It is no secret that our education system needs to be radically reformed to meet the needs of the island’s labour force and for us to have a more productive and creative society. As a Human Resources professional, I have always voiced my concerns with the disconnect between the skills that the students are learning and the needs of the actual job market. It is argued that once upon a time, we did value education and it was seen as a way to raise your status in society and to help others provide for their families. The purpose of this article is to take a different perspective, and to illustrate that education should be about laying the foundations for students to find their purpose in life, foster team building and, in the case of Anguilla, harnessing our intellectual capital as a commodity for export.
It is often said that when one finds his or her purpose, it is one of the two most important days in the life of a human being. Finding your purpose is to find yourself. You should ask yourself, “Why was I born?” Each person was born with a purpose and for a purpose – to solve a problem on Earth in their generation. We were also born with specific talents. We were not born to do everything. Successful people became successful by doing either one or two things. I grew up hearing the saying, “Jack of all trades, master of none”. When you spread yourself around doing too many things, you become ineffective. Whereas, if we help students focus on and find the reason for their existence here on Earth, they can become masters of their own craft. As such, our education system should include in the schools’ curriculum, as early as primary school, ways of helping students find their purpose. The earlier our students find their purpose, it will help them to live a very simple and disciplined life. They will know what books to read, what subjects to take and who they should associate with. Knowing your purpose can be seen as an anchor in your life that holds you steady despite expected life challenges. An anchor is confidence, courage and resilience based upon a knowledge. The earlier our students find out their “Why”, they will have a head start for success in life.
There is a saying that “teamwork makes the dream works”. This is the ability of different people to work together for a common goal or vision. In essence, the gist of the argument is that “Alone we can do little: together we can do so much.” Unless we revamp our education system to popularize this thinking, we will be forever prone to be easily manipulated, divided, bribed and exploited. Presently, our education system teaches our students to focus on the concept of Self, I , Me and Myself. Students rarely participate in team projects. If they do, they are few and far between. Although we are different, one of the principles of life is for us to collaborate for the social betterment of humanity. No wonder we cannot work together in the workplace and the crab in the barrel mentality has consumed us. Additionally, some persons have the view that as long as an issue does not personally affect them, they pay it no mind. They disassociate themselves from the, “We are in this together.” Individualism and all about self are so prevalent in Anguilla, that some investors, especially, are having a heyday using it to their advantage – doing things at will with little opposition from those who should be our sisters and brothers and sisters keepers. To combat this unfortunate situation, we have to introduce in our school curriculum opportunities for team building in the teaching-learning process so that we focus on the common good of all and “enculture” the jollification concept throughout all aspects our lives.
Our education system also has to think about developing ideas from students so that they can become valuable, not just to Anguilla but also to the world. This is referred to a intellectual capital and is seen as a commodity that we can export. We are not blessed with natural resources such as oil, bauxite, and gold like most countries. However, for a small population we have a high ratio of graduates with tertiary-level training. Sadly, we are trained to seek employment rather than become deployed. We will never profit from employment, but we can become wealthy from deployment or developing ideas. Our most qualified are also employed in the Anguilla Public Service. I say, respectfully, that the public service does not allow for them to become creative because of the bureaucracy and routine nature inherent in the system.
I see no reason why our graduates cannot develop joint consultancy agencies or consortiums and sell their services overseas. This new thinking, however, can only come about with a changed mindset of how we see ourselves. Most consultants we hire from overseas take our internal reports, suggestions and ideas to repackage them and give them back to us. On the other hand, a local may make a recommendation to improve a situation and he or she will be ignored; however, someone from overseas will make the same suggestion which will be readily accepted. That is why it is said that a man does not get any honor in his own country. We have to value and see our people as human capital that can be developed into intellectual capital , repackaged as a commodity and used in the same manner as countries who export natural resources. We have to believe in our own ability and see ourselves as producers and not just as consumers. When the industrial world comes to our countries, it comes for our natural resources. Do not be deceived by the view it could take its money elsewhere. We need to negotiate from a position of strength. All we have is our human capital that we need to leverage, and have the confidence that we too can find a niche in the global marketplace. This should be one of the deliberate intentions of our modern schools curriculum.
We urgently need to address and revamp our education system with a new perspective to develop our students. We have to intentionally teach and help students to develop their skills , character, understanding of purpose and vision, sensitivity and compassion for the poor, intellectual capital and team building. “Wise thinking leads to right living. Stupid thinking leads to wrong living.” Unless we get our students and citizens alike to use the most important real estate between our ears wisely to better ourselves, community and the island on a whole, the slave mentality of the spirit of greed, entitlement, materialism, gratification and the pursuit of money will continue to devalue us as a people.
