Mrs. Ruth May Burrell-Brown - George Henry

BY GEORGE HENRY, STAR Writer

SPALDINGS, CLARENDON

Thirty-one years after entering a profession where some people pack their bags after a few terms, Ruth May Burrell-Brown is still teaching and loving every minute of it.

The Spalding Primary School principal' who worked as pretrained educator before going to college, is from Clarendon and has the same level of passion now that she had 31 years ago when she started.

"Teaching is my life. I love teaching, because of the whole idea of seeing children who come to you and are unable to do certain things. When I taught Grade one for four years, that was my most rewarding stint in teaching. Some of them (students) did not know letters, they could not make the sound of letters, but by the end of term one, they were reading", she said.

Burrell-Brown explained that she once harboured thoughts of becoming a nurse but ended up in teaching when she went to a school in Johns Hall some miles away from Frankfield. She said the school had a shortage of pretrained teachers and her mother encouraged her to apply.

A born teacher

Mrs. Burrell-Brown explained that she went for an interview for one of the posts and was asked to stay on that same morning to start working. She said that the principal, 'Aunt Min', whose correct name was Minnie Marshall, helped to mould her as a teacher.

She said she was 18 and Marshall (now deceased), gave her a Grade six class with more than 50 students to teach. She said some time after, she and a colleague went to do the nursing entrance examination and they were both successful.

However, while her other colleague was allowed to leave, the principal encouraged her to remain because she was a born teacher.

Burrell-Brown said she went to Shortwood Teachers' College to acquire training, and after finishing, she went to the Baileston Primary School to work for a year. She then went on to the Spaldings Primary School where she has been ever since.

The veteran teacher said she dislikes the habit of teachers not getting feedback from students about what they have been taught. She added that she likes to be able to put students in a position where they have to think.

Mrs. Burrell-Brown attributed the inability of some teachers to provide opportunities for student feedback to the pressure of finishing their syllabuses. She however, believes that time should be set aside for students to bring out their thoughts.

The educator added that when students discover things for themselves they have a hard time forgetting, as the information gets stuck in their brains.

"My motto in teaching has always been, I hear and I forget, I see and I remember, I do and I never forget that. So if we take children along that path and let them do instead of telling them, you will find out that they are smart," she said.

The teacher stated that if she was given the opportunity to work as the Minister of Education, first she would make primary education compulsory, and the second thing she would do is to implement a feeding programme for primary school children.

The mother of Miguel, Geovanni and Analisa said if primary education is made compulsory, parents would be breaking the law if they refuse to send their children to school.