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Prosperity May Be Restored, With the Right Policy Mix

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Source: DelisleWorrell.com

As we embark on the third decade of the 21st century, Barbadians look to our economic prospects with a mixture of hope and trepidation. Our hopes are grounded in our economy’s inherent strengths: our highly regarded tourism services, good transport and communications, reliable public services, and our resourceful and well educated work force. In order to realise our full potential, there are a number of policies which government might consider.

Barbados’ strength in tourism is the quality and variety of services and activities which our island has to offer. Government incentives for tourism should be biased towards continuing to improve quality and variety. The emphasis should be on food, culture, heritage, sports and other niches. The private sector should be encouraged to embrace Barbados’ high-end reputation, and to focus of giving excellent value for money. High volume, low-cost tourism, including large cruise ships, bring risks of overcrowding and environmental degradation.

Government should consider contracting best international expertise to undertake a 3-year makeover of public services and administration. It would be costly, but it would be money well spent, if it were designed to bring all Government functions and services to an international standard of performance, comparable to Canada or Singapore.

Government should publish a strategy document with a practical time-bound plan for the complete replacement of fossil fuels as a source of energy. Renewable energy has the potential, in time, to provide the economy with a sector of comparable weight to tourism.

Borrowing from the example of the most successful firms in the sector, the future of international business seems to be in providing marketing, promotional, training and other services. Government agencies should aim to attract international companies to set up offices in Barbados to provide these services to their international clients.

Historically, Barbados was a gateway to the Caribbean for two centuries or more. The island could become a gateway into and out of the Caribbean once more. To do that, Government would need to enter strategic partnerships with international firms for the management of the airport and seaport. Government should partner with international companies which have well-established global networks, and the capacity to finance upgrades to the Barbados facilities from their own resources.

Multilingual abilities are highly prized in international commerce.  Barbados could enhance its international competitiveness with a comprehensive programme to provide foreign language skills from primary school level.

In a recent paper which may be consulted on my website, I explain the benefits of permanently retiring the Barbados dollar and using the US dollar for all domestic transactions. Importantly, Government would have no recourse to creating new money to finance excessively large deficits in the absence of a domestic currency.

There is a road to prosperity ahead for Barbados, but major obstacles remain in the path. Once they are addressed we can have confident hope for a better future for our country.

Source: http://www.DeLisleWorrell.com

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91 responses to “Prosperity May Be Restored, With the Right Policy Mix”

  1. robert lucas Avatar
    robert lucas

    “Our hopes are grounded in our economy’s inherent strengths: our highly regarded tourism services, good transport and communications, reliable public services, and our resourceful and well educated work force.”

    I never laughed so much in my life after reading the first paragraph. Is the writer of the above living on Mars?.

  2. Ewart Archer Avatar
    Ewart Archer

    Same reaction here.

    There is the strange contradiction of praising the reliability of public services and then recommending a costly 3-year makeover of same just two paragraphs later. Perhaps he thinks he’s being tactful like a politician, but he’s just clumsy. Too much brandy after dinner?

    Then there is the dollarization proposal — a very radical and risky remedy for fiscal indiscipline. The type of recommendation that would make more sense if Barbados had a problem with runaway inflation.

  3. Harry Van Huis Avatar
    Harry Van Huis

    When tourist visit Barbados because of the awesome beaches and wonderful weather they are also looking for a great experience. I have seen some improvements in the past year but Barbados still has a way to go.

    1 Customer service in the restaurants and stores still need improvement.
    2 Cleanliness (trash on the streets and beaches) need to be addressed
    3 Public transportation (easy access, reliable service, good web site, & day passes) would help.

    Barbados is not the only island with awesome beaches and wonderful weather. Tourist dollars are digressionary and should not be taken for granted.

  4. Wily Coyote Avatar
    Wily Coyote

    Wily has an entirely different view of Dr.Worrell’s dissertation, he’s written a phasisis bit of prose to ascertain the reactions it may or may not generate and use the responses to formulate and appraise the underlying tone and capabilities of the political masters. This man is NO FOOL, although Wily has never been a fan he recognises his intelligence and cunning.

  5. Miller Avatar
    Miller

    (Quote):
    Government should consider contracting best international expertise to undertake a 3-year makeover of public services and administration. It would be costly, but it would be money well spent, if it were designed to bring all Government functions and services to an international standard of performance, comparable to Canada or Singapore. (Unquote).
    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    Hasn’t the current administration demonstrated it ‘commitment’ to such a “makeover of public services and administration” by the appointment of senators to the Cabinet and czars as advisors and change-agents to do what you are suggesting?

    Why ‘waste’ more of the country’s already scarce forex borrowed from the IMF which could have been avoided if that $300 million that went missing just after the 2013 general elections could be removed from the ‘suspense’ account and given a proper accounting?

  6. Redguard Avatar
    Redguard

    “There is a road to prosperity ahead for Barbados, but major obstacles remain in the path. Once they are addressed we can have confident hope for a better future for our country.”

    High-end tourists, multilingual children and switching to the US Dollar.

    Mr. Worrell wants us to teach our children Chinese and Arabic so they can work in the Casinos for sheiks and chinese multi-millionaires who have a loads greenback and a fetish for large backsides

  7. peterlawrencethompson Avatar
    peterlawrencethompson

    This is a disappointing intervention by Dr. Worrell. He is trying to reverse in to the future with his eyes firmly affixed to the past.

    Adopting the US dollar at the point in history when the rest of the world is evolving away from it is at best shortsighted, but in my opinion closer to criminal irresponsibility. It makes much more sense to maintain a fixed exchange rate, but tied to a more diverse international basket of currencies. I recommend that the Barbados Dollar should be tied to Special Drawing Rights: a form of international money, created by the International Monetary Fund, and defined as a weighted average of various convertible currencies.

  8. peterlawrencethompson Avatar
    peterlawrencethompson

    Dr. Worrell’s recommendation that “Government should publish a strategy document with a practical time-bound plan for the complete replacement of fossil fuels as a source of energy.” is out of date. The plan was published long ago and is available to Dr. Worrell and everyone else on the Ministry of Energy’s website.

    What is necessary is implementation, not yet another strategy document.

  9. peterlawrencethompson Avatar
    peterlawrencethompson

    Dr. Worrell says that “Government incentives for tourism should be biased towards continuing to improve quality and variety.”

    Tourism is a mature industry. Indeed it is a sunset industry. Government incentives should be available only to sunrise industries to speed their development as we evolve away from our over-dependence on tourism. ALL the corporate welfare provided to the tourism sector is simply forcing the Barbados taxpayer to pay extortion to multi-national corporations and local robber-barons.

  10. John A Avatar
    John A

    @PLT

    Not only should the alternative energy plan be pursued, but it should be done as a matter of urgency with the road blocks removed.

    I continue to say a USD saved is one earned. If we move on alternative energy with more than just lip service, it is the same net result on our FX as bringing additional tourist to our island.

  11. peterlawrencethompson Avatar
    peterlawrencethompson

    Dr. Worrell recommends that “Government should consider contracting best international expertise to undertake a 3-year makeover of public services and administration.”

    He should know better by now, having spent decades in public service.

    Buying “international expertise” is something that even Christine Lagarde, head of the IMF, strongly recommends that poor countries to stop using global consultancy firms. They are all neo-colonial rip off gangsters whose lack of moral compass disgusts even the IMF. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/imf-chief-tells-poor-countries-cut-use-global-consultancy-firms-101311535.html

    Certainly we need to revolutionize our public sector, but it is no mystery how we need to achieve this. We can even begin with implementing ISO 9001 standards across the public service and all state owned companies. Just because this is Grenville Philips idea does not mean that it is wrong. It is not even the only very good suggestion in the Solutions Barbados policy arsenal.

  12. peterlawrencethompson Avatar
    peterlawrencethompson

    Dr. Worrell says “Historically, Barbados was a gateway to the Caribbean for two centuries or more.”

    So What!!! That was then, this is now.

    It is shallow to talk of being a gateway, without providing specifics about what we are a gateway for, who we are providing value to, and what they will pay us for that value.

  13. Hal Austin Avatar
    Hal Austin

    @ Redguard

    You are right. The focus of government should be on prosperity, improving the standard of living of ordinary Barbadians, and not the fantasy and comic illiteracy of economic growth. There is a limit to growth, which even Dr Worrell should realise.
    Ordinary people are concerned about jobs, housing, health, crime, education, the environment and the quality of public transport, not with an island 166 sq miles being world class, or the stupidity of punching above our weight.
    Now that Dr Worrell has been freed from the shackles of the central bank, his economic recommendations are no better. There is clearly also a limit to analytical skills.
    Dr Worrell has very little to add to the continuing economic debate. His repeated call to abandon the Barbados dollar for the Greenback (Why not the Canadian dollar?) and an unsubstantiated confidence in the Canadian and Singaporean financial systems are not supported.
    And it is not the first time he has praised the Canadian system, including the quality of their regulation. (I should mention that Dr Worrell did his post-graduate work in Canada)
    In no case does he put forward a cohesive argument as to why Canada or Singapore. Nor, indeed, the pros and cons of abandoning the Bajan for the Greenback. We will apparently learn the reasons by osmosis.
    Apart from this article of faith in two different financial systems which produce two different outcomes, Dr Worrell also has a number of fallacious beliefs about Barbados’ so-called inherent strengths, such as highly regarded tourism services. What are these services and who holds them in high regard?
    He also suggests the island has good transport and communication, he obviously does not mean the reckless driving on the narrow roads that are congested all through the working day and a backward and exploitative communication system? We are now in a 5G world.
    Then he suggests Barbados has reliable public services, but I can only suggest he lives in a parallel world. Which public services are reliable? Then he adds, as if making a joke, that the island has a “..resourceful and well-educated work force.”
    At the time Dr Worrell was writing, the court system was clogged up with about 84 murders cases, some of which have been on the books for up to ten years. Is remanding an innocent person for ten years a mark of public service competence in Dr Worrell’s eyes?
    Where is this well-educated work force? A nation that is drifting further and further behind the rest of the world, both regionally and globally, Dr Worrell is willing to perpetuate the myth of a well educated.
    Is this why he sees the need to contract the best international “expertise” to undertake a three-year make-over (the length of an undergraduate degree)?
    What Dr Worrell really means, consciously or sub-consciously, is that the best “expertise” is white “expertise”, a primitive form of intellectual colonialism. It is political and managerial illiteracy, crass nonsense.
    Dr Worrell also contradicts himself, as has been pointed out. On the one hand celebrating our reliable public services, while on the other hand suggesting a “makeover” to bring those services up to an acceptable global standard.
    Dr Worrell has also suggested a bit of economic double speak: that there was a road to prosperity ahead for the island once major obstacles are removed. What are these obstacles and how can they be addressed to bring them up to the international standard of performance , comparable to Canada or Singapore?
    However, it is Dr Worrell’s repeated call to abandon the Bajan for the Greenback as legal tender that is the strangest recommendation of all. On the contrary, government should ban the Greenback from being used as an effective legal currency in Barbados.
    To abandon its sovereign currency also means letting go of the key macro-economic lever for the control of monetary policy from out of the hands of the central bank, with policy being made in Washington DC.
    Further, and this is crucial, apart from a few light-touch regulatory mechanisms, the central bank would in effect make itself redundant. Maybe this is Dr Worrell’s ultimate intention.
    We urgently need a abetter discussion on economic policy and the vision for Barbados.

    .

  14. peterlawrencethompson Avatar
    peterlawrencethompson

    There is indeed a road to prosperity ahead for Barbados, but Dr. Worrell is hopelessly lost. He is on the wrong road, facing the wrong direction, has run out of gas, and his license has expired.

    Future prosperity has to be built on ascendant global industries, not by pouring scarce resources into rich people’s pockets in the hope that they will resuscitate a tourism industry that is past its high growth phase.

    Yes we need to educate our young people in Arabic and Chinese… but neither of these is as important as teaching them to program in Python, Java, C/C++, JavaScript, etc.

  15. Chris Halsall Avatar
    Chris Halsall

    @PLT: “…but neither of these is as important as teaching them to program in Python, Java, C/C++, JavaScript, etc.

    Indeed!

    And, also, Linux System and Database Administration skills. These kinds of skillsets are highly sought after, and can be marketed worldwide while living and working in Barbados. With Open Source Software now dominating most compute spaces, all of the needed software is available for free.

    I’ve been trying to reach out to the Ministry of Education to discuss the opportunities of introducing this kind of thing into the curriculum, but the response has been silence…

  16. Ewart Archer Avatar
    Ewart Archer

    BU is awash with crackpot ideas. None more so than that tourism is a “sunset” industry.

    PLT is the loudest environmental extremist on BU, a man drunk on the wild predictions of climate science forecasters. Problem is, these forecasters are part of a well-established tradition of intellectual error at European and North American universities.

    The first thing I was taught in the classroom when I was learning forecasting methods many years ago is that EVERY FORECAST IS WRONG. THE ONLY QUESTION IS, BY HOW MUCH.

    PLT will find out in due course that climate scientists have overstated the environmental impacts of climate change. By a mile. Just as previous forecasters exaggerated the problems of food and energy scarcity.

    Tourism is THE most important industry in Barbados. And it will be for generations to come if we ignore the Crazies.

  17. peterlawrencethompson Avatar
    peterlawrencethompson

    @Ewart Archer
    “… forecasters are part of a well-established tradition of intellectual error at European and North American universities.”
    +++++++++++++++
    Of course Ewart is much smarter than the climate experts at European and North American Universities. Since the experts at Chinese, Japanese, Australian, South American and African overwhelmingly agree with their European and North American colleagues, it goes without saying that Ewart is much smarter than these poor misguided PhDs as well. 😉

  18. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    Really? Is that all the man got? Is that his vision for the way forward?

    Steupse!

  19. peterlawrencethompson Avatar
    peterlawrencethompson

    @Ewart Archer
    “Tourism is THE most important industry in Barbados. And it will be for generations to come…” This will absolutely be true if we follow the unimaginative thinking of Dr. Worrell and Ewart, because we will have FAILED to develop anything to join it and eventually replace it.

    It will still be the most important industry, and it will still FAIL to deliver prosperity by any measure that includes people other than multi-national corporations and local robber-barons.

    Ewart seems to like that future. I’d prefer to choose a different one.

  20. Ewart Archer Avatar
    Ewart Archer

    PLT

    In the 1970s, many of the best and brightest economists, geographers, and demographers were confidently predicting that by the beginning of the 21st century, the world would have run out of oil and gas, and that millions of people would be starving.

    In my lifetime, we have survived the Population Bomb hoax, the Energy Crisis hoax, and the Y2K hoax.

    Stay tuned.

  21. peterlawrencethompson Avatar
    peterlawrencethompson

    @Ewart Archer

    It is amusing to be labeled an “environmental extremist” simply because I seek to learn about the subject from the vast majority of those who know the most about the subject.

    Ewart’s anti-intellectualism is not rare in Barbados, but is is still a huge drag on our social and economic development.

    In any case I am reminded of the anarchist Karl Hess’s words “Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice. Moderation in pursuit of justice is no virtue.”

  22. John A Avatar
    John A

    What i would like to see is that 10% of what we spend on tourism is spent developing USD saving industries.

    These can be alternative energy, food import substitution what ever will result in a reduced demand for FX. If then we continued to gain from tourism that’s fine, as we would be a double winner. If however tourism faulters what is our plan B? What have we got in place say as a 5 year plan that can reduce the need for FX, if say tourism receipts slipped by 20% for example?

    After nearly 2 years in office what exactly is this governments plan B?

  23. peterlawrencethompson Avatar
    peterlawrencethompson

    @Ewart Archer
    “… many of the best and brightest economists, geographers, and demographers were confidently predicting that by the beginning of the 21st century, the world would have run out of oil and gas, and that millions of people would be starving.’
    +++++++++++++++

    You may be able to peddle these lies and half truths to young folks, but I lived through the 70s and read those economists, geographers, and demographers. At no point did they constitute anything but a small minority of their disciplines. Furthermore, their predictions were well fenced of by conditionalities such as “if the rate of discovery of new oil reserves follows past trends.”

    By the way, estimates of the number of people currently starving (those who do not have enough food to lead a healthy life and suffer from both undernourishment and malnutrition) is estimated in various places as 795 million people, or 815 million people, or 821 million people. If you check carefully you will find that that is actually “millions of people.”

  24. Vincent Codrington Avatar
    Vincent Codrington

    @ PLT at 11:20 AM

    Ewart is smart. So are you. Because both of you are smart you are unlikely to agree on all matters.

  25. peterlawrencethompson Avatar
    peterlawrencethompson

    @John A

    It’s not a matter of “if tourism falters,” it is simply coherent planning for WHEN tourism falters.

    Do I know when that will be? of course I don’t; and neither does Dr. Worrell or Ewart. Will it be triggered by sea level rise, oil price spikes if some Iranian mullah retaliates for Suleimani assassination and we’re in a full scale war… I don’t know that either, but that is no reason to close my eyes and hide from evidence.

    They say we stick our heads in the sand… I say we start to look for alternative ways to make our living as a Nation BEFORE the crisis has devastated our communities.

  26. Hal Austin Avatar
    Hal Austin

    @PLT
    @John A

    The earliest test of our tourism brand, as the chairman would call it, will be the coronavirus. Watch out.

  27. Ewart Archer Avatar
    Ewart Archer

    Climate forecasts are bound to be wrong because the forecasters are trying to predict the future based on quantitative models that are developed from less than 100 years of climate data.

    Remember, our plant is very old, at least on a human time scale, and world climates are ALWAYS changing.

    As for the limited economic benefits from Barbados tourism. Why is that? Because most Barbadians dont have the knowledge, skills, or attitudes essential to taking full advantage of the opportunities that are potentially available.

    Most tourists and visiting businessmen and bankers are open to all kinds of relationships with their Caribbean hosts, but only if we can be more like them. If we talk and live like Rastas, or like black nationalists, or like resentful Marxists, our opportunities will severely limited.

  28. John A Avatar
    John A

    @ PLT

    I like you don’t like the idea of a one cylinder economy, no more than I would like to fly from here to the UK on a one engined plane.

    There is much we can do here to make ourselves less dependant on tourism and the foreign dollar. We are blessed with a near perfect year round climate, which along with tanning tourist, is also ideal for agriculture and solar energy. Unfortunately these industries are not as glamorous as a hotel corridor from hither to thither, so they are not as politically desirable to talk about as tourism one must assume.

    I can understand say an island like Aruba with little rainfall and nearly desert conditions banking heavily on Tourism, but that is not our case here. Why we don’t capitalise on this advantage I fail to understand.

  29. peterlawrencethompson Avatar
    peterlawrencethompson

    @Ewart Archer
    “Most tourists and visiting businessmen and bankers are open to all kinds of relationships with their Caribbean hosts, but only if we can be more like them.”
    ++++++++++++++++

    This is a fascinating statement Ewart. I don’t intend to dispute its truth.

    However, it is a clear headed exposition of the way tourism functions as an extension of colonialism. You have unambiguously stated that tourists will only like us if we can act White.

  30. John A Avatar
    John A

    @ Hal

    Yes That is something we need to watch carefully. Any major health scare or foreign “scuffle” has the potential to disrupt our ability to earn FX. That is why it is so important to insure against it by investing in FX saving ventures. The electric buses are a good move as long as they are charging on retained solar power at charging stations. A reduction in duties on electric powered vehicles would be another, as would the removal of barriers to the alternative energy sector.

  31. Ewart Archer Avatar
    Ewart Archer

    PLT

    It is absolutely FALSE to say that only a minority of social scientists were predicting a dire future for the planet back in the 1970s.

    These predictions were a key part of the undergraduate coursework AT EVERY UNIVERSITY IN THE ENGLISH SPEAKING WORLD THAT I KNOW ABOUT. And I spent 25 years of my adult life as an academic.

  32. peterlawrencethompson Avatar
    peterlawrencethompson

    @John A
    “Why we don’t capitalise on this advantage I fail to understand.”
    ++++++++++++++++++++

    You are on the right track in noting that other “… industries are not as glamorous as a hotel corridor from hither to thither…”

    To be fair to the current administration, it is hard to pour political effort into projects that do not show results before the next election. This short-termism is a major hurdle to rational economic planning.

    The less charitable explanation is that other industries do not have as many opportunities for corruption, payoffs, and robber-baron profiteering from pouring concrete as mega projects in the tourism industry promise.

  33. peterlawrencethompson Avatar
    peterlawrencethompson

    @Ewart
    Of course predictions from studies like The Club of Rome were part of every undergraduate coursework. This does NOT mean that they were majority opinion. Any academic of the era who presented these theories as a consensus opinion of the field was simply lying. I read the stuff. I was taught by professors whose own research predicted harsh outcomes. At no point did any of them pretend that this was a majority consensus. On the contrary they complained bitterly about how the vast majority of their colleagues just didn’t get it.

  34. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    @ John A,

    In plenty…..Tourism

    In need…… agriculture and solar energy.

    I hope it doesn’t take a catastrophic event for Bajans to change.

  35. Hal Austin Avatar
    Hal Austin

    @ John A

    Has the minister of health, or international business or the micro-managing president made a statement about coronavirus yet? Is there a picture opportunity in any such warning?

  36. John A Avatar
    John A

    @ Hants

    The politicians might be banking on the old bajan belief that ” God is a bajan.” In case he isn’t though i would take out a little insurance just to be safe!

  37. Hal Austin Avatar
    Hal Austin

    @ Ewart

    What a wasted 25 years.

  38. Vincent Codrington Avatar
    Vincent Codrington

    @John A
    Please ensure that His passport is renewed and He has paid his taxes. Lol !!

  39. Ewart Archer Avatar
    Ewart Archer

    PLT, Hal Austin

    You are 100% wrong.

    John A

    Barbados is not like a plane operating on one engine. There is a modestly successful financial services sector with clients from North America and Europe; and there is a small manufacturing sector (admittedly struggling and in need of resuscitation, but with privileged trade access the the Almighty USA).

    Then there is the Citizenship-by-Investment program, which could support Barbados all by itself if it were developed by the right people in the right way — because it could bring in a new class of residents and some of their business activities.

  40. John A Avatar
    John A

    @ Hal

    Not a word here on the virus. Our plan is simple we will ignore it and hope it doesn’t reach our shores.

    I noticed on CNN yesterday the amount of reported cases are rising though. That sadly is one of the downsides to tourism and global travel.

  41. peterlawrencethompson Avatar
    peterlawrencethompson

    @Ewart
    I have comprehensively demonstrated your errors and you seem to have no substantive rejoinder.

    Ah well. You can lead a horse to data, but you cannot make them think.

  42. John A Avatar
    John A

    @ Ewart

    Would the statement a plane with one engine and a desk top fan be better then?

    The industries other than tourism generate such a small amount of FX in relation to what we burn through that it could not even help Air Barbados glide farless stay in the air if tourism was removed.

    We have lost millions in the offshore sector as laws and regulations continue to change. Trade agreements too are fragile things as Trump has shown us. As for selling passports I would be very careful going that road as several before us have learnt.

    What however is not fragile is what we can do for ourselves independent of all and on our own land mass. Alternative energy and food security are 2 things no one can take from us once established, not even Trump!

  43. Ewart Archer Avatar
    Ewart Archer

    Regarding the new Corona virus.

    My understanding is that the most forward-looking countries have thermal scanning at international airports.

    A cheaper alternative is a kiosk questionnaire to encourage self-identification.

    Of course, the QEH should be practicing the way it would handle cases.

  44. Redguard Avatar
    Redguard

    “but neither of these is as important as teaching them to program in Python, Java, C/C++, JavaScript, etc”

    A developed math student (BSc level) can pickup any of those languages quite easily and quickly and apply it to real world problem solving (I’ve seen it for myself). But try to teach those languages to the undeveloped Math mind of a child and it becomes and exercise in memory an retention. They might be able to function as debuggers but outside of that they won’t be much use.

    We don’t need debuggers, they are thousands in India who work on the cheap. We need to train more engineers and mathematicians and have a state funded program to teach them computer programming as an ongoing requirement of their professional development.

  45. Ewart Archer Avatar
    Ewart Archer

    PLT

    You are an excellent salesman and propagandist. When outgunned and outmaneuvered, you loudly declare victory and pat yourself on the back.

    A bit like Donald Trump, who you claim to despise.

  46. peterlawrencethompson Avatar
    peterlawrencethompson

    @Ewart
    I await data from you to contest any claim that I have made.

  47. peterlawrencethompson Avatar
    peterlawrencethompson

    @Redguard

    We are getting very good results with kids between 7 and 15 using introductory JavaScript, Python, and HTML in our Kids Who Code after school programme.

  48. Hal Austin Avatar
    Hal Austin

    @ Redguard

    How about free maths to CXC level for everyone over the age of 16? We have enough retired teachers and graduates to take on such classes, and schools are empty after 4pm and at weekends.

  49. peterlawrencethompson Avatar
    peterlawrencethompson

    Sorry Redguard, forgot to add the link: https://www.tenhabitat.com/kids-who-code

  50. Chris Halsall Avatar
    Chris Halsall

    @PLT… VERY cool!

    However, some constructive criticism… The web-site should “gracefully” collapse if Javascript is not enabled. Without allowing a bunch of Javascript to be download and run on MY machine (some from sites I don’t trust, such as WIX; lots of tracking and fingerprinting going on with them) the pictures are low-res and the horizontal menu at the top of the page doesn’t appear.

    Separately, have you considered expanding this to older students, covering Linux SysAdmin? Please contact me if you’d like to discuss further; I’m having no luck gaining traction with “The powers that be, but shouldn’t be…”

The blogmaster invites you to join the discussion.

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