The contentment with mediocrity could not have been made more stark. That, at least, is the crux of the message of the letter writer Glennor A. Wilson, who signed herself as Principal, CMHS, which we take to be Claude McKay High School. Letter writer Wilson takes issue with this paper's leader of April 15, 'The shaming of famous names', that highlighted the dismal performance in English and maths, at CXC, of several schools named after famous people.

Based on a weighted performance ratio devised by statistician and pollster Bill Johnson, Claude McKay High School, which is in the parish of Clarendon, scored only 1.1 out of a possible 100 in maths in the secondary school exam. In English, it did marginally better: its quality performance score was 2.7.

Of course, Claude McKay High School is not the only representative of the disaster in Jamaica's education system. Nor is it the worst performer in the ratings, based on the analysis conducted by Mr Johnson for this newspaper. Indeed, this column made that point.

Distinguished man

However, CMHS provided an interesting jump-off point for our review, a metaphor, as it were, for the poor performing schools with the grand names of great people. Claude McKay was a distinguished man of letters and left-wing politics, who wrote fine books and great poetry and was a leader of the Harlem Renaissance in the early 20th century. So, Claude McKay represented excellence. The school named in his honour does not.

There is perhaps no single cause for the dismal educational outcomes at Claude McKay, the other upgraded high schools in the island or, for that matter, in any school in Jamaica. But it is a matter that demands rational discourse, rather than defence by rant, as is the attempt by letter writer Wilson. Nor will fatuous reasoning suffice.

Letter writer Wilson makes no cogent case for the shortcomings of her school, except to point out that other schools named after famous people did equally poorly - and worse. As if that makes it right and permissible to be bad.

Poor exam results

Of course, there are social and other problems which affect Jamaican schools, and the education system broadly, which contribute to the poor exam results of institutions like Claude McKay High and others, some of which were highlighted in our previous leader: Robert Lightbourne, Edwin Allen, Merlene Ottey, Donald Quarrie, Norman Manley, Alexander Bustamante, Marcus Garvey. But it has become the norm for the heads of schools that perform below par to eschew any responsibility and to simper about the "quality" of the children who are streamed into their institutions. Leadership, it seems, if the argument is taken to its logical conclusion, counts for nothing. Well, it does.

There are several examples of schools in poor and tough communities, with students who might otherwise might have been written off by the whingers, that do reasonably well in their educational outcomes. The point is that fixing education is not a simple matter, but getting the job done can't be on the basis of whining and peeve. It demands hard work, a commitment to excellence and a belief in the capacity of every child who walks through the door of every school in Jamaica.

It would help if principals are inspired by the famous persons after whom their schools are named, and teachers were subject to performance-based pay.