Dominica - Island Life Unscripted!

If education is the key to development in any knowledge-based economy, then why is Dominica losing so much of its human capital? Maybe the choices are so few.

Dominicans are becoming aware of the large flow of our brains down the drain especially during the annual graduation season of students from Dominica’s Secondary schools and the Dominica State College.

Every year during graduation students are given well-meaning advice on the value of an education and the need to build on whatever they have learnt as they continue the journey of life.

But few of these so-called advisers address the fact that only a small percentage of the graduating students every year will enter the job market; a large number will join the unemployed on the street corner and dozen more will go overseas in search of so-called greener pastures.

Statistics shows that the out-ward flow of the country’s best brains has been so steady over the years that it appears that Dominica’s education system has been commissioned to train persons for the job market of the United States, Canada, Antigua, Guadeloupe, St Martin, Tortola, and other countries in the region. The problem is that these emigrants have been educated to secondary and tertiary level in Dominica and are Dominica’s most productive and enterprising workers particularly at their age.

When are we going to realize that knowledge is a wealth-creating asset to our country’s development? I’m literally pleading with government leaders, to please come up with some incentives that will encourage more of educated brains to stay and help develop our small island economy. Not someone else economy.

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Editor’s note:This article was written by Fr.Clement S.Jolly, C.S.s.R, and published in the June 27th,2008 issue of Chronicle Newspaper.

It is right to suppose that the goal of all institutions of learning is the educated person. It is noteworthy, however, that these institutions do not define the relationship between their students and the highway of human life.

Proficiency in particular disciplines is sought. But what is the object of all this? What is the meaning of education?

Is the acquisition of knowledge an end in itself, or, rather, a springboard to greater things?

Education should inculcate self-discipline in students, give them a reverence for life in all its forms, instill in them a reverence for life in all its forms, instill in them a desire for harmonious relationships and the quest for beauty. It should be considered as an embarkation on the human journey and an initiation into the mystery of human life.

An educated man is not merely one who has amassed a wealth of knowledge. He is not merely a man who can count the heavenly bodies and name the stars. He is not merely a man who has earned the ability to earn a living or become prosperous, Rather, an educated man is one who can use his learning to understand himself and the world in which he lives. He is a man who has learnt to measure well his acquired knowledge and realise that there is much that is still to be learnt. He is continuously involved in the quest for knowledge.

An educated man is one who has learnt to order well his human activities and use his skills to build up himself and his fellow-men. His knowledge gives him a sense of direction, a purpose on his journey through life. He recognises that there is a Superior Being. He knows that there are values in life which transcend his immediate satisfaction and call him to move into areas which lift up his spirit and serve to build him up as a man among men.

An educated man does not turn his back on his lowly past. Rather, he reflects on his past and measures well the long journey which, by God’s grace, he has undertaken. He does not scorn the rest of mortals. Rather, he endeavours to draw them up with himself to higher heights. He recognises that his chief responsibility here on earth is to bear up, to work for, to promote the welfare of, his fellow-men.

For too many, education is merely a passport for selfish living, for an elite social life, for lauding it over the lesser mortals. The educated man is not one who exalts himself and indulges in vainglory. Rather, he is one who has built himself within. He recognises there is a world within which far transcends his exterior posture and social condition. He has a deep secret which no one knows, for it transcends the stars!

An educated man is a thinking man. He realises that the mind is very elastic and can lead him into regions far beyond what he has learnt. He recognises that there is a whole universe of ideas waiting to be tapped, challenging him and urging him on to greater heights. Indeed,as one historian put it, “There arc things greater than men, namely, great ideas.”

An educated man is one who has learnt to love the land that gave him birth Indeed, throughout his:, life he will be defined by his roots. He has learnt to love his people of all social conditions. He continues, throughout his journey to share their fortunes. He does not use his country to build up himself and prove to the world that he is better than the rest of men. Rather, he’s always asking himself: “What service shall I render?”

Learning should be the stepping-stone to wisdom. However, Modern educational systems apparently do not seek to inculcate wisdom into students. Wisdom remains a private affair, something which has no roots, no solid foundation, but is subject to the whims and fancies of everyone. Perhaps it is this which is the cause of gross contradictions in the lives of many men and women of this age.

Share your thoughts in the comments below.

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As an avid reader who is the son of avid readers I am disturbed by the decline in reading among young people. Well, let’s be honest, young men. It’s a fact that in centuries past the world of literature, used to be viewed as part of a mainly male profession.

The irony in today’s Dominican society, is that what was once seen as a male thing — namely reading — is viewed by today’s generation as the opposite. Boys today don’t read, just like they don’t cry.

In secondary schools all over the island, reading is viewed as “uncool.” But what’s worse, for some boys it is almost a condemnation against their masculinity. Books, of any kind, are foreign objects. They contain information, maybe some pictures, but they dare not been seen to contain that most catholic of qualities: pleasure.

Some all-boys schools have been forced to make the study of English language and literature compulsory; sensing that if given the choice, students would rather study other things like additional computers and mathematics. The freedom of critical thought, the challenging of world perspectives and the beauty of the written word contained in books are not enough to counter the taboo associations books now have. Books are for girls.

This attitude coalesces with a more general problem of male under-achievement, is an observable fact which has rotted our secondary school institutions from the inside out. Boys, in addition to not reading, apparently do not and are not meant to study. The result speaks for itself: girls today by far out-match boys in terms of academic and verbal excellence. Boys are relegated to an illiterate and unambitious ghetto, and are encouraged to stay there.

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