First Day of School.

Well, summer's officially now over and it's back to school.Â Glad those days are now behind me.

I just wanted to share something Gather might find interesting:Â We start our youngsters' schooling at three years old, not at six like you do in America.

Proud dad Adonis Walters carries his daughter Shaudoniah to Pentab Early Childhood Education Centre in central Kingston yesterday for the three-year-old's first day of school. - Norman Grindley/Chief Photographer

There are exceptions of course.Â I was two years old!!!! on my first day of school.Â My lunch was in a nipple bottle :-D) Beat up my first bully with it; gave him a bump by hitting him on the head with it.

Learning the alphabet was my very first lesson.Â Yes!!! I actually started to learn to read and write at two years old.Â I became literate so early in life that I don't remember what age I actually became literate.Â I know that I definitely was literate at 5 because I had changed schools at that age and the teachers were astounded at my reading ability.

We unfortunately have a very serious problem with our education system though; shortage of resources.Â The picture is the link to the story connected with it from today's issue of the Daily Gleaner.

Now imagine this stupidity:Â We are now in a borrowing relationship with the IMF.Â None of the funds allocated is earmarked for education.Â They actually have worked out a very detailed economic recovery plan that excludes increased spending on public education.Â The last time they lent us money, one of the conditions was that the government abandon free university education.

If there are economics experts here on Gather who have read this, please explain the logic.

Comments: 23

Sandy Moore Sep 6, 2011, 2:09pm UTC

That is a young age to start school but I see it worked with you so it must be good.

Dennis Gilman Sep 6, 2011, 2:15pm UTC

I agree that 2 years old might be a bit young, but my mom didn't want my brother to feel lonely and while in class the teacher noticed that I was actually paying rapt attention, so she started teaching me. That first lesson did not go well, but other lessons did.

Sandy Moore Sep 6, 2011, 2:28pm UTC

I have seen some 3 years olds that are quite sharp. It just seems strange thinking of them in school at that age.

Dennis Gilman Sep 6, 2011, 2:50pm UTC

And it seem strange to me that U.S. waits until they're 6 years old.

Sandy Moore Sep 6, 2011, 3:57pm UTC

Isn't it interesting how customs are so different?

Dennis Gilman Sep 6, 2011, 4:33pm UTC

It sure is.

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señoritafish (oxyjulis californica) Sep 6, 2011, 2:49pm UTC

First day of school for mine as well; 5th, 7th and 8th grades. A lot of people send their kids to daycare/preschool, where they often do the same things as in kindergarten. It's not free though, and we couldn't afford it for three kids, so my husband became a stay-at-home dad. We tried it for six months and almost all of his earnings were going towards daycare, so he decided he'd rather do it himself. Schools now do want kids to already know basics like alphabet, counting, shapes and colors before they start, so they do have to learn some things before school starts.

Dennis Gilman Sep 6, 2011, 2:52pm UTC

Great!!!! My wife did the stay at home at first. Then both grandmas provided the free daycare.

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J C. Sep 6, 2011, 3:07pm UTC

I cried on my first day of school, I really did not want to go. If I remember correctly, I had to be brought into school by my dad on my first day... I was slightly younger than everyone else and some little brat girl scoffed at me for it (she did not pass anyways, so I was happy!). I liked being driven to school, which for awhile, I was, I believe it was in the winter when I would get those hives due to the cold air, but I don't remember.

I believe that I still have a book somewhere that I never returned to that library... It might have been sold or tossed out though...

But I was 5 when I started school, kindergarten. 2 seems like a very young age, but sandy is right, it worked well for you!

Dennis Gilman Sep 6, 2011, 3:20pm UTC

Thanks for reading and commenting Julie.

J C. Sep 6, 2011, 4:19pm UTC

anytime! :-)

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Kathryn Flynn Sep 6, 2011, 4:50pm UTC

no logic, just politics.

I was in preschool for 3 years and my daughter was in preschool for 2. I had a year off between prescchool and kindergarten, because I was 4. That was the year I terrorized the neighborhood as little kathy. More and more are in preschool now...

Dennis Gilman Sep 6, 2011, 5:05pm UTC

I was such a terror also; maybe that was the main reason they sent me :-D)

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Larry M. Sep 6, 2011, 4:53pm UTC

The IMF is run by big money interests. Don't expect them to be on your side.

Dennis Gilman Sep 6, 2011, 5:06pm UTC

Silly me. Thanks for that reminder :-D)

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Pamela Marks Sep 6, 2011, 8:03pm UTC

I don't think they really care about the kids growing up with a bad education, kind of keeps the poor down while the rich can still send their kids to top notch schools and stay ahead, great government ploy right? same with free university's, only those who can afford it will be able to go separating the one who can from the ones who want

Dennis Gilman Sep 13, 2011, 12:07pm UTC

Not a Jamaican government ploy. The IMF forced our government to discontinue it. It is however a very successful ploy of those who have great influence on the world's economy. It holds down the development of countries like ours so that the rich ones can always stay in control and us dependent on them.

Pamela Marks Sep 13, 2011, 7:52pm UTC

Oh I didn't say a Jamaican government ploy but explain more of tho IMF is

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Austin Cushing Sep 11, 2011, 4:59pm UTC

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Dennis Gilman Sep 13, 2011, 12:07pm UTC

Thanks Austin

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Ian, the social being Sep 13, 2011, 8:59am UTC

I believe the logic rests around the immediacy of the returns: not that I agree with it, but that would seem to be central. Invest in children and free university education, and you end up with a highly technical and productive workforce... in a decade. Invest in business and you get a profit tomorrow. It is unfortunate that large organizations like the IMF do not look at the long-term effects on individuals or societies. They look at immediate gains, which are often not sustainable.

Dennis Gilman Sep 13, 2011, 12:12pm UTC

". . . the logic rests around the immediacy of the returns ... . Invest in children and free university education, and you end up with a highly technical and productive workforce... in a decade. Invest in business and you get a profit tomorrow"

I'm sure that they use that "logic" to convince themselves that they are correct. Didn't work out that way for us, has never worked out that way with any country they have tried it; yet they have never abandoned that "logic".

Ian, the social being Sep 13, 2011, 10:33pm UTC

Oh, I know. They are trying to do the same thing in Canada: and succeeding. I did not say I agreed with it. I hope that one day it will change.

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