thebahamasweekly.com - Joe Darville: The state of education in our nation

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Letters to The Editor
Joe Darville: The state of education in our nation
By Joseph Darville Life-time educator, Member of ORG
Feb 20, 2020 - 8:35:32 AM

As a life-long educator and one still in the field of environmental education, I wish to unequivocally agree with the evaluation of education in this country today, penned by Mr. Robert Myers of ORG. Additionally, it must be stated clearly that the lack of discipline throughout the system must be addressed. In many schools, teacher spend at least one-third of their precious time disciplining non-motivated students. Many of these children come from one-parent families, mainly that one person being a dear mother. So, certainly, much of this lament facing education begins right in the home.

Another element which is powerfully militating against education excellence is the almost 24 hour of use of cell phones by our students today. They walk or ride to school with these instruments in use; they walk from school with them; but, believe me, they are not using them for research, doing home work, or even checking Google for any information. Again, this is a home-based phenomenon, which can only be addressed by parents.

Thirdly, in this lamentable state of our skilled young population, the brain drain on this country is immeasurable. The more brilliant minds from public and private schools, who are blessed with the opportunity to seek further education abroad, especially in the US, the majority of them do not return. They say, most of them, there is nothing for them to come back for.

To exacerbate this lamentable situation, there is little to no effort made by our country to attempt to attract these bright and skilled minds back to their homeland. Literally thousands of them obtain outstanding positions and excellent paying jobs abroad; thus, their needs are satisfied and they only come back for regular vacation.

I wish to end with this comment: content-wise there is nothing amiss with our education system, whether at primary, secondary or tertiary level. However, we must provide proper and relevant materials for twenty-first century academics. Secondly, due attention must be paid to the discipline within and outside the classroom. Teachers are there to teach and not employed as custodian officers. They can barely survive on their teaching salary. Thus, attract and pay properly the best minds to deal with our children. Thirdly, a definitive attempt must be made to attract back home our brightest minds. Then, and only then, will we be able to boast that within the level of ninety-four percent employment, we can have the brightest minds, the most skilled and those with passion for nation building.

Joseph Darville

Life-time educator, Member of ORG

2.17.2020

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are solely those of the author in his/her private capacity and do not in any way represent the views of TheBahamasWeekly.com