or reforms are made to the education system.

Montessori Academy board member Mrs. Marion DeJean, who sat on the Education Planning Team, sounded this warning yesterday.

And Mrs. DeJean, who taught English for more than 30 years in Bermuda and Canada, said she and other veteran educators had been preaching the same message for years.

But, she said, without the opportunity for dialogue with the Education Department and a strong, "enlightened'' secondary school section at the department, their efforts would continue to be fruitless.

While praising the Island's primary schools and planned education reforms, particularly the introduction of middle schools, Mrs. DeJean said too many students were falling through the cracks at high school level.

"It amazes me that discussions are frequently held on horrendous problems involving young people and education is never held to account,'' she said.

Mrs. DeJean recalled that when she returned from teaching in Canada during the early 1980s, she noticed that high school students were not only "bereft of language, but that their minds were starved''.

"They were being forced to repeat primary school work,'' she said, "and being denied access not only to good literature, but to hands-on science training, even to algebra and geometry, which at the Montessori Academy we expect seven and eight-year-olds to tackle.'' While two strategies which she submitted as a member of the EPT were being used, Mrs. DeJean said "without opportunity for dialogue you can't even explain how much is still missing''.

"I'm not sure that enough educators understand that we can't teach today, the way we taught years ago.

"At an earlier period, parents, teachers, church and scout leaders all reinforced one another's teaching in terms of expectations for morality and behaviour. There were no mixed messages.'' Mrs. DeJean said she did not believe the Education Department had a section large or strong enough to develop a proper secondary school curriculum.

She said Bermuda needed subject-oriented professionals who were appointed on the basis of their understanding of both international trends and local needs.

Education Minister the Hon. Gerald Simons said he shared Mrs. DeJean's concerns about what was happening at secondary schools.

"In fact,'' he said, "it was because of my concern, for boys particularly, that I set up the EPT.'' Mr. Simons said committees, including teachers, had been set up under senior education officer Dr. Joseph Christopher to look at curriculum.

He said the committees would consider those things that have worked in the past and what can work in the future.