If NGOs had any say in TnT education, here's what we would do ..........

Let's face it, thousands of students in TnT are not getting the education they deserve and we are paying for as a nation.  

Our youths are often forced to attend chronically under performing public schools (Gov't and denominational)  in their communities. Others struggle to fit their learning styles or personalities to outdated educational models that does not meet their needs.

Our students are leaving schools (from Primary to University)  with "0" Intelligence. Intelligence is defined but not limited to: abstract thought, understanding, self-awareness, communication, reasoning, learning, having emotional knowledge, retaining, planning, and problem solving. And yes I do get that some of you will say our children graduate high school and our education system is so advanced that they can enter second year University abroad. But please note Education does not equal Intelligence. And you just need to look at where we are at today as a nation to recognise our so called "advanced education system' is getting us nowhere fast.

We have illiteracy rates through the roof. According to a recent article I read in the local paper some 50% of our population is illiterate. Some of you  might say well that is expected in a developing country. But you just need to a look at places like Kerala, India. They do not have our resources. They are not even considered to be "developing" but more on the "poor" side by world standards and yet they have a 100% literacy rate. So I am going to ask the "elephant in the room" question.... why are we purposely keeping our population illiterate?

As a side note, I encourage any NGO seriously interested in impacting the literacy issue locally to study how they did it in Kerala in under 5 years. It not only worked but we can carbon copy their methods since they have VERY similar demographics and underlying issues.

Our "supposed leaders of tomorrow" are unprepared with no understanding or practise in their area of gift and talent, unintelligent (as I defined above) and as a result limited in their short-term and long-term potential as not only Local Game Changers but as Global Warriors of Change. The exceptions  who make it actually have to leave TnT to do so.

And before I continue, I want to humbly state my opinion on this subject is first hand as the founder of a NGO, The Growing Leaders Foundation. September 2013 will be our three year anniversary in TnT impacting over 15,000 youths with our leadership and soft skills programs....all of which we have carefully and systematically documented, measured and tested.

Our problems are not new. Twenty years ago, the US faced the same dilemma and they opened their country's first alternative to public education called a "Charter School" in Minnesota. Same situation happened in Alberta, Canada which created their own brand of Charter School to “provide innovative or enhanced education programs that improve the acquisition of student skills, attitudes, and knowledge in some measurable way.” In fact if Canada has a “school choice capital”, it is Calgary. The city boasts six charter schools that has 5,930 students. The number of students in Calgary charter schools has more than tripled over the past decade. Recently New Zealand's Ministry of Education (note New Zealand is amongst the highest ranking countries in the world for quality of education to youths) decided to implement their own model of a pilot Charter School program to ensure they are addressing all the "weak links' in their education chain with alternative education solutions. Here is the link to learn more:
http://www.minedu.govt.nz/~/media/MinEdu/Files/TheMinistry/PublicationsAndResources/RISDevelopingAndImplementingNZCharterSchoolModel.pdf

Charter Schools are:

• innovative public schools;

• designed by educators, parents, or civic leaders;

• open and attended by choice;

• free from most rules and regulations governing conventional public schools;

• and, accountable for results.

 

Charter Schools in many respects combine the most favourable attributes of both private and public schools. Like a private school, a Charter School is able to provide a customised learning environment. No two charter schools are alike; some offer thematic or specialised curriculum such as a pure arts based academy (music, visual arts, dance, drama, and creative writing), marine science program etc. while others focus on the basics. Some charter schools look like traditional public schools; others offer on line classes and may not even have a physical campus. What charters do have in common, though, is that they are places where meaningful parental and teacher involvement is encouraged, valued and mobilised fast without Governmental interference.

Now, let's take a look at TnT. What is the one area that TnT has always shined in historically because of our rich history and cultural composition as a nation? That's right...the Arts (music, visual arts, dance, drama, design, and creative writing). Knowing this, do we have a full fledged Arts Academy starting from High School with the brightest and best (internationally and locally) harvesting our creative golden eggs? Well, off course not!

Now imagine our magnificent historic buildings around the Savannah. Yes, the ones we have all forgotten and are now abandoned. What if we FINALLY  refurbished them and have them serve as the first of a few High School Charter Arts Academies in TnT.

Let's face it, these forgotten historical monuments of our nation have  "eyes, ears and roots of our compelling history." And just  maybe our children can honor them as they rightly deserve.

Just imagine from Queens Royal College all the way to Stollmeyer's Castle closed off to vehicular traffic. What if this new pedestrian only gateway became a bustling creative hub with students outdoors rehearsing their new mad pan compositions, dance routines etc. And what if on evenings after work we can all gather under the moon to view screenings of their new films on the lawns outdoors of our great Savannah. Imagine being able to just feel, see and hear that energy of our young people in the heart of POS.

 

In a split second the Savannah can become our very own true Central Park with meandering walk ways, ponds, and organic gardens with signs of life, possibility and the bright future for TnT we all dream about but do nothing to make it real.

 

And for those ready to criticise me about dismantling the Savannah in some way to give to our nation's youths, before you say anything let me know please the number of times you have actually walked the circumference of the Savannah or EVER ENTERED IT and walked the it's length and breath......... other than to cross a stage at Carnival time.

Ever since arts instruction was introduced into schools with drawing and singing in the middle of the nineteenth century, a fiery debate has raged over the role of the arts in education or the pursuit or arts as an alternative to traditional education. Eric Jensen, the author of Arts with the Brain in Mind, compiled and reviewed research studies on the arts, the brain, and learning, which has convinced many that the arts are vital to educating our children and should be taught every day in our schools, just like language arts, math, science, and social studies. Arts with the Brain in Mind serves as Jensen’s treatise for a new found advocacy.

In short, if the right side of the brain that holds the creativity "muscle" is not being exercised daily in our nation's children they WILL NOT excel brilliantly in any area whatsoever. Even Einstein was more a right brain thinker more than anything else!

And one last thought, I want you to think about something else. I am sure I am not the only one who has noticed. Why do we have more primary schools than anywhere else in the world? We have approx. 483 schools for about 131,000 primary aged students according to official reports. Using Singapore as an example, they have 171 school for over 300,000 primary aged students. Singapore is ranked fifth in the world leading global education ranking system. Here is the official listing:

• Finland
• South Korea
• Hong Kong
• Japan
• Singapore
• United Kingdom
• The Netherlands
• New Zealand
• Switzerland
• Canada

So am I missing something or do we simply have too many ineffective schools in TnT?

Maybe a first step can be to close down at least half of the primary schools in this country and consolidate the existing ones into a combo of properly managed and effective public and charter schools? And yes I know transport comes to mind but if we get a proper student busing system as the rest of the world does in place to alleviate traffic and travel issues for students and parents, it will work quite nicely.  Just a parting thought;-)

PERSONAL NOTE
This is the last blog post in my four part series. Hope you still think I have something to say in June. Until then, stay cool, use your hands to bring others up and be great!