The twenty-fifth graduation ceremony for students of the Albena Lake Hodge Comprehensive School was a grand affair. The Rodney MacArthur Rey Auditorium was beautifully decorated. The musical selections were excellently rendered. Those persons who gave remarks were thoughtful, humourous and provocative. The approximately one hundred and forty graduates and their families beamed with pride and excitement. The entire atmosphere was one of infectious jubilation.
This graduation ceremony, like others before it, gave a joyous send off to students who spent the last five years in the sheltered environment of the Albena Lake Hodge Comprehensive School. These students, like those before, will be transitioning. Some to sixth form, others to the Anguilla Community College or colleges and universities abroad, and yet others into the world of work. They would have been taught the importance of getting a good education. They would have believed what their parents and teachers told them about education unlocking doors to a brighter future. As a result, they would have studied hard so that they could obtain the qualifications necessary to pursue their dreams. They have now graduated from high school, full of hope and promise and potential. Ready to take on the world!
While we have ensured that they are qualified for their next steps, did we ensure that they were prepared to face the current realities of a country in economic crisis? Many students who have done everything we adults told them to do, and done so well, will now find themselves in the realm of the unemployed. They will find that they cannot afford to go to college. Though enterprising, many will be unable to create viable businesses for themselves because of the lack of startup capital and the unlikelihood of financial institutions lending to young, inexperienced entrepreneurs. Many of the recent graduates of the Albena Lake Hodge Comprehensive School will learn the harsh truth that sometimes even though you have done your best, life does not always turn out as you envisioned.
Did we lie to our children? Did we lie when we assured them that doing well in school will ensure their future success? Did the Mighty Sparrow lie when he sang: “Children go to school and learn well, otherwise later on in life you going catch real hell”? It seems that even when the children do well in school, they are still “catching hell”. It is heartbreaking to see the disappointment of young people whose dreams have been crushed or delayed; those whose hopes have been suffocated by this financial stranglehold.
We did not intentionally lie to them. We simply taught them what we ourselves have been taught, and what we know from experience to be true: education is the key to success. What we neglected to do, however, was to help them develop the coping skills necessary to deal with situations which cause their goals to be placed on pause. We neglected to ensure there was a full awareness and understanding that long term success comes only after their faith, perseverance and patience have been tried and tested. Perhaps we neglected to provide them with a sound understanding of Anguilla’s economic landscape and prospects for recovery. In not doing so, we may have inadvertently given our young people unrealistic expectations.
How do we right this wrong? I am not sure I have the answer. What I do know is that, from a national development perspective, we have to address in a meaningful way the issues of youth unemployment, skills development and the provision of financial support for the pursuit of higher education. It is only when this is done that our youth can believe us when we say, in the words of the Mighty Sparrow:
“Without an education in your head,Your whole life will be pure misery you better off dead. For there is simply no room in this whole wide world For an uneducated little boy or girl… To earn tomorrow you have to learn today.”
