By Hilbert Haar
What is the definition of a qualified teacher? This question popped into my mind when I read about Minister Wycliffe Smith’s summary of the state of affairs in the schools on our island.
Pointing to one school in particular – Sister Regina – as having eleven unqualified teachers I wondered how these people got there. Obviously, the school denies that its teachers are unqualified. As far as I know, so far nobody has bothered to do some fact checking, so I don’t know who is at odds with reality – the minister or the school.
It does not really matter anyway. What matters is that the public education system is in deep doo-doo and that cannot be good for the kids who depend on it, or for the country that is desperate for citizens with a training that will help the community forward in the near future.
If you listen to some local politicians – the name of Christophe Emmanuel almost automatically comes up – you truly wonder whether these people did not pay attention at school or whether they have been politically brainwashed.
Emmanuel’s reference to colonial practices by the Netherlands and – some time ago – his flawed call on the Netherlands about independence show that the good MP is usually quite short on substance. Whether this is due to deficient education is something we will probably never know.
But I digress. Let’s get back to the core issue: what is the definition of a qualified teacher? Is this someone who has one way or the other managed to obtain a teaching degree? Or is it somebody who is good with children, understands what makes them tick and manages to adjust to their behavior even if – at times – said behavior is disruptive or belligerent?
I would rather have a teacher from the second category – papers be damned. And trust me, during the twelve plus years I spent in St. Maarten I have heard plenty of horror stories about the behavior of teachers. This is not to say that all teachers are bad, but in my opinion there are people working in the education system who should not be there.
I distinctly remember an overweight teacher who posted on her Facebook-page a picture that shows her flipping the bird – or giving the finger; call it what you like, that is not the example you want to give to children who are already struggling with backgrounds where violence and hunger are the predominant issues.
I’ve heard stories about teachers who swear at their students – “Get you black ass down here!” – and about teachers who beat their students.
And I know that some of these issues have been reported to the responsible minister – I believe that was actually Silveria Jacobs at the time – and she did absolutely nothing to call such teachers to order.
Instead, the good minister took a leaf from the book of the Catholic Church and the way it deals with priests who cannot keep their hands off young boys: she sent at least one seriously misbehaving (and therefore in my mind unqualified) teacher to another school. It’s a bit like dusting your living room with a leaf blower; you don’t solve the problem, you shove it away and put it on the plate of the next school principal.
With this kind of behavior from the top down, it is little wonder that the public education system is in deep trouble. The shortage of teachers may well be explained from the behavior of so-called qualified staff members who make life hell for those who are doing better than them.
So how is Minister Smith to deal with this issue? For sure, during his time in office he will have to make at least an honest effort to clean up this mess but the question is where he ought to begin.
My suggestion to the minister is: take complaints seriously and take adequate action against teachers who pose a problem to their students and their colleagues.
And with adequate action I do not mean: sack them. The best way to deal with the issue is to educate wayward educators, the way former Chief Commissioner Peter de Witte dealt with members of the police force who were not up to par. They got, I believe, two years to bring their behavior up to par; and if they failed (or refused) to do so, it was simply adieu. Go find another job.
I seriously think that some teachers need this kind of help, like training that addresses their specific personal behavioral issues. If this rids the education system of its rotten apples, you’ll soon find that more people are willing to take up the profession. But if this minister, like some of his predecessors, fails to take action, school children – and by extension the community – will pay the price.
Remember this: desperate times call for desperate measures. Or, to say it in Dutch: zachte heelmeesters maken stinkende wonden.
