“Big up yourself!” declared Grace Baston, the principal of Campion College in Jamaica, when she introduced herself to students, faculty, and staff during All School Meeting on Friday, April 29.
“Big up yourself,” she explained, is a traditional Jamaican greeting that expresses well wishes, friendship, and respect, and also can mean “Good for you!” A dynamic, engaging speaker, Grace led the hall in a rousing rendition of Bob Marley’s “Three Little Birds” (“Every little thing is gonna be all right.”)
Grace’s visit complemented the Cultural Arts Festival held at Fenn the previous day. She spoke about the educational system in her country and about how Campion, the premier secondary school in Jamaica (and the Caribbean), has made efforts to become more diverse.
“I’m going to tell you about Jamaica—not what is so touristy, like the beaches, but rather what is the truth,” said Grace, who is a national leader in addressing issues of class and race in Jamaica’s educational system and a leading educator of junior high and high school aged children in Jamaica.
Noting that 90% of Jamaicans are of African descent and that the broad base of the Jamaican population is black, a lesser percentage include people of East Indian, Chinese, and Lebanese descent, and the smallest percentage is of white European ancestry, she explained that the differences between these groups are “more cultural than color.”
The majority of Jamaican children attend either public elementary (“primary”) school or prep school. In primary schools there can be 45-50 children in a classroom and therefore the children do not get the level of attention and assistance that children in prep schools receive. However, every sixth grader, regardless of his or her school, takes the same achievement test that determines whether he or she can move on. Some 40,000 children in grade 6 compete for 5000 spaces in the 25 schools that are considered to be “the good schools,” she said.
Campion is a co-educational Roman Catholic high school for grades 7 to 12. For years about 95% of its students came from prep schools, but “we wanted to be more diverse. We wanted to bring Jamaica to our school,” said Grace, who visited classes (see photo)and student diversity committee members after talking at All School Meeting. Now Campion admits 40% of its students from primary schools.
“I want you to realize that getting to know a person of another culture is going to make you a better person,” Grace told Fenn boys. “You need to ‘small up yourself’ in order to be diverse,” she added, asking the boys what they thought she meant.
Offered one Lower School student, “It means to give someone else space to grow.”
“Exactly,” said Grace.