Est.2007

Barbados Underground

Bringing News and Opinions to the People

Banner promoting anonymous crime reporting with a phone and contact number 1 800 TIPS (8477), featuring the Crime Stoppers logo and a QR code for submitting tips.

University Of The West Indies Sued By Rhodes Scholar Luke Robert Browne

← Back

Your message to the BLOGMASTER was sent

CONTACT THE BLOGMASTER ONLY

Lets clear up some things … Luke is not a lawyer and he certainly did not study law at UWI. So please do not say he is a young lawyer or a lawyer for that matter because he is not. He was in the Faculty of Social Sciences.

While I understand Luke’s dilemma I do not believe his case has a strong foundation for several reasons including those mentioned by other posters. I don’t want to step on anyone’s toes but I believe that an LL.B. is far more demanding than a degree in the social sciences so imagine if Luke were in the Faculty of Law – he would hold a press conference with CNN!!!

I have first hand experience with members of some faculties trying to distinguish the ‘goat’ from the ‘sheep’ and while I can understand why they would do this I cannot agree that an exam should be set especially difficult to achieve this end. I believe exams should be reflective of what was taught in class or covered on the syllabus/worksheets.

Some courses, especially those in Law, Medicine, Actuarial Science, etc cover large areas and students have to be guided as to what is relevant to their present purposes to the exclusion of what may be covered at another time. But its as if some lecturers lecture a course on the ‘automobile’s engine’ and set a question on how the mechanics of a car stereo.

Some lecturers also don’t make themselves available for consultation, they refuse to entertain student concerns about the course, and even tutors sometimes complain about the delivery of courses and the overall lack of interest of most lecturers in certain faculties. I have had many lecturers canceled because someone had to go to a board meeting, a prior engagement, traveling or went to play golf with a businessman, diplomat or judge – ridiculous!!!

Yes there are many problems with UWI Cave Hill and the only merit of Luke’s lawsuit will be to bring some attention to the difficulties faced by students at this institution.

Source: And Still i Rise Blog

The above extract was taken from a sister blog out of St.Vincent. Late last year when the 21 year old Robert Luke Browne won 2008 Rhodes Scholar for the Eastern Caribbean BU applauded the selection of the young man. In recent days the news broke that Luke has decided to sue the University of the West Indies (UWI) because he was awarded an Upper Second Class Honours Degree instead of the First Class Honours he expected. Feedback has come fast and furious from both sides on the issue. We decided to blog about the issue not because we have an opinion on the matter but because we are interested in what the BU family has to say on the issue.

Over the years we have seen the growth of the UWI with more and more of our young people gaining access to tertiary education. We acknowledge the fact that the UWI is a regional institution is fully accredited and has taken its place in the world of respected educational institutions. BU and some members of the BU family have been critical about some of the policy approaches occurring at UWI under the stewardship of Sir Hilary Beckles. It is no secret that the BU household has some concerns about the quality of the finished product being churned out by the UWI. The business community in the region has been very vocal about deficiencies seen in the UWI graduate when they enter the workplace. In recent days there has been conversation in the traditional media in Barbados about the lack of basic English skills of the UWI student.

As the commenter alluded to in the extract above, at minimum the law suit will drive debate on  current practices at the UWI. If Sir Hilary is the educator we hope he is, he should use the feedback to improve the workings at Cave Hill. Given UWI’s affiliation to St. Augustine in Trinidad and Mona in Jamaica those universities would benefit from the exercise as well.

We end by complimenting a few of the UWI lecturers and the professors who have been coming public on some of the issues affecting civil society in Barbados and the Caribbean.  A lot of the respect which the late Wendell McClean and Neville Duncan  would have garnered is linked to their willingness to channel ideas into the public space. We may not agree or have agreed with them on all the issues but the injection of views from the world of academia is a constructive exercise.

Discover more from Barbados Underground

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

77 responses to “University Of The West Indies Sued By Rhodes Scholar Luke Robert Browne”

  1. me Avatar
    me

    wow…so he did not receive the grades he wanted so he sues….how very american of him. I think he is being ridiculous. I do agree that some attention will be brought about the conditions faced by the students an for this reason I look forward to the developments.

    As an employer I also agree that some not all of the UWI students are UNDEReducated or simply do not make the standard!

  2. The scout Avatar
    The scout

    This shows the level of arrogance that some of these students are developing. Because he won a Rhodes Scholarship, he thinks he automatically be granted 1st class honours. He has to work for it. The problem some of these youngsters face is that life is too damn easy for them and they think this society owes them something. If you want to excel you have to work hard for it; nothing is given to you on a silver platter.

  3. Degree Avatar
    Degree

    There is talk that some of the mark in some of the courses is manipulated to maintain the PASSMARK. True?

  4. Avatar
    Anonymous

    I dont think it’s fair to judge the young man as arrogant. This is a good wake up call for the university. It’s great that students are finally taking their grouses to the Internet. The world has changed and if this is the way to get the attention of the decision-makers then so be it.
    For a college that teaches the latest in management theories, you would think that they would apply it to themselves.
    College starts next week. I invite BU to go to the bookstore anyday next week with a camera and see how horrible, backward and student unfriendly that environment is.
    Long ridiculous lines, cramped conditions and the list goes on. You would think that a library and a bookstore are more important on a campus than a cricket field, wouldn’t you?

    What Luke did is just the beginning. There’s a lot more of that to come. These youngsters were born in a different age and the decision-makers are still stuck in time and refuse to listen to them.
    Go Luke go!

  5. BWWR Avatar
    BWWR

    Anonymous, are you the self-same Anonymous that railed so against the dismissal of “Professor” John Knox from UWI? It seems to me that you are. Based solely on the information provided here, I agree wholeheartedly with the Scout. I also consider the comments of Anonymous to be in keeping with its principal of tear down anyone or anything that does not submit to what it wants.

    The input of UWITRUTH on this one will be as interesting as in the case of MR. John Knox.

    When your friend Luke loses his case before the Barbados courts and, if he goes that route, the Caribbean Court of Justice, no doubt he will sue the UWI in another country and, given that he is a Rhodes Scholar, Rhodesia seems a good country in which to re-file.

  6. dominoes Avatar
    dominoes

    This person must have got some inside information that he got first class honours but was given second class honours.A lot of unfair things goes on at Universities.

  7. Banned Again From BFP Avatar
    Banned Again From BFP

    I am not so high on academic types, and am becoming less high as time passes.

    There were athletes that brought fame, fortune and yes bucket loads of pride to the region over the past two weeks.

    It is a female artiste who is selling Barbados all over Europe, Africa, Asia and North America.

    But it is a group of academics who are engaging in activities such as nationalising the Water and Sewage Company, St. Lucia’s lone public water utility company, and the selling the region fortunes to Europe without adequate public debate with an unnecessary EPA.

    So what if this guys academic record is tarnished. When his time comes to contribute he will fail us all like the rest of them. We need doers and producers, not people who excel at telling others what to do.

    No pity here.

  8. The scout Avatar
    The scout

    Whatever the outcome of this particular case, this young man’s career is tarnished by his own folly and arrogance. I hope this teaches the others like him to work hard for what they need and not try to force their way into the impossible. Next thing every student will be suing for 1st class honours.

  9. Georgie Porgie Avatar
    Georgie Porgie

    @ me
    I agree with “me” that this ridiculous lad is behaving like the American students whom I have taught. This is especially because UWI has a system of external examiners to ensure that exams are conducted fairly and with out bias.

    I don’t think that UWI students are UNDEReducated but I wonder if the lecturers are “curving” so much that students are passing without meeting the standard, so that the lecturer’s results look good. Especially today when students seem more interested in passing rather than knowing the subject matter. In the pass it was possible to fail because you were unlucky to get on the exam only stuff that you didn’t know well; even though your truly knew 75-80% of the course well.

    @ Degree

    In some schools lecturers “curve” to maintain the % of their students who pass. Say that the pass mark is 70% and the top mark received by only one student is 72, and many persons in the class got say 58 or more. The teacher may add 12 marks to all the members of the class such that the range of marks is now from 70-84, and the whole class now passes, whereas in fact only one student received the pass mark of 70.

    I tell my students at the beginning of my course that I DO NOT CURVE. If you get 69, it is 69. The only curves that I look at, are those on the girls!

    @ The scout
    You will be surprised at the level of arrogance that students display today. The question is how is it that this lad could win a Rhodes Scholarship and is unable to get 1st class honours at UWI.
    Did Bolt win the 100 metres at the Olympics, at did it very very clearly such that there was no doubt about his brilliance?

    @ Anonymous
    I agree with you that a library and a bookstore are more important on a campus than a cricket field, and as much as I love cricket I think that there is way too much emphasis on cricket at Cave Hill. I am sure that even Oxford or Cambridge that traditionally produced the English cricket captains don’t have masters programs in cricket.

    Whereas it may be true that the decision-makers are still stuck in time and refuse to listen, I think that if the youngster was indeed a genuine first class honors student, he would have got the grades to accomplish this. One wonders if he is really deserving of a Rhodes Scholarship or if he is not the beneficiary of some tokenism.

    Like you I have no problem with students taking their genuine unheard grouses to the Internet if the decision-makers are still stuck in time and refuse to listen to them.

    @ Banned Again From BFP
    Although I am an academic type, I agree with your opinion 100%.

  10. Really now ... Avatar
    Really now …

    Good point, Banned Again…!

  11. Queen Avatar
    Queen

    He’s suing over honours????? get a life man!!! He needs a lesson in humility if he is suing for something like that. Why don’t all the people who got lower honours than they wanted just sue as well, and everyone who “just passed” sue for honours???

    Matter of fact, why don’t we all start suing (a la americans), and start suing for things we felt we should have achieved but didn’t. I didn’t go to Harrison College, I think I’ll sue if the limitation period on that isn’t gone.

    Does he know how many people barely miss 1st class honours that have passed through UWI and he is the only pompous idiot that thinks he has a right to sue, since he thinks he was obviously gauranteed those honours.

    I’ll say though that it will be an even bigger joke if this “suit” succeeds.

  12. Avatar
    Anonymous

    any degree, even a pass degree, is honourable and upper 2nd class is no less so

    providing that you have put in the work , a degree is nothing to sneeze at -it is hardwork even moreso at cave hill

    boy tek yuh degree and be happy
    yuh tink uwi gwine bend to your wishes

  13. J Avatar
    J

    Dear Luke:

    Soon you will be in the real, real world. In that real, real world, nobody cares about your mummy or daddy, nobody cares where you went to university, nobody cares which degree you earned, nobody cares what class oh honors your earned.

    In that real world you will be expected to deliver.

    Your employers – or if you are self employed, your customers – will only care about what work you can do for them today. And TODAY will last for nearly 50 years.

    J has been in that happy today for 39 years, working and paying taxes so that Luke can enjoy his expensive, extensive, tax funded education. J has another 12 years of todays to go, so that another generation of Lukes can enjoy 20 years of formal education funded by my taxes.

    Dear Luke: J looks forward to welcoming you to my real world.

    J welcomes you to 49 years of hard labour.

    Much love

    J

  14. Adrian Hinds Avatar
    Adrian Hinds

    A relevant article from the Wall Street Journal:

    ———————————————————
    For Most People,
    College Is a Waste of Time
    By CHARLES MURRAY
    August 13, 2008; Page A17
    Imagine that America had no system of post-secondary education, and you were a member of a task force assigned to create one from scratch. One of your colleagues submits this proposal:
    First, we will set up a single goal to represent educational success, which will take four years to achieve no matter what is being taught. We will attach an economic reward to it that seldom has anything to do with what has been learned. We will urge large numbers of people who do not possess adequate ability to try to achieve the goal, wait until they have spent a lot of time and money, and then deny it to them. We will stigmatize everyone who doesn’t meet the goal. We will call the goal a “BA.”
    You would conclude that your colleague was cruel, not to say insane. But that’s the system we have in place.
    Finding a better way should be easy. The BA acquired its current inflated status by accident. Advanced skills for people with brains really did get more valuable over the course of the 20th century, but the acquisition of those skills got conflated with the existing system of colleges, which had evolved the BA for completely different purposes.
    Outside a handful of majors — engineering and some of the sciences — a bachelor’s degree tells an employer nothing except that the applicant has a certain amount of intellectual ability and perseverance. Even a degree in a vocational major like business administration can mean anything from a solid base of knowledge to four years of barely remembered gut courses.
    The solution is not better degrees, but no degrees. Young people entering the job market should have a known, trusted measure of their qualifications they can carry into job interviews. That measure should express what they know, not where they learned it or how long it took them. They need a certification, not a degree.
    The model is the CPA exam that qualifies certified public accountants. The same test is used nationwide. It is thorough — four sections, timed, totaling 14 hours. A passing score indicates authentic competence (the pass rate is below 50%). Actual scores are reported in addition to pass/fail, so that employers can assess where the applicant falls in the distribution of accounting competence. You may have learned accounting at an anonymous online university, but your CPA score gives you a way to show employers you’re a stronger applicant than someone from an Ivy League school.
    The merits of a CPA-like certification exam apply to any college major for which the BA is now used as a job qualification. To name just some of them: criminal justice, social work, public administration and the many separate majors under the headings of business, computer science and education. Such majors accounted for almost two-thirds of the bachelor’s degrees conferred in 2005. For that matter, certification tests can be used for purely academic disciplines. Why not present graduate schools with certifications in microbiology or economics — and who cares if the applicants passed the exam after studying in the local public library?
    Certification tests need not undermine the incentives to get a traditional liberal-arts education. If professional and graduate schools want students who have acquired one, all they need do is require certification scores in the appropriate disciplines. Students facing such requirements are likely to get a much better liberal education than even our most elite schools require now.
    Certification tests will not get rid of the problems associated with differences in intellectual ability: People with high intellectual ability will still have an edge. Graduates of prestigious colleges will still, on average, have higher certification scores than people who have taken online courses — just because prestigious colleges attract intellectually talented applicants.
    But that’s irrelevant to the larger issue. Under a certification system, four years is not required, residence is not required, expensive tuitions are not required, and a degree is not required. Equal educational opportunity means, among other things, creating a society in which it’s what you know that makes the difference. Substituting certifications for degrees would be a big step in that direction.
    The incentives are right. Certification tests would provide all employers with valuable, trustworthy information about job applicants. They would benefit young people who cannot or do not want to attend a traditional four-year college. They would be welcomed by the growing post-secondary online educational industry, which cannot offer the halo effect of a BA from a traditional college, but can realistically promise their students good training for a certification test — as good as they are likely to get at a traditional college, for a lot less money and in a lot less time.
    Certification tests would disadvantage just one set of people: Students who have gotten into well-known traditional schools, but who are coasting through their years in college and would score poorly on a certification test. Disadvantaging them is an outcome devoutly to be wished.
    No technical barriers stand in the way of evolving toward a system where certification tests would replace the BA. Hundreds of certification tests already exist, for everything from building code inspectors to advanced medical specialties. The problem is a shortage of tests that are nationally accepted, like the CPA exam.
    But when so many of the players would benefit, a market opportunity exists. If a high-profile testing company such as the Educational Testing Service were to reach a strategic decision to create definitive certification tests, it could coordinate with major employers, professional groups and nontraditional universities to make its tests the gold standard. A handful of key decisions could produce a tipping effect. Imagine if Microsoft announced it would henceforth require scores on a certain battery of certification tests from all of its programming applicants. Scores on that battery would acquire instant credibility for programming job applicants throughout the industry.
    An educational world based on certification tests would be a better place in many ways, but the overarching benefit is that the line between college and noncollege competencies would be blurred. Hardly any jobs would still have the BA as a requirement for a shot at being hired. Opportunities would be wider and fairer, and the stigma of not having a BA would diminish.
    Most important in an increasingly class-riven America: The demonstration of competency in business administration or European history would, appropriately, take on similarities to the demonstration of competency in cooking or welding. Our obsession with the BA has created a two-tiered entry to adulthood, anointing some for admission to the club and labeling the rest as second-best.
    Here’s the reality: Everyone in every occupation starts as an apprentice. Those who are good enough become journeymen. The best become master craftsmen. This is as true of business executives and history professors as of chefs and welders. Getting rid of the BA and replacing it with evidence of competence — treating post-secondary education as apprenticeships for everyone — is one way to help us to recognize that common bond.
    Mr. Murray is the W.H. Brady Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. This essay is adapted from his forthcoming book, “Real Education: Four Simple Truths for Bringing America’s Schools Back to Reality” (Crown Forum).
    See all of today’s editorials and op-eds, plus video commentary, on Opinion Journal.
    And add your comments to the Opinion Journal forum.

  15. Avatar
    Anonymous

    Why are we beating down the achievements of the young man? It’s obvious that it is important to him. Maybe he wants to pursue an academic career and if this is the goal he has set for himself then that’s his right to determine what is success for him.

    And his education is not free. If he decides to return to the Caribbean after his Masters program at Oxford he will see that his vacation is really not free because he will be earning a third of what his counterparts in the US or UK are making and he will be paying four times as much for everything to support his lifestyle.
    If he’s unhappy with his grades and he feels that he has grounds for a review, then he’s entitled to that.
    We are a civil society of law and rights.
    And this nonsense about cussing out the academics is quite stupid. These are the same academics that prepare the doctors you run to when you are sick.

  16. John Avatar
    John

    What is the point of having a person in every household in Barbados with a degree and no jobs for them to do that will use the education?

    It is not sensible to look at the US, or Japan, or Germany or any developed country and say the reason those countries are “developed” countries is because they possess so many people with degrees from University.

    Those countries produce the jobs to employ the graduates sensibly, we do not. They build on the successes of past generations. They have defined jobs at all levels below and above an undergraduate degree.

    We try to fool young people that all they have to do is become entrepreneurs and thus self employed and as if by magic they will succeed and employ other people.

    No doubt some will, but not many.

    It is like saying … “Man try something” without tellig the young person what.

    Look back to the BS&T’s, Plantations Limited’s etc and you will see the ‘entrepreneurs” that started and built these companies had really strong family histories behind them for generations and that the companies they and their co-workers built were built at a time when there was no University in the West Indies.

    Before there was a BS&T in 1917 there was a Dacostas from 1868 and a Mussons from 1832.

    These companies have passed out of Barbadian Ownership and/or failed at a time when there WAS a University. There have been no real replacements that we could look to to see the impact a University has made.

    The biggest indigenous success story in Barbados at the moment is probably the Lottery/Gambling business!!

    I am sure University Graduates keep the computers running, but many of the “brains” behind those businesses never saw a University in their lives.

    We are still to match the output of the University to the needs of our country …. and we still need to have a properly determined Physical Development Plan ….. so we really don’t know what are the needs of our country.

    We really ain’t saying nuffin yet.

    People need to stand up.

  17. Tony Hall Avatar
    Tony Hall

    Scout,
    What makes you think he didn’t work hard? I feel that for the young man to go this far tells you that he felt that the professors and lecturers were not involved in the ciriculum enough. He felt that he worked hard enough. This will be a catalyst for other students to come forward and vent their frustrations. Let us not castigate him.

  18. Banned Again From BFP Avatar
    Banned Again From BFP

    We need nuff more dentists Sir Hillary, supplied compliments of the tax payers of Barbados; the type that will start wok at 2:00 in the pm and knock off at 10:00pm. (Their mornings would be free for a round or two of golf)

    And Anon if the doctors get too expensive, we should start importing them from Cuba. The locals would be free to return to the UK or where ever if they seek to triple their incomes (idea courtesy Pres Hugo Chavez).

  19. Bush tea Avatar
    Bush tea

    …sometimes it takes an ‘igrunt’, arrogant man to sort out an ‘igrant’, arrogant institution…

  20. Brutus Avatar
    Brutus

    Here is the original article:
    _______________________________
    http://hairoun.blogspot.com/2008/08/lawsuit-for-uwi.html

    “Lawsuit for UWI
    Rhodes Scholar Luke Brown is suing or is about to sue The University of the west Indies. According to the Searchlight,Browne will challenge the fact that he has been awarded his degree with Upper second class honours instead of the first class honours he expected.

    Browne said he is illegitimately being deprived of the class of degree he deserves and is defending his academic record from being tarnished. I hav eno degree from the University and I do not intend to accept a degree that says anything other than first class.

    His complaint is based on four specific matters which he said caused his grades to be affected.

    1. The exam was set on material that was not taught,was not in the recommended text and did not appear on any other examination past exam paper

    2. In another the questions made “impossible demands based on the time allowed”

    3. “There was subjective and injudicious marking” which resulted in him getting “just about zero” for one question

    4.Exam regulations were breached when he and his classmates were given less than one week’s notice of an assignment’s due date and not the minimum two weeks stipulated by the University regulations,

    Four serious acts he asserts,all of which he claims compromise the integrity of the processes of examinations at the University of the West Indies. To attain a first class honours, one must have aminimun GPA of 3.60. Browne’s stands at 3.56

    Meanwhile, Principal of UWI,Cave Hill told Searchlight that the University has looked into the matter and found no evidence whatever to support the allegations.

    I really do not know what to make of this.”

  21. Brutus Avatar
    Brutus

    Actually the original article is in the Searchlight newspaper,

    http://www.searchlight.vc/default.asp?sourceid=&smenu=88&twindow=Default&mad=No&sdetail=&wpage=&skeyword=luke+brown&sidate=%3E%3D5%2F30%2F2008&ccat=&ccatm=&restate=&restatus=&reoption=&retype=&repmin=&repmax=&rebed=&rebath=&subname=&pform=&sc=1037&hn=searchlight&he=.vc

    You apparently need a subscription to read it.

  22. Avatar
    Anonymous

    @ John:

    You observation is bang on. We are quickly heading for a situation of underemployment where people with degrees will be doing jobs ways below their training and capacity.

    I think Owen Arthur understood this and tried to create high level jobs by encouraging the MNCs to have their headquarters in Bdos; by developing an offshore sector that will absorb accountants and financial analysts; and ultimately by pushing the CSME agenda to widen the market of opportunities for our goods, services and graduates.
    Maybe govt needs to sit down with UWI and carefully engineer what the society needs and manipulate that output to control the supply and demand.

  23. BWWR Avatar
    BWWR

    Brutus, with respect, may I assist? Was there anyone in Luke’s exam group who DID get a first class honours degree? Was there anyone who got a higher mark than he did? If there was (or were) end of case. If not, then UWI ought to have the papers re-examined by yet another independent examiner – maybe one of the dons at Oxford or Cambridge.

  24. Avatar
    Anonymous

    I find it extremely difficult to take sides in this matter without more details but the UWI needs some stiff competition and to loosen some of its red tape.
    By the same person, it’s commendable that the young man is so serious about his work to be willing to take it this far. There are 100s up there just going through the motions so this is not a bad sign.

  25. Q Avatar
    Q

    STEUPSE !!!

  26. Georgie Porgie Avatar
    Georgie Porgie

    I have to agree with Anonymous when he posits “this nonsense about cussing out the academics is quite stupid” because there is a role for academics in every society. But I thought that there was mechanisms at UWI that prevented “subjective and injudicious marking.”

    In very few subjects is marking not subjective. Injudicious is another matter.

    What I do know is that many students write a roll believing that they have answered the question that was asked, when really and truly they have totally misread and misinterpreted the question. It happens to some of the best students some times.

    Re “ the exam was set on material that was not taught, was not in the recommended text and did not appear on any other examination past exam paper.” That is unfortunate, but it can happen in some cases. It certainly happens in medicine!

    Ideally the exam should not include material that was not taught. I can see that one question or two might have been like that since the question might have been set by the convener at one campus, who included questions on material that he taught.

    However, when the paper was circulated to all teachers at the three campuses prior to the exam, his teacher ought to have handled that material.

    A similar thing happened when I did finals at Cave Hill years ago. A Trinidadian student who had come up for Inter campus games at Easdter time showed us his tuorial sheet, and we recognized a question that we had not been taught. In fact that question came in the final worded in the exact way!

    Perhaps the teacher figured there were sufficient questions on the final paper that covered the material that he did teach ( as was the case with our teacher at Cave HIll, until he realized that we had an actual exam question with material that he had not taught.)

    I doubt however, that an entire exam was set on material that was not taught, and that an entire exam was set on on material that was not in the recommended text.

    Re the issue that the material was not in the recommended text, is quite common, as no particular text is written for any school’s particular course. However, if teachers will follow a syllabus and try to cover it, they will seek to find the information not covered in the recommended text and ensure that it is taught. At least that’s what I do. But then, though strict, I try to be student friendly and accommodate the students and meet their needs as much as reasonably possible.

    I must add though that finding some material even online is not always possible.

    I can appreciate that the material did not appear on any previous examination past exam paper would be tough, because when I was a UWI student the first thing I did at the beginning of each course was get photocopies of pass papers and ensure that I made my notes to enable me to handle questions on the various ways that the material taught could be examined. I suspect that this lad did the same. But he is not the first to not have things go his way, and he wont be the last.

    This is the real world, and whining at every disappointment does not really help. I have to agree with J 100%.

    @ Tony Hall
    A lot of contemporary students feel a lot of things, and a lot of them are wrong! Especially in private schools, where the students control what goes on instead of the teachers. I worked hard too, and never got the grades I wanted. But you know what? I remember most of what I learned, and more than some that got better grades than I did.

    Some good students are just poor at taking exams.

    This will be a catalyst for other students to come forward and demand GRADES THAT THEY KNOW THEY DON’T DESERVE!

  27. David Avatar
    David

    Many blogs have been posted on BU which highlighted several deficiencies in the UWI system. What is wrong with this lad challenging the system if he believes that he has been ‘wronged’. He followed procedure and contacted the UWI and as the law provides which may link to his belief of what is right and wrong he has decided to access the next level of recourse.

    So what of the lads expectations?

  28. Georgie Porgie Avatar
    Georgie Porgie

    Anonymous

    You are indeed correct in suggesting that we can not adjudicate competently without all the facts, but BWWR has offered perhaps the best solution of adjudicating this matter..

  29. Georgie Porgie Avatar
    Georgie Porgie

    David

    I don’t think that the UWI system is more deficient than some I have witnessed. Perhaps UWI standards are declining just as much as standards in the rest of the society is declining.

    Certainly he has a right to challenge the system, but it may open the door for more trouble for students in the future. Perhaps this why students have not challenged before.

    I taught at a school where a student challenged why he got 69 in stead of the pass mark of 70. The truth is that he was a delinquent student who only scored 65, but got 69 because of some curving that went on.

    When this was discussed at Promotions Meeting one staff member said firmly I never give a student a border line mark like that, so that there can be a doubt. In other words to ensure that there was no doubt about the 69 given to the delinquent student, those who had benefitted by the 4 point curve would not have benefitted.

    Personally I would have failed the whole lot that did not get 70, so that dispute would not occur.

    I think you can see where challenging can easily end up. Men will mark harder in pencil, and adjust to suit, if needed. Result will be the same!

  30. Georgie Porgie Avatar
    Georgie Porgie

    Oh by the way David the student’s expectations are not as important as the univsersity’s standards, once everyone is being fair and doing as they ought.

  31. John Avatar
    John

    Anonymous // August 28, 2008 at 2:08 pm

    @ John:

    You observation is bang on. We are quickly heading for a situation of underemployment where people with degrees will be doing jobs ways below their training and capacity.

    I think Owen Arthur understood this and tried to create high level jobs by encouraging the MNCs to have their headquarters in Bdos; by developing an offshore sector that will absorb accountants and financial analysts; and ultimately by pushing the CSME agenda to widen the market of opportunities for our goods, services and graduates.
    Maybe govt needs to sit down with UWI and carefully engineer what the society needs and manipulate that output to control the supply and demand.
    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    The problem with the Offshore Sector is that it can diasappear with the stroke of a pen.

  32. John Avatar
    John

    What I seem to understand is that the 3.56 GPA was determined by one course.

    If he aced all the other courses in all his years at UWI, then he has to have done very badly in the one where he complains that the exam paper contained questions on material that wasn’t covered.

    Maybe, just maybe he may have a point.

    It would indeed be instructive to see the class marks in this one course as well as his marks in all the other courses he did.

    Maybe all the students failed this one course which would support his position.

    To have been made a Rhodes Scholar, he has to have done pretty well in all the other courses or just be an exceptional individual or both.

    Here is what wikepedia says are the requirements he would have had to meet to become a Rhodes Scholar.

    “Rhodes’ legacy specified four standards by which applicants were to be judged:

    literary and scholastic attainments;

    energy to use one’s talents to the full, as exemplified by fondness for and success in sports;

    truth, courage, devotion to duty, sympathy for and protection of the weak, kindliness, unselfishness and fellowship;

    moral force of character and instincts to lead, and to take an interest in one’s fellow beings. ”

    I think this case is worth watching because this person must have met the last three requirements to have been awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford.

    He may just have a point.

    Listen to him carefully and don’t dismiss him like we do anybody who has a different point of view to our own.

  33. Georgie Porgie Avatar
    Georgie Porgie

    Well he certainly wont be the first person who expected first class honours to fail a course at finals or get low marks in a course at finals.

  34. John Avatar
    John

    GP

    I agree 100% but if the whole class failed or did badly and has the same gripe as he does……..

    All I am saying is that the guy is no ordinary student and should not be written off as a waste of time.

    He obviously feels he has a case.

  35. Georgie Porgie Avatar
    Georgie Porgie

    He probably does.

    In one of my posts above I have indicated in some detail that I have myself observed some of the same scenarios that he is complaining about, such as an usual exam format completely different from the past papers, examining material not taught, and material not in recommended texts.

    It is noteworthy that on the other blog cited that some one stated that other students in his class passed and got first class honours.

    I also indicated that we cannot adjudicate this matter here properly since we do not have all the facts.

  36. Pat Avatar
    Pat

    I dont know, but at University I was not taught everything that had to be covered in my courses. We had to do independent study. We had the recommeneded text AND recommended reading lists. If questions came from the reading lists and you did not read them, that was your problem.

    I suppose that will not work for maths and the sciences, but for the arts and business it was the order of the day. You were recommended cases not in the text and had to cover them on your own.

    But to sue a university in order to get a higher class is laughable. Just repeat the course, or rewrite a new exam. This young man will find out that in life you rarely get everything you want. I hope he learns that lesson with this case.

  37. ROK Avatar
    ROK

    It is amazing how some of us gloat in people’s failure… and so ready to put down. I was the victim of a dean who decided that I came to his faculty as a last resort so he decided that I would have to wait for a year. The truth is that I decided to apply to the other faculty in case I did not get in his.

    So he was being judgmental and did not have any remorse about it either. As far as he was concerned he got full pleasure of making me pay with a year of my life. That was a supposedly very intelligent man, with a doctorate.

    These people don’t understand how they affect the lives of others. Let me say to some that University is not school; you always know if you will pass or fail; as a matter of fact you know where you are all along the way unless you have some unscrupulous lecturer who starts being smart with the work; pulling surprises, etc.

    I remember sitting in a Maths and Stats class and the lecturer saying, “look left, look right, only one of you will pass my course. Decide which one.”

    He used to do it every year until that year, when he but-up on a particular student. I cost him his job.

    Next racket was with the female students. Big men. Most with wives at home. The bachies were like a cat among pigeons that ain’t flying away, but lining up to get eat for a piece of paper.

    Tell me about it. You bet that if a student expects a first class honours, he/she did get it, whether it was actually awarded or not. We are too complacent and suffer in silence because we let people who should know better run rough shot over us.

    That is slave master mentality and the gloat is the reaction of the house nigger; “da fuh ya! Who you tink you is? Not better than me??? Wha I is a house nigger and you come from the field.”

    All we are doing with this attitude is hurting ourselves and our own. The man has a right and a right to defend that right. We have an attitude to clean up otherwise these things could not happen. You could be sure that if that youngster has a good case he will get judgment.

    The legal fraternity would not be so foolish as to bring itself into disrepute while under such scrutiny. Not in Barbados. If it was a poor nobody that ain’t got nobody it may have been different.

  38. ROK Avatar
    ROK

    Correction:

    “He used to do it every year until that year, when he but-up on a particular student. I cost him his job.”

    “It cost him his job.” very sorry about that. It was not me but one who is now in high places.

  39. J Avatar
    J

    Can someone who is brighter than J please explain what is “just about zero”

    Her foolish me was thinking that zero was absolute, either the young fella got zero, or he got more than zero.

    I did not know that there was such a number as “just about zero”

  40. J Avatar
    J

    It is reported that Like said:

    1. The exam was set on material that was not taught,was not in the recommended text and did not appear on any other examination past exam paper

    2. In another the questions made “impossible demands based on the time allowed”
    My question: Did other students manage to complete the assigment in the given impossible amount of time?

    3. “There was subjective and injudicious marking” which resulted in him getting “just about zero” for one question
    My questions: Please define “just about zero” Isn’t marking aften subjective? Is subjective necessarily bad? Who decides what is injudicious? Luke? The professor? A university committee? A judge who is not an expert in the subject Luke was being taught? A jury of Luke’s peers? An expert groung of accountants?

    4.Exam regulations were breached when he and his classmates were given less than one week’s notice of an assignment’s due date and not the minimum two weeks stipulated by the University regulations,
    My questions: Did Luke’s classmates manage to sucessfully write the exam in spite of being given one weeks notice instead of two? When Luke goes to work and a customer or employer demands a project in less than the agreed standard time will Luke refuse to deliver? If he does will he sue his employer when he is fired? or more importantly will he sue his customers when they take their business elsewhere?

  41. Keltruth Corp. Avatar
    Keltruth Corp.

    “BWWR”,

    I noticed that you contrived to bring my brother John Knox into this. The reason that I am going to make the following statement is not to boast, but to counteract the derogatory comments that have been directed at him over time on this blog.

    John Knox was not only awarded first class honours in Engineering at Loughborough, but was first in his class!

  42. David Avatar
    David

    @Keltruth Corp

    Just to clarify that comments by BU family members are not necessarily those of BU, we believe in a free comments policy. What we hope as you and others have done is that the opposing view or clarification will be lodged.

  43. Banned Again From BFP Avatar
    Banned Again From BFP

    ROK // August 28, 2008 at 8:49 pm
    “but lining up to get eat for a piece of paper”

    You talking Sparrow Congaman style or Mac’s bacon breakfast or what? I los’.

  44. Diaspora-ite Avatar
    Diaspora-ite

    What I would like to know is, why would any so-called self-respecting Caribbean person accept a Rhodes Scholarship? Founded by and named after one Cecil Rhodes, arch-imperialist, despoiler of Africa and hyper-racist!

    Rhodes Scholarship? Blood money!

  45. Avatar
    Anonymous

    @ Diaspora-ite

    Because deep down we believe that the ‘hallowed’ walls of Oxford and Cambridge are better. That’s why. But that’s another discussion.
    The young man has obviously been seriously brainwashed. Be that as it may, dont let us knock his achievements. Let’s hope that he can take this education and reeducate himself to uplift his people rather than become another mouthpiece of the system.

  46. ROK Avatar
    ROK

    @Banned Again From BFP
    Just a figure of speech flowing from the pigeons and the cat; not literally or figuratively.

  47. Diaspora-ite Avatar
    Diaspora-ite

    Anonymous, not knocking the man personally, just asking a rhetorical question. But it appears to me that just by accepting a Rhodes Scholarship, he has already been co-opted. The system wins again.

  48. Avatar
    Anonymous

    Well Oxford has an impressive library and he can educate himself in any direction. We have models in the likeness of Eric Williams (Cambridge), Prof. Rex Nettleford (Oxford), Cornell West (Harvard, Princeton), among others, who have taken the Western education system, developed their thinking and then use it to critique the very system.

    On the other hand, we have a whole class of them who still want to be knighted and carry all of the trappings of Western illusion.

  49. Avatar
    Anonymous

    The choice is Luke’s.

  50. David Avatar
    David

    After reading all the comments and doing a little quiet research we feel the following comment which was left on the St. Vincent blog this morning sums up the BU position:

    Lawsuit for UWI

    Could we reserve judgment for when the full facts emerge?

    Could we trust that the case may have some merit?

    Could we recognise that it takes courage to do something like this?

    Could we see this as an issue of not just one student, but a concern of many?

    Theresa, Luke’s overall GPA is still above 3.70. Samantha (and everyone) there are breaches in Examination Regulations and other provable contentions. There have been examination paper leaks at Cave Hill, for example.

    Other students, including the direct entrants in the Faculty of Law, have raised issues. This is no isolated challenge.

    The efforts would surely help to improve the system. These matters are deeper and more far-reaching than this blog has so far suggested.

The blogmaster invites you to join the discussion.

Trending

Discover more from Barbados Underground

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading