Two unreal captions caught my attention in your (Tribune’s) August 15th, edition: “Owens blames social problems for D+ average”, and, “The main reason (is) that we don’t want to face the facts”, and the article that accompanied confirmed this “reality”. Those of us who are old enough to recall our beginnings in “the modern Bahamas” are aware that what we are reaping is what we have sown. Although Ms Owens was in the area of truth she neglected to “face the facts”.
It is known that most of the fathers of the “modern Bahamas” who had studied in the United Kingdom had acquired a socialist philosophy during what is recorded as some hard years for most of them. The sun was setting on the old Empire and these bright lights had to deal with some very harsh lectures at the UK universities, lecturers who did not take too kindly to the fact that England was in the process of losing its place in the world, and that their former colonies were in the process of coming “out from under”.
I want to make it clear that the issue here is not blame, because history also records that many of their contemporaries up and down the Caribbean made the same retreat into a Socialist/Marxist philosophy, some of them so deeply that their countries have not recovered and some may not ever recover.
“Facing the facts” require that our nation’s foray into educational socialism from 1970 to the present be recognised for what it was, it was a “dumbing down” of the people that had been recently emancipated in the early and late sixties from the “old system”. One of the awful ironies of this passage is that the old system never allowed for any kind of social promotion; I call still recall that at the age of 14, there were students who were 18-20 in grade 11.
I don’t know if social promotion was a tool for dealing with the growing elitist attitude that came upon us as we began to stretch our muscles as a new nation, but I do recall one of the founding fathers referring to the old GHS as an elitist institution that had to be shut down, however, his statement was only a confirmation that the “dumbing down” of the nation was an intentional act and that he saw nothing wrong with closing a door he and others like him were given an opportunity to walk through. The present problems are but symptoms of what we get when we refuse to do what we promised to do as we made our way out of Egypt.
It is not unexpected that the drums of censorship are sounding again and political barrel beaters are attempting to rush the podium, again! Leaving undone what is blatantly needed to be done.
Are we ready to take up the responsibility that was granted to us in 1973? Or are we going to be content with the circus that comes to town every five years, a circus whose main target is a populace whose voice is drowned in the cacophony of promises? There should be a law against people just talking, because they sound good, even if you only get to hear them once.
The facts are that we cannot continue to allow persons to give passionate speeches and then give another passionate speech with nothing done in between. If we are committed to what we say we are committed to, some of those persons driving around this nation in vehicles with red plates ought to be pulled over to be allowed to articulate: What is their job description? If they cannot answer, ask them to face the facts.
EDWARD HUTCHESON
Nassau, Bahamas
August 16 2006
