Author name: Professor Canute Thompson

Neo-colonial vestige There is a neo-colonial vestige in Jamaica which is rooted in the country’s education and wider social system, which assigns the labels of bright and dunce to people, especially children.  The assigned label often remains with the child / person for a long time (in some instances for life).  One of the insidious […]

There has been a debate, over several years, in Jamaica as to whether it is an appropriate act of professionalism and ethical duty for journalists and political analysts to declare their political allegiance.  There are several factors driving the debate, among them are: In view of the above facts, there are some who hold that

The overall results At the time of writing (11:30 a.m. on the morning after the polls), the results of the polls in Jamaica’s 17th Local Government Elections were not finalised but the current position showed that the ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) had won 95 of the 228 divisions or 41.7%, while the People’s National

One of the issues I have been discussing over the last seven (or so) years, is what I regard as the unfortunate relative absence of academics from the public square and contests of ideas in Jamaica.  I have argued that the heyday of public intellectual battles among academics, which characterized the 1960s and 70s have

The  term ‘shelf life’ is often used to describe commercial goods produced  for consumption; generally referring to the time you can expect to have the best use of  the product or in other words,  best consumed before this date. We can all imagine a supermarket selling expired or outdated goods to the public or a

If at all there is a time to take a lead approach in remedying the challenges we face as educators, the time is now. I believe, taking an optimistic approach to the prescriptions written for Jamaica’s education system that things will get better soon may see the symptoms and signs of its diagnosis becoming cancerous.

US$133 million has been allocated in the Jamaican education system for the construction of 6 Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) schools and 1 Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) academy focusing on the Arts.  Each of the three counties (Cornwall, Middlesex, Surrey) is to have 2 of these new STEM schools.  The student

Leadership has many dimensions and components, but if I were to boil down the roles and functions of leadership to their most fundamental, I would suggest that there are two duties at the core, namely: (a) To discern, interpret, and articulate, the challenges and opportunities facing the organization or country at any given time, and

Since the year 2000, the Ministry of Education and Youth (MoEY) and its partners have designated November as Parent Month in Jamaica. The purpose of this prestigious month is to honour the parents who have significantly supported their children throughout their educational journey and to strengthen the relationship between families and schools. As a nation,

Jamaica as a nation state, has, in my opinion, been fast losing its moral leadership position.  While there may have been differences of opinion on this issue in recent years, there has been, within the last year, at least, a growing level of consciousness that this is indeed the case. Jamaica as a nation state,