BY GEORGE HENRY, STAR Writer

Sophia Cohen assisting a student with her work, at the Sanguinetti Primary School recently. - george henry photo

spaldings, clarendon

Sophia Cohen has spent the past 16 years in the classroom as a teacher. Though nursing was her first love, she is enjoying her work as a teacher and has no plans of leaving education in the near or distant future.

"One of the time I thought about nursing but I did not bother to follow up on it. From early I realised that I really liked teaching," said Mrs. Cohen.

Her mind was turned from nursing when her mother was admitted to a hospital. She said on one occasion when she went to visit her mother, she saw a number of ill persons who had different ailments. The trauma associated with their illnesses caused her to change her mind.

Her entry in teaching has proven to her that the profession has its ups and downs. But according to Cohen, once a teacher enjoys the students he or she teaches and they what is being taught, the profession will be rewarding.

Feels like quitting

She added that sometimes she feels like quitting teaching, especially when set objectives are not achieved at the end of a term and when her students do not reach a high level of learning. However, according to her, when she realises that some students excel and some do not, she gets the energy to continue.

She told THE STAR that she was trained as a secondary school teacher at Church Teachers' College in Mandeville, Manchester, where she received specialist training in science and physical education. After leaving college in 1991, she taught at Spaldings High for one term before moving on to Alston High where she spent five years before moving closer to home to the Sanguinetti Primary School in Clarendon where she has been working since.

"I would not give up teaching now for any other job. I want to spend some more time in it to assist children in getting a lead in life. I want to help students to sort out themselves, so that they can decide which direction they wish to go in life," she said.

Mrs. Cohen pointed out that if she was given the chance to be the Minister of Education, she would make a few changes at the primary level of the education system. She said she would seek to stamp out the American style that is being adopted in schools where teachers can hardly administer punishment to students when they behave badly.

Powerless to punish

Though Cohen is not saying that teachers should go about ill-treating students, she believes local teachers are almost powerless in administering the necessary punishment when students 'fall out of line'.

The educator wants parents to know that they are to give their children as much help as possible with their homework. She stated that parents should give their children guidance with their homework, so that they can improve all the time in their education; as education is a way of moving up the social ladder.

"If a child does not get a solid foundation where education is concerned, it is as if that child is going to be lost.

Children learn a lot during the formative years up to age seven, and so parents need to make sure that they are around and emphasise reading among the children. You should read to your children, as reading is the way to go," said Mrs. Cohen.

As for children, she wants them to be as focused as possible on their lessons. Cohen explained that students should know what they are about from the primary level, but noted that parents should be around to help guide them in the right direction.