YK2bad the bgcse exams are still supervised by the Cambridge Board of Education.
i thought we had full autonomy and authorization to make the exams as we see fit....then it was purposeless in changing it from the gce and a levels!

Be careful in what you ask for: we don't want to 'dumb down' the exams just because we are the Bahamas.

we dont have to dumb down the exam..why do you think we in the bahamas are full of dummies..its not so, and now that you tell me cambridge still supervises the questionaires, leads me to a better feeling about it, and that is we are not doing it to ourselves, but we still are taking advice from people who know nothing about our culture..and having them grade us on what they feel we should know..or relate to!
We need to resource our schools better, give teachers in-service training, and some how turn the attitude to a good education around in the minds of our young.
i agree we need teachers who can communicate on a mass level...alot of the training misses out on the importance of mass communication.
we need anual seminars "if we dont already have them" specificaly for the advancement of teachers in the matter of mass communication.

Let's start NOW because there is a lot of miles ahead to get things looking good.

you would be surpised at how good we do look...
i would ask anyone to take a look at the human development index, and see where the bahamas ranks as a counrty...and if our death rate wasnt at an average of 65 for men, and 71 for women..we would be in top shape!

the bahamas..since it is now a sovereign nation, should see to it, that we continue to move further and further away from reliance of educating, training and analysis from other countries..especially the united states and england...our old colonists..and new boss respectively!

One solution may be to go back to what we used to have before,ie, guaranteed education up to age fourteen. We need to make parents pay for it as well. We do not value anything that is free and easy. Magnet schools can help also. We need to place more emphasis on vocational training. I did well academically in high school, but I wish that I had learned carpentry as well. For some reason we look down on the trades. We need to encourage the brightest to become trades people. I could have been a millionaire by now if I had learned carpentry. Lawyers and doctors do not build anything. Why are they the most valued in our society?

I point out again to readers and contributors to this site that the most dynamic conutries in the world are not run by vampires (lawyers). Paul Wolfowitz is a mathmatician; Colin Powel is a former General;Dick Cheney ran an energy services firm and George Bush is a trained economist. The men who run China are engineers and planners; they provide the strategic vision as well as implement policies. Why are we allowing vampires to run this country? They do not build or create anything. What industry has a vampire ever created or run in this country that benifeted the country in general? We cannot allow them to lead this country going forward because they are cluless. Is anyone listening or paying attention?

The problem could be fixed.
Second, teachers must be paid more. You will not attract the best and the brightest if you pay them a pittance. They should also, as you suggest be evaluated each year and any promotion or pay rises would be linked to their results.


I understand tha Goverment Teachers are the highest paid in the teaching profession.

They just need to do their jobs and stop the BS.

Listen these teachers are not serious. They don't want to do a sh*t. If the kids misbehave they call the police if the kids have problems they call the social worker so the least they can do is teach.

If you are not enthusiastic about w you do how can you impart that enthusiasm. you don't have it to give.

In some of these schools all they do is refer chidlren to the SURE program a program that teaches them how to clean and feed the pigs and is sdlow on accademics and then they put them back in the schiool system and expect them to perform.

A comment i recently heard from a teacher is that most of the schools don't have male teachers and the females are afraid of the male students so they prefer to put them out and into SURE.

TEACHERS NEED TO TEACH.

They need to teach manners, teach skills for learning teach life skills they need to teach children how to communicate with words and not weapons..


THEY SIMPLY NEED TO START TEACHING


VIOLENCE IS THE TOOL OFTHE IGNORANT.


SO TEACH


Mel

I point out again to readers and contributors to this site that the most dynamic conutries in the world are not run by vampires (lawyers). Paul Wolfowitz is a mathmatician; Colin Powel is a former General;Dick Cheney ran an energy services firm and George Bush is a trained economist. The men who run China are engineers and planners; they provide the strategic vision as well as implement policies. Why are we allowing vampires to run this country? They do not build or create anything. What industry has a vampire ever created or run in this country that benifeted the country in general? We cannot allow them to lead this country going forward because they are cluless. Is anyone listening or paying attention?


because we are stupid...
we like people to make descisions for us...
and for us, it is easy to associate "law making" with "lawyers"....
but "law making", has alot to do with policy, social conform, ethics which lawyers definatly do not have the gravy on!

can you imagine an ethical lawyer????
:voodoo:

I don't think it's fair to put all the blame on the teachers. Teachers are not babysitters and disciplinarians. How can you expect them to teach when they have to constantly stop to break up a fight or discipline your child? The problem starts at home. Not enough parents are committed to reinforce what is being taught at school. They should see to it that their child can read and add before that child is even put in school. And when their child comes home with homework, they should see to it that it is done. You do not have to be at home when your child gets there in order to make sure their homework is done. It all goes back to how you raise your child. I wouldn't dare go outside with my friends knowing that my housework or homework was not done for fear of what my mother would do to me when she got home. So please stop blaming the teachers on your childs poor education. Take a look at the man in the mirror and point the finger that way.

Recently I was at a local club one Sunday night. You would not believe the number of children under 21 that were there until the wee hours of the morning. Why were these children not at home getting prepared for school the next day? Why were they allowed to come into an establishment with adults and drink beer? Where were their parents? Believe me people, it starts at home. Put your foot down, stop sparing the rod because you're spoiling the child. When your child turns out to be an unproductive adult with no skills and no trade, it's your fault. Train up a child in the way that it should go and he will not depart from your teachings.

.......can you imagine an ethical lawyer????
:voodoo:

I am sure there are some. But it is as the old joke says, "99% of lawyers give the rest a bad name!"

I am sure there are some. But it is as the old joke says, "99% of lawyers give the rest a bad name!"


:D

A famous qoute says "It takes a village to raise a child", there is so much truth in that. Listen people, it takes a concerted effort by all of us to bring up kids into civilized, law-abiding citizens that will run this country one day. So if we want to throw blame around, we all can catch a bit of it. Parents need to do their part, raise their kids with good values, instill the importance of a good education, life skill, whatever. Stop letting the TV, radio, and gangs bring their kids up. Teachers need more stringent training to teach our darlings, no mediocrity in the classroom. Get rid of the "I will get paid regardless of whether you learn" bull-crap. Take your career seriously, no its just not a job. The government needs to re-vamp the public school system, raise the standards. Don't make it possible for kids to graduate and the only thing they can do is write their name. Increase special programms for kids with learning disabilities, and make a concious and serious effort to identify these kids. Believe many exist in the public school system, and no one hardly gives a damn. Make the school safe for both teachers and the kids, no one wants to learn in a unsafe enviroment. There thats all I have to say for the matter right now.

We could provide state of the art schools, and the most qualified teachers ( we already have a very good curriculum), but if parental involvement doesn't improve - forget it. As long as parents will spend $3000 on a prom but cant find $30 for a text book, continue to expect poor results. Our priorities are just very screwed up.

We could provide state of the art schools, and the most qualified teachers ( we already have a very good curriculum), but if parental involvement doesn't improve - forget it. As long as parents will spend $3000 on a prom but cant find $30 for a text book, continue to expect poor results. Our priorities are just very screwed up.


Good points. :tup:

There's only one school in New Providence which is forward looking and stands up to any degree of rigorous investigation of its results and facilities...but unfortunately it is beyond the financial reach of most Bahamians.....take a bow St Andrew's School.


Greetings everyone
I am reading much of what is posted on Bahamas Issues. It’s a very interesting forum.

Here are a few pennies of my thoughts on this thread.

First off St Andrews was the only school in the Bahamas to actually call us and invite us to do a school ring presentation. Hats off to St. Andrews.

It’s also a point of Bahamian pride. How do these kids feel when their schools tell them be proud to be Bahamian. But turn around and promote foreign stuff.
If all the schools that served lunch bought Bahamian grown chicken would Gladstone Farms closed down. I think not.
If they taught these kids how important it is to buy Bahamian goods there would be more jobs. Yeah yeah I know some of the Bahamian goods are not perfect. But if we don’t support what is ours how will it improve???

Here is 2 ways to look at something.
When we started doing the school rings we went to our regular supply to get the antique that is the black background on the rings. It comes from a U.S. supplier and a U.S. product.
Had a customer come in and say the black is flaking of the ring and after a bit of polite talk back and forth she said to call her when we get the new antique liquid arrived.

Had another customer come in and complain about the finish flaking off. How Bahamians can’t do anything right and she should have gotten her son's ring from Jostens. She said all this in front of her son. By the time she finished belittling my staff and I, I looked at her son and said are you a Bahamian to? Boy did that hit home for her as she looked in her son’s puzzled eyes. I told her the antique product we used on her sons ring came highly recommended by our supplier’s sales rep. (he no longer works for them, But not just because of my problem.) But I had some new antique on the way in and it should be here in a few days. The new antique works and looks much better. It was good to get feed back so we could make the improvements necessary. But what impressions are made with this feedback

We are Bahamians, not always do things go perfectly. Jostens was not perfect when they started out either. We are on the other side of the water. We have to ship everything in even the supplies to manufacture goods here. But when we make goods here we employ Bahamians.
Education begins at home then at the schools and we our selves.

There are still 3 schools that out right say they will not allow us a Bahamian school ring manufacture on their campus to give students a choice to buy Bahamian made school rings. Yet the welcome the foreigners sales rep. with open arms. They have never seen our product.
They are Aquinas College, St Augustine College and Mt Carmel High School.
I say shame on them. FYI I was a student at St Augustine’s I still have my year book to prove it.

i know this is off topic (but i already added my input to this thread) but does your company make class rings in single or only in mass quantities?

i know this is off topic (but i already added my input to this thread) but does your company make class rings in single or only in mass quantities?

Kool thank you for the inquiry. Yes we will make singles and back date as well.

Now there's an idea! Higher standards!

However, I disagree entirely with the analogy of schools being factories. I do believe that therein lies the problem. Schools do not produce products, they provide a service. Not a service to parents, nor to society but to the kids themselves. Happy parents and a happy society are incidental side effects of schools fulfilling their duties to their pupils.

As far as it goes I agree that the BGCSE is a laughable measure of academic performance. One poster said an 'F' was a pass. I don't believe that is accurate. When I graduated in '98 a 'C' or above was a pass i do believe. AT the time there was much talk of "D"s being passes. That stood contrary to what the certificate's back said. Nonetheless, I do believe the certificates now do in fact state that a D is a pass. Notwithstanding the BGCSE's inadequacy, a "D" grade and mere anecdotal evidence from most college lecturers and employers will tell you our educational system ain't cutting the mustard...

Higher standards! I consider myself intelligent, but I must say that upon entering COB I was shocked by the increased rigor of the work. Public high school just does not get you ready for that. ALL THE SAME, I, nor anyone else I knew, had any significant difficulty adjusting to this. My point? I argue that Bahamians are some of the most resourceful people in the world. When tings come to tings and you gatta get something done, we is find a way. I believe the same holds true for our academic potential. I believe Bahamian students will surprise everyone if the gauntlet is thrown down to them and they are challenged. A young Jamaican teacher at my high school laughed, laughed!, at our math curriculum. He said he was teaching 12th graders what they did in Jamaica in 9th grade. Are we any less intelligent? I think not. If we can conduct elections without chapping each other, we mussee could learn math at the level any other Caribbean counterpart can. Such a revision upward in the curriculum i think will have to be properly thought out, of course. But if we expect to get more we must start by demanding more.