by Joan Thompson (http://www.weblogbahamas.com)
In his recent speech to the government school teachers and education bureaucracy Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham said:
“I believe it is noteworthy that, like health, education has been one of the largest recipients of government funding in every budget cycle since before independence.”
In spite of vast sums of money poured into education, increasing the compulsory attendance from 14 to 16, the level of achievement could hardly be worse. In fact it is a National embarrassment.
Words are cheap, and none are cheaper than those coming out of the mouths of politicians. They are so caught up in self-adulation that the true and unadulterated MEANING of their words is obscured by the emotive style of their delivery.
A different more constructive solution by the PM, might have gone something like this:-
“My government regrets it has been unable to raise the level of literacy and numeracy and can no longer countenance spending vast sums of tax-payer money for a system that is a proven failure.
“As a consequence, we are privatizing the education system.
“Teachers will be gradually released from the government payroll as the current system is phased out over a Five Year period. The money heretofore provided as salaries will be reserved in a loan fund for teachers. Access to capital from the fund at a low interest rate becomes available on presentation of a Business Plan. Loans will be renewable annually and availability guaranteed for Five Years. The fund will also be a source of capital for advertising and promotional purposes.
“Teachers wishing to continue their profession as teachers should apply for a business license to open their own school. The Minister of Education Mr. Carl Bethel and Ms. Elma Garraway and their staff will direct all their efforts toward helping educators establish centers for learning in what will become a private school network.
“For the first time in the history of the Bahamas choice in education at affordable fees reality."
You get the idea, Radical? Yes. But to continue doing the same thing year on year and expecting a different outcome is, well…stupid.
Voucher system should be done in both the Bahamas and The United States. Get the Federal Govt out of Education. United States used to be on top when education was administered locally. Then the Dept of Education was created, after that we in the states continually declined since the 70s. As the federal govt took more and more power away from the state and local govts, we declined more and more until now we are just ahead of the third world in education.
Longer hours will Not solve the problem. It is Quality, Not Quantity and certainly not more days of the same. Proof: even though the average homeschooled student recieves less hours (tutered by parents after work), the average homeschooled student is almost 2 full grades ahead of their public schooled counterparts.
need smaller classes, cut the administrators (more money for teachers and students, allow innovation, adapt school choice (public or private).
Dear Sir Where is the comment I just posted. I spent time on it, please post it, I dont like my time being wasted!
Thank you for your comment, but this site is a volunteer effort so there is no need to get snarky about a slight delay in making a comment live.