The Effects of Change onCaymanian Society Education Minister
By Hon. Roy Bodden, Minister of Education
The Cayman Islands are facing a challengingsituation and that is how do we adequately prepare our youth forthe world of work, bearing in mind the dynamics of the modernwork place?
At the turn of the last century the workingenvironment in the Cayman Islands was compartmentalised in thesimplest format. That was seaman, labourer and entrepreneur. Thismade for a fairly simple life in these islands. It also allowedthe education system to be divided along lines to meet this simplicity.
All-age schools produced at the simplestlevels seamen and labourers, subtly yet unquestionably brainwashedinto accepting their lot as hewers of wood and drawers of water,casters of nets and menders of sail. Memories of school invokeimages of boys and girls who were expected 'to be seen and notheard'. Such images, which fall just short of genuflecting, becameindelibly inscribed on the minds of malleable youth.
The psychology promoted at the time allowedthe school to be used as a place to sing patriotic songs hailingthe strength and protectiveness of England our colonial masters.The entire system was designed to glorify Victorianism and empirewhile keeping the population of the colonies loyal and subservient.
Secondary schools, where they existed, createdthe second level. Here the students were taught to be workersat a different level. Their skills were honed for use by the merchantfamilies, whose sons and daughters the students were. They weretaught to be human calculators, measurers of profits, clerks ofprivilege, created to exhibit controlled ambition and an 'I representthe superior class' mentality.
The final stage embodied the expatriates,those few in number who with guaranteed advantages visited thecolonies to expand their horizons, secure in the knowledge thattheir safety in both personal and economic terms was not in doubt.
The strategic placing of the Commissioneror later the Administrator and a compliant Assembly of Justicesand Vestrymen, which made laws to govern as well as to controlthe sometimes restless few, created in its path 'good little natives'.Life was idyllic in a paradise where it took little to satisfya people who were accustomed to nothing more than meagre essentials.
Paradise, like the world has changed: educationhas taken on a new perspective, history is no longer the encapsulationofBritish colonisation and there are those who subscribe to theview that we are facing a dying colonialism. As a consequence,education must continue to evolve in order to mirror this change.
Young people can no longer be fed a dietof education measured only by the teacher on a need-to-know basis.Advances in technology have brought knowledge to the fingertipsof everyone willing to seek and explore the sources available.
The need for these mediums to be availableto every child is paramount. For whereas preparation for a jobin the past was a one time thing consisting of a starting andend point, in today's world the education process is constant,never ending.
The accountant, for example, can no longerbe secure in the fact that he/she has acquired the basic or advancedprinciples of accounting and forever make ledger entries and preparemonthly balances. Technology has forced graduates to be perpetualstudents.
The competitive pressure which this bringsto bear within the working environment is frightening, for failureof the technology or the technologist to keep up with trends canplace a once secure job holder, business or otherwise stable governmentor country at grave risk.
This trend has created a significant changeto the once established face of labour, for unemployment has assumeda completely different identity. In the past looking for a jobmeant looking for something to do, finding your niche. Today'sjob market has become ruthlessly selective; the simplest job demandsa qualification.
The garbage collector is faced with thechallenge of understanding his role as an environmentalist apartfrom the fact that the rolling stock, which he/she is operating,is equivalent to what he will work for in at least ten or morefull working years.
He is asked to advise on recycling and understandsolid waste management.
The mechanic is now expected to understandMicrosoft and Computer technology to tune up, one must bein tune: the older technician is almost extinct. The internalcombustion engine has not changed, but the regulation of currentthrough this technological maze has irreversibly altered thosedreaming of becoming your mechanic.
Unfortunately, the majority of our youngpeople seem to lack the exposure to be masters of the new technology a situation that is marginalizing a significant percentageof Caymanian society. This situation is creating a serious problemthat government and civil society will have to face over the nextdecadesthat of balancing technology against basic human skills.
For whereas cellular phones, computer games,the Internet and Information Technology are the language of thetalented, the parallel world of the disadvantaged is still encapsulatedin a time machine of failure, ignorance and enforced poverty.
Unemployment among young healthy adultswill create a subculture forced to use the basic survival resourceswith which they are endowed. Some young people are being forced,through circumstance, into lives of crime; their only badge ofaccomplishment is that they have served time.
Motivated by young women who are afraidof being left behind in the world of glamour, this subculture,generated by expensive, unaffordable materialism will place aserious strain on the resources of government and civil societyand may even erode our moral standards.
What implication does all this have forCaymanians? How does this affect the Caymanian ethos? Well, itis important for Caymanians not to become smug and apathetic.Caymanians must be aware of the changing geopolitics and realizethat the Cayman Islands are inextricably linked to the Caribbean.especiallythe Commonwealth Caribbean.
Politically.well this depends upon whereone falls within the political continuum. The upcoming constitutionalreview affords Caymanians an opportunity to develop a modern instrumentof government. Prefacing any such instrument must be a Bill ofRights and the understanding that with any rights come accompanyingresponsibilities.
Then too, there is the question of citizenshipand other issues contained in the White Paper. How Caymanianswill respond to U.K. citizenship and the possibility of reciprocalrights is unknown at this time. I must admit that the prospectsof one country, two systems are intriguing indeed and not withoutsome confusion up to this point.
Compounding these problems is the realitythat the country, if need be can be isolated into economic submissionby selfish superpowerswitness the actions of the OECD and itsrelated agencies. The pull out of major airlines can spell disaster;invasion by mega-entrepreneurs can create a debt, way beyond thesociety's capacity` to service, if not carefully monitored.
It is the responsibility of Government toprotect the society and by inference our youth from the vagariesof new global scheming. It is the responsibility of both the publicand the private sector to recognise now, more than ever, thatthey are mandated to embrace each other and to work towards apartnership. It is an awesome responsibility and how we handlethe looming crisis will determine what legacy will be left forfuture generations.
Contemplating a similar challenge in theeighteenth century Edmund Burke warned his generation: "Ifour patrimony is cast aside, if we insist on lingering smug andapathetic we shall come to know servitude of mind and body."
It is my observation that the future seemsto have come perilously close to the present, to the point whereit is difficult to tell the difference. It is now that we mustdetermine what, if anything, we have learnt from history and implementstrategies to hold together our society at every level.
Tonight, graduands, I laud your efforts.I congratulate you on reaching this important milestone in yourcareers. I leave you with the words of William Shakespeare, spokenin Hamlet, Act 1 Scene III: "This above all: To thine ownself be true.and it follows as the day, the night. Thou canstnot then be false to any man."
I can only hope that each of you recognisethe importance of preparing yourselves to, not only, earn a livelihoodbut also be model citizens; whose sense of society and communityallows you to use your education, not only for personal success,but also to help the less fortunate and, above all, to improveyour community. Sir Walter Scott best captured the ideal whenhe penned these lines:
May God bless you graduands and may Godbless the Cayman Islands.