During a conversation with an acquaintance from the then apartheid Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), we were discussing ‘Christmas carols’ – she is a professional musician, so after our one to one piano sing-along – the discussion turned to education, she stated that she had a good colonial education in Rhodesia (where she lived for the first eight years of her life before her family returned to their native England). (I too had about eight years of colonial education in Grenada before departure to Mother Country) “I enjoyed my music and singing lessons more than anything else “ she replied, whilst her fingers touched the piano keys with a degree of automation for ‘Silent Night’. I told her that my colonial ‘scholarship’ class lessons, was based on ensuring that my English grammar knowledge was extraordinaire, that I was a whizz kid on alliterations, conjunctions, proper nouns, common nouns,etc, with the extensive usage of the dictionary; arithmetic, specialising in long division; spelling, geography; general science, etc but no music or art lessons. I became sad, I felt robbed at not given the opportunity to display my natural talents and gifts, when she remarked “What, no music or singing or art lesson”, she said in utter disbelief. She asked about my ‘Grenadian nursery rhymes’, I quickly recited ‘I had a little nut tree, nothing will it bear…’. Her fingers tapped the piano, and out came ‘Island in the sun’ lyrics by Harry Belafonte

Based on one’s philosophical standing, most folks may conclude that any education is better than no education. Also, most folks speak or write about the high standard of ‘academic’ excellence of the then colonial style education which I was subjected to on the island at that space in time.
But on a reflective note, as a young primary school student, I was bombarded with the requirements for ‘academic excellence’ to such a limit that I was unaware by this ‘conditioning’ for this ‘academic excellence’, of curriculum subjects such as – music, art, craft, games inclusive of swimming. Now, why did the teachers of my time, not take us down to our lovely magnolia coloured sandy beach for a swimming lesson or at least a lesson of some fun discovering why titiris travel upstream for reproductive purposes. We never visited a rum factory - distillation is part of the science curriculum, but I hazily recall a school visit to the 'Coca Cola soft drink' St Georges factory for a Christmas trip courtesy of the wooden bus! - so at least I have experience of an extra curricular lesson and my only recollection of the kids singing some Christmas carols on the return journey back to school.

With regard to the omission of music – as a islander, the steel pan is part of our ancestral heritage and years down the journey line I have never had or given the opportunity to tap a few notes – I think most Caribbean folks should be able to play something on the steel pan – why have I been robbed of this part of my heritage? Is the steel pan currently part of the music curriculum on the island?

Also, I recall my primary history lesson about the Arawaks and Carib Indians, Christopher Columbus, Queen Isabella of Spain (bless her for her generosity) and Columbus three ships. But once again, I learnt nothing about the ‘slave trade’ which is a part of our heritage.

Of course, I know that ‘Mother’ had a part to play in this…..so, however ‘bad’ a colonial education is bad colonial education – I too will give praise and thanks even for those who implemented the curriculum on the island, and maybe was unable to change it or differentiate it to suit the islanders, and to tap in on all the islanders talents and gifts - be it the display of academic excellence or artistic excellence or uniquely the display of both academic and artistic!

Nice post, Lady G,

Now speaking of 'opening up a can of worms'? The contents of this one is indeed 'worms' with all the pungent aroma of putrid flesh associated with it.

I am now debating, should I call upon The Mighty Sparrow's rendition of "Dan Is The Man In The Van"?

Simply put, Lady G, we as "subjects to dat Mother Country" were being groomed to be servants to the Crown and as such, there was no room for self actualization and culturial identity. It wal all about maintaining one's class status or aspiring to achieve a higher class. I would even stretch it a bit and say the system of 'child abuse' began at an early age and thank God some of us found the antidotal experience of "dreveying" to achieve our cultural identity; sharpen our social skills and broaden our horizon.

I would not have traded this for anything and today it is widely encouraged among our people instead of the domicile, sometimes incarceration of of young people.

of course, one had to be prepared to pay the consequences and that! I did with no regrets.

VJL

Yes, Verne, the Lady has indeed opened up a can of worms. And yes, you should have called upon the Mighty Sparrow's "Dan is the Man" for guidance and reference. In the song Sparrow concluded and let us know that "If me head was bright I woulda be a **** fool." Looking back at it, "Dan is the Man" should be revisited every so often if only to serve as guidance and reference.
Stop and think about that bold statement for a minute.
Sparrow was saying that as his head was not bright (therefore supposedly dunce), he in fact in the long run was the smart one and not a **** fool. Why? Because he never was bright enough to cram and absorb all the foolishness that Joe Cutteridge wrote and expected him to learn in those old colonial books.
In other words, according to the Birdie, those of us who were smart were unknowingly the dumb ones, because we readily and ravenously gobbled up all the elements of colonialism. Instead of self-realizing who we actually were as people of African descent, our smartness made us learn all the nonsense our colonial masters wanted us to learn. In effect it turned us into mere puppets whose sole desire was to become comical copies of our colonial masters. Hence, the class system that you’ve noted.
Verne, I am vividly recalling a photo of a West Indian draped in the garments of his knighthood including the top hap-hat shortly after Queen Elizabeth had "elevated" him. It could have been the poor picture’s lighting or something else, but I couldn't help chuckling at the image. The man looked exactly like one of those disparaging caricatures that white folks so often use to belittle us, Black men. Sparrow gave us another apt description "Monkey wearing mini," as he sang in MR. WALKER, another one of his long list of great and thoughtful calypsos.
Now having said and recognized all of that, let's ask a most provoking question as you've done, 'would we have traded that type of education and upbringing for anything else?' Not many would say yes, and I believe that's exactly where our West Indian dilemma lies.
Surely we didn’t have to go abroad to realize it, but the numerous incidences in our travels have helped us to be especially cognizant that we are first and foremost Black in just about every aspect of our daily lives. In our journey to become educated as well as to achieve monetary gains, we were and are constantly reminded of our Blackness. It can be a rude awakening when even those gains cannot wipe away that fact and be treated with a semblance of simple respect and dignity. The case of Harvard professor, Dr. Henry Louis Gates, being arrested in his own Cambridge home is a glaring indicator of that disturbing problem. Oprah Winfrey got her sobering reminder of her blackness during her visit to a store in Switzerland. And Rush Limbaugh and his cohorts take pleasure in reminding our President Barack Obama of that fact every living day. As for everyday ordinary folks like Rodney King, the daily reminders are much too many and way too frequent. That, in and of itself, can be deadly as Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown and the Staten Island choke-hold victim, Eric Garner among numerous others, tragically found out.
Our dichotomy is that our West Indian up-bringing, embroiled in the colonial crucible, has laid the background for us to always try and make it despite the odds. Yet making it in America or Canada or England in no way provides an escape from being stopped and frisked, disrespected or mistreated by the police and our neighbors, or even worst, gunned down like common stray dogs in the street. And that sometimes happen even in our own Caribbean islands!!
That to me is why we should periodically revisit The Mighty Sparrow's "DAN IS THE MAN" if only to serve as reminders of the real legacy of West Indian colonialism.

T, you asked,

>>>>>>>.......Now having said and recognized all of that, let's ask a most provoking question as you've done, 'would we have traded that type of education and upbringing for anything else?'.......<<<<<< 

I will say, within the context of the system providing a good education right on up to the Secondary School level, together with our strict disciplinary upbringing, maybe not. But in the wider context of the stated purpose of education alone, it was left to be desired if one had remained within the system.

Yes, I would agree that we were restricted somewhat by our economic challenges but the fact remains that we had prodeced quite a number of over-educated people to man a government bureaucracy of redundancy, duplicated paper-work and with carbon paper to produce more paper. In essence, unbeknownst to us, we were perpetuating a system of low economic return for our own country but with major benefits to Mother or the other Mothers.

For example, was it really necessary for one to have received 7,8 or 9 GCE subjects (with distinctions, mind you) or even passed the rigorous examination of Senior in order to sell Cloth at Everybody's store or Lumber, Galvanize and Nails at Joanas Brown & Hubbards or even Huggins?

But even that, had in no way reduced our desire to seek an alternative - albeit an illusive one, especially when we came to realize that the current system was doing nothing to guide us towards reaching our full potential.

Secondly, we could not have expexted anything in the form of an alternative by remaining in the system as there were no emphasis placed on individual entrepreneurship but instead, on service; may it be government or private sector.But the little we were exposed to, we made good use of it; buying our time for our eventual immigration to Mother, Uncle and Aunty Canada which helped us make the transition to one of choice rather than designation by way of subjugation. The strict discipline within the family structure was an added benefit, even paramount in the transitional process.Part 2....,.We could not have expexted anything in the form of an alternative by remaining in the system as there were no emphasis placed on individual entrepreneurship but instead, on service; may it be government or private sector.But the little we were exposed to, we made good use of it; buying our time for our eventual immigration to Mother, Uncle and Aunt Canada which helped us make the transition to one of choice rather than designation by way of subjugation. The strict discipline within the family structure was an added benefit, even paramount in the transitional process.

VJL

Sorry for the unedited "part 2" reference in my reply.

I was writing in TMemo on my Tablet and missed the editing in the transfer.

Any education is better than no education, a truism I can agree with.While I agree that our Colonial education was limiting in certain ways, I choose to see the glass as half full rather than half empty, and soo I see it as a great platform on which to build on. From the point of view of Mother England, she gave us what she had, what she knew, that our parents chose not to send us to play Pan, or piano, or to encourage us to fporm ensambles to sing dance or act, is on Them, don't blame Mutha for that.

Only last week I was explaining the difference between Ghana and Senegal, to a friend, which can be extrapolated to the difference between the Anglo and Francophile countries in Africa. In one group education was compulsory and free, in another it was not. A walk through the streets of Dakar and Accra during school hours, is instructional.

On a lighter note I questioned my son recently about his facination with new movies and TVshows with Medieval and gothic themes. It was all new to him and was surprised that I was not shared his passion for them. That was until I explained that I grew up with European History and literature, and with those films at reno and Empire every week.ok?

So I decry the lack of nearly enough Art and Music classes, especially in Grenadian primary schools, but that has noy stymied my love for fine arts, and I have visited museums in almost every large city that I visit.It is now up to us to support and stimulate the growth of education in the areas, where Muthas legacy has failed.

Greetings Downstreet on your return back to the board. Your departure had left us with a void of objectivity that is irreplaceable, despite our attempts to salvage credible conversation among the few of us that remained.

Your post as always, showed a sence of balance regarding the subject matter and a somewhat optimistic perception despite our colonial plight.  But in recognition of  that 'half full glass' you equated to Mother's performance, it meant that the standards by which we ought to measure her contribution was already depleted by 50% (the half empty portion) hence no attempt can be made to exculpate her from her miserable performance.

But more to the gist of your rebuttal is the perception that Mother gave us whatever she had but our parents also bore some of the responsibilities for dissuading us from the arts.

Said you on this,

>>>>>From the point of view of Mother England, she gave us what she had, what she knew, .....<<<<<

Downstreet, sorry bro, but I have some trouble digesting this as I believe nothing could be further from the truth. Mother did not give us what she had, that was reserved for her lawful children in her house; her English Gentlemen. Mother saw us as "the *******ized children resulting from her philandering Husband" and treated us as such. She ensured that all her lawful children were exposed to her culture, her arts, her social structure and prepared them for the perpetuation of a system that assured their continuity of dominance over us, even in our own country. Our educational structure was simply a by-product of her conduct, one that would eventually prepare us to ease the burden on her when "our day of abandonment (call it independence, if you must) arise. In this regard, it was simply Mother's default plan as she bought her time and gradually eased us out from under her domain when we were no longer any benefit to her.

Mother also did not "give us what she knew" in fact,  she made sure we did not know what she knew. Mother reaped the benefits from our naivete by plumeting every aspect of our economy, leaving us with a "raw materials mentality" and had preferred to import us to man the factories in her country rather than giving us the know-how of mechanization. So those of us who had excaped her tentacles at home, surely could not have avoided it when she came calling.

Mother had won again!

>>>>>....that our parents chose not to send us to play Pan, or piano, or to encourage us to fporm ensambles to sing dance or act, is on Them, don't blame Mutha for that....<<<<<

Street, It is important to remember that the stranglehold Mother had on us had encompass every aspect of our lives; politically, socialy, economically and in some cases, religiously. And in the case where a dominant force becomes so ingrained in any country, the populace tends to emulate that force which is precisely what we did.

She debased our culture as inferior, removing any semblance of our African Herritage. Her efforts of cultural clensing incorporated those only of her tradition, even our attire, though not conducive to our climate was influenced by her. Her designation of servitude on our people was so deep that we could not have envisioned our children adopting any other lifestyle othet than those which she had deemed appropriate for us . And worse yet, as the coup de gra`ce of her influence, she made us sing in the hot sun, God save our gracious Queen, long live our noble Queen..... long to rule over us.

What a....., Mother!

VLO

My apologies to the word police.

Oh VL I wish I had the time to take you on with this one. You are going to have to make do with a couple o lines.

I wholeheartedly support Downstreet's "glass half-full approach". I could easily have written his post myself.

Whilst we continue, even today, to pillory mudder for her shabby treatment of us we are blinded to our own responsibility to effectively address our educational and cultural development.

Instead of looking back, why not cast a critical eye on how well we are doing currently

How comparative is education system today with (a) the caribbean, and (b) the world ?

Mango,

I will chalk this up as my loss but as this is the type of topic that can stand the test of time, please feel free to bring it up again and not starve me for too long.

VJL