Every era of history has a villain, an enemy or some fatal flaw. Jamaica has an enemy, something that seems to defeat us over and over again. We are our own enemy.

In a recent article in Time magazine on education, the single most important factor in a good education is said to be good teachers. What makes a good teacher? "An unshakeable belief in children's capacity to learn." According to Margaret Gayle, an expert in gifted education at Duke University, "Anyone without this has no business in the classroom."

This quote reminded me of when a former minister openly said that some children just would not learn. This minister is not alone in this sentiment; there is a widespread belief that some of our children "head tough" and "cyan learn". The problem is, these people are not only in the classroom, they have run our education system.

Unlimited potential

Members of the Grameen Trust recently visited Jamaica. The Grameen Bank became world famous when its founder, Professor Muhammad Yunnus, received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for having given out loans to the poor totalling about US$6 billion. The repayment rate is 99 per cent, and the bank routinely makes a profit. Speaking to a group of Jamaicans, Mr Tamim Islam, of Grameen, stated that one of the premises of his organisation was that "every human being has unlimited potential".

The words sounded very foreign, not just because of his accent, but more because what I hear more of, is all the reasons from slavery to a breakdown in the family, to crime being a way of life, for why Jamaicans have a limited potential for success. The room was filled with Jamaican bankers who have routinely explained their high interest rates based on the high rate of delinquency, after all Jamaicans cannot or will not honour their debts. So our micro finance bank (backed by BNS) offers a rate of 1 per cent per week accumulatively, they have loaned out only US$6 million, but require references, and sometimes deposits of up to 25 per cent.

Diligent

The Grameen Bank, which is investing in the potential they believe exists, has lent US$75 million, offers rates of 5-20 per cent per annum at declining rate. It does this with relatively little staff who live in the same community as the borrowers and are diligent to the extent of meeting with every borrower once a week.

Surprisingly however, our bank referred to repayment rate of 93 per cent with 98 per cent in recent years, not a far cry from that at the Grameen Bank, what seems to be really missing is just the belief in our unlimited potential.

So, with our banks believing we will fail (certainly not just at the micro finance level) before we even start, they protect themselves with an interest rate that will almost act as a self-fulfilling prophecy, they are often so burdensome, few businesses can make those kinds of returns in their infant stages.

So, if from the start, we are told we cyan learn, then we are told we cyan do no better, and then we should not be surprised when we seem "wutless". Yet, there are voices out there who do believe that our children can and will learn, that our people can and will succeed, and they are investing their time, energy and money in this. It is an investment that has equally unlimited potential.