Reflecting on the Business of Educating in St. Vincent and the Grenadines
 
FOREWWORD
 
One of the problems faced by teachers today is the view held by many in the society that they know more about education than the teachers themselves. The generally low esteem accorded to teachers today may account for this to some extent. It certainly bolsters the presumption of parents and others in the society to challenge the teachers (sometimes with violence) for what they have done or failed to do in the education of their children. Often such challenges are unfounded, and more frequently they are uninformed. On the other hand, many educators are criticised for dwelling in ivory towers, untouched by the grime of every day reality, and unable to communicate their lofty ideas in a language that can be understood by ordinary people.

This book by Winfield Williams is a refreshing addition to what must be a continuing discourse on education. It is important for two reasons. Firstly, it seeks to inform the opinion of the general public on a range of issues related to education. Its clear, jargon-free and ‘reader friendly’ style should appeal not only to an audience in his home country but also to the rest of the Caribbean. Secondly, the book is important because it gives the teacher a voice. Winfield is a leading educator in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, a former principal of the St. Vincent Grammar School, who is proud to be called ‘teacher’. No one who reads the section on Teaching and Learning can doubt his love of this noble profession and his conviction that "teaching can be the most rewarding human activity.

As a young University teacher myself in the late 1970s, still green, even with two Master’s degrees from Britain at the time, I was given a rude awakening about education in the Caribbean by my Postgraduate Diploma in Education students. I recall one in particular who used to come to classes in tank tops, sporting a pipe, very casual, indeed quite nonchalant. But I soon learnt that behind this casual exterior was an articulate, bright young man with challenging ideas on a range of issues which he could articulate with ease.

Still provocative and challenging and with the wisdom of the years, Winfield reflects on issues which range from language, culture and identity, teaching and learning, the Common Entrance Examination, secondary education, the loss of childhood in SVG, male underachievement and other gender issues to study tips for students and the question of whether the men of today would indeed provide the kind of role models that young boys need in school. With a penchant for humour, he charges us to view with a critical eye a society smitten with the ‘Morster’s’ disease (and the MBA affliction!) where the hallmark of excellence seems to be ‘knowing more and more about less and less’.

His messages need to be taken seriously. One that he underscores is that education is not the sole responsibility of the teacher. It is a responsibility shared also by the parents, the community and the wider society. This includes politicians who, when they engage in uncomely behaviour in the conduct of the business of the nation, must bear in mind that they too teach as much by what they do (and how they do it) as by what they say (or don’t’ say). Another important message is worth quoting:

"we need to use educational knowledge to straighten out the misguided ideas that the public at large have about education and its role in nation building".

That is clearly one of the main objectives of this book. Has it been achieved?

In many ways it has. But there are two issues that needed to be addressed more forcefully, not least because of Winfield’s own excellence in these areas. The first has to do with the role of foreign languages in the education of the Caribbean person. This comes to mind because I know Winfield first as a specialist in modern foreign language, specifically, Spanish.

But Spanish is not his only area of expertise. Winfield is multi-talented. He is known to many readers in SVG as a musician. Some years ago while I was in Guyana I was watching the Caribbean Song Contest on the television when to my surprise a familiar face appeared on the screen, representing St. Vincent and the Grenadines. He did his country proud. But this leads me to wonder why Winfield in this book has not given serious thought to arts education.

He is writing another book and I expect we will see these issues there. What we can be sure of is that book, like this one, will be challenging, incisive, critical, provocative and will indeed inform the misguided ideas that the public at large have about education and its role in national development.

Zelleyne Jennings, Ph.D.
University of the West Indies,
Mona - March 2003