“The Church is asleep, and does not realize the magnitude of this matter of educating the children and youth. . . . The Church should take in the situation, and by their influence and means seek to bring about this desired end.”
A few words in regard to the needs of this branch of our work in Jamaica may be of some assistance in helping us to realize the “magnitude of this matter,” and so far as Jamaica is concerned, open the way for us to carry out intelligently the latter part of the quotation.12
The island of Jamaica is about the size of the State of Connecticut. It has a population of 735,000, of whom only about 20,000 are white, the great majority being descendants of the slaves who were freed in 1838.
The Third Angel's Message has found many willing hearers all over the island. More than one thousand meet from Sabbath to Sabbath to worship the Lord, and the work is just begun. Already scores of Seventh-day Adventists' children are turning their faces toward those who have sent them this precious message, saying, “What are you going to do with us?” This question must be answered.
In order to get the force of this query, it is necessary to look at the conditions surrounding our children. The public school system of Jamaica is in one sense a union of Church and State. The government furnishes the money, and the schools are under the supervision of different denominations. Generally the church building is the only schoolroom. Although the schools are public schools, they are known as Church of England, Baptist, or Wesleyan schools, according to the denomination supervising them. The local minister oversees the schools.
With the public schools under such control, it is easy to see the position in which our children are placed. For instance, in one of our churches we have some earnest little Christians who are active missionaries. The leaven of their influence has accomplished something in the school. One day when the Wesleyan minister was visiting the school, he called all the Adventist children forward, gave them some instruction on the Sunday question, severely reprimanded them, and warned them that if they had anything further to say about Adventist doctrines, he would turn them out of the school. Their parents are tax-payers.
The losing of caste, the ridicule of their playmates, the pressure brought to bear by their teacher, the words and threats of the minister, would cause many an older heart to faint.
Each denomination teaches its own peculiar doctrines. Does not the fact that our children are being molded according to these wrong principles while their minds are plastic, appeal to you? Will this enable them to stand in the day just before us?
We do not desire to bring any particular complaint against the teachers. As in every other country, Jamaica has both good and indifferent instructors. But we do believe the educational system is wrong. For this the present teachers are not responsible. Many are lifting their voices against it.
In the first place, the teacher's salary depends almost entirely upon the number of marks which his school receives. In other words, there is a system of payment by results. These marks are determined by an examination made by a government inspector during a visit of one or two days. This practice fosters the pernicious cramming system and other educational evils.
From what I have been able to observe, the teachers proceed on two principles; namely, that hearing a recitation is teaching, and that telling a thing is teaching it. The simple fact that a child has a mind of his own seems to be forgotten. The children move from place to place, and whisper, and even talk aloud. As in the Oriental schools, each child studies aloud. The schools are usually overcrowded. This necessitates having a part of the “hearing of the recitations” done by older pupils. As the oldest pupils in school can be but fourteen, one may judge of the value of such instruction.
Another fact that should appeal to us is the prevailing immorality. According to the government register of births, sixty-five per cent of the births in the islands are illegitimate. We have not the space to give any of the causes of this condition, but it reveals to us in a startling manner the necessity of taking our children out of the overcrowded public schools, and putting them in schools of our own.
GEO. E. ENOCH.