As we proceed, let’s resume our discussion on brain drain in Anguilla. Conversations I’ve had in the past week have given me a few new perspectives, as well as reinforced some of my own.
Just in case you missed part 1, let’s recapitulate. We’ve established that due to the unfortunate inertia of older persons being favoured in the civil service, alongside the preference to hire Caucasian immigrants over local Afro-Caribbean or Hispanic persons for managerial positions in hospitality, young people much prefer to vacate this rock that has known struggle for most of its recent days.
Shortly after producing last week’s piece, one of my mentors contacted me and positively nudged me to consider “ local brain drain.” This was described to me as the concept of persons in fact remaining here, however failing to self-actualise due to not being granted the opportunities which would guide them along the path of self-discovery. They are unable to maximise their potential – another grave result of our state of affairs. This is in part attributed to the aforementioned issues in the civil service and private sector, but may also be directly related to issues within our education system, upon which I will expound shortly – stay with me.
Just before we tackle issues in the education system, I do want to mention what was said to me on Anguilla Day, ever ironically, by a rather intelligent and talented 16-year old friend of mine. This individual has plans to dip outta here at the soonest possible opportunity. The reasoning? “Anguilla is boring. There are no opportunities to find yourself here.” Now, I know what you’re thinking – “Boring? How superficial.” But no, consider it deeply for a second. Boring isn’t merely a matter of lacking leisurely or recreational activities, but rather a lack of what this person deems to be worthwhile intellectual challenges through which they can feel fulfilled. While I think many opportunities are present within the very lack thereof, I do see how this perspective may be easy to hold for someone at this stage in his/her development. Appealing opportunities for young people, that don’t require them to push a boulder up a mountain, are severely lacking. This brings me finally around to tackling our education system. Buckle up cause I bout to take us on a ride down the old Valley road.
Education in Anguilla, and most of the world for that matter, is busted. At this stage, we need to let go of the archaic chalk and talk that we’ve been globally conditioned to use, and be innovative in our approach, locally, such that we do what’s best for us, and let the rest of the world catch up. We can truly be pioneers in this regard – we just need to believe in our own people. I’ve openly commented on issues within the system recently via social media, but I must repeat myself via this medium as it is deeply necessary that all of our people consider these matters seriously. We live on an island completely surrounded by water, with an EEZ (exclusive economic zone) that makes big countries jealous. In fact, many big countries extract revenue out of our EEZ, and not even a slight cut comes our way. This is another deeply complex matter, so I gon rest da one down for now. To get to my main point – we teach absolutely nothing maritime as a part of our school curricula. No sailing, fishing, general navigation, swimming – you name it. People are left to figure these things out through tradition, and our society even dares to look down on those who choose these trades as their lifestyle – absolute nonsense. This isn’t even the crux of what’s broken with education here, but it will always get a mention from me. I’ll save the rest for a truly focused and dedicated piece on education.
We gah fix up, and soon. We really got the blind leading the blind round here, or otherwise malicious actors keeping us suppressed as a people so that they can sell us out for the ugly penny. I don’t even know which is worse. It’s a scary state of affairs once you tap in and really see wa gine on. They gon hate me for this one, mais c’est la vie. Certains connais, n’autre pas. Look up that French and be sure to keep it close.
See you again next week, same time, same place. Stay safe out there.
