The changes needed in our education system
Date Posted: Saturday, April 05, 2008Author: Pastor Maria Seaman
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Change is something else. It takes change to happen in order for change to occur. Did you get that? Yes. Change can be both a verb and a noun. Indeed, where we find ourselves today is a direct result of continuous change (the world has changed). Outside of change, things remain the same.
So, Bermuda has deemed it right and necessary for change to occur in our educational system. In other words, we decided that in its present condition, the educational system is in need of dire attention. I believe that there is not a person in Bermuda who will disagree with the fact that education is in trouble, or more correctly that the carrying-out of the educational process is in trouble.
So we have a report - The Hopkins Report. This report became a report card of our educational system. The end result was that the system was below par, and therefore in need of change.
You know, it is like when our children receive a report card and they are barely scraping by and failing in more than a subject or two. Each parent at this time recognizes that change must occur if the child is to succeed. The wise parent then turns to the teachers and takes their advice, so that their child may have a successful educational experience.
So the Hopkins Report Card of near failure advised that certain changes were absolutely necessary, if the system was to improve. One of the changes recommended involved a revamping of the Department of Education itself. (Mind you teachers have been saying this for quite some time.)
In any case, months later, there is no change. Teachers are more frustrated, long-term substitutes are no longer long-term and teachers are now forced to cover classes and hence our students are yet suffering. Once again, teachers seem to be the “fall-guys” for what is wrong in the system.
You would have to be a teacher in our system to understand fully the frustrations which exist. Let me be clear. There are a majority of teachers who love children, who want to teach, and who have a passion to teach, who are frustrated because they are not being heard. Unfortunately, the moment that teachers vocalize through strike threat, the public turns on them, as if teachers are asking for a difficult thing.
Try this. Imagine classes filled with children like yours, mine, and the others. It can be a literal nightmare for the teacher who wants to teach. Teaching is not the same today as it was yesterday. Teachers are expected to train and discipline students and then teach them academics.
Gone are the days of classes in which there were only two or three students who needed “special” attention. Bermuda needs a reality check when it comes to our precious children.
Hence, real change is necessary, in order for real change to occur. This change will only begin to take place, once change takes place at the top. Any organization, institution or church that really wants to experience change, must experience change at the very top. This change can be a change of the mindset of those at the top, or it can be that those at the top are changed. In any case, the trickle down effect of change occurs in just that direction. From the top down. If we are expecting the students to change first and then others, we will be very disappointed.
When those in charge change, then everyone else will have an example of change to follow. The Hopkins Report has been given (and it cost a whole lot of the people’s money to get it), so let’s carry out ALL of the recommendations found therein. Bermuda and her children deserve that.