June 2001

• JDF Officer earns Doctorate
• Reconciling the Soldier, the State and God

JDF Officer Earns Doctorate
After Receiving Competitive International Academic Scholarship

Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) officer, Major Rocky Meade, was awarded the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, in Linguistics, when he recently defended his thesis, ‘Acquisition of Jamaican Phonology’, at the University of Amsterdam, Netherlands. He is the first JDF officer to attain this level of academic achievement while serving in the Force and the first Jamaican to earn his doctorate in this discipline in the Netherlands.

Major Meade was awarded a very competitive international scholarship by the Netherlands Foundation for the Advancement of Tropical Research (WOTRO) in 1996. This was followed by four years of research and writing, had him travelling on several occasions between Jamaica and the Netherlands.

This was not the first occasion on which Major Meade has represented the country well on the international stage. As an Officer Cadet at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in the United Kingdom, in 1984, he was awarded the Sovereign’s Cane for being the top international officer trainee. Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II presented the award to him personally and he had the rare honour of dining with Her Majesty after the graduation parade.

"I chose to serve in the JDF as I wanted to contribute in a disciplined environment and to fulfil my love of flying," Major Meade said. Having earned his private pilots licence as a cadet at Wolmer’s Boys’ School at the age of 16 and passed the JDF Air Wing’s aptitude test, he was considered too young to serve in the Force. After completing his ‘A’ Levels and following a short stint at the then Jamaica Telephone Company, Major Meade began his military career and is now in his 18^th year of service.

During his career in the JDF, Major Meade has successfully completed several military courses of study both locally and overseas to include the United Kingdom, France, the United States of America, Canada and Barbados. He has also participated in a number of military conferences and workshops in Jamaica, Honduras, El Salvador and Panama. He has held a number posts including: Platoon Commander in the Second Battalion the Jamaica Regiment; Pilot Officer, Administrative Officer and Officer Commanding the Number One Flight of the JDF Air Wing. He has also acted as Commanding Officer of the Air Wing. After leaving the Air Wing he served as Operations and Training Officer of the 1st Engineer Regiment (JDF) and more recently in staff appointments in the Headquarters, JDF. He has also served as a member of the Directing Staff at the Caribbean Junior Command and Staff College at the JDF Training Depot, Newcastle.

The majority of Major Meade’s tertiary level academic pursuits were done on a part-time basis while serving in the JDF. This was possible due to the fact that the JDF facilitates personal academic development subject to the exigencies of the Force. He read for his first two degrees, BA and MA, at the University of the West Indies (UWI) and frequently found himself deployed on military duty overseas while in the middle of the University’s academic year.

"On such occasions I did not seek leave of absence from the University, but would instead create the time to visit libraries in order to complete my assignments and send them by express courier to my lecturers at UWI," Major Meade explained. The major’s recent PhD research project required him to be in Amsterdam for extended periods of up to one year. On these occasions he received leave of absence for study, for which he has expressed gratitude to the JDF and the Defence Board.

Major Meade also acknowledged the help received from his supervisors Professors Anne Baker and Hubert Devonish, and Doctor Norval Smith; the support of the funding agency, WOTRO; the contribution of his informants and facilitators and the encouragement from his family, colleagues and friends. The informants of whom he spoke are 24 children, aged one to four and a half years, and recruited primarily from St. Catherine to provide data for the PhD project.

"I selected these children on the basis that recording and analysing their speech could provide information on the process by which children acquire the phonology, or sound system, of the languages in Jamaica," Major Meade said of his research methodology. Yes, he did say languages. Major Meade revealed that he believes that "Jamaican Creole is a language clearly distinct from English."

Major Meade’s findings suggest that Jamaican children acquire their language(s), or at least the phonology thereof, at a comparable rate and with a similar sequence to children in other countries, especially the United Kingdom. He also found that the majority of the children were learning some form of Jamaican Creole (Patois) at home and were likely to be at a disadvantage when they enter the school system, which is based on the English language as the primary medium of instruction.

"Primary education should be conducted with Jamaican Creole as one of the media of instruction," he contends, "and English taught in greater detail using the methods that would be used to teach a foreign language." This he believes will allow the children first to become literate in a language they already know and then become adequately competent in English before they get to the secondary level. He maintains that, "children would have more self-confidence when learning in a familiar language," which should result in better performance in general.

In his book, ‘Acquisition of Jamaican Phonology’, Major Meade also proposed a new theoretical approach to one aspect of general phonological theory. Asked to comment on the connection between his thesis and the JDF, Major Meade responded that the benefits may not be immediately obvious but that he sees benefits for the country as a whole. "The long-term benefits of a more literate population are obvious and accounts for the greatest potential advantage for the country," he remarked.

"The project helped tremendously in improving my planning, research, management and problem solving skills, which are easily transferable to just about any area I am called upon to serve," he added confidently.

With such a high level of academic achievement one would expect Major Meade to be on a fast track to a professorship at a tertiary institution. However, without hesitation, he stated that he intends to continue serving in the JDF.

"I will attempt to keep my academic skills finely tuned by publishing papers, making presentations at conferences and teaching part-time courses as and when the JDF obligations allow", said Meade in explaining his plans for the immediate future.

For those with interest in the military, Major Meade sees the JDF as an excellent career choice that not only allows one to serve in varied professional disciplines and trades, such as pilot, engineer, lawyer, infantry soldier, seaman, technician, but also allows for personal development subject to the exigencies of the Force. To potential and serving members he had this to say:

"Strive for high academic standards in school so that you can be equipped for outstanding careers such as those offered by the JDF." To his serving colleagues, he said, "I encourage personal development but not at the expense of your obligations to the JDF and the country."