FIXING T&T - Part 2

 It is probably time that we stop bewailing the faults and mistakes of the present Government (although they are too many to count) and start looking at ways that we can at least start to try and fix this little country of ours. My own view is that it will take at least twenty years to fix (if not more) which is, of course, way beyond the lifetime of any elected Government. And yet, our problems are such that if we don't fix them now, they are only going to get worse.

So? How do I think that we could and should begin? Answer: with our education system. Because money is everybody's motivation I would start with the teachers. First, I would at least treble the salaries of teachers. BUT I would also put them on some sort of performance bond so that their students have to perform. If at the end of a year (for example) a teacher fails his/her performance bond then he/she would be fired immediately with no recompense whatsoever.  And this requirement will continue for the duration of the teacher's employment. Ah! I can hear yo say. Not a bad idea, but what about their union and their present terms and conditions? Yep! You're right. I would deal with that problem like this: nobody except brand new teachers will have to sign up for the new terms and conditions, but then anybody who does not sign up for them simply won't get the new salary. In other words, I won't change any existing terms (including salaries) of anyone who does not want to agree to the new system.

Will this work? I really don't know, though I believe that it would. No country can succeed if it's education system is deficient, and ours certainly is. If it is so great why do so many kids in the public school system need to have private lessons? And who is giving the private lessons? Not the very same teachers who are supposed to be teaching the children in class? If they are doing their job properly, why is it necessary for so many children to take private lessons?  It is a system that guarantees failure - unless you can pay for it. And there is the nub of the problem. Only a minority can afford the cost of private lessons. There is no good reason other than economics why private lessons are necessary - and they are for anybody who wants his/her child to get ahead.

There is no other way for a country to go forward other than education. And yet you have people like the UWI principal Professor Brian Copeland reportedly saying that UWI students should "be more responsible" for their fees, by which he means they should pay more.  Oh gosh! Where is the out of the box thinking that we need rather than this old tired way of doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Tertiary education in successful countries like Germany, Sweden, et al have free tertiary education. Even France offers this to non citizens if they can speak French!

We need to start thinking differently instead of trying the same old solutions which clearly are not working. Wasn't it Albert Einstein, one of the most brilliant minds of the twentieth century who defined madness as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. And that is exactly why we can't even fix a pothole!