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Where Education Ends Good Sense Should Begin

Submitted by Paula Sealy TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN What mental health services will be provided after you have allowed Lower 6 (ages 16-17) CAPE 2022 students to be placed under severe anguish, unfathomable physical distress and untold mental strain? In one country, secondary school students have spent approximately seven weeks at school for face-to-face…

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Submitted by Paula Sealy

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN

What mental health services will be provided after you have allowed Lower 6 (ages 16-17) CAPE 2022 students to be placed under severe anguish, unfathomable physical distress and untold mental strain?

In one country, secondary school students have spent approximately seven weeks at school for face-to-face instruction in preparation for their CAPE Unit 1 exams scheduled for next month. 

For those who do not know, Unit 2 of CAPE is completed in Upper 6 (17-18) as CAPE consists of two units over two years with two separate syllabuses and two separate exams. CSEC is a 2-year course of study which starts in 4th Form (14-15) and sees exams in 5th Form (15-16), by comparison. Unit 2 students had the benefit of last year’s experience when their Unit 1 exams began in June. That year’s experience still pushed many of their peers to venture off to technical and vocational studies, community college, UWI or the world of work instead of completing Unit 2.

Across the region, today, CAPE and CSEC candidates are in need of more time in order to complete the syllabus and ‘digest’ the material. I am disappointed but I am not surprised that good sense hasn’t prevailed. The Beckles stewardship model and the Wesleyan leadership style used by CXC do not endorse good sense.

Mses. Williams of Jamaica, McConney of Barbados, Gadsby-Dolly of Trinidad and Tobago, and Manickchand of Guyana, your countries are the major sources of candidates for CXC exams. Ladies, as Ministers of Education you need to challenge COHSOD to address the concerns of the students and teachers of the Caribbean where CXC is concerned with dutiful assiduity. If that fails, it is time enough to step out of your insular comfort zones and represent the children by all necessary and sufficient means.

Each one of the children matters and each one is not deaf or blind. Where education ends good sense should begin, not CXC exams.

May God help the Caribbean and its children. 

134 responses to “Where Education Ends Good Sense Should Begin”

  1. African Online Publishing Copyright ⓒ 2022. All Rights Reserved Avatar
    African Online Publishing Copyright ⓒ 2022. All Rights Reserved

    btw…the transition to digital textbooks, is happening in Barbados as well…it will catch on, with or without dinosaurs…

  2. David Avatar
    David

    @Artax

    CXC is a regional entity managed by a board of governors from Caribbean countries? Why are we localizing the issue?

  3. David Avatar
    David

    @Artax

    This is correct, Chris Sinckler can be referenced to support.

  4. Artax Avatar
    Artax

    @ David

    My comments were in response to your April 21, 2022 12:38 PM contribution re:

    Is it that grades earned from different schools are differently assessed or what we know to be the case of public perception of older grammar schools compared to comprehensive.

    Also CXC papers are evaluated by non Barbadian assessors?

    Please educate the blogmaster.

  5. David Avatar
    David

    Thanks Artax.

  6. GP Avatar
    GP

    RE Also CXC papers are evaluated by non Barbadian assessors? Please educate the blogmaster.

    CXC papers are evaluated by GROUPS OF TEACHERS IN THE RESPECTIVE SUBJECTS,
    CXC WORKED WELL INITIALLY WHEN THE “FAT MEN: WERE STILL AROUND…….MUCH LIKE WINDIES CRICKET UP TO BOUT 1995, AND AFTER LAZY LARA GOT RID OF DENNIS WAITHE

    ONE OF THE PROBLEMS WITH CXC IS THE SBA’S NONSENSE. POORER STUDENTS WITHOUT COMPUTERS AND OTHER MEANS TO DO CERTAIN COMPONENTS ARE DISADVANTAGED. ALSO TEACHER BIASED IS INVOLVED AS SBA’S ARE SCORED LOCALLY

    EDUCATION MUST BE DIRECTED AND DYNAMIC
    BUT IT CAN BE DONE
    IN MY CLINICAL TRAINING A GROUP OF US WENT UP TO GALL HILL CLINIC AND WROTE UP THE CAE NOTES AND PRESCRIBED SOME PAIN KILLERS FOR ALL THE ARTHRITIC OLD FOLK
    DR BELFIELD BRATHWAITHE CAME IN AND GIVE THEM THE OLD WELL TRIED AND PROVEN LIN METH SAL AND TOLD US WE WERE WASTING TIME GIVING THESE FOLK FANCY TABLETS, BECAUSE THEY WANTED SOMETHING WITH WHICH TO RUB. BUT THEN WAS LIN METH SAL NOT THE VERY FIRST PIN KILLER, WHICH LED US TO ASPIRIN? AND IS NOT ALL NSAID PAIN KILLERS ATEEMPTS TO IMPROVE ON ASPIRIN.?

    IN 2004 A PATHOLOGIST GAVE ME THE CHAPTER ON KIDNEY IN ROBBINS TO TEACH AND IT WAS GOING WELL UNTIL I GOT TO THE DISEASES OF THE FILTRATION SYSTEM……IT WAS LIKE A LATIN UNSEEN
    WHEN I CHECKED THE BIOGRAPHY THE CONTRIBUTING INFO WAS FOUND IN 1999……….COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY AND ENHANCED BIOCHEMISTRY TECHNIQUES HAD/HAVE TAKEN OVER THAT AREA OF THE SUBJECT. RESULTING IN THE NEW TESTS AND DISCOVERY OF THE COMPLEXES FORMED IN KIDNEY DISEASE THAT WE CAN NOW IDENTIFY

    BIOCHEMISTRY NOW PERVADES EVERY SEGMENT OF MEDICINE AND ALL THE BASIC SCIENCES

    I HAVE WATCHED MANY DOCUMENTARIES ON US TV THAT INDICATE THAT US DRS OFTEN SCREW UP AND ARE UNABLETO DIAGNOSE TROPICAL DISEASES………IT WAS NOT CONSIDERED RELEVANT TO THEIR NEEDS BUT THE JOKERS IMPORT IMMIGRANTS THESE DAYS EN MASSE FROM TROPICAL COUNTRIES

    IN UK THERE IS A SCHOOL THAT OFFERS A DIPLOMA IN SUCH DISEASES TAUGHT BY MEN WHO WORKED FOR YEARS IN AREAS OF THE WORLD WHERE SUCH DISEASES ARE RAMPANT, AND FOLK FROM THESE COUNTRIES GO TO LONDON SEEKING THIS TRAINING

    IN THE COMMONWEALTH ONE IS TRAINED TO MASTER THE MANAGEMENT OF THE COMMON THINGS IN YOUR COUNTRY. WE WERE TAUGHT TO THINK “COMMON THINGS ARE COMMON”” AND “”NO WOMAN MUST HAVE A LUMP IN HER BREASTS” ETC MY STUDENTS LIKED ME TO GIVE THEM THESE TYPES OF SAYINGS

    WILL SOME ONE TELL DUMMY THAT AN ONLINE BOOK IS ACTUALLY……………A BOOK.
    DID NOT SOMEONE TEACH HER THAT OUR ANCIENT AFICAN ANCESTORS’S BOOKS WERE ACTUALLY SCROLLS ON PAPYRUS ETC ….BUT THEY WERE ESSENTIALLY BOOKS

    WHY ARE WE THROWING OUT THE GOOD AND PROVEN AND EMBRACING RUBBISH FROM A BROAD?
    DAN IS THE MAN IN THE VAN IS STILL A FUN WAY AND EFFECTIVE WAY TO START LEARNING TO READ……ALONG WITH PHONICS AND SHOWING THE LETTERS AS BIG AS YOU CAN INITIALLY

  7. GP Avatar
    GP

    the issue now with CXC IS IT STILL FIT FOR PURPOSE
    IS IT PERFORMING THE REQUIRED FUNCTION AND SERVICE SENSEABLY AND SENSITIVELY AND SUCCESSFULLY?
    IF SO, HOW SO?
    IF NOT, WHY NOT?
    IT CAN BE FIXED WE JUST HAVE TO REVERT TO FINDING COMPETENT FAT MEN…AND ALLOWING THEM TO FUNCTION WITHOUT POLITICAL INTERFERENCE

  8. de pedantic Dribbler Avatar
    de pedantic Dribbler

    @BushTea, you are an exceedingly amazing “interlocutor” – so too your doc GP buddy, but that’s another post story.

    At the terrible expense of being relabeled pedantic – again – I must ask you to clarify the absolutely impossible to decipher hypothesis where you said boldly “How do you try to convince black belly sheep, who are comfortable in owning nothing, and who are happy to be perennially begging their white or foreign bosses for pay increases and for ‘minimum’ wages, about the need to prepare children to compete at the GLOBAL level? ..and to become BOSSES themselves?

    Please decipher that for me based on your argument that the creation of CXC “is probably one of the MOST STUPID things that we have done since independence.”

    I am gob smacked by that contradiction. How on God’s given earth can you condemn regional actors for becoming BOSSES of their own educational fate in one breath and after that huffing and puffing then blow the massive contrarian hot air that to make that big effort to be their own boss that they were acting STUPIDLY!!!

    SMH…. that little absurdity captures this entire debate of our educational process : lots of difficult to comprehend hot air

    There can be NO disagreement with the thesis that “The objective of Education is to transmit the ability to [teach] how to learn, and to think critically” and thus the fact that so much of our debates wander into these highfaluting personal piques that dismiss commonsense reasoning with contradictory ‘oratory’ is clearly an indication that there is little interest in that critical thinking we learned years ago.

    Freaking amazing!

  9. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    Enjoying reading the opinions of the upper level BU intelligentsia.

    Unfortunately I wasted most of my time at Kolij and have nothing meaningful to contribute.

  10. GP Avatar
    GP

    re clearly an indication that there is little interest in that critical thinking we learned years ago.
    SIR WHEN DID YOU LEARN TO THINK CRITICALLY OR AT ALL?
    ARE YOU NOT THE ONE WHO CAME HERE TALKING ABOUT EMERGENCY POST MORTEMS AND ARGUING WITH A MAN WHO KNOWS HIS MEDICINE ABOUT CERVICAL INJURIES AND OTHER MEDICAL ISSUES? YOU WERE SEEKING TO CRITICIZE BUT YOU CERTAINLY WERE NOT THINKING AT ALL THEN, BECAUSE YOU DID NOT HAVE THE BASIC INFORMATION WITH WHICH TO PONDER.
    Twas Freaking amazing indeed!

  11. Vincent Codrington Avatar
    Vincent Codrington

    @ Hants at 4:36 PM

    Why would you say that you wasted your time at Kolij ? It is impossible in our system of Education to go to school and learn nothing. One learns something even if it is by osmosis/ association/ attendance. In the same way we do not measure success simply by the accumulation of wealth, we cannot measure education by certification or writing comments in convoluted prose.
    .From your postings I cannot agree with you. Relax and keep an open mind and challenge any notion that is repugnant to common sense.

  12. BAJE Avatar
    BAJE

    CXC was a STUPID, knee-jerk creation EXACTLY like the Productivity Council and Public Sector Reform.
    A way to kick an issue down the road politically when you have NO IDEA how to address it.

    CXC is probably one of the MOST STUPID things that we have done since independence.

    Common Sense would suggest that…
    The ONE institution that you want to have as a GLOBAL entity (if you want to demonstrate that your scholars are WORLD CLASS) is your examination institution.
    Who the hell test THEMSELVES and then walk around begging the world to accept their standards?

    xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

    BOSS YOU ARE WAY AHEAD OF THE GAME.

    REMINDS ME WHEN I TAUGHT AT UWI CAVEHILL IN THE DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES UNDER PROFESSOR PUNNETT AND THEY GAVE ME A TEXT BOOK ON CARIBBEAN MANAGEMENT.

    FIRST DAY I TOLD MY STUDENTS COMPRISING FROM SEVERAL ISLANDS IN THE REGION TAKING THE COURSE THAT THE BOOK WAS A JOKE AND THAT MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLES APPLIED SAME EVERYWHERE AND THERE WAS NO SUCH THING AS CARIBBEAN MANAGEMENT UNLESS ONE WAS SEEKING FAILURE.

    EDUCATION IN THE REGION IS A PROFITABLE BUSINESS AT THE EXPENSE OF THE STUDENTS.

    I PROCEEDED TO PLACE ALL MY STUDENTS FOR SHORT TERM WORK EXPERIENCE IN INDUSTRIES ACROSS THE 2 x 3 ISLAND WHILST TEACHING THEM MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLES WHICH WERE THE SAME AS IN THE USA OR UK WHERE I HAD EXPERIENCED AS A PROFESIONAL.

    DR DEVONISH WHO CURRENTLY TEACHES AT UWI AND IS OFTEN HIGHLIGHTED IN THE LOCAL NEWSPAPERS FOR HIS RESEARCH AND SURVEYS WAS ONE OF MY FIRST STUDENTS WHO ALWAYS SEEKED ME OUT WHEN I VISITED WEISERS BAR ON BRANDONS BEACH AT THE TIME OUTSIDE OF THE CLASSSROOM FOR DISCUSSIONS.

    THE REASON WHY SO MUCH FAILURE FROM UWI GRADUATES WHO STAY ON THE 2 x 3 ISLAND IS BECAUSE 95 PERCENT OR MORE THEY LEARN AT UWI IS BASED ON THEORY AND NOT ON THE PRACTICAL.

  13. BAJE Avatar
    BAJE

    PROFESSIONAL

  14. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    @Paula Sealy “…pushed many of their peers to venture off to technical and vocational studies, community college, UWI or the world of work ”

    Maybe this is a good thing?

  15. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    @Paula Sealy “,,,you need to challenge COHSOD…”

    Who or what is COHSOD?

  16. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    @Bush Tea “Unable to fix SIMPLE issues like ‘deviant’ girls,”

    What deviant girls are you talking about?

    What needs fixing are deviant stepfathers and fathers who seek deviant sexual satisfaction from children.

    If I had my way I would fix the deviant peica men the way the female vet fixed my male cats “snip, snip, and they are all gone.”

    Problem solved.

  17. David Avatar
    David

    Council of Human and Social Development (COHSOD)

    A sub of CARICOM.

  18. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    @Bush Tea “Who the hell test THEMSELVES and then walk around begging the world to accept their standards?…using established, ACCREDITED international exam Boards”

    Accredited by whom?

  19. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    @Bush Tea “Instead, we have TEACHERS and Parents calling for the LOWERING of the standards ‘so that more children can “””pass””” because of difficult times…”

    Please provide a citation. Thanks

  20. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    …unless of course the objective is to get 15 CXCs that no one else gives two shits about ANYWAY – since the foreign OWNERS will only offer you a job as a porter or security guard – even when you get your masters….

    Can you please document ANY cases where people with 15 CXC’s plus master’s degrees are working as porters and security guards.

  21. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    @David April 21, 2022 8:50 AM “When our students gain passes at CXC, CAPE and the other indigenous accreditations are they still able to successfully complete foreign exams when opportunity requires?”

    YES.

    Even fairly difficult ones like the USMLE.

  22. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    @William Skinner April 21, 2022 9:52 AM “If you need to read a good article. read Esther Phillips letter to the editor in today’s nation.”

    I did.

    Or read Leviticus 19:9 “When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes which have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner, I am the Lord your God.”

    People love to read Leviticus, but this passage is not much read in churches. Maybe people are afraid it will start the revolution.

  23. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    @Artax April 21, 2022 9:15 AM “Are we blaming CXC for a number of business decisions made by men who were educated a British educational system?”

    Still some left who grew up stupid under the union jack.

    I wonder if Bush Tea is one?

  24. William Skinner Avatar
    William Skinner

    This discussion is interesting. However, CXC is not and was never an inferior creation. One cannot preach self government and leave basic exam papers to be corrected in England. Rather than pour scorn on the institution , we should read a bit of its history and understand the thinking behind its formation.
    Secondly, I have never heard of any two different exams for two different schools. I always believed that all students took the same examinations but I maybe wrong. I hope not.
    Thirdly why has the discussion degenerated into a Bajan thing. This perpetual nonsense that we are the best educated and have the best educational system is pure hogwash. It’s an identical educational system to others in the region.
    In fact, if we want to continue this crap and getting into puerile arguments ,please answer this : Where are the noble prize winners from our country.
    Which Bajan has ever attracted the halls of academia like Dr. Eric Williams, and or V S Naipaul. Just asking they all came through the same educational system. There is a Queens College in T and T and one in Bim. Read CL R James remove Trinidad and put Barbados : same book. Talk about Spartan and Empire; Wanderers and Carlton : same book.
    The whole purpose of CXC was to remove our students from writing Cambridge and London.
    I remember, I wanted to pursue some subjects at Ordinary level. Between drinking rum and working, I had no intention of going in a classroom. A friend told me check Wolsey Hall College that was attached to the University of either Cambridge or Oxford and I completed about two or three subjects via mail.
    Today we make understandably a big fuss about online teaching. A hundred years ago, I did O levels via snail mail!
    Wake up people stop the nonsense.
    The purpose of modern education is to create a symbiosis with the socio economic planning of your country. We have failed to manage our Human Resources because we have rested on our laurels since 1962.
    That educational system, still unfortunately in use , is no longer relevant. That is why nobody remembers Owen Arthur, he failed to connect the dots and his economic policies now under review were just barely superior to Sinckler’s.
    That is why Mottley is bragging about money in reserves of which the country does not own a single penny.
    That is why people still praise Errol Barrow, by one single stroke of a pen,he made education , at that time, the Centre piece of socio economic policy. It served its purpose and no leader since has been able to do one single thing to use education in such a manner.
    Arthur said he wanted a university graduate in every house. What we needed was a house where everybody was trying to be at least computer literate!
    I will continue to brag , that I scarcely needed anymore “ education” after I left Bay Primary school. I could have walked into any store , in Bridgetown and become a fully qualified short pants store clerk.
    That’s what real education means: creating productive citizens.
    Time to move on we must radically and progressively reform our educational system or we would continue making nostalgic arguments that will not create one single job.
    Time to move on from 1962. We cannot produce a 2022 model on an a 1962 production line.

  25. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    @William Skinner April 21, 2022 9:42 PM “Secondly, I have never heard of any two different exams for two different schools. I always believed that all students took the same examinations but I maybe wrong. I hope not.”

    There are NOT different exams for different schools. People too like to fool themselves and others. A grade 1 is a grade 1 regardless of the school the student attended. And a grade 1 from St. Elsewhere is BETTER than a grade 2 from HC, QC or Cawmere.

  26. BAJE Avatar
    BAJE

    I will continue to brag , that I scarcely needed anymore “ education” after I left Bay Primary school. I could have walked into any store , in Bridgetown and become a fully qualified short pants store clerk.
    That’s what real education means: creating productive citizens.

    xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

    YOU KNOW THAT I RESPECT YOU HOWEVER A STORE CLERK IS IN NO WAY BEING A PRODUCTIVE CITIZEN AND A GROSS UNDERACHIEVER.

    I AGREE THAT THE 2 x 3 ISLAND EDUCATION SYSTEM FROM TOP TO BOTTOM IS STILL STUCK IN 1960’s WHICH INCLUDES SOME COURSES AT UWI CAVEHILL.

  27. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    I’ve interviewed hundreds of people in situations where a university degree was required in order to be interviewed. I always asked applicants NOT to indicate ANYWHERE in their application where they went to secondary school. Just in case I turned out to have conscious or unconscious bias. I didn’t need to know about secondary school. I still don’t know. Smart. highly motivated, hard working students are invariably successful at university and very often successful in life too.

    Just like the BU luminaries.

  28. BAJE Avatar
    BAJE

    ESPECIALLY AS IT RELATES TO TEACHING METHODOLOGIES.

  29. William Skinner Avatar
    William Skinner

    @ BAJE
    The respect is known on both sides.
    Now question: Are you seriously suggesting that those store clerks , who got up every day, worked and paid taxes, bought groceries at all the village shops,never stole from their employers, displayed levels of customer service that have not been seen since, taught their children to be honest, sent them to school everyday,were decent neighbours and law abiding and so on. Are you telling me they were underachievers ?
    Are you telling me that those same store clerks whose children and grandchildren are now in all professions because of the sacrifice of these same underachiever did not gain and learn from the core values of these workers?
    My Brother, I respectfully submit that your idea of a productive citizen is somewhat confused.

  30. BAJE Avatar
    BAJE

    Are you telling me that those same store clerks whose children and grandchildren are now in all professions because of the sacrifice of these same underachiever did not gain and learn from the core values of these workers?

    xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

    YOU COULD SAY THE SAME FOR SUGAR CANE CUTTERS WORKING IN THE FIELDS IN THE LAST 50 YEARS..

    I WOULD STILL DESCRIBE THEM AS UNDERACHIEVERS.

    FOR THE RECORD MY MOTHER WAS A SHOP CLERK.

  31. Artax Avatar
    Artax

    @ Mr. Skinner

    Since I am the person who introduced the topic into the discussion, let me EXPLAIN the point I was TRYING to MAKE.

    Some of my ‘liming buddies’ were surprised when I told them the CXC syllabus is the SAME for ALL schools.
    They actually believed a Harrison’s College CXC grade one in any subject, was superior to a Ellerslie or Princess Margaret Secondary School grade one in any corresponding subject.
    Perhaps this type of thinking is as a result of the subliminal messages the hype of the common entrance exam creates in the minds of people.
    For example, each year, the media focuses primarily on the ‘top students.’
    What would be interesting is if the media did ‘follow up’ articles on those ‘top performers,’ relative to how they have progressed or are progressing with their education.

    I’m a bit disappointed we’re prepared to ignore the benefits the region derived from
    CXC over the years, to call it ‘a STUPID, knee-jerk creation,’ simply because the institution has recently been experiencing some difficulties.

    This is the SAME CXC whose CSEC & CAPE subjects are ACCEPTED as ENTRY REQUIREMENTS by universities in INTERNATIONAL countries such as Australia, Canada, China, Europe, UK, USA, etc…… and PROFESSIONAL associations, e.g, ACCA, CPA (Canada), CPA (USA).

    This is also evidenced by the fact that, winners of ‘Island scholarships and exhibitions,’ are able to choose international universities to pursue their choice of studies.

    Could this be an example of ‘testing ourselves and the world accepting our standards?’

    Yet, under those circumstances, we’re being advised to ‘use established, accredited international exam Boards?’

  32. BAJE Avatar
    BAJE

    This is the SAME CXC whose CSEC & CAPE subjects are ACCEPTED as ENTRY REQUIREMENTS by universities in INTERNATIONAL countries such as Australia, Canada, China, Europe, UK, USA, etc…

    xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

    SOME DON’T KNOW WHAT THE FACTS ARE AS IT RELATES TO THE USA JUST ACCEPTING THE ABOVE BY THEIR ACCREDITED UNIVERSITIES/COLLEGES.

    ALL STUDENTS WHETHER AMERICAN OR FOREIGN MUST TAKE THE SAT OR ACT WITH MIMIMUM PASSED SCORE BASED ON THE UNIVERSITY/COLLEGE ACCEPTANCE STANDARD BEING APPLIED TO.

    THIS HAS BEEN THE CASE FOR AT LEAST THE LAST 30 YEARS

    FAIL THE SAT OR ACT AND NO MATTER HOW MANY CXC OR CAPE SUBJECTS PASSED WILL REMAIN IN THE 2 x 3 ISLAND OR IN THE REGION.

  33. BAJE Avatar
    BAJE

    UNLESS THEY ATTEND A SCAM UNIVERSITY/COLLEGE WILLING TO LOOK THE OTHER WAY WHILST FLEECING THEIR STUDENTS WITH WORTHLESS PAPER MILL DEGREES.

  34. David Avatar
    David

    The blogmaster is obviously mistaken that an international student must submit a transcript with application to the college.

  35. William Skinner Avatar
    William Skinner

    @ Artax
    I was very careful not to address you on your comment because you attributed it to others. That’s why I said I had problems agreeing with it.
    More interestingly, I totally agree with you , that we never hear of these highly adorned students after the hoopla is over. Just a week or so ago, I posited, that some of them are so burnt out , after entering the prestigious schools , that they never fully recover and their performances thereafter are not that stellar.
    On the utter nonsense that was written about CXC, I realised that the purveyors were only speculating and literally knew nothing about it. As you correctly stated, it was a massive and embarrassing fiasco but it can be fixed.
    You are also correct in dismissing the foolishness about having to meet other countries’ basic entry requirements to be accepted in their colleges. As one who have attended a university in the USA , I was never asked or required to do any exam. I simply proved that I attended high school in Bim, by producing copies of my certificates.
    Amazingly, there are dozens of Barbados and other Caribbean nationals, who are sought after as educators globally. One of the reasons being that foreign universities realise and encourage the importance of diverse staffs from other countries and cultures.
    Many people on BU and elsewhere pull down CARICOM but there are quite a number of positive and progressive actions taking place. However , we have failed to get the message out to the citizens of the region. I still consider CXC a great success.
    Keep up the good work. Disagreement on occasion, never means disrespect.

  36. BAJE Avatar
    BAJE

    You are also correct in dismissing the foolishness about having to meet other countries’ basic entry requirements to be accepted in their colleges. As one who have attended a university in the USA , I was never asked or required to do any exam. I simply proved that I attended high school in Bim, by producing copies of my certificates.

    xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

    SIR HOW MANY YEARS AGO ARE WE TALKING ABOUT AND THE NAME OF THE US UNIVERSITY?

    I WROTE ABOUT SAT OR ACT BEING A MANDATORY RQEUIREMENT AT THE PROPER ACCREDITED US COLLEGES/UNIVRSITIES HOWEVER THEY ARE OTHER INSTITUTIONS WHO TURN A BLIND EYE AS A MONEY MAKING VENTURE FIRST AND FOREMOST

    HAVING ALSO SPENDING ONE YEAR PREVIOUSLY IN FLORIDA AS AN ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR AT A TECHNICAL COLLEGE APPROXIMATEY 6 YEARS AGO I CAN EASILY ACCESS REQUIREMENTS AND ACCREDIDATIONS.

  37. BAJE Avatar
    BAJE

    UNIVERSITIES

  38. Artax Avatar
    Artax

    RE: “ALL STUDENTS WHETHER AMERICAN OR FOREIGN MUST TAKE THE SAT OR ACT WITH MIMIMUM PASSED SCORE BASED ON THE UNIVERSITY/COLLEGE ACCEPTANCE STANDARD BEING APPLIED TO.”

    TOTALLY IRRELEVANT.

    No matter how one may attempt to manipulate the situation, passing or failing the SAT is NOT the ISSUE.

    The fact remains that, any prospective foreign student who is desirous of attending a university in the USA, would OBVIOUSLY have to ATTAIN the QUALIFYING PREREQUISITES that SATISFY the specific university’s ENTRY REQUIREMENTS….. to be CONSIDERED for ACCEPTANCE…… thereby making him/her ELIGIBLE to take the SAT.

    George from St. Lucia, for example, cannot get up one morning and decides he wants to apply to the University of South Florida and be considered for acceptance, WITHOUT SATISFYING that university’s entry requirements, in terms of the required CSEC & CAPE subjects and GPA.

    In other words, yuh khan sit de people SAT or ACT……. WITHOUT being qualified for entry to the prospective university or college.

    RE: “FAIL THE SAT OR ACT AND NO MATTER HOW MANY CXC OR CAPE SUBJECTS PASSED WILL REMAIN IN THE 2 x 3 ISLAND OR IN THE REGION.”

    The conditions attached to passing or failing the SAT are applicable to ALL students.

    Any prospective foreign student who fails the SAT, would obviously be denied acceptance to the specific university.

    Therefore, no matter how many subjects Jet Li from China has and he fails the SAT, he would have to remain in his ‘10,000 x 10,000 country.’

  39. Artax Avatar
    Artax

    David April 22, 2022 1:21 AM #: “The blogmaster is obviously mistaken that an international student must submit a transcript with application to the college.”

    @ David

    You are correct.

    Even BCC graduates must submit a transcript with their applications to UWI.

    Obviously, the admission process will vary for different universities, as it relates to qualifications and entrance examinations, the purpose of which is to simply determine if prospective students have the ability to pursue tertiary level education.

    At UWI, prospective students who have not gained grade one in English language and mathematics, are required to take English and mathematics proficiency tests.

  40. African Online Publishing Copyright ⓒ 2022. All Rights Reserved Avatar
    African Online Publishing Copyright ⓒ 2022. All Rights Reserved

    “What needs fixing are deviant stepfathers and fathers who seek deviant sexual satisfaction from children.”

    better yet, make an extra effort to fix the DEVIANT SYSTEM…i take offense to these children called deviants without exposing the reason they are in a delicate situation…look no further than your parliament and coming down for the role models of deviance….you find a laundry list.

    TLSN…another palace cockup….yes, they want to celebrate Elizabeth’s achievement, but the disrespect is appalling. If the Caribbean is not comfortable with the presence of the next in line, why would any of the others further down the totem pole be accepted or welcomed. Grenada apparently told them to stay away, and others set the standard for their ego massaging speeches of deceit…

  41. William Skinner Avatar
    William Skinner

    @ Artax, @ David
    A Barbadian who did not have a single O Level, was literally forced out of Barbados because of his pro- Black and radical politics.
    He went to England and applied to enter a well known university. At the interview his vast knowledge of world affairs and other issues and subjects impressed the interviewer.
    In the absence of any “ certificates and or qualifications “,he was asked to write an essay on some subject that arose during the interview.
    They read his essay and told him it would be a pleasure to have him as a student.
    Several years later he returned to Barbados and became one of the most respected teachers at one of the more prestigious secondary grammar schools.
    I say no more because the snobbery within our so- called academia and intellectual community knows no end. It is not absent on BU.
    In our society , even those who claim or pretend they want change are to put it mildly into BS.
    One of the first radical steps to break this damaging psychological hold is to rename both Harrison and Queens College.
    All hell will break loose. There is no omelette without a broken egg.
    It was one of our better Prime Ministers, Sir Lyloyd Erskine Sandiford who once opined : you can’t change anything if everything remains the same.
    Peace.

  42. David Avatar
    David

    @William

    An inspirational story but one suspects the exception rather than the rule as far as entry requirements to the uni is concerned. That said a system should always have room to flex if required. Barbados we know is a class conscious society to our detriment.

  43. African Online Publishing Copyright ⓒ 2022. All Rights Reserved Avatar
    African Online Publishing Copyright ⓒ 2022. All Rights Reserved

    “One of the first radical steps to break this damaging psychological hold is to rename both Harrison and Queens College.”

    been saying it for years and could feel the hate coming in waves….every one of them with slave master influence should be renamed….the damage is getting uglier each year and out on social media as a show…

    ..the more progressive countries where descents of slave masters control things are hurriedly renaming and removing those social blights, from the most prestigious universities and coming down are making that move, because the writing is on the wall…….they know what will happen if they don’t..

    …but the pretend small time elites/pedigrees and BS artists are determined to find out…of course at a cost to taxpayers..

  44. BAJE Avatar
    BAJE

    One of the first radical steps to break this damaging psychological hold is to rename both Harrison and Queens College.

    xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

    NOT A BAD IDEA.

    HOWEVER THE MOST RADICAL WOULD BE SEND STUDENTS ON THE 2 x 3 ISLAND TO THE NEAREST SECONDARY SCHOOL IN THEIR RESIDENTIAL AREA WITH ALL SCHOOLS BEING EQUAL STATUS WHILST HAVING STRICTER GRADING OF THE TEACHERS PASSSING ON KNOWLEDGE.

    THE FACT IS 95% OF ALL THINGS TAUGHT IN SCHOOL IS FORGOTTEN OR NOT OF USE IN THE REAL WORLD. SO WHO DOES BETTER OR WORSE IS IRRELEVANT.

  45. William Skinner Avatar
    William Skinner

    @ David
    We are fighting a cultural and mental block that must be broken down into the smallest pieces.
    We cannot expect new crops to survive weeds , shrubs and debris. It’s going to take a lot more than rhetoric.
    The people are crying out for enlightened and honest leadership,that is unafraid to speak truth to power.
    More and more I suspect there is a radical resurgence taking place and as@ WURA warns it will eventually come to the surface.
    To be forewarned is to be forearmed.
    These days are funny nights.
    Not only @WURA but His Excellency Anthony Carter, did warn us that “ one day coming soon , the people will rise up…….”
    Peace.

  46. David Avatar
    David

    @William

    There is hope that there will be a tipping point. We may not know when but must hope it comes before destruction.

  47. de pedantic Dribbler Avatar
    de pedantic Dribbler

    @David, I also agree that it’s a timely intervention statement you made re ““The blogmaster is obviously mistaken that an international student must submit a transcript with application to the college.”” and suitably deep with sarcasm too 🤣!

    I would add that all those who are blogging on the SAT appreciate and know that it’s a toll (and toil too) just like our 11-plus at the an earlier age for entry across the bridge of life to development and growth. They would also know that those who control the toll system manage it to suit THEIR needs and as such toll fees and processes change accordingly…. thus surely they also would know that many unis (or colleges as the US folk say more readily) are now doing away with the SATs or relegating it to a non-significant element for entry. Just adding a bit more perspective to your valid point.

    And @Skinner, brother do tell: so HC or QC is renamed, lets says Lord Combermere’s legacy is also stripped away … alright so we ‘WOKE’ up. Then what exactly? I am not being PEDANTIC here but as step in the process of reformatting our educational system I see that as insignificantly unnecessary. If it’s the ‘College’ part that’s the problem… welllll … still not sure I am that concerned.

    I accept the names conjure all types off angst but yet I see some of those names as a STRONG reminder of WHY we need to fight, fight with all our might everyday. For a generic name like “Queens College” it’s neither up or down. They all are an integral part of our legacy and either when we can rename it The Elsie Payne School and St. Michael’s after Dame Patricia Symmonds or not, that legacy and relevance can be practically analyzed without this all consuming ‘wokism’

    And finally re : _”…SEND STUDENTS ON THE 2 x 3 ISLAND TO THE NEAREST SECONDARY SCHOOL IN THEIR RESIDENTIAL AREA _ ***WITH ALL SCHOOLS BEING EQUAL STATUS,”***

    This is one of the continuous sweetest sounding ‘arias’ in educational circles … people enough sing it but alas singing in the bathroom and actually PERFORMING and EXECUTING with the orchestra before an auditorium full of folks, some of whom came to hear a calypso and some who thought it was a poetry reading, are completely DIFFERENT things!🤣🤣

    Lata.

  48. David Avatar
    David

    @Dee Word

    Perhaps we can persuade the government to change the names of HC and QC if William changes his name to Bill!

    LOL

  49. BAJE Avatar
    BAJE

    And finally re : _”…SEND STUDENTS ON THE 2 x 3 ISLAND TO THE NEAREST SECONDARY SCHOOL IN THEIR RESIDENTIAL AREA _ ***WITH ALL SCHOOLS BEING EQUAL STATUS,”***

    This is one of the continuous sweetest sounding ‘arias’ in educational circles … people enough sing it but alas singing in the bathroom and actually PERFORMING and EXECUTING with the orchestra before an auditorium full of folks, some of whom came to hear a calypso and some who thought it was a poetry reading, are completely DIFFERENT things!🤣🤣

    xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

    SO WHAT HAS DERIVED FROM THE COLONIAL SCHOOL SYSTEM STILL IN PLACE.

    THE 2 x 3 ISLAND IS IN THE HANDS OF THE IMF FOR AT LEAST THE 4th TIME CONTROLLED BY OTHERS MAKING DECISIONS ABROAD WHO NEVER ATTENDED HC, QC, LODGE, ETC ..

    THE MAJOR COMPANIES ARE OWNED BY FOREIGNERS WHO NEVER ATTENDED HC, QC, LODGE, ETC .

    MOST OF THE SAME GRADUATES HC, QC, LODGE, ETC ARE WORKING FOR OTHERS MOSTLY FOR PEANUTS OR SPEND TIME LIMING ON THE BLOCK DAILY.

    HOWEVER JACKASSES WANT TO STICK WITH THE NORM BECAUSE OF A FEAR OF CHANGE BUT CONTENT WITH THE PAST AND MEDIOCRITY.

  50. Ping Pong Avatar
    Ping Pong

    Ms Sealy in the post above, appeals to the education ministers of the region to take some action with regard to CXC’s examination timetable this year. This is futile given that the same education ministers agreed in December to the examination timetable.
    https://barbadostoday.bb/2022/04/22/cxc-spokesman-says-changing-exam-dates-would-destabilise-the-regional-consensus/

    Contrary to public opinion CXC is not a law unto itself. It answers to the governments of Caricom.

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