All-boys school unit 'could cut dropout rate' says OBA

WEDNESDAY, DEC. 7: A single sex ‘school within a school’ could benefit black Bermudian schoolboys at risk of dropping out, says Shadow Education Minister Grant Gibbons said yesterday.

Dr Gibbons said the 2009 Mincy Report had highlighted a 50 per cent dropout rate among young black males in the public education system.

But a special education programme, which could be based in an existing school building, could help tackle the dropout rates.

Dr Gibbons suggested the new school would:

• Begin in middle school and continue to S4;

• Have a longer school day and combine technical courses with academic ones;

• Use a high proportion of male teachers — on higher salaries and brought in from abroad if necessary;

• Have high standards of discipline and use the longer school day to provide extra tuition where needed and for extra-curricular activities like music, sport and the arts;

• Provide extra career guidance and opportunities for work experience or shadowing.

Dr Gibbons said: “If you have additional time, you can use that for a lot of purposes — some people have been saying extra sport, especially for young males, but also for young women, which would help fitness and help tackle obesity rates.

“And if someone is having difficulty with math or writing, they can spend more time with teachers or peer support groups to help them catch up.”

Dr Gibbons added that Charter-style schools had been successful in the US in dealing with “at risk” children — those from dysfunctional families or living in areas with multiple social problems — and helping to keep them in education.

He said that some studies had shown specialist teaching for some pupils, especially schoolboys, was helpful, while others down-played the results.

But he added: “What we’re really trying to do here is say there are ways to make schools do better for young men and if there’s a way we arrange things so schools are more supportive of them.

“This proposal may not be a silver bullet, but it’s certainly a proposal we would like to look at and certainly some of the elements are things we should consider seriously — we might be able to do a much better job of keeping these young people in school.”

Dr Gibbons stressed: “This isn’t the only plan we have — this is something which is part of a broader plan that starts in pre-school and goes all the way through.”

He said that other OBA proposals included an expanded pre-school system, a “serious commitment” to professional development for teaching staff and an independent standards board to improve trust in test results, as well as a longer school day for all pupils.

Dr Gibbons said: “Dr Mincy’s black male study was not a surprise to anybody, including the government. Even though the Hopkins Report highlighted the desperate state of public education more than four-and-a-half years ago, government reform has bogged down in bureaucracy and frequent changes of leadership at the ministry.

“There’s a pressing need to re-energize education reform and drive the process forward. A single sex school could be one element in breaking the logjam that the government’s process of reform has created.”

When asked about Dr Gibbons’s proposal, a Ministry of Education spokesperson intimated that no comment would be forthcoming.

What do you think? Is an all-boys school unit a good idea? E-mail reporter Raymond Hainey:
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