It's the teaching, stupid

January 14, 2010

Dear Sir,

I am stunned, again, by the recent announcement of the "proposal" to restructure the public education system.

What causes me great anxiety is the fact that, once again, the powers that be at the Ministry of Education miss the point of why things are not going as well as they could be in the public education system.

Programmes. Initiatives. Restructuring. All of these are great if what is happening in the classroom – solid effective instruction – is taking place.

Most Bermuda public education system educators have at least three persons above him/her as instructional leaders – vice principal, principal and Senior Education officer. And at the middle and senior school levels you can add team leaders and subject heads.

Yet, if you ask most teachers, and they are honest, few have had regular observations of classroom management and instruction and engaged in constructive dialogue about best practices or effective instructional strategies.

Research suggests that while class size is a consideration in student achievement, effective instruction makes the difference. It really does not matter if there are only ten students in a class. If the instruction is poor, then all of the students fail to benefit.

Why is it that the powers at be at the Ministry of Education continue to overlook this critical solution – put the money into the professional development of educators if you want to see better results?

The Cambridge International curriculum was mandated less than a year ago. Yet the workshops for educators in September and November barely addressed the specific (or suggested) instructional strategies that would lead to effective delivery of the curriculum.

I recognise the financial benefits of fewer schools and personnel, especially in these economic times (and our clearly mismanaged public purse), but teaching is the problem! If we focus on improving the quality of teachers and the effectiveness of their instruction, we will see the change.

And for point of clarification, while the primary schools "seem" to be educating our children, do not be fooled that the middle schools are the only problem. Many students enter middle school having been on the honour role, having exited out of learning support programmes or having been identified as unusually academically inclined, but cannot pass basic assessments in M1.

Look at the teaching! Not the teachers!

A BELIEVER IN PUBLIC EDUCATION

Devonshire

Closures not the answer

January 14, 2010

Dear Sir,

I am a young mother of a son who is about to enter primary school in September and I feel closing five public primary schools will do no good to the children of the schools on the "chopping block."

Forcing more children into other schools just equals to a bigger classroom which ultimately means that those children will not get the personal attention they need from the teacher that will be handling about 15 to 20 students. But to go and build a new high school to give greater opportunity to those students who lack in academics but excel in other areas is a bit biased, don't you think? You are inconveniencing so much parents and pretty much cutting our younger generation short of their education.

You have to look at the bigger picture. This Island is in a state of crisis now with so much violence going on, most in the community say that it goes back to the families of the ones doing wrong, and yes, while that does hold truth you have to look at it from all angles. Closing primary schools and making classrooms with a larger amount of students in the end is going to lead to those children becoming disinterested in school at a younger age than they are now and they are going to be the next ones to fall into the shoes of the so called "gang members" because of the lack of education they received at a early age.

I do agree with building a new school but closing five is a bit farfetched. I think Government needs to take a step back and assess this situation before they allow and produce another fallen generation.

YOUNG MOTHER

Hamilton Parish

Give students a chance

January 14, 2010

Dear Sir,

Not every student studies or performs to expected levels all of the time yet they are constantly told to work hard, "Reach for the stars" and "If you fail, try and try again". I believe that the new message coming out of Saltus may be the total reverse of this. It would seem that unless a student is virtually guaranteed to succeed and at an acceptably high level, Saltus would prefer that they do not sit a potentially challenging exam.

Based upon my term work and mock GCEs many years ago, I was told that I would likely fail most if not all of my exams. I was not a natural scholar and always found academic schoolwork hard, but I tried even if my marks didn't show it. I passed all but one of my exams. Without the opportunity to sit them I could not have moved on to a successful career in my chosen profession.

Despite the denials, I believe that the new Saltus approach is all about exam result ranking within the Bermuda private school group. Saltus has lagged for a few years and they want to climb the ladder. I understand that and the need to maintain teaching and student standards. However, the cynical part of me says what better way is there to improve ranking than to prevent students from sitting exams they may fail and so drag down the overall school performance?

There are no public schools that provide internationally recognised qualifications, so the parents who find the means to place their children in private schools do so with the understanding that their children will be provided with the opportunity to gain a quality education and the qualifications to prove it. Not all students will be elite scholars, but every child accepted as a student at the private schools should be given the opportunity to succeed or fail based upon their own ability and commitment to their studies. The opportunity should not be by a decision from above based upon mark trends that may not translate into real exam performance.

May I suggest that if Saltus wishes to become an elitist school that it tightens up its selection exams and interviews. Once accepted into the school and onto internationally recognised exam courses, every student should be supported to the fullest extent and entered for the exam in every course taken.

What is more important, the school ranking or the students? Should private schools provide all students with the opportunity to succeed, even if it is with a low level pass to place on their transcript or should the private schools deny students the opportunity to succeed?

PUT STUDENTS FIRST

Pembroke

UBP living in the past

January 14, 2010

Dear Sir,

Kim Swan's position that the UBP needs to identify its heroes and "tell its story" to the Bermuda public simply describes the UBP today ... living in the past and dreaming dreams from which they seemingly will never wake.

Earth to Mr. Swan and his colleagues ... the voters expect the elected Government of the day to do the good things that they do. The vast majority of Bermudians who were either alive in the UBP era or who have parents who told them the story, are well aware of the good and decent things that party did to build Bermuda. The UBPs problem is not ignorance of the past but the fact that they represent much, or all, that was bad in the lives of black Bermudians.

That's the issue. Not the "good" legacy, it's the "bad" legacy. It's the glass ceiling; the racial segregation; the separation in churches and where they lived; it's the separation of education opportunities; the bias of banks; the unfairness in the voting process; and the sense that white Bermudians were superior to blacks. There is nothing that the UBP or Kim Swan can do to change this.

Do you people really think that a black Bermudian who experienced, or saw his family experience, segregation, bias, limited opportunity and all sorts of things that condemned them to second-class citizenship, is ever going to vote for the UBP again? Dream on Kim, Grant, Bob and Trevor ... dream on.

The Bermuda Democratic Alliance espouses many of the same ideals and philosophies of the UBP but the difference is in who they are and how they want to conduct themselves when they govern. The difference is generational but, practically speaking, it is also very much about the likelihood of success.

Politics all over the world is a game. In the Westminster winner take all system, the only reasonable objective is to win. By that I mean that the Bermuda Democratic Alliance, for example, has a philosophy and a platform and a structure; its purpose is to prove and demonstrate to the voters that their philosophy is a good one and they are the most competent to govern; and their primary (sole) objective is to win the Government.

There are no "facts" here. The people who remain in the UBP think and hope and may even actually believe that they might win the day again. They don't know anything as a "fact" and the recent poll numbers must be a major dose of reality to them. The Bermuda Democratic Alliance is in the same boat but those same poll results taken together with various research conducted over the past 18 months, both within the UBP and through Research.bm (research results well known to members of the BDA!), must give the BDA incredible hope. In the minds of many, the UBP can never win over the hearts and minds of a majority of voters; the Bermuda Democratic Alliance has no such limitation.

A virgin political Party has more support in many areas than the Loyal opposition ... and all within the first seven weeks of it's existence? The message to all those people who blindly supported the UBP for many years and all of the disenchanted PLP voters ... be a part of the future, if not for you, for your children. The UBP is looking in the rear view window but the BDA is in the driver's seat!

BACK SEAT DRIVER

Southampton

Looking past October

January 13, 2010

Dear Sir,

With the wind howling and the rain lashing against the windows, and the temperature the coldest it has been in living memory, it seemed like the ideal time to write another gloomy Letter to the Editor.

It seems we are all looking forward to October when there will hopefully be some changes in Government, and there are two things I feel strongly about. First it should be unlawful for any Minister to hold more than one full time portfolio. We have managed virtually without a full-time Minister of Tourism for too long. And it must be accepted that it is impossible for one man to take on two, never mind three, full-time jobs. Tourism should be in the hands of hoteliers and people who know what visitors look for in a Bermuda vacation, and it certainly is not a one-off music festival. Plus it seems very wrong to me that one Minister should get paid for more than one, never mind three, separate ministries.

It is also sad beyond words that St. George's, our World Heritage Centre, has been denied cruise ships all this time, which is the lifeblood of the old town. I have heard so many complaints from cruise passengers who have been punished by landing in Dockyard, and found that they are literally prisoners in the place as we do not have the infrastructure to provide enough transport to take care of them.

To make matters worse, some misguided souls voted against allowing the cruise ships to open their casinos for their passenger after 10 p.m. For once I agree with the Premier. I have heard from the shipping lines that ships will no longer overnight in Bermuda if it can be avoided. There is quite literally nothing for the passengers to do ashore. If guests want to go to Hamilton for dinner, they usually find that the last ferry has gone and there are no buses. It makes for a very expensive evening when they have to take a taxi, and that is if the taxi driver is in the mood to drive the long distance to Dockyard.

The second item that I hope will be corrected with a new Government is this extraordinary idea that a single minister can overturn the carefully researched decisions of the department of planning and issue indiscriminate SDOs without recourse. What is the point of having a planning board, in fact, do we still have such a thing? Not when one sees that carbuncle that has appeared on East Broadway.

As for the popular Dale Butler, I suggest that he joins the new party and starts with a whole new agenda. Encourage the best and brightest, black and white, from both parties and start again. It would be great to start with a clean slate and take the best ideas from both parties, and some completely new ideas too. One hopes that whoever becomes the new Premier will be seen and heard. We saw more of the Queen on her three-day visit than we have seen of the Premier in ten years.

E. RABEN

Paget

Crack down on crime

January 13, 2010

Dear Sir,

For many years we have seen Bermuda prosper and as Bermudians we have been truly blessed, although there are a minority who do not seem to think so.

Many Bermudians as well as myself, have had the opportunity to travel to many Caribbean Islands, also many other countries and have seen every type of diversity.

As we see this decade end, and the problems that our communities have been experiencing continue to affect every neighbourhood on the Island, I am hopeful that our Government is doing all that is possible to bring the crime and juvenile crime rate down. Also it is imperative as Bermudians, we must work extremely hard, doing what we have to do, if we want to restore Bermuda to it being another world.

Bermuda has been unique for many years, for which I have been proud, also because of my exposure over the years to the International Business environment, being in the work force and having conversations with many folk, who work on the island, it is the lifestyle rather than the investment that motivates most folk to our shores, and the Bermudian way of life has been priceless.

I totally agree with Sen. David Burch, Minister of Labour Home Affairs and Housing, and Premier Brown for trying a no-nonsense approach to keeping guns out of the hands of criminals and taking these deadly assault weapons off Bermuda's streets, if it means bringing in outside assistance. I do feel that they are very capable leaders and ideologically, I am on broadly the same page as they are. In fact most Bermudians should agree, thus protecting the rights of law abiding citizens at any cost.

We read that more than a million felons, fugitives and domestic abusers are denied guns in the US, since this law took effect in the late nineties. This law in the US has helped to prevent a total of more that 500,000, felons, fugitives, domestic abusers, and other prohibited purchasers from buying guns. I think Bermuda needs to establish a tough record of enforcement of our Island's gun laws by assisting law enforcement, taking serious gun criminals out of our communities and put them where they belong: behind bars. Also provide our local law enforcement and prosecutors with the tools they need to crack down on gun criminals and target the most serious gun offender.

It is mind-blowing that over the years, our Island has changed drastically, we cannot afford to indulge in Bermuda as a "fantasy island any longer", and yes we have to move with the times, again, I feel, "there is obviously the possibility of people working in common harmony to restore our Island home".

I leave with you these inspirational words: "You can never become who you are supposed to be without a victory, and there is no victory without a battle, just remember this, the size of your opposition is an indicator of the measure of God's confidence in your ability to overcome it … you have everything you need in you, just tap into it!

"Ye are of God's little children, and have overcome them because greater is He that is in you than He that is in the world" – 1 John 4:4: "No weapon that is formed against you shall prosper… " Isaiah 54:17. Take a stand in 2010!

GWEN DUNBAR-SIMMONS

Devonshire