Earlier this week CADRES compiled the 2009 Final Barbados National Survey On Corporal Punishment And Educational Issues Report which measured the opinions of Barbadians regarding the use of corporal punishment in schools and homes. The report has attracted the ire of the outspoken Garrison Secondary School educator Mathew Farley and others; who believe the principals of CADRES have been co-opted by UNECEF to foist their agenda on Barbados and others in the region.

The educational system in Barbados is not perfect, far from, BUT the systems in the USA and other developed countries are not perfect either. Couple days ago we read about a fifteen year old boy in Chicago who called 911 because his parents punished him by taking away his Xbox. The idea of a Barbadian child doing the same thing at first thought seems alien to our culture. Barbadian children and should we stretch to say West Indian are not socialized in this neck of the woods to behave like the 15 year old Chicago boy. We could mention those students, usually boys who take to school guns and mow-down fellow students like how a butcher would spray flies in the market. It is clear we are encountering a value-set which has devalued human life.

Now that we have established the US system produces bad eggs; Barbadians should dissuade themselves from being washed away by yet another lobby from the North. Let us focus on home-grown solutions which are influenced by our peculiar experiences. Admittedly our educational system is in need of overhaul. BU encourages our local educators who are not only trained but understand the nuances of our market to get involved and lobby for change. The fact Peter Wickham et al have a forum where they can shout loudly to become opinion shapers exposes the passive society we have become and the lack of confidence we have in home-grown methods. Let us do our own research and build our own solutions to the problems which are affecting our educational system. Such an undertaking can be easily funded if Sir Hilary Beckles were to shave 5% from his ongoing capital works program at UWI, Cave Hill.

Barbados has and continue to invest too much money in education in the post-independence era for a body of research not to be available to our decision makers. For example, on the subject of whether co-ed education has affected the performance of boys in Barbados should NOT be argued from the seat of the pants. The fact that we do belies the billions spent on educating Barbadians to date.

BU is aware of primary schools in Barbados where the principals have dumped all the duncy children in one class and given to the most inexperience of teachers on staff to teach. BU is also aware of a leading private school which has concluded co-ed has negatively affected boys and the school is currently working to establish boys and girls classes i.e. revert to the status quo.

In the absence of research needed we know at a different level that our children learn differently i.e visual (verbal and non-verbal, auditory, and kinesthetic. Most people familiar with the Barbados school environment would agree our class rooms are not set up to teach multiple styles conterminously. Most of our schools cope to deliver on the mixed abilities approach sanctioned by the ministry of education. If we drill down even further and the BU family would have discuss this before; as boys we read different books e.g. Biggles, Hardy Boys, Louis L’amour etc and the girls read Nancy Drew, Enid Blyton, Mills & Boons etc. Why if boys and girls are studying in the same class their desires to read, play sports etc would be usually be on different ends of the scale? Doesn’t this suggest our young girls and boys are wired differently and by implication should be taught differently? We need to get that body of research in place, NOW. We need for the stakeholders in education to release the data so that the debate can be informed and remove from being politicised.

Hopefully Dr. Griffith-Watson, Dr. Isamay Denny and the team at the  Ministry of Education will understand the need to shift paradigms.