We are being hurt by our own silence

Aug 20, 2017 Features / Columnists, My Column

---

Guyanese must be the most tolerant people in the world, but they are also the most demanding. However, it is amazing that they are allowing standards to decline and accepting that decline in the process. The most evident case of decline is found in the school system.
When I was a boy the people who could not read and write were the old people. They were the ones who would call any child and ask that child to read the newspapers for them. And back then every child could read. Of course they read at different levels, but they could read.
When these people had to sign a document, they would merely affix a thumb print. Someone in the family would go with that person to either the bank or the post office and witness the application of the thumb print.
Something had to have gone wrong, because many young people today simply cannot read or write. It would seem that they just passed through the doors of the school. I witnessed the police taking a statement from a young criminal then asking the person to sign the statement. I am no longer shocked at the number of young men who would simply say that they cannot read or write. They would draw their names.
If one travels on an aircraft there are forms to be signed. There are people who would request the assistance of the flight attendants. Some have to be aided by the people travelling with them. This inability to read seems to be increasing.
I listen to the radio and to the television reporters and I am assailed by mispronunciations, poor grammar and poor sentence constructions. Indeed, before the presenter goes on air the script should be edited. For the poor grammar to pass speaks volume about the quality of the editors.
I had on one occasion conducted an audition with a group of University of Guyana students. I had them read a few paragraphs to themselves then read them aloud. Earlier, they all professed that they could read. One of them actually cried during the audition. They are not alone. Each day in the office I would ask reporters to read.
Every applicant for a job is often asked to name the last book he or she would have read, and a few would tell me about some textbook.
There was a time, before television, when the newspaper daily circulation was over 100,000. And there were three newspapers in circulation. Today the combined daily circulation of the four newspapers does not reach 60,000. Such is the extent to which people read. The result is that many people have ridiculously poor vocabulary.
Don’t talk about needling someone. The recipient of the statement may think about someone injecting someone.
But that is not the only shortcoming. There is the issue of people having a lot to say but will remain silent about the issue when placed in a position to voice their opinion. I was having lunch with a friend who had remigrated to Canada. We got to talking about things in Guyana and one of the things she said was that Guyanese have so much to complain about and so much to be thankful about.
One of the areas of complaints is education. She said that there are teachers who are paid to work but who save their energies to conduct private lessons. There are parents who could afford to pay, but those who can’t, must rely on what is imparted in the schools.
Sadly, the teachers end their classes earlier because they have to race to the private lessons at the expense of those who cannot afford the private lessons. This became a talking point between the parents who then agreed that they would meet at the parent-teacher association meeting.
My friend said that right up to before the start of the meeting these parents were complaining at the loss to their children. The meeting began and it was time for the parents to make their observations. Lo and behold many sat and said nothing. But my friend did make her observations and her objections known.
It boiled down to the absence of proper supervision at the schools. Many of the heads seem incapable of managing the teachers, hence this marked breakdown that has been translated into poor examination results. But we still hear complaints from the teachers and the heads of schools.
At the upper level of the system is the Chief Education Officer. There are also supposed to be school inspectors, a section of the education that is woefully inadequate. I remember when inspectors visited schools. In those days teachers were at their best.
Cars were not at a premium in those days, so when one pulled up in front of the school, one could see the teachers trying to do even more. There were notes of lessons and Schemes of Work that had to be presented. These days, I am certain that no teacher has a Scheme of Work—something that reveals a breakdown of the curriculum.
This is absolutely necessary in the developed world. Teachers there talk about preparing their work programme ahead of the school term. Of course, there is an abundance of electronics, but the teachers must have these things which are often inspected by the head of principal at any time.
But Guyana is a different kettle of fish. I am not sure what operates in the private schools, but there must be something that causes these private schools to convey the impression that the service they provide is far superior to what operates in public schools.
Queen’s College is reportedly not what it once was. In my day, no QC boy could seek private lessons. In cases where help was needed the teachers readily offered an hour of their time. I remember evening classes being held, and these were open to members of the public, free of cost.
It is our laid back attitude that fosters many things. We cannot find ourselves offering information to the police. But we have an excuse. We mind our own business because we don’t want trouble. The truth is that we have more trouble than we could handle.

---

---