The dictionary defines “superannuation” as the state of being superannuated which is described as: (1) retired because of age or infirmity; (2) too old for use, work, service, or a position; (3) antiquated or obsolete.
In the Barbados secondary school system “superannuation” means “when a child gets to 16 years old and in some teacher’s opinion that child is a troublemaker or is not learning”, or the teacher just does not like the child, there is a recommendation that the child be put out of school – and the child usually is.
Too often this child ends up on the “block” where he finds comfort, for those already there would more than likely have suffered the same fate – rejection, ejection and dejection. That “comfort” then becomes a major problem for society as words such as “lawlessness”, “good-for-nothing” and “gangs” evolve.
These children are then on a path to the most frightening disease of all – hopelessness. Hope is there for everyone. I remember Martin Luther King saying, “ . . . We will be able to hew out of a mountain of despair a stone of hope”. So when an individual has decided that he has no hope, his life means nothing to him and surely, to him, yours means less. Work it out.
We are now trying to give prisoners a “second chance”. Why can’t we give these children a second chance at school in order to avoid having to give them a second chance later on?
Teachers tend to favour the so-called nice, sweet, well-behaved ones and they get a second chance to improve their qualifications when it is really the errant ones who need the help.
When a man is hungry he needs food; when a man is naked he needs clothes; when a man is down he needs support; when a child is wayward he needs help.
Too many teachers today are unwilling to work with the “troubled” children. They just want to hurry them out of school and out of their lives. Some even seem to celebrate the early exit of the child. I remember hearing a teacher say to a fourth-former, “You guh ’long; come July, you gone from ’bout hey.”
It was said with joy and with no attempt to encourage the person to improve their performance or behaviour.
There are quite a few students who were put out but just needed some encouragement and we managed to help them achieve although they were suffering rejection.
One student who loved music was superannuated and I begged for him for three days to no avail. I was told that he was only keeping “a lot of noise bout hey”. I might add that music was on the curriculum.
It so happened that a new music teacher came to the school – young and uncorrupted. I asked if they would be willing to teach this former student during their “free period” and they agreed. We arranged for the boy to come through the cane track and we would hide him in a room where the new music teacher would come and teach him twice a week. Only that teacher and the two boys who helped hide him knew what was going on.
After about five classes the teacher told me that this young man was extremely bright and was way ahead of the schedule. This young man now produces most of the Crop Over music in Barbados. He is also a songwriter and a singer who has won multiple competitions. He goes by the name of Blood.
Another student was superannuated with three CXCs – two grade ones and a grade two.
I begged for him most suppliantly – again in vain. So we sent him to the O level Institute to boost his qualifications so he could get into Barbados Community College (BCC). After BCC, he studied at the University of the West Indies, then in Brazil, and later, Japan. He has his master’s degree and is looking to earn a doctorate.
Yet another student, whom I used to beg every day to concentrate on his schoolwork, fought the shame and dejection and attended evening classes at St James Secondary School. He now lectures at the UWI’s Cave Hill Campus.
However, I must confess that I finally encountered a man who understood that some students do need extra time at school even if they are not placed in the “best-behaved” category.
Once I begged him for five boys who were all superannuated. I explained that they were good boys with a bad reputation. He gave me all five. They all now have degrees.
And only two weeks ago the one with the worst reputation called and said, “Sir, in a couple months yuh got to call me Doctor Layne.”
• Mac Fingall is an entertainer and retired secondary schoolteacher. Email [email protected].
