Archive for the ‘Education’ Category
Tuesday, May 1st, 2007 |
 |
| Protesting Student at Febeau Government Primary |
This came over CNC3’s newscast last night. It’s not so much the fact that this little girl is protesting that bothers me, in fact I’d rather have students protest than have them eat pigeon droppings with their lunches. It’s the sign that gets to me.
You have to wonder what a parent is thinking when she pushes such a placard into the hands of her daughter without giving a second thought to the propriety of a child referring to the Minister of Education by her first name.
Sadly, I guess this is where we are as a society isn’t it?
A school protest is such a commonplace occurrence now, that it’s hard for me to think back to a week when there wasn’t one, but surely it hasn’t become so commonplace now that parents toss respect out the window just as effortlessly as this, has it?
But in a country where parents beat and cuss teachers, this is the kind of thing that will just slip quietly under the radar.
Posted in Education, Social Issues | 9 Comments »
Tuesday, March 27th, 2007 |
SEA Exam Today
Allyuh today is SEA exam. Allyuh have allyuh No. 2 pencils, yuh sharpener, yuh eraser and yuh exam slip? Allyuh eat a good breakfast? Remember not to get too stressed out, eh. Answer the questions as quickly as you can. Make sure to blacken the entire circle on the answer sheet. Do your working on the side. If you don’t know the answer to a question, skip it and come back to it if you have time. Doh feel nervous, yuh know. Make sure to reach on time ok? So make sure to tell mummy or daddy to drop yuh off early. Nice chirren. Don’t worry, after today is play time till you get your results. No more “reaching late for SEA” dreams.
Is it strange that I never forgot my Common Entrance number? Even if I didn’t, my mother saved my slip and has it stashed away somewhere. During the exam it took my shoes off, kicked back and did my exam. I remember the examiners joking with me when it was all done that I took off my shoes and looked so relaxed. I guess that was the only way I knew how to do it. Anybody else mammy still have they Common Entrance slip or is that just me?
Rain & Clouds
Allyuh, I haven’t seen the sun now for almost a week. All we’ve had is rain, rain and more rain along with a helping of black clouds. And it’s only just March. The Bermuda/Bangladesh game could only go about 21 overs a side because of it. Yet it doesn’t look like it’s letting up any time soon. The good thing is that I haven’t heard of any reports of flooding yet.
Basdeo Panday
“The only reason they failed was because they got too greedy. They tried to hang two Indians with the same rope.” Would someone who truly loves Trinidad talk like this? Or is this a self-absorbed, megalomaniac politician trying to seize power at any cost? Who cares if this divides an already polarized society? Who cares about the repercussions?
And I’m not making any judgment here about whether the prosecutions of Mr. Sharma and Mr. Panday were witch hunts. I’m concerned more with the language used by Mr. Panday and the immediate implication of race into this whole matter.
West Indies Vs. Australia
Whether we play them first or last, we have to meet them. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t more than a little worried. Watching that game they played against South Africa made me wonder if we have it in us. Of course both Australia and the Windies are capable of playing at a World Class Level, but it has come to the point where Windies’ losses are called slumps and Australian losses are called flukes. It’s a little hard to win against a team that loses once in a blue moon.
Although they’ve moved out of the old Antigua Recreation ground and into the newly built Sir Viv Richards Stadium, will Lara get his old Antiguan luck back? Oh loss ah worried.
Posted in Cricket, Education, PNM, Politics, Race, Sports, UNC | 10 Comments »
Tuesday, September 12th, 2006 |
This story* is just a reminder that there are theives in this country, and there are evil people. These are the evil ones*.
Imagine the day before school begins, you go and steal 21 HP computers with flat screen monitors, two DVD players, one server, a video player and two tape decks - a haul valued at $200,000. Man oh man.
Well it’s one of the saddest stories I’ve heard in a while. I guess I can’t be surprised that someone will do this; I mean, just look around.
*Hottie let me know that the links no longer work. Because the Guardian refuses to use permalinks, the links for story lead to newer ones. I tried to go into the archives to paste the story into the post, however clicking on the date 2006-09-12 sends me to the Express archives. Maybe it’s a hacker or a joke by the webmaster or something, I don’t know. Try it yourself. At least the last three links are messed up. One of them even sends me to some website about swimming. well I’ll try to see if I can get it later.
Posted in Crime, Education, Social Issues | 3 Comments »
Friday, September 1st, 2006 |
I lived in the US for four years before returning to Trinidad last year. Readjusting to Trinidad was a little difficult at times. However, the thing that shocked me the most was the bad attitudes we have towards alcohol. I remember the first time I saw a man pop a beer open at 7am, I stared at him in disbelief. I think he saw me staring too, because he had this “what yuh watching me so for” look on his face. This wasn’t one of those 60 year old guys who live at the bar. He couldn’t have been more than 25. A 25 year old man, downing a Carib at 7am. Who the hell has beer for breakfast? It still shocks me to this day and I’ve seen scores of others since then.
|
The Non-Alcoholic Fete What I would really like to know is what does this mean for the future of the school bazaar and their school fete?
|
So this story in the Express about the usage of drugs, alcohol and tobacco among secondary school students is far from astonishing. In a survey run by the Ministry of Education, it found that of the 4,058 pupils sampled from the 56 secondary schools which participated in the survey, approximately 13.7 per cent of them admitted they had tried marijuana, and 37.5 per cent admitted to using cigarettes. Alcohol use had the highest prevalence overall though, with 73 per cent of the students saying they had tried alcohol.
As a result, the Ministry of Education has declared it would roll out a new Drug Abuse and Prevention Policy document which is aimed at making all schools smoke and drug free. Part of that drug policy would be to prevent schools from accepting money, gifts or sponsorship from tobacco and alcohol companies. In addition to this, all tobacco and alcohol advertising in public spaces such as bill boards and signs in sports facilities have been prohibited.
Well it is about time that they did something like this. Anyone who went to secondary school in Trinidad knows that tobacco and alcohol use among students -even during school hours is not something new. I’m just surprised that it took so long for them to take a stand.
 |
| No More Outta de Blue? |
What I would really like to know is what does this mean for the future of the school bazaar and their school fete? If they really want to do something about alcohol and cigarette consumption among students, then stop the double standard that sees them selling it on school premises. Alcohol in a fete is big business and I’m sure comprises the majority of the profits. I’ll really like to see how principals respond to these new mandates. What will be the future of Rosary Boy’s Soca X2 or QRC’s Outta de Blue?
However low the profits drop, it will be well worth it not to have children turn into addicts by the time Form 3 rolls around.
Posted in Education, Social Issues | 6 Comments »
