Feedback is terrific, folks, the good and the bad, the critical and the complimentary, and I thank those who take the time to write. From time to time, when space permits I will try to share with you some of the thoughts which my columns may have provoked. I particularly appreciate those who are prepared to pen their names rather than hide behind pseudonyms, and the pity is that those who do hide often use their anonymity to make petty partisan points or, worse still, to launch vituperative personal attacks which frankly are counter-productive and thus unnecessary for the cause that they may believe they are promoting. As mother would have said: we may not know who you are, but we do know what you are.

Today some of the reactions to the recent column: “Education Is Not Just A Job For Government Alone”. Enjoy, JB.

Get Government out of the education business

“As usual, an interesting and reasonable article on education. However, would it not be in the best interests of young Bermudians if government reduced its role in education? For example, parents could be given a voucher equal to the annual cost of educating a child at public schools which could then be used (under safeguards) to select a school of choice — either public or private or even abroad. 40% of Bermuda parents already send their children to private schools, rightly concluding that the Department of Education is not up to the job.

“Many people are unaware of the fact that public schooling really started off in Bismarck’s Prussia (later Germany) in the 1860s for the express purpose of providing literate soldiers for the military, and also workers for the new industrial enterprises. UK and US later copied this model, but by the laws of unintended consequences progressively dumbed down their educational systems. This dumbing down has continued, almost everywhere including Bermuda, except in notably several SE Asia countries such as Korea and Singapore.

“In Bermuda, in public schools we have dumbed down to such an extent that young people can spend 10 years at school and, at the end of the day, be unable to read and write. This is euphemistically called functional illiteracy.

“Frankly, I think Bermuda would be better served if government got out of the educational business entirely but this is highly unlikely and a pipe dream.

“I personally left teaching in 1969, in part because of the manifest incompetence of the Department of Education but in retrospect I now believe it was much more efficient than the current administration which, frankly, is a disaster especially for young blacks. I have always cynically maintained that you do not need white bigots or the KKK to keep the majority of our black population in positions of inferiority, only the Department of Education.”

Robert Stewart

The over-riding right to a quality education

“I have been following with interest the government’s contribution to public education in Bermuda. Public Education has been of keen interest to me for most of my adult life, particularly during the period when as a young parent of boys I understood that the school system could have a powerful and life altering impact for good or ill on the life experience of my children. As indeed it has on al l children. My professional involvement with Human Rights and the numerous International Declarations and Conventions has largely shaped my sociological imagination — my view of the world.

“In this regard I invoke as a starting point the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of the Child. The first right of all children is as follows: ‘All children have the right to what follows, no matter their race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, or where they were born or who they were born to.’ To some this is a bold and very naive estimation and appraisal of our children. Somehow this is perhaps a part of the reason systems that portend to address the needs of our children have such a blind spot be those systems/agencies Child Welfare; Mental Health or Education. What would happen in the current challenges in the direction of Public Education, we all collectively stopped and considered that all children have rights which must be recognised, respected and reinforced throughout their development?

“Article 7 of the Declaration of the Rights of Children touches down profoundly in the seedbed of education and states that all children have the right to go to school for free, to play, and to have an equal chance to develop themselves and to learn to be responsible and useful. I strongly believe in Public Education. I am a product of the Bermuda Public School System. There will be no call from me to disband the Public School System, to privatise it or to pursue the direction of Charter Schools. We already have a multi-tiered school system in Bermuda; of private and public schools. I will not engage a comparison between the two systems but more often than I can say, during my time as shadow minister of education in Bermuda, I heard and felt the duress of many parents who appraised the current Public Education as a risk for their children. Many of those parents did whatever they had to do to ensure that their children had a better opportunity to stable and successful adult life through receiving a ‘quality education’.

“Our children are entitled to a quality education experience, whatever the detractors may say. It is the fundamental right of each Bermudian child to receive an education that prepares them for their world. Indeed at some point they are going to have to compete with the world of educated children to ensure a sustainable life for themselves. An individual who has a proficient education is likely to find a good life for themselves, wherever life opportunities may take them. We want them to have an equal chance to develop themselves and to learn to be responsible and useful. After all isn’t this what every parent wants for their child/children?

“Our children are far too valuable in their own right to be subject to chance and caprice in their journey towards being their best self as an individual. The Public School System, the Association of School Principals, the Bermuda Union of Teachers, Parent/Teacher Organizations and local school boards must transcend their differences and all work for the greater good of all the children. This may mean greater levels of accountability for all the stakeholders; teachers; principals; parents; children and the government. There will be the core efficiencies of Teacher Certification to be uniformly fulfilled; perhaps teacher effective testing implemented; individual overall school performance testing measured; bench-marking national academic performance results with international standards; greater migration of teachers to schools which need special attention; removal of teachers who fail consistently to meet clearly identified professional development outcomes; special recognitions for schools that regularly attain and excel in their academic and community excellence.

“This exercise, I believe, is not about throwing more money at the problems. I believe It’s about greater shared motivation and metrics of the performance of the various academic programs and the key stakeholders. Finally it’s about sharing the output measures with the community. It’s also about keeping ever in front of them the vision of fulfilling the obligation owed to all children by right of their birthright or as Article 8 of the Declaration of the Rights of the Child says, ‘the child has the right always to be among the first to get help’.”

Neville E. Darrell JP

PS?

“Government cannot do it alone, that’s for sure. And having a part-time Minister and [a part-time] PS ain’t gonna help”.

Lauren Bell

* Comments and e-mails welcomed on either The Royal Gazette website or write jbarritt@ibl.bm.