What is the real scam?

THE EDITOR, Madam:

My respected colleagues Dr Lascelve Graham and Dr Dennis Minott have doubled down on making sports recruitment in schools an evil to be purged in the interest of national development.

The fundamental misconception that points to their flawed thinking is displayed in Dr Minott’s first question in his letter in The Gleaner, November 10. He speaks to the primary mission of public schools being the preparation of young Jamaicans for life through academic, technical, and vocational education.

Is sports not a vocation? If not, where does it fit into preparation for LIFE?

But Dr Graham alludes to a scam and there is actually one in the current system.

One youngster is gifted academically at an early age. The current system recruits him to develop his talent in the best-resourced institutions where his skills are sharpened by engagement and competition with similarly gifted students.

Another youngster is weak academically but is gifted with a sporting talent. That talent is his key to navigating life.

The system shuffles off this youngster to an institution that is not only weak academically but has no resources to help him develop his gift and key to navigating life.

A suitably equipped institution - in an attempt to push back against the scammed system - invites the youngster to access better facilities to give him a similar chance that his academically sharp colleague gets from the rigged system.

Let’s focus on making the system prepare our young people for life. Efforts to fix the broken system may not be perfect, but they highlight the inequities in the current system that disenfranchise a large percentage of our young people.

Do we really care about a level playing field?

TREVOR E. S. SMITH