Wassup Bermuda? We couldn’t even get through Easter without violence? Cha man! What am I ever gonna do with my Island home? Well, I will keep praying for Bermuda. But we have to ditch our sense of entitlement.In my opinion, one of the most shocking displays of a sense of entitlement came from our dear friends at Warwick Academy. A few weeks ago they began an appeal to help families who could no longer afford to pay for their little Johnnies and Jennies to go to dear old Warwick Academy.Since when should a person be entitled to a private school education? what type of education are people entitled to have? Well, the answer is that we are entitled to the best education that our parents and families’ money can buy. Nothing more and nothing less.Don’t get this twisted. I like Warwick Academy and submit that it has produced some excellent, smart, high achievers, some of whom are members of my very own family. I also support their efforts to raise funds for the school.I hope the school survives forever and continues to do the great job they’re doing educating and developing young people but this is so like buying a house, a car, or anything. Some people can afford things that other people can’t. That’s just the way democratic societies function.In every society some of us will be poor, some will be middle class and some will be rich. It’s the same everywhere. Of course, the other option is communism but I don’t think we’re ready for that and I don’t think we want that. Don’t take this the wrong way, but in most societies, the people with the highest level of education usually make the most money and can afford the most things, one of which is private school education for their children.If things change and one can no longer afford a private school education — tough, too bad. Join the rest of us who had to attend public schools. Asking members of the public to donate so that I can send my kid to Saltus, Warwick, MSA or wherever is not on.Eventually some child, some family, will have to accept the reality that they can no longer afford private school education and will have to send their children to CedarBridge Academy or the Berkeley Institute.By the way, both are good schools with state-of-the-art campuses, facilities and systems. So what is the difference that causes some people to prefer private over public? We have seen a growing preference for private schools for the past 30 years but a child can learn in any system provided they have the proper parental support.You can send them to Warwick or Saltus but if you’re not involved in your kid’s education it is highly likely that they will not do well or get maximum return on that investment.The problems with our educational system have been well documented over the past 20 years. This is not a problem to be blamed on a particular political party. It’s more about the inability of successive governments, going back to the late 1980s, to put in place a system that produced results.There are many examples of people who have become extremely successful in life who went to government schools. Basic education comes down to the three Rs — reading, writing and arithmetic. Science, language arts and all other subjects or disciplines all come out of those three basic skills. If you master the three Rs you can learn anything.I’m all for schools and charities raising funds and I truly hope that Warwick Academy and other private schools survive. However, one must ask the following questions:1. By adding all these private schools have we saturated the market, drained the public system of some of the potential high achievers who would otherwise attend public schools and perhaps still perform well there?2. Do we need so many private schools?3. Would the public system improve if fewer or no private schools existed?4. Would the public system be better if the people who currently fund and support private schools were forced to support public schools in the same way?5. Did we create segregation with the evolution of so many private schools?6. Did private schools thrive during the good years, grow and expand beyond levels necessary given the size of Bermuda?7. Do we have more private schools per capita, for our size and proportionately in excess?8. Were private schools primarily or mostly for the expat community, such that now that there are fewer expats there is less need for the private schools or the private schools may be struggling financially?9. Should the private schools downsize, just like businesses have had to do in this economic downturn, simply because there is generally less money flowing in the economy?10. Is having so many private schools depriving public schools of the kind of brain power, contributions, funding and support that would cause public schools to produce better results if there were fewer private schools?In closing, I wish all public and private schools good luck, success and results as they seek to educate our young people. But we have to answer the ten questions above with honesty and let the answers resonate with us as we chart the way forward for our education system. Peace ...….DJLT.