SEA results are out!
Last night (and today), thousands of anxious parents across T&T accessed the SEA results via the online portal, to find out which secondary school their children had “passed for.” For many families, this was the moment they had been preparing for over the last two years and it all culminated in one result and one school placement.
Recently, I realised that one of the things we do not talk about enough is how SEA teaches children about their “place” in society. It teaches them how society works and, more specifically, how equality and inequality are understood in T&T.
George Orwell’s famous line from Animal Farm comes to mind: “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” Our behaviour around SEA often shows this clearly. We claim that all schools matter and all children have potential, yet every year we treat some school placements as successes and others as disappointments.
Children as young as 11 and 12 years old are taught that the secondary school they “pass for” defines their worth and places them in a certain category. Some schools are treated as better than others, and because of that, some children begin to feel that they are better than others, while others are made to feel less than. No one may say this directly, but children understand it.
They see the excitement when certain school names are called. They notice when one uniform is celebrated, while another is treated as second and third best.
The lesson is not simply, “You are going to this school.” The deeper lesson becomes, “This is how society sees your school, and maybe this is how society sees you.” That is a heavy message for a child who is just beginning secondary school.
Some children are already made to feel superior or inferior based on the primary school they attend but this class and hierarchy is further deepened by SEA and secondary school.
A child who gets into a highly desired school is often celebrated but too often the child who is placed in a less desired school is comforted, encouraged or pitied— “Don’t worry, you could still do well there.”
And yes, that may be said with good intentions, but it also exposes the bias, because it makes the school sound like something the child has to overcome.
SEA also teaches children about class before many even fully understand what class means. It introduces them very early to the politics of prestige, where school placement is tied to family resources, geography, reputation, social networks and money.
Some children enter the exam with years of extra lessons, private tutors, devices, quiet study spaces and stable homes, reliable transport and parents who can afford every additional resource. Others may be just as intelligent and just as capable, but they do not have the same level of support.
So, even before children reach secondary school they begin to see that success is not only about ability or hard work. It is also about access.
That is why we have to be careful when we speak about SEA as though it is a fair exam where every child has the same chance. Yes, every child may write the same paper, but every child does not enter that exam with the same preparation and support. This is something we don’t think about when the results come out. In fact, we often celebrate the outcome without thinking enough about the conditions that produced it.
We know that T&T is a highly stratified society.
We are divided by race, colour, class and wealth. SEA perpetuates this. We know that the children whose parents can afford extra lessons, private tutors and other resources often enter the exam with an advantage. Those with money and connections can sometimes even buy their way into prestige schools. Let’s not pretend that this does not happen. These children are then placed into a different social group, or they continue in the same social group if they came from a private or highly regarded primary school.
Education was meant to be one of the clearest paths to upward social mobility, and in many ways it still is.
Many families in T&T have used education to move out of poverty, enter professions and give their children better opportunities. But ironically, at the SEA level, education also enforces divisions.
Children are placed into schools that society has already ranked, and before they even enter Form One, some are made to feel that they are on the right path while others are made to feel that they have to prove themselves. So, while education is supposed to create opportunity, SEA shows that opportunity is not shared equally.
Ultimately, any reform concerning secondary school placement cannot only be administrative. The Ministry may change the exam or introduce new forms of assessment, but the deeper problem will remain if society continues to treat children differently based on the school they attend. It is not enough to claim that all children are equal if our attitudes and actions suggest that some school uniforms carry more worth than others.
Every child must know that SEA may decide a school placement but it must never be allowed to decide their place in society.
