In BROKEN CHORDS Lennox Vanterpool addresses the acute need for a functional, rejuvenating, exciting and organic educational experience in the public school system of his island home, Anguilla.
Situated in the thirty – year period from 1986 to the present, the book argues that since the advent of ‘comprehensive education (1986), much of the gains with regardsto the child’s educational and emotional health has been eroded. Moreover, Vanterpool opines that stakeholders in education have witnessed the galloping forces of wider existential concerns related to violence, morals, drug use, promiscuity, disrespect, responsibility and focus without meaningful and effective plans for remediation. A salient point made throughout the pages of poetry and prose, is that during the thirty years under review the employment of measures such as extended subject offerings at schools, mounting after-school programs and excessive traditional organs of testing have all been problematic. Additionally, Vanterpool suggests a rethink with reference to the proven unnecessary negative weight of awards ceremonies to ‘honour’ the few who survive the race for pseudo-success. He explains that it is the students who, in the final analysis, have become less equipped and more inclined to fail, while the system has, intentionally or not, grown more insensitive to their real needs.
Through a discussion of the education system couched in practical Christianity, and a critique of local politics, public service, music, the 1967 Revolution and Anguilla’s relationship to Britain, Vanterpool weaves a narrative that sounds all too familiar to the attentive listener and conscious observer. What is new however, is that he has brought fresh perspective to a talking point that, left largely unchallenged, has been the cause of a confusing and palpable lethargy among our leaders all, and the disappearance of the vibrant, goal-oriented and empowered youth population that we have witnessed since 1986.
In BROKEN CHORDS, Lennox has written in a candid, if incensed tone, to rally all stakeholders to meaningful and sustained effort in the education of Anguilla’s children. The book is intended to bring a renewed pulse to the effort of doing justice, loving mercy and walking humbly before our God – to make decisions by which we can prevent our precious young from stumbling.
-Contributed
