To My Friends Who Are Principals- Five

Teachers, Two Schools and The Three

Commitments

Dedicated To My Friends Who Are Teachers,

All Photos Courtesy Of St. Andrew High School For Girls
Basil Fletcher

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Table of Content
Five Teachers, Two Schools and The Three Commitments ....................................... 2
Cases ........................................................................................................................... 2
We Young Teachers .................................................................................................... 6
Commitment To Specialization .................................................................................. 8
Needs Change With Age ........................................................................................... 10

Five Teachers, Two Schools and The Three Commitments

The selection of specialist teaching staff by principals in the countrys high schools,
remains a major challenge equally as it is challenge to retain good teachers. Here the
word retain is used is its wider sense, given that while a teacher may be physical
present in the school and attends class, that individual standing in front of the students
may no longer be a teacher. In this small essay, I would like to explore the three
commitments of the specialist teacher and how they influence the performance of the
given teacher. The three commits are:- (1) commitment to self and to others, (2)
commitment to the teaching profession and (3) commitment to area of specialization. To
the extent possible the discussion will be carried out with the frame work of the Maslow
Hierarchy of Needs and will look first at six cases.

Cases
Case 1 The Wicked Mathematics Teacher

When I was a second year student at Kingston Secondary High School, I had a teacher of
mathematics, who failed to understand that given my inability to see what was written on
the Black Board, the placing in the middle of the class was to ensure that I had no chance
of seeing what was written on the board and thus was unable to participate in the class.
By subjecting me to corporal for transcribing notes from my neighbours was cruel and
criminal. This teacher also had a habit of putting students who did understand or fail to
follow the lesson, next or to stand in the garbage bin. This teacher was known for
flogging with and without cause.

This teacher had little or commitment to self and to others, he had little interest in being a
good teacher of mathematics and even less commitment to ensuring that his students
learn. His sole interest was that of showing who was in control and who had power to do
what. Because of him, many students ended up either fearing mathematics or disliking
mathematics. The students who left his class were in no way prepared to do mathematics
in third form (grade 9).

Case 2, The Bad Man Teacher,

My record at Kingston Secondary High School, shows a student who did not get into
problems and who respected and obeyed the rule of the school; yet I had once to deal

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with a Bad Man Teacher, who was of the view, that given the fact that the vast majority
of the student population was from the inner city communities of Kingston, he had to
prove that he was the real bad man, from the very first day he entered the school. On
would have thought that being a relatively teacher at the time, he was in his early
twenties, he would have sought to motivate the students; sadly that was not to be. His
interest was that of proving that e was the real bad man and that he could get any of the
female student he wanted.

We had a run in by the pipe where students drank water. As a fifth form student, and
being the time when the lower grade students were supposed to be in their classes, I say a
male student from a lower grade hanging around the male bathroom, when he saw me he
went to the pipe. I approached him and sent him to his class; in under 30 seconds, this
bad man teacher approached me, not about school matters but rather was seeking physical
confrontation. I walked him out and left the incident as it was, little did I know that my
younger bother and his third form friends were observing from their class room. When I
reached home, I was asked how I allowed that teacher to bad me up, I said nothing.

The same teacher tried to bad up my younger brothers class, an act which resulted in all
four of his car tyres being punctured, his windscreen broken and he was stoned. He did
return to the school.

This teacher had no commitment to self, no commitment to others, no commitment to

teaching and no commitment to his specialist area. Here one could correctly ask, how did
that individual got accepted at Mico Teachers College and on what basis was he
employed by Kingston Secondary High School.

Case 3, The Processor

I met the Processor at Charlie Smith Comprehensive High School while teaching there.
The Processor was born and raised in a small business family in Admiral Town, and that
family had a very low view of the people who lived in his section of the community, they
were seen as lazy, beggy-beggy and not wanting anything out of life. The Processor
shared those views.

At Charlie Smith he had the protected status of being the staff representative to the
Jamaica Teachers Association, and he was perhaps the most active staff representative
the Jamaica Teachers Association had in its history of existence, he was always at or or
going to one of their meetings. When he was in school, his task was that of marking the
students attendance register, sitting and talking with the students a bit then left. When
asked about his approach, it was his view, that it was a waste of time trying of kill out
ones self for nothing, You Just Have To Process Them and Leave Them where
processing was seen as marking the register, setting exams, marking the exam papers and
submitting the results on time. Sadly the Processor died some years ago from meningitis.

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The Processor while being a duly qualified teacher, he was in no shape or form a teacher
but more a trade union representative employed to fill a vacancy.

Case 4, Mother Hen

Mother Hen was once an excellent teacher, who worked very hard to bring even the
slowest of student up to standard. She cared about her students and the community in
which she was born and in which she lived. Teaching in the inner city, especially in a
community in which one sees frequent of violence, in one in which one see the rape of
the youth and their killing by elements aligned to the political establishment and in which
one sees the brutality carried out by the police against the innocent can have a devastating
impact on the individual. On one hand being a member of the community elite, one tries
to find ways to rationalize the negative processes going on in the community even as one
tries to protect ones student. Matters are not helped when the political elite impose on the
school individuals as principals who are child molesters, fraudsters; individuals who
should have been anywhere near a classroom, much less to sit in a position of authority.

The Mother Hen, loved her students and cared for them, but she gave up trying to be a
teacher. She was there for her students, to the extent possible she guided them but beyond
a limited level, she gave up teaching. Who she taught, she taught well. Mother Hen was
also respected because she was one of the brighter students of her generation which the
community produced, the first from her section of the community to live in an apartment
building where she would carry some her students to stay during periods of violence. The
last straw came for the Mother Hen, when a teacher from among the staff who was her
junior in respect to professional and academic achievements was appointed principal. The
Mother Hen then went to work as a consultant with central government, one could say
that she was paid off for not creating problems.

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 Case 5, The Roots Teacher

The Roots Teacher was an older teacher, who lived in a section of the community and in
a home in which there was a pit toilet. The Roots Teacher was not above hanging out a
bit at the local bar and having a drink or two after work. He made enemies with no one
and was on good terms with all. However being from the community, he understood that
most people did not expect too much of the school and the school was a milking tree in
some respect for a few.

The Roots Teacher taught Arts and Crafts and his students who sat external examinations
did well given the circumstances. The Roots Teacher was however held in low esteem by
many students and some teachers, because of where he lived and the fact that he had no
money. The Roots Teacher had a great love for his specialist area, he was relatively good
in the classroom, however he did not appear to have had much love for self, as a teacher
of senior years he was expected to have lived in better circumstances and to have some
money. This lack of commitment to himself undermined his ability to negotiate on behalf
his students and department with the leadership of the school.

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We Young Teachers

We young teachers at Charlie Smith Comprehensive High School, three males and one
female, went there labouring under the belief that somehow we could change the culture
of the school, labouring under the view that students were willing and able to perform
better. To mention this fact, is of importance, because to some extent, this belief is one
which is shared by many young teachers in none traditional high school. Here one is not
speaking of simply trying to achieve a level of self actualization but also a desire to
belong in the same class of teachers as those who teach in the traditional high schools.

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Here one is speaking of a point of coincidence of the need to self actualize, to meet the
challenge and the need to sit at the same table as ones peers. For the young teacher in the
traditional high school these two same also comes into play, the need to attain that sense
of belonging by self actualization.

These two needs are very much fits in the frame work of individual commitments. It is
the commitment to self and to others which drives that need to belong. One wants to feel
like a teacher, to be seen by ones students as a teacher and in turn this process pulls along
ones commitment to teaching, ones commitment to ones class and pushes the drive to self
actualization.

If an individual for what ever reasons ends up in the classroom as a teacher but lacks
commitment to self and to others, that person must other perform as a teacher; that need
to belong to the group of the best teachers will not be there nor will be the drive to self
actualization as a teacher, regardless of the school or the subject being taught.

The failure of both Kingston Secondary High School and Charlie Smith High School, laid
in the fact, that they did not create an environment which cultivated and nourished their
teachers commitment to self and to others, they did not create an environment which
cultivated and nourished their teachers commitment to teaching.

Teacher Gregg a former Principal of Charlie Smith High School, lived in Texas, Arnett
Gardens. He was always neatly put together, his shoes shine, he carried a Jehovahs
Witness type leather bag, he spoke the Queens English and his teeth were whiter that
chalk. The Roots Teacher who was by appearance an older person lived in an adjoining
community, he was neatly dressed in general but very ordinary, his hair was near locks
and although he was not a cigarette smoker, his teeth was not very white and he did not
speak the Queens English.

I had several run-ins with community members about my jeans, which they though were
dirty because they were not washed with a washing brush; this is after I was not seen as
being very normal for wearing a jacket and carrying a suit case to school.

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Commitment To Specialization

The average teacher after five years in the classroom would have set his own
performance standards and school related goals. He or she by that time has become a part
of the school body and system, whether the system is good or bad. No longer is that chase
to prove ones self or to set any given exam pass rates for ones students, rather on the
individual level it is a question of maintaining standards and following routine. Ones
security needs as it relates to the job would have already been settled and also ones
belonging needs. One would have learnt what can be done and what cannot be done, what
should be done and what should not be done.

The danger facing this teacher is regression as a specialist. A geography or chemistry

teacher repeating the same syllabus year after year, after a while becomes professionally
out dated as a geographer or chemist. The same holds true for teachers in other specialist
areas such as Information Technology or the Arts. If this teacher is to remain relevant in
his or her area of specialization, then he or she has to have a level of commitment to his
or her area of specialization. Here one is not speaking about, the need for further teacher
education training or further training in specialist teaching, but rather the need for that
individual teacher to be re-immersed in his or her specialization be it by means of

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attending seminars, workshops and or participating in competitions and or exhibitions. If
not one runs the risk of having biology teacher on staff who will say that genetic
engineering is impossible.

For many schools, there is a challenge and or reluctance to send off teachers to do
refresher studies in their subject areas. For many principals it is difficult rationalize the
granting of study leave to a teacher who has a first degree in Biology to study for a
masters Degree in Biology. It is not easy to see the relationship between the teacher
furthering his or her specialist studies and the performance of the teacher in the
classroom, as a result one has many teachers teaching yesterdays science.

Another aspect of the same problem, is the reluctance to allow specialist teachers, the
opportunity to utilize the schools resources, labs etc, for personal research and or
business development. A chemistry teacher who is actively engaged in the production of
flavors for sodas etc will keep abreast of the scientific developments in Chemistry,
equally so is it with a biology teacher who is engaged biotechnology research.

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Needs Change With Age

A young unmarried teacher has an abundance of time to participate in many volunteer

activities; however a teacher who has children of his or her own and a spouse, husband or
wife to think about has less time and will be less willing to participate in voluntary
activities. It is not easy for a teacher who has to find school fees for his or her own
children who are in need of it, to find time to carry out fund raising to earn monies to
build a new library or whatever. This teacher now has a crop in the field and has less time
and less interest in participating in the fund raising battle. Here the nature of the teachers
belonging need has changed and the security need demand at home has increased. One is
not speaking of a reduction in commitment, but rather a change in the nature of the
system of commitments. It is of importance that the administration of schools understand
this reality.

A related factor is the increasing insurance needs of the individual. A young teacher has a
very low senses of the need to prepare for the potential problems later in life, on the other
hand an older teacher has realize that as he or she becomes older, his or her need for
medical attention will increase even as the financial demands of ones growing children
will increase. An older teacher has to think about the adequacy of the pension which he
or will be getting sooner or later. An older teacher has to think about the increasing
medical needs of his or her living parents among other things.

While a teacher in a bank might be called out of the line to the cashier by his or her
former student who now works in the bank, even if he or she has twenty former students
working at the customer service desk in the JPS Office, it will not change the amount of
money due. If a teacher falls ill and goes to the St. Andrews Memorial Hospital, where he
or she has two students who are now medical doctors working, the hospital bill will have
to be paid. One notes that the Jamaican society is not sympathetic to teachers who fall on
hard times. As far as the society is concerned, that individual teacher must have had been
careless and reckless some how, even where that teacher had given his or her all to
advancing his or her students. In fact once a teacher is retired from the education system,
neither his or her former school nor former students care or even remember that teacher.
There is one retired teacher in my community who spent decades at a single school, I am
yet to see any of her former staff members or students stop by her gate to visit, as far as
they are concerned she is dead to them. The same holds true for many former principals.

It is therefore important that principals know when to tell their teachers:- Its time to put
your house in order, to prepare for leaner days, leave the heavy pulling to the younger
teachers. It is important that schools and principals develop the ability to facilitate and
assist their teachers and in particular, their male teachers in preparing for those leaner
days.

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The process of teacher selection and employment goes hand in hand with the conscious
managing of the careers of the teachers. No good principal can afford to ignore these two
sides of the coin. Many principals do not remember that career management is a part of
their job description be it so stated or not.

End

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