Empowerment, specifically economic empowerment, emerged in 2004 as the dominant political issue. There's little doubt that this will continue into 2005, after the United Bermuda Party tabled the Economic Empowerment Act 2004 ? a sample bill to be debated when Parliament resumes later this month.

But while there has been plenty of talk about empowerment, there's been far less about the other "E" word, one that must be an integral component of any empowerment initiative.

The missing "E" is education.

The importance and current state of public education hasn't gone entirely without mention. A number of people have touched on the issue including most memorably Sandys Secondary Middle School principal Melvyn Bassett's speech to the Hamilton Rotary and Robert Stewart in an excellent Opinion in of October 16, 2004.

Education's role in the empowerment of our economic minority is undeniable, but the topic just doesn't seem to consume the community ? or spark a much-needed debate ? as the mere invocation of the term "empowerment" does.

Undoubtedly, education is the most critical component in advancing any long-term initiative, whether sponsored by the UBP or PLP, meaning that these issues must be addressed hand in hand. Empowerment can't truly occur without a first class public education system, and education alone can't overcome the legacy of racism, sexism, age discrimination and other institutionalised hurdles.

Ultimately, the goal of empowerment must be to reach a point when a formal policy is no longer necessary, but a superior education system will always be vital. Before we can even begin to discuss education however, there are some difficult truths that we must come to grips with.

Bermuda's public education system is in disarray, and has been in a steady decline for as long as most people can remember. There's plenty of blame to go around, but we are where we are, and we're all in this together. So if we want to correct the situation we must focus our energies on learning from the past and present, and not become consumed with assigning blame.

And where are we? With somewhere over 35 percent of our children enrolled in the private system ? and rising ? the verdict seems to be in: the parents of one-third of our students have given up on public education. With tuition around $13,000 a year, this is not a decision parents will take lightly, in effect paying twice for education. And how many more of us would follow suit if the cost wasn't so prohibitive? If that isn't enough to indicate that we need to make a change then what is?

It's also important not to condemn everything and everyone within the public school system. We can all point to success stories ? incredibly dedicated and effective teachers, successful schools, or students who have succeeded in spite of the system ? but somewhere, something is terribly broken. And when something is terribly broken the answer is not to play on the fringes as we've been content to do.

The facilities aren't the problem. Successive governments of both parties continue to sink millions of dollars into brick and mortar improvements. Money isn't the issue. The Ministry of Education is more than adequately funded, particularly when you consider that the per student cost is lower in the private schools than the public system.

And while there are many factors that have led to where we are today, the most significant must be a tolerance for low standards, poor discipline, an inadequate curriculum, social promotion and a bureaucracy that seems to answer to no-one.

If private schools produced the abysmal graduation levels that we are seeing out of the public system they'd be out of business in no time. Parents would pull up stakes and go elsewhere. In response, the school trustees would fire the Principals, under-performing teachers would be removed, the curriculum would be improved for example. But we've seen none of this in the public system, and the Department of Education's budget and staffing continuing to grow and grow.

The missing ingredients must be the simple principles of competition and accountability. Entrenching these basic concepts in such a broken system can only be achieved through a fundamental and comprehensive overhaul of public education in Bermuda. No more short-term tweaking for short-term political gain.

These principles, the driving forces behind Bermuda's economic success, are by no means incompatible with the administration of education ? that's exactly the environment that the schools are preparing our students to participate in. So why does the system itself does not reflect that reality?

Competition is healthy and is already in place within the schools. Our students are competitive with each other already, both academically and athletically, and will go on to compete for scholarships, university placements and eventually employment.

Why then, should we not have competition between public schools?

Next week: Some proposals for comprehensive reform through competition and accountability.

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