Observer column published 5 NOV 2018
by Jean
Lowrie-Chin
We were given a reality check on
the nation’s children last week, and so we welcome the upcoming interaction of
Jamaica’s leaders with students. The room vibrated with positivity at the
Jamaica Conference Centre for the recent launch of the Kingston & St.
Andrew Foundation Student Motivational Programme. Main speaker Dr. Henley
Morgan announced that he held a record as a student at Ardenne High School, but
as the audience started to applaud, he held up his hand to stop them.
“I broke the record as the student
who had the most repeats in several forms at Ardenne High School,” he said to
the startled gathering. He said that his
despondent father visited the Principal, Mrs. Olson, and asked her, “Please
tell me what is wrong with this boy’s brain.” She responded, “There is nothing
wrong with his brain, Reverend Morgan, the problem is with his mind.”
This was a turning point in Dr.
Morgan’s life. He embraced the challenge to align brain and mind, transitioning
from being a failing student to one of academic excellence – as he noted, “with
more degrees than a thermometer.”
Dr. Morgan’s Principal was, indeed,
a perceptive educator – one who took the time to study her student. This is the
insight and compassion demanded of those who take up a foundational profession
that can make or break a child, a family and, indeed, a nation.
Dr. Henley Morgan, a Fortune 500 management
consultant who moved his business into the heart of Trench Town, turned over $700
million last year to bolster its local economy. “You can achieve without
selling your soul,” he advised.
The Co-founder and Chairman of the Kingston & St. Andrew Development Foundation, Kingston Custos Steadman Fuller, reminded us of the responsibility we have to our children. “The real objectives of the Programme are to get outstanding citizens to start a conversation with our young people,” he noted. “We have abandoned our young people and they have been put into a category as rude and uncouth, under educated and without a future, but we fail to understand those descriptions are about our own children.”
Political Ombudsman Hon Donna Parchment-Brown (left) and MP Antony Hylton (right) are among the participants in the Programme |
Custos Fuller himself is a fine
example of leadership and philanthropy.
Though his company, Kingston Bookshop Limited, he has sponsored the
creation and operation of the Kingston & St. Andrew Development Foundation.
He shared a sober truth: “I believe that our generation is afraid of the fact
that we’ll have to make the transition and hand over to our young people in a
short time; not when they are old as us.”
Custos
Fuller, a trained teacher, opined, “I know Minister of Education has been doing
a fine job in the development of education,” he said, “but for Jamaica to
achieve its 2030 Vision we will need to build about 50 smart schools and to
upgrade most of the present school structures and come up with new and
technologically smart methods of teaching.”
Students listen in rapt attention |
Director for
Education Services in the Ministry's Region One, Dr. Kasan Troupe, urged
the students to seize the opportunities which education offered them. She quoted motivational speaker Les Brown,
“Don’t let your dreams die with you.” She reflected on the challenges she faced
as the child of a single mother living in the inner city, and her decision that
she would aspire to the highest goals. “Programme yourself for success,” she
urged.
It
is said that young people are deeply motivated by their peers and so we felt
excitement in the room when Fabian Morris, President of the National Secondary
Schools Student Council stepped up to address his fellow students. He
challenged them to “Imagine a Jamaica, where the average youth is fully
self-aware that he/she is not just here to exist but rather to make a positive
difference in this world.”
He
said: “Sir Patrick Allen, Governor General of Jamaica, more often than not
reminds us that there is nothing wrong with Jamaica that cannot be fixed with
what is right with Jamaica. Colleagues, we have a great task ahead of us today,
and that is to ensure that we become intentional about welcoming and motivating
ourselves, whilst striving to live an empowered life.”
He
then offered these four guidelines – worthy of being posted above every home
study desk:
1.
Resist
the urge to entertain negative self-talk. What you tell yourself every day you
will believe and live out.
2.
Assess
your circle of friends, because, who you truly are is manifested by the people
we call friends
3.
Guard
your mind, remember, if you feed your mind an unhealthy diet, you are destined
to become sick maybe not physically but mentally. Read an uplifting book,
listen to a motivational podcast, use kind words to affirm your worth. “I am
bold, I am smart, I am loved, I am becoming better every day.”
4.
Lastly,
let’s be open to celebrating ourselves and not comparing ourselves with others.
Let’s vow to never allow comparison to rob us of our uniqueness.
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