Former chief education officer Joseph Christopher has published a book detailing the history of schools in Bermuda in the second half of the 20th century. He spoke to The Royal Gazette yesterday about 'A Random Walk Through the Forest' and explained why, two years into his retirement, he's as passionate about education as ever.

When Joseph Christopher handed his letter of retirement to the Ministry of Education on September 30, 2006, he had every intention of working until the following June.

But fate had other plans for him. That night, after he went to bed, he suffered a stroke which robbed him of the use of his left hand and meant he would never return to work as the Island's chief education officer. "Education is a very stressful business," he says. "I probably wasn't as aware of the stress I was undergoing as I should have been."

That afternoon he had attended a meeting with colleagues and told them of his retirement plan for the following summer. He left the office and drove home but had to turn back after finding that he'd forgotten his key.

Dr. Christopher now thinks his absent-mindedness and the tiredness he felt that evening were the first signs that something was wrong.

"I woke up and it was 1 a.m. and I was feeling a little bit unsteady," says the 65-year-old father-of-three. "My wife measured my pressure and told me that I needed to go to the doctor. So I went to the emergency room, not that I was willing, and they kept me in."

His wife Marlene was right "not to pay attention to her crazy husband", he admits. The stroke he suffered in the early hours of October 1, 2006, was severe and has left him unable to drive and needing the use of a stick to walk. He doesn't know if his job at the Ministry was directly to blame but he says: "A previous chief education officer also suffered a stroke after he retired. Basically, it's a very stressful job. Education all over the world is contentious.

"In education you are managing a large number of people in a large number of institutions and you are responsible for the most fundamental aspect of the community. If you are serious about it, it's going to be stress."

Despite that stress, he has not been able to stay away from education during his convalescence. In fact, he says he has concentrated more on writing his history of education in Bermuda than on getting better.

The result is a 140-page self-published book entitled 'A Random Walk Through the Forest' which he presented to Education Minister El James this week, as well as the Bermuda Union of Teachers and the Association of School Principals.

Its subject matter is one which has fascinated him throughout his career — how the "unfair" structure of the school system in Bermuda has been used to subjugate black people.

"My basic premise is that there has been no equity in the provision of education in this community for probably the last 100 years," he explains.

"Education is a form of social control. It determines who is going to be in charge in the future, it determines the opportunities that people have."

His book traces education in Bermuda in the last half of the 20th century, detailing a time when there was a disproportionate number of Government-supported high schools for whites and highlighting the "less demanding" curriculum implemented in black schools. "It was designed for them to do less well," argues Dr. Christopher.

He claims that several schools that are now private, such as Saltus Grammar and Bermuda High School for Girls, "grabbed from the public purse" as much as they could before opting out of the state system when schools were being desegregated. "They left when government policies did not suit them," he says.

He says schools for blacks have traditionally been kept under tight control by the Government — with schools for whites allowed to have far more freedom under autonomous boards.

The result, he says, is that black families have had little say in how schools are run and have bought into a myth that they are failing. Young people in those schools sense that they are expected to fail and feel alienated as a result.

A former principal of Sandys Secondary School and physics lecturer at the Sixth Form Centre, Dr. Christopher's take on the current state of public education differs significantly from the accepted mainstream view that it is in turmoil.

"I don't think there is a significant problem right now," he insists, adding that the public have bought into an idea of failure, perpetuated by the media, which doesn't reflect reality.

"The media have always presented the black students as failures and is still doing that today," he claims.

How does he explain the Hopkins report, released in May 2007, which described public schools as "on the brink of meltdown"?

"I don't think it was in crisis in the way that he [Professor David Hopkins] was talking about," says Dr. Christopher. "There's always problems in any education system. The question is: the recommendations that they are making now, to what extent do they differ to recommendations that were already in place?"

Dr. Christopher, who was appointed chief education officer in 1996 after 13 years as a senior education officer, says public schools are unfairly compared to private schools, yet the latter are selective about the results they publish. He says the state system significantly raised standards in 2003, making exams harder and suffering a decrease in graduation as a result. But he says the graduation rate has been rising ever since.

"What the children in the public system are suffering from is the general disregard from the community as a whole to public education, which is a long-standing issue in this Island."

The retired civil servant feels the reaction to the Hopkins report, which he watched from the sidelines, was all wrong and eroded the confidence of those in the system.

"I don't think the Government knew what they were doing," he says. "People are committed to their jobs. You respect and work with them."

He adds: "Most children want to be encouraged and given the opportunity for success. Nobody wants to fail."

He has spent the past two years researching and writing his book, the title of which alludes to the random nature of government policies on education over the years and the phrase "you can't see the forest for the trees".

"My aim was self-satisfaction, to be very clear as to what had happened in the past," he explains. "It's a side issue if people read it. I didn't do it to make money out of this thing. I did it so that people would have a source of information so they would understand how the system has evolved."

Has he missed the Ministry? "It's a strange question," he replies. "Yes and no. I enjoyed the activity within the Ministry but it's time for me to move on."

He has no plans to become a full-time author or return to education. But he says he'll never lose interest in how Bermuda's children are taught. The last chapter of his book sets out his vision for how state schools should be run — and he shares with this newspaper a final piece of advice for Government.

"The commissioner [of education] should be Bermudian. A person brought in from outside doesn't understand the system. To him it's just a job, no matter how committed he is to the job. To a Bermudian, it's the survival of the community, the peace in the community."

¦ 'A Random Walk Through the Forest' should be available at Brown & Co. from April 13, priced $30 hardback and $20 paperback. Copies can also be obtained by emailing chrisjos@logic.bm.

¦ A banquet honouring Dr. Christopher will be held on Saturday, April 11, at the Fairmont Southampton. Tickets, priced $125, are available from the Student Services section of the Department of Education on Dundonald Street, Hamilton.