Publisher's Synopsis
The book represents a reflection upon the molding influence of Meadowbrook High School on the cohort of students attending between 1958, it's year of inception and 1979. This 21-year period saw the school growing from a small community-based grammar school, serving primarily the adjacent communities of Meadowbrook, and Havendale; with an initial enrolment of 28 students; to one offering a comprehensive range of study options to a catchment area embracing the entire corporate area; setting the stage for a current enrolment of over 1400 students. We confidently assert that our cohort is uniquely equipped to claim a consequential impact on the school's evolved ethos, given the coincidental epochal changes in Jamaican history including the following, in which we were we every bit, active participants: - The opening up of broad-based access to secondary education beginning in 1958; - Jamaica's gaining of Independence from Britain in 1962; - The emergence of Rastafari and Reggae Music as lasting cultural influences both locally and globally; and - The Black Power and Student Democracy movements of the mid-to-late 1960s which created the template for Jamaican youth exerting significant influence on the socio-cultural direction of their country. Through informal exchanges via social media, a cross section of alumni offer, by way of vignettes, snapshots of the historical, socio-cultural and political environment, which permanently impacted our individual worldviews. As examples: (A) The social dynamics of the switch from 'Fee-Payers' to 'Free Placers', consequent upon the introduction of the Common Entrance Examination in 1958, as the basis for state-funded placement in High Schools and the subsequent 70: 30 Policy of 1963 which significantly broadened access to secondary education for the children of Jamaica's marginalized classes. (B) The 1966 visit of Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia which heralded social acceptance of Rastafari across Jamaica's rigid class structure; (C) The 1968 'Rodney Riots' and Rodney's 'Caribbeanization' of Black Consciousness (D) The inescapable influence of the Civil Rights and Black Power movements in the United States on our cohort are also reviewed anecdotally. Profuse tributes are paid to the great teachers who, in our assessment, went 'way beyond the call of duty' in providing an effective learning environment for each individual student. As might be expected from such reminiscing among students coming of age in a unique, culturally rich era, there is also bound to be some degree of 'riotous banter', sometimes bordering on gaucherie or even irreverence. Thus, even a few teachers considered supercilious; or in other cases, eccentric; fell victims to the very candid 'pens' of their former charges. The book is intended as a Fund Raiser in commemoration of the 60th Anniversary of Meadowbrook High School, whose establishment in 1958 marked a late foray into secondary education by the then 'Presbyterian Church' - now part of 'The United Church in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands'. The net proceeds will contribute to the establishment of 'The Mickolle Moulton Memorial Scholarship' to mark the tragic death, in July 2017, of a most promising fifth former - in fact - then awaiting the results of her CSEC Examinations and who was eulogized by her Principal, Mr. Michael Peart, as having been a strong future candidate for Head Girl. The book is intended for a broad audience of readers interested in the evolution of Jamaica's education system, and in particular that of Secondary Education, over the past sixty years. The core readership comprises the more than 3,000 members of the Meadowbrook High School Past Students Association (MHSPSA) resident in Jamaica as well as in the Jamaican Diaspora.
