From: The Encyclopedia of Canada's Peoples/Jamaicans/George E. Eaton
Jamaicans, especially among immigrants of the 1950s, 1960s and early 1970s, have made contributions in all levels of education. Pioneering Jamaican teachers have taught at the primary and secondary levels and a few have become administrators. A number of Jamaicans, notably women, have achieved positions where they could address concerns of Jamaicans and other visible-minority parents. Some thought that the Canadian content and orientation of texts and materials, as well as teaching methods and approaches, should be modified or adapted to mirror the multi-ethnic and multicultural composition of Canada.
Accommodation of Jamaican immigrant children in Canadian educational systems has been a major concern since the 1970s. Beginning in 1975, the dramatic increase in the proportion of under–nineteen-year-old Jamaican dependants involved crossing of a great cultural divide and the clash of differing educational systems. In the Jamaican system, children were turned over by parents to teachers, who were accorded great authority and respect, to be educated and trained in the precepts of middle-class civilization. Parents rarely visited school unless a child had been punished (caned) for a misdemeanour. Bright students would be asked to answer questions only when it was considered necessary to demonstrate that such a question was within the capacity of the students to answer; otherwise they would remain silent. In the Canadian system, egalitarianism governed classroom interaction, with great stress placed on being liked and likeable. Canadian teachers tended to treat the silence of Jamaican students as an indication of low learning-capability or a negative attitude.
Disproportionate numbers of black students being placed in vocational and technical streams and in special-education programs, relatively high drop-out rates, differential treatment, and problems resulting from systemic racism made adaptation of materials, sensitization of teachers, and a more representative teaching body major goals of educational reform in Canada. Recent studies have confirmed that Jamaican children arriving in Canada between the ages of seven and fifteen are likely to lag academically and experience adjustment problems.
