Education levels the field

August 1, 2006

Dear Sir,

Oprah Winfrey recently said ?education is freedom? during her special on America?s educational crisis, and it made me once again take time to think about our own problems regarding the education system in Bermuda. As we all know, without a sound education system that challenges students and teachers, drop out rates will go up, unemployment will increase, and crime rates will rise.

This is where we are in Bermuda ? one only needs to read the headlines to see it. The social fabric of the Island is disintegrating through lack of education and disenfranchised Bermudians wondering how they missed the economic boom going on around them.

Lack of education and recognised qualifications lead many Bermudians to lower paying jobs where they will struggle to meet even their rent on an apartment let alone pay for children if they wish to have them. The cycle perpetuates itself as their children have no choice but to go through the public school system as poor as it is. In the early 80?s, Berkeley and Warwick Academy were both public schools with academic successes that rivalled that of the private system at the time. Warwick Academy was fully integrated with a healthy mixture of white and black students ? the school had a formula that worked.

Sadly, the public system as it stands now in Bermuda has almost taken a full circle back to segregation. While it can be argued that the system finds itself in this position as a result of poor decisions of the past such as the decision to build CedarBridge and close the parish high schools, the problems with the system have only been compounded by the very government elected to empower the black population.

Lowering the standards to graduate, getting rid of mandatory external examinations critical to college acceptance such as GCSE?s, AP?s and SATs and being completely apathetic to the ever increasing dropout rate are all ways that the PLP have compounded the crisis in our local public system.

Any family with the means to do so automatically send their children to private school ? there is no question. Sadly that means that the established families with money benefit from the excellent private system while those families that are struggling and need the power of education will have to go through a public system that will fail them. The rich will get richer, and the poor will get poorer. History dictates that this means the whites will benefit at the hands of the blacks. Be not mistaken though, this problem is the direct fault of a government intent on denying the general population equal opportunity through education. Only through education does the playing field get levelled ? raise the bar of the public system once again and many of the social ills of present will start to go away.

The youth must speak up

July 31, 2006

Dear Sir,

Getting dressed this morning, my mother and I joked about the blue shirt she almost put on. She ended up giving it to me, so that I could show support for my team this week leading up to the 105th Annual Somerset/St. George?s Cup Match. This historic, friendly rivalry on the island is the source of many jokes in my household, as my mother, a life-long Somerset fan now lives in St. George?s and my brothers and I were raised on the Eastern end of the island.

This is not unique. Given the 22 square miles we live within, most folks find themselves living on one end of the island, in support of another, or having different allegiances within one family.

This cross-pollination demonstrates the intimacy of the Bermudian community and permeability of these boundaries drawn once a year. Given the growing concern about the proliferation of ?gangs?, our wardrobe conversation this morning started me thinking of Ice T?s infamous song ?Colors,? an anti-gang anthem produced during the height of gang warfare in Los Angeles, California.

I also couldn?t shake the story my uncle told me over codfish and potatoes this Sunday, about the young man not able to go into a certain neighbourhood on the island to visit his Granny due to purported beef with rival crews. Stories such as these are disheartening to say the very least.

I have been on and off the island for the past decade and was saddened to be here to see the death of yet another son of Bermuda last week. I immediately had flashbacks to 1994 when, while away at University I received news of a near fatal shooting on Court Street. In 2001, I witnessed the entrance of the Bloods and Crips into New York and remember having conversations with West Coast M.C.?s, Snoop Dogg and Kurupt about this new phenomenon in New York, and Kurupt laughing at us East Coasters: ?Y?all are crazy, starting gangs up here, when we?re getting rid of that mess in L.A.I find myself wanting to express this same sentiment to the young people of Bermuda in an attempt to express how senseless these killings are.

While I have some thoughts, I don?t know what the answer is to this violence. That will only come from the young people. You are your own answer. But know there are people who love you dearly and want to help. Please share how you are feeling. The anti-violence rally scheduled for tomorrow seems a great start. Let your voices be heard. The rest of us will need to make sure we?re tuned in to listen.

It is ironic that this murder and subsequent rally comes on the eve of our biggest holiday which began as a unifying game to celebrate the emancipation of slaves in Bermuda. I have decided to wear neither red nor blue to the game when I go, but instead white or black ? as I am in mourning, yet go in peace and remembrance so that we have learned something from the death of our brother Jason Lightbourne. Let?s begin to heal ourselves, pledge to love each other, and now. Peace be unto you,

A lesson on market value

August 10, 2006

Dear Sir,

It might be a helpful reminder to note that the market value of anything is the price someone else is willing to pay for it. This is true for the sale of stocks, a used car, a loaf of bread, and, The Old Colony Club.