Education stakeholder cautions teacher about dating comments

President of the National Parent Teachers Association of Jamaica (NPTAJ), Stewart Jacobs, is warning a teacher who went viral for airing her dating preferences, not to expose her students to what he considers her “scars”.

The teacher recently came under heavy criticism after stating that she would not date a black man who does not have a degree or formal education, but would date men of other races who were in a similar position, as they would have access to generational wealth or other resources. After the video went viral, she created another video saying she would impress upon her black male students that higher education was a must. Jacobs said that the teacher’s thoughts were not unorthodox.

“It is quite a popular belief amongst Jamaican women, and men to some degree. It’s a cultural norm or thought process that your shade determines somewhat how you meander your way through society,” Jacobs said. But Jacobs suggested that the teacher, who spoke of experiences in North America, “then her intake and experience with racism is going to be slightly different from some”.

“The fact that she expresses it and the manner in which she does is outside of the norm,” he said.

“What is even more alarming is that she says she is a teacher, in a classroom teaching our impressionable children. Our boys and our girls who are expected to hear objective views from those who are passing on knowledge to them,” Jacobs told THE STAR.

He also opined that the controversy was a missed opportunity for the educator to teach students about their history and the importance of overcoming marginalisation.

Jacobs said he had lived in six countries and experienced racism as a black man.

“I’ve lived in Guyana, Trinidad, the United States for seven years where I worked in the South. I lived in Honduras and Belize. That is a total of 23 years I spent living overseas and I faced racism as a black male, even in the Caribbean countries. I’m speaking from a very informed position,” he said.

Jacobs insisted that experiencing racism did not make him feel inferior to men of other races.

“It didn’t make me want to bleach my skin, nor did it make me feel like I couldn’t get a black girl of my choice,” he said. He opined that children in Jamaica do not experience the same racism that is happening in America.

“We do not look at humans like that in Jamaica at all. Not so much. Her experience and exposure have done that to her,” he said.

“You deal with it. Deal with your issues. Deal with your scars, but do not expose our children to your scars. Take your scars and use a Band Aid and some antibiotics and fix your scars,” he advised the educator.

Jacobs said the teacher missed an opportunity to educate students about the history of African descendants and how they could overcome barriers.

“It could have been an opportunity to teach them a little of their history and show them where they have a responsibility to develop the black race from within themselves by being smarter and more vigilant in their schoolwork, more deliberate in what they do so they can succeed,” he said.

“It’s a teaching opportunity that she got, and I don’t think she has done very well with it at all.”

THE STAR reached out to Jamaica Teachers’ Association President La Sonja Harrison for a comment, but she said she was not aware of the viral video.