter of persons: but in every nation they that fear God, and work righteousness are accepted with him.