#BTColumn – Schools – private and public

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by this author are their own and do not represent the official position of the Barbados Today Inc.

The Common Entrance Examination never fails to produce its fair share of controversy. This year, much of that controversy surrounds the ostensibly better performance of private primary schools over those in the public sector.

What is known is that in 2020 and the four years prior, more students from the private schools came within the top ten performers in the examination. That evidence in itself does not indicate that public elementary schools did badly, or at least any worse than before. It merely tells how ten of over 3,500 students performed on a given day. What might be instructive is to know whether the government schools across the board have underperformed, are consistently underperforming, and whether this represents a trend. If it can be proven to be such, then the appropriate question is, what may be going on within the public primary system that may require prompt attention.

In the 1970s and 1980s, the evidence suggests that private schools were copping the top places in the Eleven Plus Examination. Those were the days when schools like Mrs Dorothy Smale’s, The Merivale School, (Mrs Carrington’s), St Angela’s, St. Gabriel’s, St. Cyprian’s and others did tend to dominate. In the 1990s, the public primary sector, including many rural schools, was doing better, often winning the top spot. In 1992, for example, all the top ten Common Entrance Examination performers came from public institutions.

There are several reasons why private schools tend to do well. Their student intake tends, generally speaking, to come from the higher socio-economic strata with certain material and cultural advantages. An examination of the fee structure of the leading private primary schools shows that they are not cheap, varying from $1,400 per term at the Hilltop Primary, $2, 200 at Wills to $3, 400 at Providence. This is a lot to pay considering that a comparable education can be obtained at many of the public facilities. 

Another factor related to the first is that classes, generally speaking, tend to be smaller in private schools. The average roll in private school classes is between 15 and 20 and in public between 25 and 30. Private school classes are demonstrably more manageable and affording of greater individual attention. One would suggest that it is these factors that may be accounting for the better result of the private schools.

A certain level of internalised discipline is essential to qualitatively good teaching and learning. One suspects that it may be increasing disciplinary problems, some of a serious nature, that are prompting middle-class parents of means to shy away from public schooling. One hears more and more complaints from teachers in the public primary system of the reluctance of children to settle down, to obey orders and of a tendency to be generally more disruptive. Parents who are religiously persuaded often prefer a foundationally religious based schooling. There is also growing evidence of highly problematic behaviours that reflect the troubled backgrounds from which some children come.

Barbadians are often reluctant to accept certain inconvenient truths. One such is that there are signs of a growing economic and socio-cultural underclass in this country. The Prime Minister herself has observed that a certain area of St Michael was taking on the appearance of a slum. The other truth is that there are signs of moral degeneration across the length and breadth of the country.

If the stories that one hears are true, it may not be unreasonable to understand why certain parents might want to protect their children at a tender age from recognisably adverse influences. In a democratic society that affords freedom of choice, parents and guardians also have the right to spend their money in ways that afford the best life chances for their children. This is not to suggest that well-to-do children do not also bring some bad influences to the school.

Any attempt to abolish the Common Entrance Exam in the name of equity /fairness may backfire. If discipline is not restored to the school system across the board, some parents might opt out of public schooling altogether, creating a two tier system that would defeat the objective of forging more equitable social outcomes. Always remember that equity is more a product of the economic system than the schooling system.

Education provision is about equality of opportunity, it cannot be about equality of result. Children are not born with equal abilities or into similar environments. What the truly liberal progressive society should aim at is to make it possible for each child to make the most of his or her abilities. In a democratic society based on the capitalist mode of production, rewards are often distributed unequally unless there is a purposeful and concerted governmental effort to redistribute the capitalist surplus. The market economy cannot be relied on to produce the desired distributional outcome.

Over decades, the people of Barbados have poured considerable revenue into public primary education. The purpose was, and still is, not only to enhance children’s cognitive abilities but to socialise them to the foundational normative behaviours that society deems vital to its sustainability. All schools, private and public, must be seen to be working constructively towards those ends.    

Ralph Jemmott is a respected retired educator.