Beware of temptation to discard the old

Jul 20, 2014 Features / Columnists, My Column

---

Things have never changed over the years. In fact, I must repeat something that many people have repeated over the years, following something that François La Rochefoucauld first said. François La Rochefoucauld was born 400 years ago (and here I must thank Google) and he must have been one of the many profound thinkers the world has seen.
But back to what I have to repeat: The only thing constant in life is change.
There I was in the office engaged in a discussion with my friend Dale Andrews. Dale is one of those fellows who have some outrageous views, but each needs to be listened to. Dale was saying that old people like me should be put out to pasture because we are stagnating the upward mobility of young people. That sentiment has been around for as long as I have been alive. So I guess it will be around for almost forever.
I did say that perhaps we should, but the fact is that the young people have shown little inclination to replace us older folk because they have refused to broaden their horizons, and so be able to effectively take control of what we do.
I pointed to the public service where the retirement age is 55 and where once one reaches that age one must leave the scene. And indeed this is the case, but Dale pointed out that many of these older people are brought back as contract workers. Surely, the people bringing back these people are not out to do them any favour. So there must be a reason.
I directed his attention to the education system where retirement is compulsory and to the Guyana Police Force and other public service entities. I was not certain that he understood what I was saying, because I did not have the time to explain to him that many of the people who replaced the older ones were not really up to standard.
I am prepared to attract some severe criticisms, but I am certain that Queen’s College is not the institution it once was. Children attending that school did not need extra lessons because the teachers were very effective. In fact, if a student was caught attending extra lessons he was punished and even faced expulsion. Today, there are parents who say to me that the school only has the name.
I have even heard Dale being critical of the replacements in the Guyana Police Force, but perhaps he does not blame this on the disappearance of the old people. I recall an interview with the now dead, retired Police Commissioner Henry Fraser. He told me of the things he did to solve crimes, commonsense things that today’s policemen do not even think about with the result that crimes go unsolved.
The media landscape is no different. Each day people would call me about the mistakes in the newspapers—simple and silly mistakes by some standards—but understandable from the point of view of the young who no longer read.
I asked a young girl if she knew what a coronation was and she did not. They have no knowledge of things past but still relevant, so it is difficult to find examples to understand what is happening today. For example, they are not aware of many things that happened 30 years ago because as they say, they were not around.
But that is minor compared to what happens in the hospitals and other medical institutions. Nurses are inconsiderate. Patients in discomfort are ignored because the smartphone is of greater interest. Policemen ride past crimes in progress, because as one of them actually said to a criminal who had just snatched someone’s property, “You lucky I in a good mood.”
Parents are who they are because they are young and learnt precious little from the older ones. And I wonder if Dale ever noticed that most of the people who get into serious road accidents are young people.
Indeed the older people should step aside and allow for natural progression, but sometimes that must not be rushed, because of the likely consequences. West Indies cricket is in the doldrums because of the haste to introduce young blood some time back.
I have noticed something most interesting in the developed world. There, people are not in too much of a hurry to get rid of their older and experienced people. For one, the age of retirement is 10 years beyond what we have here. That may explain why they are developed and we are not.
Teachers are kept way beyond 55 when they would have perfected their craft and would have been able to develop the patience that is so often needed in schools. In hospitals, young doctors are keen to work under the supervision of their older counterparts.
When the Caribbean Court of Justice was coming into effect, I remember talking to one of the founders about the age of retirement. I mentioned 60 and the man with raised eyebrows said, “But that when he is just maturing.”
The United States Supreme Court has some of the oldest judges, and this is the case in almost all the developed countries. So when is Guyana going to learn? Perhaps not in my lifetime.
I notice the fact that many school children cannot read and that the level of illiteracy is increasing. I have seen young men arrested by the police who could not even write their names. But there is a solution. We made a bold decision to introduce the retired-rehired teachers for work in the lower school.
I say to Dale, never be too much in a hurry to throw out the old people. That’s where the knowledge is.

---

---