Saturday 1 December 2007

What happened to education?


The other day I went to a furniture factory with our landlady. We had a problem with some chairs and she kindly agreed to buy us a three piece suite directly from where they made them in the south of Georgetown.

We bought the suite and the owner asked me what I was doing in Guyana? A question we answer at least two or three times a day when we travel around. I said I worked for the Ministry of Education and he raised his eyebrows, said "just wait" and off he went to his office. I could see him writing but didn't know what until he returned with a slip of paper.

"I guarantee that no child and probably few teachers can write like that", he boasted. He showed me the slip which had lettering exactly the way I was taught even though mine looks a little different now. "They taught me that 50 years ago and I can still do it and read and write which most of them can't do today!"

The problem is, I think he may be right. Perhaps that's why he has one of the few manufacturing businesses in Georgetown. Good luck to him!