When a thing is wrong if it is not corrected it stays wrong and eventually gets worse

Nov 22, 2010 Letters

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Dear Editor,
It was news for me reading the letter in Kaieteur News October 29th, under the heading, “One year later: UG top student jobless”, written by Claudia Heywood, mother of 2009 valedictorian Loria Mae Angela Heywood furiously complaining that one year after graduating and receiving the President’s Medal for “distinguishing performance” and “sending out about 40 job applications (this has got to be a record for a top UG student) her daughter is still jobless. Says an irate Claudia Heywood”, but my anger burns in my breast and I must speak, least I implode.”
This letter highlighting the valedictorian’s situation is unfortunate and did not make for pleasant reading, but I was not amazed since I know that she is not alone in this regard. But the letter most certainly grabbed my attention, since I immediately recalled one I had written; “How can this Desirable Change be made” (K.N Jan 26th 2010), which was prompted by the speech she had delivered at the graduation exercise, and carried in part by SN (Dec 7th 2009) under the bold headline: “UG Graduates Need Well Paying Jobs to Stay Here -Valedictorian”.
In my letter, among other things I asked some questions; “How can this desirable change be made?”; whose duty/responsibility it is to effect the change?”; How do you see yourself in service of your country? Whom does your labour serve? Is our highest institution of learning, shaping, enriching, and motivation young students to reach beyond self?” What is the true purpose and intent of education?
For so doing I was taken to task by one of her fellow grandaunts, Stanley Wong in his missive to KN Feb 8th 2010, under the caption: “Self preservation forces UG graduates to look for and stay in greener pastures”. He attacked me for using the distinguished Caribbean Writer George Lamming as a role model; clearly, he failed to understand the role and place of Lamming and by extension his contemporaries within the context of their time, claiming that he too (Lamming) was no different from his batch mates –apolitical – bent on self interest and seeking greener pastures.
Wong missed my line of reasoning completely and so failed to grasped the thrust of my latter – in fact he dealt with just one small part of it and not in its entirety – and rudely ended up accusing me “and others” of not understanding “our problems and dreams”. Which he called “self preservation”.
However, I think there is time enough for the youthful Stanley Wong to become seriously acquainted with the writings of this eminent Caribbean thinker. But one gets the impression that this graduant who was speaking on behalf of his batch mates as saying: look here, listen up, we did not attend UG to become moralist, humanitarians or correct the ills of society – but neither was I suggesting even remotely any of them emulating Steve Bicko or Angela Davis, Ghandi or Rodney, no way! Too tall an order! Since he also stated: “Having our heads chopped off now to appease critics makes no sense to us”, yet in the same breath talking about “how we can improve our contribution to the welfare of Guyana”.
And there was nothing in my writing that conveyed the impression that I was against personal development/upward mobility, greener pastures or self preservation”, but from the tone of his (Wong) argument one sense a mindset that was a bit discomforting as if to say: here we come with our acquired knowledge, create the perfect condition and make us an offer we can’t refuse; or else, an obsession only about what we can get. But this is how everyone in this land has become, all material and nothing else, and one which is of the main reasons why things are the way they are.
Mr. Editor, if that trend of thinking is thought of as the sole purpose and intent of a University Education, the alpha and omega period, then I’m afraid that we are somewhat lost. But what I was also trying to get over, was that our young and brilliant minds should seek to implant into their character among other things, some degree of moral integrity, courage and concern beyond self; that yes, everyone has a right to be consumed with an overriding concern for self, but if that obsession is not cautiously tempered, it could be to our detriment, at the expense of our soul, whereby we end up being feeble, spineless, submissive creatures – the very antithesis of a University Education.
If for whatever reason one’s quest for greener pasture is not realised and one is left stuck, then obviously one becomes yet another victim within the scheme of things; the ills, shortcomings and decadence plaguing the society. This then is one valid reason why it behooves us to become involved in things that our existence is hinged on. It stands to reason that no sane person will help to fashion a system in which they know will handicap them or render them helpless, this is why we need to relinquish our passive posture at some point and be bold.
These are commendable and honourable acts that learned people do to effect desirable change and has nothing to do with “heads being chopped off to appease critics”. Seven times Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong once said that if you are scared of falling off a bike you will never learn to ride. When a thing is wrong if it is not corrected it stays wrong and eventually gets worse. My letter was ended thus: “and rest assure Loria Mae, that once this trend continues each succeeding graduating batch will be echoing your sentiments about the state of affairs, only by then it will be worse”. That the 2009 valedictorian is still unable to land a job stands as testimony.
But you know what, we cannot despair, we have to keep the faith, as most Guyanese like to say take every disappointment for a good, sometimes its all faith/providence that these things happen; are so designed to bring us back in line with a calling/duty that was marked out for us and which we have been stubbornly rejecting, who knows. No doubt Mrs. Claudia Heywood a believer in the word will most certainly agree with me here.
Frank Fyffe

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