Highlighting the vast difference in SEA passes between government and denominational schools, Education Minister Anthony Garcia last week called on the government schools to "pull their socks up." Quite a few people have taken issue with the Minister's statement, but this is because they assumed that Mr Garcia was only speaking figuratively. What these critics forgot was that, in T&T, socks are a key part of student discipline.
Schools' policy state that socks must be on the shins and, more importantly, black or white. These rules prepare students for getting into clubs which have a dress code, and for having the kind of strong and uninformed opinions which are needed for a career as a radio talk show host, political commentator or gender feminist. And, if Mr Garcia had thought that a more effective strategy to improve the performance of government primary schools was strict zoning so denominational primary schools don't get the pick of the bright students, as happens in Japan, he would undoubtedly have said so.
On this basis, the Education Minister can only be criticised for not placing emphasis on shoes rather than socks. Most T&T teachers agree that proper shoes are absolutely necessary for effective student learning. That is why students are sent back home if they show up at school with footwear that isn't the right colour which, unlike women, isn't red.
It is also why, when radio callers with three CXC subjects or less discuss the criminal tendencies of young people, they invariably mention expensive sneakers: because a focus on brand name shoes is what causes half the nation's students to fail mathematics. And if Mr Garcia felt that teaching children to solve proofs, like they do in Germany, would increase the maths pass rate, he would have spoken about that instead.
But even more crucial to learning than socks and shoes are, of course, blouses and skirts. Although schools in T&T ensure that all female students wear pleated skirts that give no hint of shape, video evidence shows that these skirts can easily be raised when students want to have sex in classrooms (or so I'm told). Additionally, girls' blouses have buttons, which is clearly a design flaw since school uniforms are supposed to prevent not only sex, but thoughts of sex. But if Minister Garcia felt that introducing comprehensive sex education in schools, like they have in Sweden, was important for reducing teenage pregnancy and STDs and naked selfies, he would probably have mentioned it in the past 11 months since he took office.
Fortunately, the continued success of religious leaders in blocking comprehensive sex education in schools has, according to them, prevented more young people from having sex and, when they do fornicate, not commit the additional sin of using condoms. So it may be that the Education Ministry needs to consider making all girls wear looser blouses, skirts which cannot be lifted and perhaps some sort of head covering. After all, look how well Muslim primary schools do in the SEA, although it is true that the same religion produces terrorists in schools in Saudi Arabia.
Along these lines, Minister Garcia in that same statement also said that religious education should be taught in schools, which is why so many children think that the best way to pass an exam is to ask an all-knowing Being for the answers. And, obviously, if the Education Minister thought arranging classrooms by subject instead of age cohorts, as happens in Finland, would help children acquire knowledge, he would have spoken about it already.
Instead, since becoming Education Minister, Mr Garcia has praised the denominational schools for their high performance and, if this had anything to do with the majority of these schools' students coming from two-parent homes of higher socioeconomic status, he would have identified this as a key factor and talked about teacher training in self-directed learning, elicited explanations, differentiated teaching and curriculum design as ways to level the playing field.
Moreover, if teachers in government schools were offered a pay package in which salary increases were contingent on results rather than TTUTA marches, as is the case in Singapore, more children might get good grades. On the other hand, most Trinbagonians with five or fewer CXC subjects know that the real key to a good education system is licks. But this is the one policy which Minister Garcia has said will not be re-introduced. Which only makes it only more important that schools ensure students are wearing the right socks in the right way.
n Kevin Baldeosingh is a professional writer, author of three novels, and co-author of a Caribbean history textbook.