Teaching civic duties beats exams

THE EDITOR: It is gratifying that my major criticism of the SEA, that it segregates students into different “ability” classes by formal exams, seems also shared by the PNM government. Such educational segregation puts a ceiling on a student’s aspirations and achievements. If focuses on what students cannot do at an arbitrary point of time, not on what they might be able to do later; a focus on deficits rather than on strengths.

I call this the Naipaulian perspective (which generally reflects our national perspective) “seeing the glass half-empty rather than seeing it half-full.” It is a perspective rooted in our historical insecurities, reflected in our tendency to blame, criticise, and punish rather than empathise with, support, and encourage. All students have strengths of one sort or another, and learn at different speeds. good educational system will strive to maximise the development of these strengths over a period of time, in the interest both of the student and of society. Hopefully, the retired principal who declared that “some of them (students) will be labourers” will remain retired: such an archaic view reflects a lack of awareness of current educational ideas and developments. In particular, our further economic progress must depend on home-grown talent and skills, not on high-paid foreigners.

A related focus is governmental encouragement of micro-business. Government can arrange the provision of encouragement, grants, and business advice to individuals who wish to open their own small business. “Feed a person a fish and you feed him/her for only one day; but teach her/him to fish and he can feed himself.” This is a governmental investment worth considering. Hopefully, the Social Studies component of the curriculum will include an exploration of the institutional structure of our nation as well as the civic responsibilities of each citizen. Law, government, family and adolescence and social problems must be at the heart of our Social Studies. Briefly, we must encourage students to determine what it means to be a citizen in Trinidad and Tobago, and the ways in which they can make positive contributions to others and to society generally.

KENNETH  AQUAN-ASSEE
Port-of-Spain