What is your opinion on Campion College, its students and its graduates?

Question

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/html/20080619T210000-0500_136942_OBS_ANOTHER_GSAT_CONTROVERSY.asp

Reading the above article, where it appears that so many students are still dying to get into Campion (or perhaps their parents are dying to see them there), i wonder: what do other Jamaicans think about the school? Here is one student who wil have to travel to kingston, bypassing all other schools! What say you?

Answer 1

Years from now, those parents hyperventilating over GSAT will realise that there is so much more to life than GSAT, Campion, 100% or horror of horrors children not passing for their school of first choice! Too many Jamaican children have committed suicide over GSAT exams and this really emphasizes how frivolous all of this is. There are presently children who did well who cannot enjoy their accomplishments because of parents' & other people's perceptions and children who did not do so well who are grateful that the wait is over.

With relatives, friends and with relatives and friends whose children have attended or are attending Jamaica College, Immaculate, Wolmer's High Boys, Wolmer's High Girls, St. George's College, Ardenne, St. Jago High, St. Hugh’s, Camperdown, Campion, Papine High, Calabar, Mona High, St. Andrew High, Kingston College, Titchfield High, Hampton High my answer would basically be that the test of a school is the calibre of the adult it helps to mould and how it deals with those who are having difficulties.

To me, Campion is just another school: a school that some want to go to and some don't want to go to, a typical school where some excel and some don't, a school where students transfer to and from, an average school in terms of the eventual achievements of those students who move on into the working or professional world.. It does seem to have a good PR/damage control team and the students display a loyalty to their School which again is quite normal and typical.

Answer 2

They r not geniuses .Some kids who go there actually pass 4 it but most ppl there r some snotty dunce-head rich kids who are stuck up.They have to pay lots of monet though and they dont learn n e thing but it is classed as an uptown skool so ppl dying over it and it is ntn

Answer 3

Aamshouse deh everyweh, Ministry of education nuh care wha de qualification ah innercity teachers is. Mi feel mi cudda step outa de bar an go an eny innacity school an say mi is ah kemistry teacher,  dem hyah mi pon di spot. Ministry naa check out dat. Some ina city high school ave likkle ar no science pass ina CXC, ministry no bizness wid dat, dem nuh improve di school lab dem, all dem need dem school deh fa is fi use as pollin stations, yuh nuh need kemistry fi dat, just likkle maths and likkle bit ah english. yuh eva see some ah dem phyical education man teacha dem, real pimp an galiss dem, diffrant ting dem ah laan di youn gurls dem.

Caan blame de parent fi try sen dem pickney ah de bess school dem by eny means nessisary.

If I pass de bret alizah tess me gone ah Campion miself,  kemistry an language teacha, Mr Waters Hq. sir. boassie nuh brute.

Answer 4

campion college students are so d**n stuck up....they think they are all that. they are not that smart as majority of them do extra classes. They are certainly NOT the top school in the island. its jus a certain hype why parents wanna get them kids there cause they think its the best, when it is not. and the students there are bad in almost every sense of the word and some a dem behave like they are better than others.

Answer 5

I went to Campion College from 1st to 5th form between the years of 1999 to 2004. Before I had gone to Campion there were all these myths about how stuck up the students are and the rich children that go there and what not. While there used to be a tradition of elitism and exclusivity at Campion it is no longer the case now and people really need to understand that. These myths and legends have to be disspelled immediately. My experience has been this. I was in the first batch of students to take the Grade Six Achievement Test in order to gain entry into secondary school. The GSAT like its predecessor the Common Entrance Exam opened the floodgates and allowed more children right across the board to get into traditional high schools like Campion College. Rich or poor, the GSAT served as an equalizer.

Going into 1st form there were all kinds of students around me. Some from the best preparatory schools like Sts. Peter and Paul (which I expected) and then some from schools such as St. Richards Primary school. Seeing that makes you realise that some of these children enter Campion based on pure merit (even if that wasn't the case before) not based on money or politics. Seeing the older children however made me also realise why people have judged Campion so unfairly. Many of them were light-skinned. Let's face it. People think that only "high colour" people go to Campion. While that isn't so true now it seemed to have been the case. I remember in 5th form standing on the stage with my class to moderate the assembly I saw the actual transformation in terms of colour that Campion had made and the memory stays with me. The students are lined up in columns based on forms. So looking at the side with the 1st to 3rd formers one could see that that side of the room was noticeably darker(and I'm not talking about the lighting) than the side with the 4th to 5th formers and then the 6th formers at the back. You could literally see that as the years progressed more and more black children were attending Campion College.

As a Campion alumnus, I can say that parents are clamoring to get their children into Campion because the quality of education is CLEARLY there. It  has one of the best faculty of teachers that I have ever seen. Whether the teachers there are results-oriented or genuinely want children to learn and apply knowledge, one thing is a fact: they are good and thorough at what they do. And year after year it shows.

You will find stuck-up, snobbish children anywhere you go especially if the school is steeped in tradition. Snobbery is not peculiar to Campion College. Unlike ,say Immaculate Conception High School, Campion is not overrun with cliques and groups based on colour and/or status. It is a school where the children find common ground whether through sports, extra-curricular activities or academics and they integrate with each other. There is no real pressure there to fit in.

Answer 6

That they are mostly (not all) rich snotty brats that think they are smarter than everybody else but really they are not- just privileged to have rich snotty parents that would hire private tutors and pressure their poor little bottoms (no t.v., studying till 10:00pm, when bedtime should be 8: 00) to get them into (and keep) their poor little bottoms in such a 'prestigious' school, where the staff is too lazy to work with nothing but 'smart' children, then take all credit for the kids' hard work. It's  a screwed up country we live in!

The schools I give credit are the ones that take on the most challenges, against all odds, with parents that couldn't care less and still turn out respectable, successful people of society. They do exist... Just that they aren't as 'great' as oh' mighty Campion College, so of course we will rarely hear of them.

add-  That's why I said NOT ALL (it's in the brackets) ....and yeah, you do come off as being a bit stuck up (no offence)... I will never forget the "how much rich people do you know" question, yeah that was a laugh.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;...

And of course you're entitled to your opinion. At least that's the way I see it. It's just that recently aparently some people just discovered the 'thumbs down' button.

add again- Stelise, I'm not rying to generalise, but I know what I'm saying isn't far from the truth.

Take the kid in that article, for example... He was made to study until 10:00 every night? The kid is eleven, he should be in his bed from eight! And she proudly declares this! I honestly don't think he would care too much about going to Campion....He's leaving his home in Mo- Bay You know how big of a change (and unneccesary) that is for a little boy?

I also knew to girls that used to go Campion ...they were not allowed to watch television, or even have a social life outside school, for that matter. Stereotypes didn't just appear out of nowhere.

I can't stand parents like this ...they are just as bad as the ones that couldn't care less. Reason being, they try to live their lives through their children.

And you made my point again by saying that Campion isn't the only school that does this... But for some reason EVERY PARENT in Jamaica think so, and that's why one will always hear of cases like this where parents pressure their kids to get into this institution, hence the reason why the Stereotypes about your institution  will continue to exist.

BTW: I wouldn't boast about the extra curricular activities if I were you. You see, most schools ENCOURAGE students to take part, not FORCE them to do so by holding their graduation certificates over their heads. This makes me wonder: to what extremes will the heads of this school go to make their school look better than every other? Forcing kids to take part in 1 sport and 1 community outreach programme will NOT,  I repeat, NOT make them like sports or become charitable citizens IF THEY NEVER HAD 'IT' IN THEM to begin with. So thanks for making Campion College look worse in my eyes.

Answer 7

To give an unbiased, honest opinion, one would have to not only attend Campion College, but also be exposed to other secondary institutions both similar and dissimilar to Campion.

There is a reason why that student from Mobay is willing to travel to Campion -- obviously there is something very special about the school that would motivate that move.

What though is special?

When most people think of Campion College, their mind immediately associates the school with the STEREOTYPE of boring, over-privileged, super-genius, stuck-up kids coming from the upper echelon of society whose parents have pushed them to achieve the heights of academics and nothing else. I know this is a stereotype, as one person has already answered this question expousing that very view.

That, however, could not be further from the truth.

What makes Campion College so special is the ability of the institution to strike a balance -- the kind of balance that is so integral to the development of students in all facets of their lives. Campion achieves this balance by focusing equally on the mental and physical development of its students; and by stressing involvement of its students in community development as well.

Did you know that in order to graduate from Campion you must participate in AT LEAST two clubs -- one of which MUST be a sport, and the other MUST be a club involved in community outreach and improvement?

The academic achievements of students and graduates of Campion College speak for themselves, those do not need to be mentioned. Campionites are world-renown in a myriad of areas, such as medicine, the arts, engineering, politics, law and the media.

A lot of people try to DISCREDIT the achievements of Campion by saying that such accomplishments are the result of over-privilege and private tutelage. In other words, people think Campionites do well because they are rich. Again, this is far from the truth. Campion is practically synonymous with DIVERSITY (I am so glad you brought this point out stingjam). The school takes pride in having students from every background, whether racial, social, economic, religious or whatever. Working together as one is encouraged at Campion -- there are less sects and cliques at Campion than at many other secondary schools. Persons are not alientated or made to feel inadequate simply because they are different.  Campion believes in giving each student an equal opportunity to learn and enjoy learning. And as for the MYTH that Campionites slavishly labor over schoolwork and nothing else, that hardly reflects the average Campionite -- like any other human, they have challenges with schoolwork and strive to overcome these challenges through hard work without foregoing recreation.

I don't know of any Campionite with a private tutor, and most do not even attend extra classes, but even if they do go to extras, is that a sin? Students from other schools go to extras and some may very well have tutors too.

Not to be forgotten are the teachers at Campion College, who are truly dedicated to inspiring a culture of personal responsibility and accountability in students to help them develop not only academically, but also as productive members of society with a purpose. If you are exposed to the methods of some teachers at other institutions and compare them to the ones at Campion, sadly you will find two very different scenarios - teachers who inspire and motivate on one hand, and teachers who are unable to do more than put down and discourage their students and turn them off from learning.

I believe that every student in Jamaica should get the opportunity to attend a school like Campion. It is a model of what secondary education should be like. Instead of fostering animosity toward Campion students and graduates, persons (and the government of course) should be focusing on how to make ALL secondary institutions in Jamaica just like Campion.

Personally, I think it is very sad that the GSAT examination forces children from such a tender age to go to a school that in many cases decides their future.

There are many other wonderful secondary institutions in Jamaica who strike the same balance and have the same high standards as Campion, such schools should also be commended for their efforts. deserve commendation and recognition for their efforts.

Campion College It is a secondary institution like no other -- its students are fortunate to be there, and its graduates are proud of their school. There is nothing wrong with this.

And that's my opinion..

Answer 8

Campion is a good school, one the top 5. However, it is not the top school. Like many other schools in the same category, Campion has its share of upper-class students. The school has a great reputation for turning out leaders in their perspective fields. Another credit for the school that makes it popular to students is that it is the co-ed institution in the top 5 corporate area schools.

If you are looking for the creme of the crop you will need to venture a little further down to Marescaux Rd where brilliant minds are hard at work at Wolmer's High School for Girls.

Answer 9

The students there are frickin' geniuses. But hey,  it's not the only school that's 'all that'. Look at Belair School for example. So I don't see why they're all dying to go to Campion.

P.S. I couldn't bother to read the article. hehe xD