Working with the U.S. Peace Corps in Jamaica almost forty years ago, I learned that, for perhaps what are now far more obvious reasons, there were few leaders either from the U.S. or Jamaica for that matter who seemed truly interested in teaching us Volunteers that most uneducated or even poorly-educated people, regardless of where [...]

The new year (in this case, 2010) never is exactly like the year before it and only occasionally is it all that similar, but around this time of so many recent years, owing primarily to the calendar I suppose, many of us like to make reflections upon the previous one or predictions of what will [...]

Have you ever wondered which or who, in fact, is “the real McCoy” or is it “McKoy?” And what is the origin of this most common expression? Well, I should know, shouldn’t I? Though the newspaper’s proofreader misspells it occasionally, my name is actually “McCoy” with a “C,” not a “K.” And no, I am [...]

During the run up to the recent U.S. election, several groups peripheral to the McCain campaign, particularly in the days just before the vote, were sponsoring seriously-negative advertisements on both radio and television that were no doubt unfounded, completely ridiculous criticisms of Barack Obama. They were obviously designed to sway a small percentage, hopefully one [...]

 Yes, ten thousand miles and more than a few close calls later, I’d worn out a pair of boots, sun bleached out a pair of blue jeans and seen most of the island from its cool, dark-leather seat. No wonder they didn’t want you to have transport. In just a few months, combined with all [...]

Falmouth… waiting for soemthing to happen… The next week, back in Kingston, I went to the Ministry office, met with the program supervisor and had myself reassigned to Trelawny. There were no Guidance volunteers there, though there apparently had been in recent years. What harm could it do to try a different parish, one at [...]

Writing letters of complaint only works when you’re somebody important, when your problem is universal, or when it has the potential, I suppose, of generating a large, class-action suit. Somehow I knew that my letter to the Director of the Peace Corps had zero chance of doing anything, and why not? Unless you’re Jimmy Carter’s [...]

Sometimes it seems hard now to look back and try to understand it all, but then that day on the north coast when I wandered into the middle of that drug deal gone bad wasn’t the only time I nearly died a Peace Corps Volunteer in Jamaica. There were several others and the reasons weren’t [...]

Many years ago I received word from a Congressman that he had carried my complaint against the U.S. Peace Corps to the head of the agency in Washington D.C. It had taken months and a little Congressional help but I eventually received a personal reply from the top man and the gist of it was [...]

Good classroom discipline may well mean different things to different people in different schools, but overall, it is the individual student’s ability to discipline him/herself that is the measure of real success in any educational environment.   Generally speaking, the smaller the class size the more control a teacher may have over individual behaviours, yet control [...]