I find it necessary to apologize for entitling my article last week “A little learning is a dangerous thing!”especially in the midst of a week activities accentuating the vision and mission of the Anguilla Community College and celebrating the installation of its first President, Professor DelroyM. Louden. My article was certainly not intended to downplay the importance of education, neither to suggest that the pursuit of knowledge is an undesirable endeavour. On the contrary, the article was intended to highlight the fact that we should never believe that we know everything simply because we have been exposed to some level of education on a particular subject.
Last week, I heard one of the callers to the Mayor’s Show preface his remarks by letting listeners know that he studied Political Science at the University of the Virgin Islands. Another well-known politician frequently boasts that he read Economics atOxfordUniversity. The point I am making is not whether their statements are true or false, but rather that knowledge should not be used to boast but to truly understand. And that no one has a monopoly of knowledge sufficient to make him/her infallible. In fact, true knowledge teaches us that there is always a lot more to be learned.
I commend the Board of Directors of the Anguilla Community College (ACC) for staging such a historic event with the “pomp and circumstance” befitting the occasion. This particular milestone in tertiary education will never occur again, but it has been properly recorded for posterity in print, audio and video media. And for the youngsters who attended and/or participated in the ceremony, that experience will forever be etched in their memories. It is appropriate that I quote from page seven of the Commemorative Booklet as follows: “A successful installation serves to solidify partnerships with all stakeholders in the future of the College and to endow the entire college family — students, faculty, staff, alumni, parents, friends and sponsors — with a common understanding of the college and a vision of its future”. I would suggest that in these terms the ceremony on Friday, March 30, 2012 was indeed a roaring success. It was especially satisfying to know that the vision begun with the past administration, and has been firmly embraced by the present Government. Which goes to show that a seed firmly planted, well nurtured and diligently watered, can withstand the challenges of a hostile environment, indeed even a change of Government.
The seed for theAnguillaCommunity Collegewas sown at the dawn of the 21st century, but it sprang to life as the Community College Development Unit with another “dawn”, namely, Mrs. Dawn Reid as the Project Leader in 2006,along with a very small team of willing workers. She nurtured the project in “maternal fashion” through to the passing of the Anguilla Community College Act 2009 in the Anguilla House of Assembly. Its existence today is in large measure due to her passion and persistence, even in the face of fierce competition for financial support for other more traditional social sector projects. She made the case for the institutionalization of tertiary education at the highest levels of decision-making in a quiet yet firm and deliberatemanner.Her gentle approach was at times disarming.
Whereas an earlier consultancy comprising another Anguillian, Dr. Arthur Richardson, developed the concept of a community college at the request of the then Minister of Social Development, the Hon. Eric Reid, I strongly suggest that it was Mrs. Dawn Reid who brought the project from concept to reality. Her efforts were catalytic — but to my mind only received casual mention during the ceremony. Obviously, it was a ceremony for the installation of the first President of the College but, having observed the whole process of tertiary education from a ringside seat in the Chambers of the Executive Council, it would be painful for me to comment on the ceremony last Friday without affording her the highest acknowledgement for her pioneering work. And “while I am on my feet” there is a further “peeve” that I will raise, namely, the fact that having perused its website and its facebook page I have not seen sufficient history regarding theAnguillaCommunity Collegefrom “concept to reality”. Of course this can be easily corrected and when it is, I would hope that Mrs. Reid receives appropriate mention.
Having said all of the foregoing, let me quickly submit that this is in no way intended to “steal the thunder” from the newly installed President of theAnguillaCommunity College, Professor Delroy M. Louden. For there are few persons in my estimation more eminently qualified and equipped to take up the “baton” as we enter this new phase of the development of tertiary education. Indeed, I believe thatAnguillais most fortunate to have someone of the caliber of Professor Louden at this stage of the process. It is obvious that, in addition to his clear vision and passion for the ACC andAnguilla, he has brought with him a wealth of experience; an expansive network of valuable contacts; and reputational acclaim that will shower much stature on the institution itself. His resume and the testimonials from his professional colleagues and associates, beg the question as to whether one individual could have accomplished so much in a single lifetime. And despite the obvious pride in his Jamaican patrimony, so eloquently delivered by fellow villager, Senator A.J. Nicholson, Minister of Foreign Affairs andTrade,Jamaicain his presentation —we too may feel a similar sense of pride in the fact that he is an Anguillian belonger of longstanding.
I was most pleased with the comments of the Chief Minister, in particular, when he said: “What the college offers is an opportunity, and this opportunity must be grasped by students as a means of promoting their educational and personal development. ….. Speaking of opportunities, I must say that there is often the misconception that the pursuit of education is for young people. I challenge everyone over the age of forty in this country, who has an unfulfilled educational dream, to wake up and do something about it. You can do something about it because theAnguillaCommunity Collegeexists.”
Indeed, this is exactly what the Anguilla United Front (AUF) intended should occur on page 29 of its Manifesto in 2000. It included as a major objective, in its educational development section: “Commission a study on the establishment of a community college to increase on island hands on access to hospitality trades, building trades, secretarial skills, information technology training, engineering trades, business and financial services skills, fishing and marine related skills.” This plan came to fruition in time with the expansion of theAnguillatourism plant, in particular the development of Viceroy and the Flag Temenos Project. It was a clear recognition of the fact that the construction of new hotel facilities requires strategic thinking in human resource developmentin that specific sector, as well as the linkage industries that support it. What occurred last Friday was the culmination of that long-term vision contained in AUF 2000 Manifesto. This is in contradistinction to the lack of a clear vision for Anguilla that has become increasingly obvious as this Government seems to stumble from project to project blaming everyone but themselves — yetall the while destroying and overturning well-thought out plans for the future development of Anguilla. In the meantime, the hurriedly prepared and heavily plagiarized Manifesto of the Anguilla United Movement (AUM), and the widely proclaimed “invisible plan” of the Chief Minister, appear to be completely ignored and disregarded.
But I have also mentioned the Chief Minister’s statement in the context of the Installation Ceremony, to highlight the number of times the various speakers at the event extolled the virtues of education and training as a solid investment in national development. Because I also want to raise the point that there has been a growing tendency inAnguillato undermine the value of education, and very often to demean and effectively demonize those persons who seek to pursue opportunities for further training. During the last election campaign there were those candidates who used the fact that they were not formally trained as a “politicalasset” by claiming that their opponents with tertiary training were “elitist”. Thereby creating an environment where the formally trained; successful business persons and contractors; technically skilled individuals; and professionals were not to be trusted because of this so-called elitism. In short,Anguillaappears to have regressed from the traditional value we attached to education and training, in earlier times, to an almost outright disdain for persons who would seek to advance their skills and training in tertiary institutions.
If there is any truth in the Chief Minister’s statement that “some of our brightest people were allowed to slip through the cracks, so to speak, because of a lack of opportunity due to a lack of finances or by ad hoc methods of selection”, then the ACC provides an opportunity not only to school leavers but also to adults to repair that situation. Equally, it ensures that persons desirous of advancing as leaders in the community have no real impediments to acquiring the necessary skills to be equippedadequately for the positions of authority they now hold or seek to hold in the future. And, in particular, it enables us as a community to be able to choose from a wider field of capable persons to represent us at home and abroad. The society can only become a better place if more persons are given the opportunity to prepare themselves for better paying positions and for being more efficient and effective in their several functions.
Harvard Professor, Derek Curtis Bok is claimed to have penned the popular saying: “If you think education is expensive, try ignorance!” There is much depth in this saying and we can apply it to many aspects of our society today. For example, people who are not properly informed or adequately trained may make bad choices that may lead to costly outcomes for themselves as well as the wider community. Our prison system is overcrowded because young people, for the most part, find themselves in patterns of unsocial behaviour that may lead to theft, robbery, substance abuse and violence. These situations not only take productive persons out of the work force but also increase the overall costs of incarceration and rehabilitation. There are also several studies that show a direct correlation between criminality and illiteracy. But, even apart from those findings there are the positive aspects of spending money on educating our young people so as to improve their options in life thereby increasing their self-esteem and value to society.
Finally, the message from the newly installed President is loud and clear. Education is about nation building and the ACC intends, among other things, to remain current in addressing the human resource needs of the Anguillian community in all spheres of life; to encourage scholarly discourse on areas of national significance; to develop a research capability; and to promote “quality teaching and passionate learning in an ever changing global environment.” In short to borrow a line from the “College Salute”(written and composed by two accomplished Anguillians, Mr. Bernard Wattley and Mr. Lennox Vanterpool), the ACC pledges to remain “like a beacon shining brightly …answering its call to duty in our community!”
