Looking out my window this Sunday morning, October 4, 2026, the sky is a heavy, blanketed gray. Dark clouds and thick fog have completely swallowed the mountains in the distance, hiding them from view. It got me thinking about how often the most important things in life can be obscured by fog—including the future of our children.
Lately, I’ve been stepping away from the biased, politically divided noise on social media to focus on a much deeper crisis. The spark for these thoughts came from a recent discussion in a WhatsApp group, where my friend, Dee, shared a heartbreaking reality: children are sitting for their CSEC exams completely unable to read or comprehend the test papers.
It seems that reading and foundational learning have become obscured by a modern fog of tech dependency. Here are my raw thoughts on the current state of early childhood education, from Jamaica to across the globe...
The Lost Art of the Foundation: From the Island of Jamaica to UC Berkeley, USA
Lack of proper early childhood education in Jamaica has failed our children. They are arriving at and graduating from high schools without fundamental reading skills. To compound and worsen the situation, along comes texting with its acronyms and shortcuts—not to mention modern technology and calculators.
Students are sitting for major, final exams completely unable to comprehend the language of the tests assigned to them. That is absolutely, positively true. I have been closely following all the reports. It is as if learning to read has become a taboo. They are far more invested in GYSM, LOL, YOLO, BOBDL, and BC (which certainly doesn't mean Before Christ anymore!). MNL! 😂🤭
This isn't just happening at home, either. Outside of Jamaica, institutions like UC Berkeley recently reported a similar predicament regarding their incoming students. They are struggling so heavily with basic math concepts that there is a loud call for the revival of standardized testing to figure out a system to bring them up to scratch.
The core issue is that students have become solely dependent on modern technology. I recall in my early years at infant school, learning by rote was a big deal. Today, there is no such thing.
Growing up in rural Jamaica, the elders always warned us how vital it was to learn to read and write. They used to tell us, "People will write your name on a bulla cake and give it to you to eat without you even noticing!" In actuality, they were warning us that if you are illiterate, people can feed you absolute crap—cow's pancake—and you won't even know the difference because all you see is that it's round like a bulla.
Today, AI, "samfi scifi," and rapid tech improvements have completely taken over. We are letting our youth be fed tech shortcuts, leaving them, as the great Buju Banton sings, Buried Alive... 🎶🤖
Tah-Tah! Reading is the key to success.
Grace Dunkley-Asphall, Copyright © 2026
Gyal yu so right. A 7 i read my book and those of my brothers ahead if me. The banana leaf ones. It is necessary. There are many analogies to the "bulla" story as well as the pancake. Later. I know "Dee" whoever they are is speaking the truth.
ReplyDeleteSome important issues are raised here. I agree that too many children are reaching higher grades without the basic reading, writing and numeracy skills they should already have and that is deeply troubling. I’m not quite convinced, though, that texting and technology are the main culprits. I think they may be exposing and sometimes worsening weaknesses that began much earlier; weak foundations, inadequate intervention, too little reading and too much dependence on shortcuts. Technology can certainly become a crutch, but it can also be a useful tool when children already have the basics. For me, the real concern is making sure those basics are firmly in place first. And on one thing we completely agree, *reading really is the key*.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely true. I was recently discussing this same topic with a colleague of mine. So many reports are out now about how the kids are graduating high school and entering college without knowing how to read or do basic math. And they are in college and the professors are saying many students do not know how to write without AI anymore. It's a disturbing realization. The entire education system in the U.S. is failing our children.
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