The Editor, Sir:

Sheea Hewan-Brown's article in Tuesday's (October 3) Gleaner was pretty scathing about the Jamaican education system and the product of the same system. I quote her; "students leaving high school who cannot write a simple report in English, cannot express themselves intelligibly, lack critical thinking skills". I live in the United Kingdom, the home of the English language and my experience has shown me how the thinking perpetuated by her has kept many Jamaicans down.

Most people would wonder how the same people that she described could come to the U.K. and excel. My cousin would struggle to utter five consecutive sentences in proper English and couldn't get a decent job in Jamaica. Yet, after three years in his current employment, he is leading a team responsible for producing hundreds of thousands of Pounds Sterling per annum. And he would still struggle to write that report to which she alluded.

My other half never completed secondary school and even though she went on to do professional qualification, she still struggles with the English language. That didn't stop her from becoming a manager responsible for annual turnover of over £400,000.

The point I am trying to make is that we Jamaicans have always equated intelligence with a good command of English. It is this 'style over substance' that gives the filing clerk better career prospects than the mechanic. It is this thinking that causes a secretary to earn more than a delivery driver who is responsible for millions of dollars in goods and equipment. In the U.K., some lorry drivers earn much more than I do as an accountant.

As long as we continue to think that someone's inability to properly use the English language is synonymous with ignorance, we will continue to dump a large portion of the country's talent on the garbage heap of life. The fact that these people can achieve when they go overseas should tell us that they are not stupid. They just need a chance to show what they can do.

I am, etc.,

KWANE SISULU

kwane_s@yahoo.co.uk

Birmingham

United Kingdom

Via Go-Jamaica