Submitted by William Skinner
1920 Model T
As impossible as it is to produce a car for 2013 on a production line of 1960, so is it to produce a citizen for the new emerging world economy from an education system that has been on automatic pilot since the 1960’s. We are still describing an educational system as the building of school plants but we really need to focus on building citizens.
It is common nowadays to describe some people as brilliant without furnishing the slightest evidence. We have reached the stage of accepting mediocrity and dazzle. We have some scribes amongst us, who have mastered the art of regurgitating every idea they have read or heard somewhere else. We have fallen victim to the over worked clichés but the simple truth is that when separated from all the fancy sound bites, we are really shouting loud, writing pretty but saying absolutely nothing.
There are no real thinkers about and the few that we have, who can really make a difference, we are trying to pull down. Everybody seems to be singing for their political supper; hanging on to useless political coat tails in the hope that the next election cycle would benefit them. Apparently we are acting the way we were educated, to be followers not thinkers.
We talk about modernizing agriculture but there is no practical agricultural program in any of our centres of education. We are hell bent on producing citizens with certificates/ diplomas which unfortunately guarantee unemployment. They are then left to literally cry in the ears of call in radio moderators, who can only offer the exact advice that –you guessed it-guarantees unemployment.
Is it not remarkable that we don’t have one single black owned car dealership in our island yet we have an abundance of those who fool us daily that they know how the economy works? Funny thing they know how everything ought to work but they have never made anything work.
We talk about making Barbados the entrepreneur centre of the Caribbean. Really. What are we teaching in primary schools about business? Okay, too young you say? Not so. There are hundreds of elementary and high school kids all over the world, who are already millionaires via the internet. Where is the practical modern business course at the tertiary education centres? Where are the graduates and how can we identify their progress? Let’s be honest: we don’t teach our students how to succeed in business and be entrepreneurs; we teach them how to study and work for others. A big risk because they are usually asked if they have “experience” and yep -you guessed it again -they are virtually guaranteed unemployment!
Now we are going to “green” Barbados, not with green paint, but with energy products. Well let’s start at the primary schools this time. Make the kids separate the garbage; have them convert the garbage into providing energy for some part of their school plant; do the same thing at the university; the polytechnic ;the community college and save some dollars, I think they call that foreign exchange these days.
Let us pressure the BLP/DLP into a real discourse about reforming the educational system and placing it in line with national socio-economic policy. We have given the fancy talkers and quasi- intellectuals enough time to “restructure “things. They don’t have a clue. They are only repeating obsolete economic theories, from equally obsolete text books and models. We can’t let them fool us any longer. Unless we reform education we cannot be saved form socio- economic ruin. Ironically, we survived because the model worked before. Well that model can’t work now. Reform, remodel it or perish. We just can’t produce a 2013 model on a 1960 production line. Time to get serious. Time for real reform. No more intellectual/academic vomit.
@William Skinner
BRAVO! Mr Skinner BRAVO!!!
I elect you as Deputy Leader in in the newly minted Shadow Senate of Barbados. I could not have said it better myself,even as much as I have tried to articulate this view on Brasstacks over the years. Quite simply I bow to you sir. There is nothing more to be added.
S.S Cyprian La Touche’
Before we can exhaust comments on the other posts, here comes another post
–one that will not get 40 comments
William
This is an excellent post. You have hit the nail on the head. The major problem is that everything in this country has been politicised, Education included. Most of our education professionals have been handpicked by politicians, not for their ability to deliver quality Education, but because of their politics. As a result, our children suffer at the hands of mediocre teachers and other Education professionals.
You might recall that the Alexandra fiasco had its genesis in Arthur’s politics of inclusion. That was embarassingly public but the same drama is played out at other schools daily without the glare of public attention.
You also made an excellent point when you referred to the fact that there are no black-owned car dealerships. Again this stems from political and administrative corruption. Everytime a black man tries to get into supplying vehicles, the authorities set up stumbling blocks, for a fee of course, to ensure failure.
Our education system is designed to produce workers who can’t think for themselves. That is not the way to produce entrepreneurs: everyone knows it, but our leaders are products of the same failed Education system.
How I wish people will come clean and tell the young people the truth of being an entrepruner. Yo youth….speak with some real business men like John Watso et al ….and really learn what is ahead. This is no bed of roses babies…..rocket science is an easier road..believe you me…lil darlings.
WUNNA LIKE TALKING SHITE
WUNNA DONT GET TIRED
JUST ASKING
This is where the economic restructuring and survival of Barbados lies; at the roots of the society, its educational system.
We need to stop producing people as employees or workers like slaves and servants on the plantation but as “Economic Practitioners”.
We have at our disposal the wherewithal in the form of ICT. The young people need to stop seeing the ‘smart phone’ as e-social entertainment and gossip column but more as an educational medium and business tool.
@william
Now reading BU for the first time in 2 days. Great post!
As miller said, any economic restructuring or industry/sectoral diversification starts with a vision which plants a seed in the elementary school and fertilises it with good soil, regular water, nutrients and trained, sincere patient gardeners. It is only then that the seeds can bloom and produce the new trees whose roots will be the foundation of our then ever expanding and blossoming forest.
We wait for the day when a government/ministry/leader has the foresight and courage to plant that seed, even if he/she doesn’t live to savour the fruits from the tree.
Caswell in his edu-political discourse is right. Barbadian education has a subconscious subtle purpose. And that purpose has nothing to do with social/economic reform in the short nor long term. It will take strong leaders with vision, value and vigour to begin to make a change.
Just Observing
Ha Ha Ha … What a funny post .. Of course it is f#ckin’ funny. William is plumb guilty at firing on a target that is not even on the range. HA HA HA.
“Let us pressure the BLP/DLP into a real discourse about reforming the educational system” a system that works extraordinarily well for both the BLP/BLP and the contractors/service providers that rely on the access that political parties provide to the public’s purse. HA HA HA. William if it ain’t broke who you feel gun step forward to fix it. HA HA HA
“Black owned business” and training Barbadians in “business” … for what and to do what … huh?… To continue the culture of blatant exploitation of a population that is predominantly Black and Barbadian …? Where is your sense of adventure man…?
People who are trained in business anyway, because of its generic nature usually end up as part of the clique of advisers anyway.
Train people in robotics, material science and smart materials, animation, injection molding, weapons manufacture … something … anything that could be produced and sold to the rest of the world. Develop a team of World Class sales agents who are skilled enough to open doors in any part of the world, including North Korea … and we are looking at a true developmental model for export. Bring all of the old tired ceremonial ambassadors back home and replace them with sharp, hungry, performance based operatives who are prepared to be continually assessed.
William, like you ain’ ready …!
BTW … Nobody, form either side, nobody is speaking about a new Development Bank, one that is beyond the clutches of the local traditional private sector. My preference would be to have it run by imported talent so as to avoid the usual infestation of UWI trained conservatives and the resulting stagnation that one would expect.
The UWI and government’s vision/strategy for education appear to be at odds.
The AX Affair exposed a deep distrust by education stakeholders in the MoE.
Old Onions………….it is more destructive in th long run to be and be seen as mere followers, workers and androids without the ability to have independent thought over these last six decades………….pray tell, exactly where has it gotten us……………at least training our young minds from primary school level to be entrepreneurs would produce mostly successful business minded entrepreneurs. Over the last 6 decades our young minds were trained to be civil servants, self-serving politicians, dishonest lawyers, greedy doctors, mindless workers, dumb sheeple and a whole destructive force, and that is exactly what was produced. We reaped what was sown to our detriment. I really loved BAFS suggestion and the other commenters who are able to see it for what it really is………….our journey of destruction. It can be changed with politicians who have vision……………this lot is really useless unless their is drastic change in their damaged psyche.
From primary school we should be taught how to survive, not how to enrich others, that is one thing that was sadly lacking in our educational journey and not one politician over the years was able to recognize it.
@Well Well
Don’t get ur nickers twisted…..take my humble portion with a pinch of realism salt….. D Automotive Art man on Entrepruner Anon TV programe puts it nicely ( by the way he got good backin from Ralph Bruggadown)..we may just be promoting “enterprising thinking men”….true entrepruners are hybrid….forged from the flames of hard knocks…Picture the amounts of failures it takes for one success…..All I am saying is let the people know what they are up against…..Not all people are cut out for this journey…not withstanding the so called “promised help” they will be receiving from all thes politicians n empty Govt talk…..How long have we been hearing this same ole Baffy? Ask the banks while ya at it …how many of them really want these enterprisers on their books….Ask them if they will be willing to give them a startup over drafts far less capital…..time to take off the blikers my friend….then what will become of all these broke men at the end of the day…now no longer in days of youth? Check n see how many self employed people put aside NIS..if you get my drift….
Old Onions………it’s never easy, take it from someone who personally knows, however, it’s better to be enterprising and constantly trying in the knowledge that you or you relatives will someday reap rewards than being a decades old slavish dependent on a dying system where the end results are even worse as we are now witnessing.
It is important to educate our people whatever that definition is but we cannot forget all sub sectors make up the whole. The point being, an entrepreneurial class or segment feeds of the other segments for its success. Our challenge is how do we optimally weave the strands together and at the same time give the appropriate weight ie. allocate resources and focus.
@ old onion bags | March 12, 2013 at 8:34 AM |
Well said, OOB!
Barbados has always had “entrepreneurs”. Who these ‘new kids on the block’ think started the light manufacturing sector in Barbados and the early tourism/ accommodation sector? Who started the commercial sector on Roebuck Street. What about Tudor St?
What about Mohammed Nasser formerly Gary Husbands, Stuart, Rollock, King, Maxwell, John Watson, Rayside and the list goes on ad infinitum.
The same problems these guys faced any modern black entrepreneur will be forced to face. Their own people lack of belief in themselves and lack of support of the same fledgling enterprises.
Vicious concerted attempts to pull them down, especially the same black civil servants putting stumbling blocks in their paths.
No foreign owned bank especially Trinidadian would be keen to finance projects which are not based on immediate high returns like lending for cars and other conspicuous consumption. Why would a T&T owned bank finance business projects by Barbadian entrepreneurs that could be in direct competition to their own businesses back home and supplying to the Bajan market.
BAF and others calling for an Indigenous Development Bank (not State managed) is a ‘sine-qua-non’ priority for any Entrepreneurial incubator to produce and deliver. Let the pols put the taxpayers’ money where their mouths are but without their further involvement.
BTW, OBB, welcome back. Man you run away from the heat and left the miller and Prodigal son to take all the flack from these electoral frauds on BU. But stealing and lying will be their quick undoing. Just wait and see.
I believe we have to start somewhere despite all the stumbling blocks that will surely be erected, however, things cannot remain as is or soon we will be hearing Trinidad owns, water authority, NIS, etc, etc,. If those entrepreneurs from sixty years ago were not beaten down by their own people, with help from a greedy minority who still believe themselves entitled, we would probably not be debating this in 2013. I do believe it can be restarted with good leaders and all those threads David is speaking about could be interwoven to successfully guarantee success. It would be even harder now seeing all the damage that was allowed over the last 60 years. Again in starts with good leaders who care about enriching their own people and not themselves.
@Caswell:
You call for “people who can think for themselves”, because the educational system only “produces workers who can’t think for themselves”.I think you, Cyprian, William skinner and all those calling for “education reform” do this because you are thinking for yourselves, and you are all products of the same education system you are decrying. It is because of the education system that the poll result predicted by Wickham was proven wrong;because the people, unlike previously, thought for themselves.
@Miller, we do have Black entrepreneurs and lots of them who came through the educational system that has served us well (that’s why you are thinking as you do. It has taught you to question, which is one of the successes of the system).We do have “Ecomomic Practitioners” if I understand your use of these two words; in other words we have many successful Barbadian (Black and Bajan White) entrepreneurs and businessmen:Just off the top of my head,Ralph Johnson (Harris Paints) James Husbands (Solar Dynamics) Rawle Branker (Branker’s) Bizzy Williams Businesman and Entrepreneur (Williams Industries Sir Charles Williams (Land owner and Business man) Andrew Bynoe (Business Owner)Senator John Watson (Businessman and manufacturer)Mohammed Nasser (Businessman) Marcel (Bill) Murrell (M.E. Murrell &Co.Accountant Businessman) and many many more. Just look in the Yellow Pages of your telephone book, go through it and try to pick out those that are “white exclusively and foreign owned).To be successful they don’t have to have Car Dealerships; and Isn’t Simpson Barbadian?These have all come out of the same educational background so the system must have been successful.The successful ones don’t have to be educated to the tertiary level to be successful, and the teachers and lecturers at the same tertiary level would in the majority of cases have passed through the same educational system. When you people criticize, offer me concrete alternatives…list them;a,b,c,etc. What would you put in its place (apart from changing the 11plus exam or replacing it.)
@BAFBFP:
The “imported talent” that you would bring in will be the same. The courses they study at Harvard Business School, the books they use, the case studies, are no different from the ones used in the MBA courses at Cave Hill.Maslow’s Theory of Self Actualization is no different from the one they teach at University of Toronto and Princeton. Debits and Credits in accounting at Cave Hill are the same as Debits and Credits at York University. the grass hidden by the snow is just as green as the grass at Cave Hill that is exposed to the sun every day at Cave Hill. In other words what you long for in places you would “import” it from is no different from what we already have. We just have tp appreciate what we have. and see through dialogue how we can make it better.
But I thought people like you frowned on using “imported” consultants for work in Bim. .
@William Skinner
I agree with you in your statement that you can’t use the assembly line of the early 1900’s to produce a 2013 car, but what you miss is that the assembly line (the concept) is the same now as then, except that now they use robots in some aspects of the production. It is the principle; the foundation, (the assembly line) that is the same.Similarly the foundation of the educational system is what is important.Have you read any of the papers published in Scientific Journals and written by our own Physicists, Microbiologists, Chemists, Mathematicians, Agriculturalists, etc. Have you read any of the theses writen by our Post graduate scholars; and every one of them is examined by external (from overseas universities) examiners? Are you saying that People like Charlie Skeete, Dr. Marion Williams, Dr. DeLisle Worrell, Kamau Brathwaite, George Lamming, and so many others, are not original thinkers? What About Harold Hoyte who began the Nation? As I said in another blog, you need look no further than the Yellow Pages to see the number of Barbadian owned and operated businesses, big and small, in the country. We seem not to be able to see the forest for the trees.
@Alvin
The issue is not only about retrofitting the assembly line, there is also the design of the widgets (output) which must be relevant to market demand. With respect you simplify the issue.
“The foundation of the educational system is what is important”……..I think that is what some of us are trying to say about incorporating business acumen from very young ……………… Along with all of these successes from the current educational system, we now have to wonder why the majority of bajan businesses have now been sold to all foreign entities by these same successful bajan business people.
On the subject of education penetration which Alvin seems to have measured based on material success. Here is a paraphrase of a contribution made by the original and enigmatic Julian Hunte on the afternoon talk show.
@ Alvin Cummings
The “imported talent” that you would bring in will be the same. The courses they study at Harvard Business School, the books they use, the case studies, are no different from the ones used in the MBA courses at Cave Hill.Maslow’s Theory of Self Actualization is no different from the one they teach at University of Toronto and Princeton. Debits and Credits in accounting at Cave Hill are the same as Debits and Credits at York University. the grass hidden by the snow is just as green as the grass at Cave Hill that is exposed to the sun every day at Cave Hill. In other words what you long for in places you would “import” it from is no different from what we already have. We just have tp appreciate what we have. and see through dialogue how we can make it better.
But I thought people like you frowned on using “imported” consultants for work in Bim. .
*********************
Taken for granted….but hope you know and appreciate the BIG DIFFERENCE… 1.raising start up capital (90% of all sm businessses are under capitalised to start)…..2.Bank’s indulgence to allow your existence….3.Other players who make it their point to see you down trodden……Boss man all dem big wigs you just call had HELP …..help in getting starting capital…and help in continued support today (buying their service)….A business would pay one of those big audit firms $65,0000 just so….13 issued affa the first visit…..but let a small man ask for $30,000 to do the same job ( sometimes even more thorough)….boy is like pullin teeth….If he does get the job first to start…he must extend credit to that firm….Later when time to collect, he must also be prepared to “work for it twice”….even extend his bad debt Wo column…….A small entrepruener wears a bull eye for blows and unfair practices…as some see them as threats by their very entry and do all (bad comments) to see their isolation and later demise….reality check.
In short….VERY UNEVEN PLAYING FIELD to start….even more tilted…if lucky enough to survive affa 3 years…..poisoning if you lookin to stick arund…..
Mr. Cummings, those who follow my contributions on this blog know that I consider Dr. Delisle Worrell one of our most illustrious minds. If you were to read the last paragraph of my letter, you would note that I said the system worked then. That was intellectual honesty. I am merely suggesting that it cannot work now. I don’t think I am “decrying ‘ the system because like all the others you mentioned, I am also a product of the system. There can be no empirical evidence that a system that delivered up to any point, would be just as effective at another point, taking into consideration the changing dynamics of the universe. . Change is constant my friend and education may or may not be relevant within the dynamic of change.To claim or suggest that those who seek changing the educational system are “decrying” it is quite wrong. Quite frankly the need to reform the system has been a cry of progressives since the mid-seventies. And amazingly those who defended the status quo made the same argument you are using. Hence nothing changed.
Very well said William Skinner. From the nepotic and corrupt culture to the continued harvesting of sugar for export to the wholesale dispensing of largely worthless certificates, titles, and PHDs, Barbados cannot compete on the world stage in order to forge our own destiny. They NEED outsiders to lead and think for us in order to find a successful outcome. Not simple Simon thinking that led to GEMS, CLICO, declining tourist arrivals, nor empty cruise ships moored in the harbour as the global audience watched our World Cup debacle fade to black. With few exceptions, the think-outside-the-box mentality is not prevalent among our population. Even the Automotive man mentioned earlier is likely all fiscal window dressing, living off of cash flow with obvious growth limitations on such a small island(s). Think about it: Banks beer lost money domestically. A monopoly with trade protection that somehow cannot dominate the market and prosper financially. That says it all. Like the stumbling blocks, both mentally and figuratively, placed in hinderance of our black brothers seeking to own and operate often money-losing car dealerships, we as a country have allowed the pompasetting elected, out of their depth and clueless leaders to rape our resources and eventually, without killing the body, our soul.
@ the miller
BTW, OBB, welcome back. Man you run away from the heat and left the miller and Prodigal son to take all the flack from these electoral frauds on BU. But stealing and lying will be their quick undoing. Just wait and see.
**********
No buddy n friend….I was here just that I was giving dem lil slack to enjoy the short givings ac esp..she was besides she self wid dis belief….
BUT
Like um start all ready too…David’s Julian Hunte’s comment….they already blaming?…They taking up where they left off…rue rue
@Caswell and Alvin
Round and round we go again,when will we stop, nobody knows.To politicise the educational issue,is all we ever do and for me it not only serves no purpose,but it is also far from the truth.Both sides have made attempts to take education forward. Both sides have been successful.Both sides have stumbled,and both sides have failed in their own way.The introduction of the “free” system that exposed the masses to education was nothing short of brilliant. Ultimately however, it has come with its own attendant issues and other baggage that we have failed to address.
Edutech was a visionary idea, but that too has suffered from a serious failure to respond to the rapid changes of this new order. Wired tech. in a wireless world. Analog in a digital age.
In the grand scheme of things, the arguments and petty jealousies that plague the system,and retard its development are not what this is all about. The very understanding of what precisely an education is and should be in 2013 is what we need to deal with.
As Mr Skinner has opinioned,education is about the abiity to constantly change and more importantly today, accelerated change.
@ Alvin Cummins. Every house needs a foundation, but that is just the beginning of the story. We now must build on the on the efforts of our forefathers. Build for our current reality, not for yesterdays.
@Cyprian:
Give me specifics. ” it (free secondary education) “has come with its own attendant issues and other baggage that we have failed to address.Give me Plan A……..Plan B……Stop the talking. Give me concrete suggestions for changes, and then we can examine them and see their relevance.Give me examples.
@ William:
It is working and the young minds are indeed working. Check out the Africa Month celebrations at Christ Church foundation School. The Natural Hair style competition was fantastic See Carol roberts Facebook page for the hair styles. They show imagination. And out of that came a number of hair products developed by some of the young people. These should be followed up with expertise to possibly get them to market. This is where the young people need the help…to go the extra steps..this is where the dept. of Science Innovation and Technology and UWI comes in, this is where BIDC comes in this is where the Ministry of Small Business comes in to give the expertise.This is where they have to be told the glass is half full, not half empty. this is where they have to be encouraged, not criticized and told…”it can’t”.
@come here,
Automotive Art has done what Colonel Sanders did with KFC, what has been done with Tim Hortons coffee shops, what was done with McDonald’s has done. They have franchised their opertions. Check and see how many branches there are in the Caribbean. you would be surprised. And they are successful.Why has Cheffette’s not franchised their operations to anyplace? Why do the Haloutttes own all the Cheffette’s reastaurants? Different outlooks.
@Old onion bags:
When you talk about needing start up capital, I have been through that. When I came back to Barbados, in 1985, I decided to start my own businesss. I had the education and technical expertise and experience, no money when I decided to open my own medical laboratory. I prepared my business plan, with assistance, and approached one of the commercial banks; one with whom I had an account for over thirty years. I went through the whole rejection attitude etc. from the bank manager. It did not discourage me, it made me more determined to succeed. I went to the (then) Barbados national Bank and obtained a loan(not the full amount, but enough to get me started}.at a time when Barbados was in the throes of a business downturn (1989) Through hard work, planning and building a good reputation for good delivery of service; along with sleepless nights, I succeeded and ran my lab for over ten years). I had to come back to Canada; for other business reasons, and decided to close the lab, at least for a while. It is not easy to set up and run a business the easiest thing to do is give up even before it is started. i was a member of the Board of the Small Business Association when it first began; John Watson (now Senator) was a member of the same board. I know the difficulties and frustration of a lot of young people with business ides. A lot of people think it is easy, and they see any sort of rejection as being personal. Rejection should steel you to succeed. Check all the successful businessmen and learn from them. read the history of Steve Jobs; where they started and how they succeeded. My blogs may seem tedious but what I say is based on experience. Almost anything that you can throw at me at this age and stage I have probably passed through or experienced
@David;William Skinner said that you can’t build a 2013 car using the same assembley line as 1906. My point is that we are still using the ‘assembly line’.it may be longer and have different personel, with more specialized tools but the vehicle works off the same principle (internal combustion, using the same principles, ignition of gasolene, driving a piston that turns the wheels.) etc. the Principles are the same. Our education system today is not the same as it was when I first went to school. We just have to adapt the curriculum, method of teaching (use of ICT, graphics, etc, ) applicable to today’s environment. So people stop behaving as if the end of the world has come.The same way that “free” secondary education was brilliant, other brilliant ideas will come forth..
@Alvin
It seems you are hellbent holding your position without recognizing that our educational system must be recalibrated to meet national objectives – producing doctors, lawyers and thousands in the social science is good optics but it does nothing to make us competitive globally. Areas like software animation, hotel management, alternative energy and related disciplines we trail badly. We do not have to mash up what has brought us to this point only build on as William et al have suggested.
Commercial banks are not venture capitalists or development banks. Small business by definition needs a different kind of support financial and other wise. The government is the entity which must be responsible for the nurturing the environment to encourage small business. However there is a bigger point. The small business climate in Barbados is different to Jamaica and other islands in the Caribbean where the higgler (small business mentality) is an obvious part of the DNA. In Barbados the aspirational mindset is to apply to a business for a good job, get a mortgage, a car, two children and a dog. It is always easy to use extreme or personal examples to make a point but we have to be prepared to scrape below the surface.
The days of quotas and preferential markets gone. We operate in a whole new world. Let us continue the discussion.
There are many of us who left primary school in the 60’s and could have gone straight into the workforce because the basic skills needed were met. Remember the boys who went to work as store clerks in short pants? Nobody is bashing or decrying the system. There are students. leaving university today who cannot get jobs. That was unheard of years ago when anybody with a degree was almost guaranteed a job.. The system worked then.. Those of us who seek change or reform are looking at the relevance of the education system in relation to the broader national goals. Barbados was actually built on a superb primary education system that served us well for many decades. In other words the foundation for the socio- economic needs were met because of an outstanding “elementary education system”. We cannot expect the same results today if the dynamic has changed. We need to have visionaries in charge of the future as we had back then. The point was made by Cyprian La Touche. We are in the midst of radical and swift change. If your car can only reach speeds of 80 miles per hour , it cannot keep up with those equipped to reach 140 miles per hour. We are now in a completely different local, regional and international environment. The future beckons us to reform from Primary/Elementary right up to university/tertiary levels. How and more importantly WHY we are educating our citizens must now take center stage of public discourse. We cannot dwell in the land of nostalgia and romanticism.Education is the driving force of change. How are we going to restructure an entire economy without touching the educational system? That is impossible.
Were Garfield Sobers or Brian Lara the products of some cricket academy? Too much emphasis on schooling….education is the result of experiences, expectations and exhortation.
The miller says that each child entering Primary School from September 2013 should be given a tablet computer and the schools “wired” with WiFi capability. The other concerns about security and access to porn, etc can be worked around in the fullness of time.
It’s time these “backward Victorian age ‘chalk and talk’ teachers and principls get with the ICT programme or Bim will become an economically and educationally stagnant backwater place in 5 years time.
Is it not remarkable that we don’t have one single black owned car dealership in our island .
anybody want to answer that question? i bet sargeant knows the answer.
i wonder how many tried but was turn down by our illustrious financial institutions
1 wonder wuh happen to the black entrepreneur spirit. my gran ma had it and she only went school fuh half day and she made plenty money too enuff to build house and help build up them financial institutions which deny we black people easy access except when it is to dem benefit like owning a car or having a mortgage wid high interest rates, other than dat we on we own.
@ac.
Your grandmother and her generation did what the young people are not prepared to do tocay. they did not work for “plenty ” moneybut they were prepared to do two important things. 1 They saved. they were contented (and wise enough) to buy the lumber for the house one board at a time which they stored under the cellar, until they had enough to start the houwe. 2 they avoided getting into too much debt for superfluous things. Too many of our young people think nothing of getting into debt for many thousands of dollars to get a vehicle that they park next to the house, and pay the high interest to the same institutions that they claim hold us back. Our young entrepreneurs should seek out our grandparentsm or other people;s grand parents and sit and talk with them and get their advice. As for comparing cars and speeds, It is no sense getting a Maseratti that goes from sero to two hundred miles per hour in less than six seconds. there is no road to drive it on at the speed necessary to keep it in tip top condition.
David wrote “producing doctors, lawyers and thousands in the social science is good optics but it does nothing to make us competitive globally.”
We still must have an Education system that provides a foundation for all professions including Doctors.
A software developer can’t tell me which medication to take for high cholesterol and asthma or whether the cyst in my kidney should be removed.
A primary and secondary education that produces highly literate students will provide the foundation for the Doctor, the software developer and the entrepreneurial Hydroponic farmer and Aquaculturists.
Barbados needs to provide scholarships to young people who want to study non traditional subjects like Industrial Design and software development.
The BCC and SJPP should follow the model of some Canadian colleges like Humber College and George Brown College.
UWI could become more “practical” like Ryerson.
@Hants
Surely you have misinterpreted was was written?
Ping Pong | March 12, 2013 at 7:49 PM |
Were Garfield Sobers or Brian Lara the products of some cricket academy? Too much emphasis on schooling….education is the result of experiences, expectations and exhortation.
…………………………………………………………………………………….
How come that the Closed Brethren kids, have no doctorates, no degrees and from what I understand very little secondary school education, yet still own and operate successfully, many businesses throughout Barbados?
Part of our education should be looking, learning and taking over from these people whom we have allowed over the ages,and recently , to have the upper hand on us. We should employ the same tactics that we execute on our brothers. If one of us open a hot dog stand at
the bus stop at Mayers Corner, next day we will see some one else open another one a few yards away.
ac | March 12, 2013 at 8:01 PM |
Is it not remarkable that we don’t have one single black owned car dealership in our island .
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The plantation car used to be religiously and zealously maintained by the mistress chauffeur. Without having access to the modern valet stuff we see nowadays, that chauffeur ,with just a yellow duster and some rag used to make that car shine like a mirror. You could have literally seen your face in the body work of that car.
When this car was changed by the plantation owner ,invariably that chauffeur would buy it,and in a relatively short while later, that once well kept car would be seen falling to pieces,due to a lack of care.
The point is that we are very good at looking after things belonging to the planter class.
@ millertheanunnaki The same problems these guys faced any modern black entrepreneur will be forced to face. Their own people lack of belief in themselves and lack of support of the same fledgling enterprises.
………………………………………………………
And how often we saw people in the village buying their bulk of groceries from town, then next day asking the village shopkeeper for credit on some item that they forget to get from town.
@Colonel Buggy
We keep coming back to mentality and issues which are steeped in our lineage.
@colonel Buggy
Bull. It has nothing to do with lineage. It has to do with one;s own self conficence. Oprah Winfrey lineage is from slaves. Look where she is; and don’t tell me it is because she is in tthe U.S. the obstaacles in those places are far worse than in BIm.
@Hants/ Barbados does not necessarily have to provide the scholarships. If your grades here are good enough you can get scholarships from other places in the world. Check a publication by UNESCO called Study Abroad. There are scholarships available all over the world. that’s why a good educational foundation is abslutely necessary. that is what the rest of the world demands/ We need not think only in terms of functioning in Barbados. Be bold set your sights abroad.
@Alvin
You can continue to ignore BU’s comment but you cannot hide from alternative views. Again on your last comment BU entreats you to do some research to establish how Jobs, Winfrey and others became successful. You may be surprised to learned it took more than talent.
@Hants my apologies. I should have directed you to the internet. Go to Yahoo.com and put in: Scholarships abroad
Let’s say Government assists in the funding of a Solar power plant. They should send Barbadians for training in the building,operating and servicing of the plant.
lets say an investor builds commercial greenhouses to grow vegetables.Training youngsters in greenhouse farming could be tied to the venture.
Scholarships and training should be tied to real jobs.
I have heard mention of training in Animation.
Visit these sites and you will see how many people are required to produce commercially viable movies.
http://ca.indeed.com/Animation-Studios-jobs-in-Toronto,-ON
http://www.toonboxent.com/careers/
We must keep making suggestions even if others disagree with what we say.
As an aside. Just saw Breakfast in Barbados ad on CTV Toronto. At least they are targeting the right audience because older people watch news,
I remember a dozen years ago, i had an eye examination done in Manhattan, part of the exam involved a photo taken of the eye balls (it was new back then). Along with telling what is wrong with the eyes, it also gives valuable information on whether you are a candidate for a stroke, blood pressure, etc. etc. The doctor is needed after this diagnosis, not before.
A short time after, a school was introduced where no textbooks are used.
Education has to evolve to keep up with a changing world, the same template from the last 60 years will only result in more stagnation, on an even greater level than what is now being experienced in the Caribbean.
I hope it has been recognized that the leaders have now acknowledged that the economy is now in a state of depression. All the educated lawyers, doctors, MBA’s, PHD’s, let’s just say, the products of the current system that has not seen a change or upgrade since inception, none of these have a clue how to move forward in this new order. Using one persons incite, “the education system in Barbados and the Caribbean was never calibrated”, a system was created for them, they never used their education to modify it, everyone continued the complacency. There is a school for boys in England that is over 500 years old, i will bet anyone if they got hold of their curriculum, they will be in for a shock.
Just found out a relative of mine had an eye examination done in Canada two days ago, her eyeballs were photographed as well, innovation spreads, it’s been well over 12 years…………..every time I visit Bim I ask for that service and continually hear it is not available there, stagnation.
On another note, the monopolies in Barbados continue their strangle hold on the island with the collusion of self-serving politicians. Dissolving those monopolies will give individuals a fighting chance at starting businesses and spreading their wings, however, I would not hold my breath.
Alvin Cummins
“We just have tp appreciate what we have. and see through dialogue how we can make it better.”
Give me a f#cking break …!
People who are asleep in comfort zones, always tend to accept mediocrity.
@well well.
Name the monopolies you are talking about? How do you go about dissolving companies that have legitimate rights to exist? Why would you dissolve them and what would you replace them wiht. It is alright to mouth off and make stupid statements, but thought should precede the statements. People might take you at your word.
@David;
Of course it takes more than talent I know this. When I was an apprentice electrician (long before you were born…tell you that story later) my foreman always used to talk about some he called “stick-to-it-iveness:” that is absolutely necessary. I read Job’s life story and about the beginning of Apple (in the garage) and the problems he and his partners had in the begining. the same thing goes for Oprah ( she did not have it easy either, read about her fights with the producer of the show when she was co-host and there was such a great disparity in salary between her and her white male co-host. And that was after she got the job. My intention is to let the budding young aspiring entrepreneurs and businessmen know that “sticktoitiveness” is an absolute requirement to be successful.
@Well Well. Our physicians can hold their own against anyone anywhere in the world. check out how many of our graduates are at the tops of their profession everywhere.Check who is the top Paaediatric neurosurgeon in British columbia. I won’t go further but check.
BAlvin C………..Barbados is not that big that you do not know who the monopolies are……………appears that you prefer things as they now exist with people on the island not being able to move forward because of these same monopolies………….someone should listen to me and be assertive in making changes………….you continue to spout about all the professionals Barbados produced while totally ignoring the fact that they all had to leave the island to move forward or be even recognized for their innovation. YOU need to check the book of WHO IS WHO in the innovative directory for black Canadians, you will find Bajans in there who were given the opportunities IN CANADA to become who they are. I see you as being part of the problem in your inability to recognize that Bim is being run by a clique who prefer things as they are to their own benefit, hope you are not part of that clique. Opportunities are stifled in Bim for a very selfish reason.
Bajans have made innovative strides while outside of Barbados, strides that they would have never been given the opportunity to do while resident in Bim because of petty hatreds, jealousies and plain stupidity from the sellout crowd. The bajans who tried that always lost their rights to patents or for great exposure, the governments never see the need or have the inclination to push their own people to great success. Alvin C………what you need to do is go to Bim and research how many bajans were downtrodden and discriminated against when trying to move upward and forward…………..i spend a certain time during the year in Canada, I have already done my research…………………it’s your turn.
Alvin
I too have a story to tell, and lemme tell yah, you ain’ gun like it one bit… but nothing before its time …
These stories need to be told so that bajans like Alvin C who sit on their little stools in foreign countries patting their own backs on their own successes will be faced with the reality that there are equally intelligent, innovative and Einstein-like black bajans who are deliberately not allowed the opportunities to move upward and forward.
after reform and retooling of our educational format the entrenpeuner still needs the financial backing of the banking institute to excute the plan or idea……how would that be possible ?..i tend to believe that given our inabilty to own such an instituion relying on foriegn investors for such help would be almost an impossibe task.so where do we go from here?
The real situation is that white people in this country have always and they continue to destabilize the efforts of black people by undermining the efforts of black people to establish themselves in various areas of business and enterprise.
@well well.
For your information I do live in Barbados and have been living there continuously since I returned from overseas in 1985, with annual visits to Canada. So I am aware of all that goes on in both places. I know what your are talking about but you are on the wrong tack. My immediate challenge to you is to look at all the Nobel prize winners and see where they originate, where they do their early studies and where they were when they won the prizes. An egg cannot boil unless the water is boiling. Barbadians, especially those who want to progress HAVE to move out. Barbados is too small :less than 300,000people, a small economy, no natural resources, and limited opportunities can never give all the upwardly mobile people what they want. They HAVE to get up off their asses and seek their fortune and fame in the outside world. I have to keep using myself as an example. I had reached a comfortable position here in Canada (Charge Technologist at Mt. Sinai Hospital in Toronto. Mt. Sinai is one of the teaching hospitals of the University of Toronto. ) I could have stayed there until my retirement. The opportunity came for me to take a position in Qatar (Middle East) and I resigned from Mt Sinai and went there. At the end of my contract there I returned to Barbados, and set up my own laboratory. I didn’t wait for someone to GIVE me the opportunity. I created my own opportunity. Ryan Brathwaite did not become a world champion of the 1oo meter dash. He became champion hurdler. the only way to do that is to jump over the hurdles. In the same way you have to JUMP over the hurdles of life, you may stumble sometimes but you still have to move on. Why am I going on and on? Because the Barbadian people have great potential they just have to convince themselves of their self worth and get up and get. As long as there is the self deluding belief that “Einstein-like blacks are deliberately denied the opportunities to move onward and forward” then progress will never occur. MAKE your own opportunities. If that person has the ability, the opportunity will exist somewhere else. MOVE!!! the important thing is to PROGRESS, if not in Bim, then anywhere that will provide that opportunity. Rameses Caddle (if you are old enough to know him) studied medicine in India which provided him with the scholarship. We have had sudents who studied in Moscow because they got scholarships there. I went to the U.s. to study on a tuition waiver. There are opportunities out there you just have to look for them and seize them when the appear. MY sole purpose from here on in, is to try to convince Barbadian youth that they can achieve WHATEVER the want to achieve. If you have an idea seek ALL the sources, wherever, to make it come to fruition. V.S. Naipaul the writer went to London and did his writing. He won a Nobel prize while in england, but he is still a Trinidadian. You my believe you are “downtrodden” but that will only happen if you wish to be. do things for yourself.There are too many successs stories for you to believe that you cannot succeed because you have had disappointents. Make things happen!!
@ well well:
Do you remember Rochdale College? Do you remember that it was an innovative addition to the education offerings? Do you remember how it functioned and what was its outcome? Check with your Canadian friends if you are not familiar with it, and let me know
@ David:
I don’t know whether I will succeed but I will try. I challenged Well Well to check out Rochdale college. I have copied the information on it and will try to reproduce it here. It is a ratther large amount of material so I might not succeed but here goes.
Rochdale CollegeFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaJump to: navigation, search Rochdale College
The building that used to house Rochdale College, on Bloor Street in Toronto
Active 1968–1975
Location Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Opened in 1968, Rochdale College was an experiment in student-run alternative education and co-operative living in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It provided space for 840 residents in a co-operative living space. It was also a free university where students and teachers would live together and share knowledge. The project ultimately failed when it could not cover its financing and neighbours complained that it had become a haven for drugs and crime. It was closed in 1975.
Contents [hide]
1 Co-operative housing experiment
2 Founding
3 Transition
4 Educational ideals
5 Drug culture
6 The building
7 See also
8 References
9 Further reading
10 External links
[edit] Co-operative housing experimentRochdale was the largest co-op residence in North America, occupying an 18-storey student residence at Bloor St. and Huron St. in downtown Toronto. It was situated on the edges of the University of Toronto campus, near to Yorkville, Toronto’s hippie haven in the 1960s and early 1970s.
The college took its name from Rochdale, a town in north-west England, where the world’s first cooperative society was established in 1844. The Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers is usually considered the first successful co-operative enterprise, used as a model for modern co-ops, following the ‘Rochdale Principles’. A group of 28 weavers and other artisans set up the society to open their own store selling food items they could not otherwise afford. Within ten years there were over 1,000 co-operative societies in the United Kingdom.
The college’s modern architecture was uniquely designed for communal living. Some areas were divided into independently operated communal units of about a dozen bedrooms (called ashrams), each with its own collective washroom, kitchen and dining room. Each unit was responsible for collecting rent and maintaining its own housekeeping. Other areas consisted of bachelor, one-bedroom, and two-bedroom apartments. On the first and second floor were common areas used for socialization, education, and commercial purposes. The roof was accessible from the 18th floor and was used for sunbathing. Clothing was optional.
[edit] FoundingRochdale began as a response to a growing need for student housing at the University of Toronto, and a nineteen-year-old entrepreneur and philosophy student, Howard Adelman, was hired by the Campus Co-operative to meet the housing demand in 1958.[1] With Adelman’s advice, Campus Co-op began to acquire more properties, and formed Co-operative College Residences Inc., a non-profit off-shoot of Campus Co-op. After obtaining federal mortgages at well below the market rate, Campus Co-op incorporated Rochdale College in 1964.[2]
It was by accident rather than design that Rochdale became the imposing building that it did. Campus Co-op preferred to have the building be built to two times coverage, which would have resulted in a relatively easily managed building whose floor area would be only twice the size of the lot.[3] However, due to Rochdale’s location on a busy arterial road, the site was zoned at seven times coverage.[4] This meant an unanticipated jump to 840 residents, a fact that was originally greeted with great enthusiasm, due to the expansionist attitudes of the founders.[3] Zoning regulations also stipulated that the site was to be an apartment-hotel, which meant that only half the floor space could be used for apartments with self-contained kitchens.[3] This disadvantage was not fully appreciated due to faith in a communal system, in which residents would be expected to effectively share the space available to them.
Campus Co-op, the parent corporation of Rochdale College, was uncomfortable with education taking a central role at Rochdale, a position held strongly by Rochdale’s intellectual leaders such as Dennis Lee.[5] A decision was made to separate from Campus Co-op. Further emphasis was placed on education when Adelman noted that the college’s $175,000 property tax could be avoided if they had a functioning educational program.[6] In Adelman’s words, if “we run an education program for $75,000, we’ll come out $100,000 ahead.”[6]
Although many Rochdale founders viewed its education program as a form of tax avoidance, those who were dedicated to Rochdale as an educational institution did not let that deter them from pursuing what they viewed as a more noble purpose. Dennis Lee, the creative talent of the operation, notes plans like the tax avoidance scheme were, “primarily in the thinking of people like Howard who were involved in the planning, they did a good job of keeping their cards fairly close to their chest. It was not something that was being passed around generally, […] it would have made other people completely furious to hear it at the time.”[6] Yet it would be inaccurate to conclude that Adelman, the organizational talent of the operation, did not share its educational goals. With Lee, Adelman edited a collection of articles published in 1968 that constituted a manifesto of sorts for “free university” education, calling for liberation from inhibiting educational institutions. Adelman’s contribution was a particularly scathing indictment of the modern university as an institution that stifles innovation and serves only the establishment.[7]
Even before its construction, there was a tension in Rochdale between fiscal responsibility and idealism. Mietkiewicz writes, “[p]erhaps because of their idealistic preoccupations, few of Rochdale’s academic leaders were fully aware that much of Campus Co-op’s enthusiasm for education had stemmed from its vision of the program as a sort of tax dodge.”[6]
[edit] TransitionThe originally intended tenants for Rochdale were screened.[8] Screenings were handled by residents of the Rochdale Houses, a precursor “dry-run” to Rochdale conducted at Campus Co-op owned houses, and they chose people who were by and large going to be associated with the University of Toronto.[6] However, a construction strike in 1967 that delayed the opening of Rochdale by half a year changed Rochdale’s population from what was supposed to be a carefully selected one to a completely random one.[9] The screened applicants, most of whom had commitments to the university, could not wait for Rochdale to be completed and many found new accommodations.[9] When the college was slowly completed floor by floor, a practical decision was made to make the building available to “people who walked in right off the street.”[9] As the small group of founders later realized: “[w]e were sealing the fate of the Rochdale that most of us had wanted to experiment with. And since there were very few rules about how the place would be run, we were in effect handing the building over to people very unlike ourselves.”[10]
[edit] Educational idealsIn the late 1960s, universities were centres of political idealism and experimentation. Rochdale College was established as an alternative to what were considered traditional paternalistic and non-democratic governing bodies within university education. Conversely, Rochdale’s government policy was decided at open meetings in which all members of the co-operative could attend, participate in debate, and engage in consensus decision making.
It was the largest of more than 300 tuition-free universities in North America, and offered no structured courses, curriculum, exams, degrees, or traditional teaching faculty. From humble beginnings in seminars on phenomenology and a Recorder Consort that performed with the London (Ontario) Symphony Orchestra, it became a hot bed of free thought and radical idealism.
Rochdale College never used traditional professors or structured classes. Posting notices on bulletin boards and in a student newsletter, groups of students coalesced around an interest, and “resource people” were found with various academic and non-academic backgrounds, who led informal discussion groups on a wide variety of subjects. Resource persons of note included an Anglican priest, Alderman and later Member of Parliament, Dan Heap, author Dennis Lee and Futurian Judith Merril, who founded Rochdale’s library.[11]
Rochdale participants were involved with various cultural institutions in Toronto such as Coach House Press, Theatre Passe Muraille, The Toronto Free Dance Theatre, This Magazine is About Schools (now This Magazine), the Spaced-out Library (now the Merril Collection of the Toronto Public Library) and House of Anansi Press.
Students had complete freedom to develop their own learning process, much of which emerged from the shared community experience. The college included theatres for drama and film, and a ceramics studio. Students decided school policy and made their own evaluations.
It was typical of the free universities not to award degrees and the University of Toronto did not offer degrees through Rochdale College. Indicative of the playful humour of the times, anyone could purchase a B.A. by donating $25 to the college and answering a simple skill-testing question. An M.A. cost $50, with the applicant choosing the question. A Ph.D. cost $100, no questions asked.[12]
The Rochdale application also described its “non-degree”: “We are also offering Non-Degrees at comparable rates. A Non-B.A. is $25.00. Course duration is your choice; requirements are simple, we ask that you say something. A Non-M.A. is $50.00 for which we require you to say something logical. A Non-Ph.D. is $100.00; you will be required to say something useful.” Nobody at Rochdale ever took these degrees seriously, and the fees (if any were collected) were treated as voluntary donations.
Rochdale ran its own radio station called CRUD, with an unusual assortment of music, talk, and static. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission tried to shut the station down a number of times, but the dedication of its staff kept it on the air.
[edit] Drug cultureRochdale was originally a refuge for idealists. Ultimately, its cooperative idealism was its downfall. Dedicated to consensus decision making and granting a vote to everyone who lived (or claimed to live) in the building, Rochdale’s governing body was unable to reach agreement to expel those who failed to pay their rents or otherwise live up to its ideals. Unable to pay its mortgage to the Canadian government, Rochdale drifted towards insolvency. As nearby Yorkville became gentrified during the late 1960s, much of Toronto’s counterculture moved into Rochdale. This included homeless squatters and bikers who dealt hard drugs, along with a substantial number of undercover officers from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
According to the CBC Archives, by 1971 Rochdale had become known as “‘North America’s largest drug distribution warehouse.’ Hash, pot, and LSD are in large supply. The Rochdale security force includes members of biker gangs” Hiring the bikers for security in late 1971 was the beginning of the end. Until then there was a strict unwritten code that no one sold hard drugs out of Rochdale. .[13]
CBC Archives also describe how “[d]ue to problems with cops and bikers, the governing council set up a paid security force to be on 24-hour alert. Ironically, some of these security people were bikers themselves. As had happened in Yorkville, an unofficial alliance with the Vagabonds outlaw motorcycle club developed.” Rochdale’s educational focus and student population declined as the drug business increased.
After increased clashes with police, and unable to pay its mortgage, political pressure forced financial foreclosure by the government, and Rochdale closed in 1975. A number of residents refused to leave. On May 30 the last residents were carried from the building by police. The doors to the college had to be welded shut to keep them out.
[edit] The building
The Unknown Student sculpture in front of the Rochdale building on Bloor St.The 18-storey tower that once housed Rochdale at 341 Bloor Street is now known as the Senator David A. Croll Apartments. Completed in 1968, it is the sister building to the Tartu student residence a short distance west across Bloor street. Designed by the architects Elmar Tampõld and John Wells (who had earlier constructed the Charles Street Apartments at Bay Street and Bloor Street).
As homage to its Rochdale days, the tower features the large and intriguing Unknown Student sculpture out front.
“Love it or loathe it, Rochdale College is hard to dismiss even 20 years after its closing.” (University of Toronto Magazine, Spring, 1995, p.38.)
The National Film Board of Canada documentary `Dream Tower` (1994) directed by Ron Mann, documents Rochdale College, a controversial experiment combining free university and student residence.[14]
[edit] See also
@ Well well
I tried to copy the file but it is too large you will just have to go to the internet:Yahoo.com and type in Rochdale College.
Well Well | March 13, 2013 at 8:10 AM |
Just found out a relative of mine had an eye examination done in Canada two days ago, her eyeballs were photographed as well, innovation spreads, it’s been well over 12 years…………..every time I visit Bim I ask for that service and continually hear it is not available there, stagnation.
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I am surprised to hear that this is not available in Barbados. Some 15 years ago I was part of the Eye Survey carried out at over a 3/4 year period at the Lady Meade Polyclinic, and I was subjected to numerous photographs of the eye.
Only last Friday morning, I was listening to one of those ‘advertorials’ on CBC Radio, and it was highlighted that the Natural Medical Centre, the Blue Building,in Brittons Hill , conducts Eye Photography.
Perhaps you are asking the wrong persons.
Alvin……….I understand very well where you are coming from, however, the leaders and philanthropists in Canada and worldwide always create the means for these opportunities to be exploited, we cannot say the same for leaders in the Barbados, even if they had billions at their disposal. Dr. The Honorable…………said it very well………..he highlighted one of the reasons innovative people find it hard to move forward………it is not as cut and dried as you believe………..and yes, if you do not leave Barbados, you will stagnate. Scholarships coming out of Europe had a way of going only to who were connected until very recently (2010) exposure saw for the first time (23) going to people considered nobodys in Bim.
Colonel Buggy……..I went to private opthamoligists who told me the service of eye photography was not available in Bim………..what you are saying makes it sound even worse, because if anyone should know they should that it is part of every routine eye exam outside of Bim.
Wait! Wunna ain’t got a “Canada Underground”?
You mean after we went to all that trouble to get rid of “Dictionary” and the Dread “Living in Barbados” who came here on BU with a lotta long talk and LONG LONG post about all kind of overseas nonsense – we gone back to square one…?
Wuh um is Alvin say about a person not being able to succeed without leaving Barbados…..cause um too small?
He know what came out of Bethlehem? He eva hear ’bout Bushie?
Anyway, Bushie done wid that, cause this kinda talk does only make Bushie resort to the language of the fellows at the end of Bush-gap… ….and those fellows do not like ceramic cutlery…they are always talking about brass bowls…. 🙂
@Well Well. The Natural Medical Centre actually does Iridology. At present there is a blitz on Glaucoma testing on the island, free of charge.
Thanks for the info Colonel Buggy…………..I am off island and will be for some time, but will check for eye photo upon return.
I still hey …! HA HA HA
Stop telling lies BAFFY
….David should really ban your tail for a few weeks…. 🙂
…let you become BAFBU Ha Ha
…..you think the REAL Living in Barbados could write such a short sentence….?
Rotfl Ha Ha
After millions of Dollars spent on Edutech, Community College IT Associate Degrees and University degrees in IT Codrington High School is applying for a work permit for a teacher in Design and Technology.
If there are no suitable persons in Barbados then we should stop spending the taxpayer’s money on this type of education.
The government should stop paying for so many Sociology, Psychology and History students at UWI and start new Degrees in more areas that would fit in with National Development.
This will prevent them from coming on National radio and complaining that they cannot get any work in Barbados because there are not many vacant positions for those areas of study.
Wait Bush … How you know it did me …? I ain’ all a dah smart after all … stupse
@Clone | March 14, 2013 at 1:08 PM |
“The government should stop paying for so many Sociology, Psychology and History students at UWI and start new Degrees in more areas that would fit in with National Development.”
So what are they waiting for? You mean they don’t even take, you Clone, seriously? Why not w.e.f September 2013 using the funding squeeze as an excuse to bring about such much needed changes?
And while you are at it, Clone, do the same thing for Law. We definitely have too many incompetents already in the system. Just look at our justice system for proof.
But remember any adjustments on the Hill might see the empire of Sir Hilary start to crumble.
Now Clone get on with these changes. You are now fully in charge and have no one (especially OSA or MAM) to blame but yourself. This administration, although in a brand new session of Parliament, still seems to be caught in a pre-2008 time tunnel.
The same way you want the BLP and its supporters to accept their recent electoral defeat you and this administration need to get out of its pre-2008 time warp and get on with the vital changes needed for the country’s existence and future financial viability.
http://www.bango.org.bb/newspaper/empoweringpoorpeople01.htm