by Joan Thompson
The following was in Tommy Turnquests weekly e-mail. Not that I read it every week - it is too much to stomach really. Tommy's ideas are no doubt those of his party, and that is too bad. The whole kit and kaboodle need to go backto the drawing board and come up with something of real value, something thought through and original. It is just the "Same Old Thinking".
This week on education is the following paragraph. Nothing out of context here.
Excellence in Education must be restored. It is our national imperative to educate our nation. We will create highly effective schools that support the premise that all students can learn. To do this we will build new schools while maintaining those that we have. We will also provide the necessary resources for teachers, implement innovative strategies to reach underachieving students, and meet the professional needs of teachers. Cooperation with social partners must be established so as to insist that all parents play a meaningful role. Because I believe that education serves as the gateway to other opportunities and is the only equalizer for economic and general advancement, I will aggressively seek to secure success for every student.
It is an ideological statement - nothing to convince voters that changes will occur, particularly as they said all this before 1992 and the record for education under the FNM was nothing to brag about anyway.
One gets tired of it. I don't even like the language now that I think of it. "Social partners" - is that what parenting is all about? As a parent I certainly was nobody's "social" partner. My partner was "husband". Another scary word in the context of educating is "equalizer" - - terrifying idea. I have always been under the impression that education is meant to produce "exceptions" - creative thinkers, leaders, and innovators. Or unique thinking individuals.
The PLP and the FNM are only interested in turning out a nation of sheep - non-thinkers, non-performers, just followers. I wish there were at least one innovator, original thinker in the party - then perhaps we could stomach the language.
It is just the same old rhetoric- over and over ad nauseum.
