The 2021-2022 academic school year is quickly coming to a close, but much talk continues on Anguilla as to whether or not much “teaching and learning or education” has taken place.
For many years now, we’ve had this conversation about education – what it is, what it is not, what it is about, who is smart, and who is not – but there is a need to step back a bit and understand that education is a very complex thing.
We are here on this earth as human beings with the tremendous power of choice. Some of us are empowered with greater physical and/or intellectual potential and capacity than others, but regardless of one’s level of potential and capacity, as human beings, we should all try to develop our allotment to maximise the quality of our existence.
But there is something good and appealing about the idea of having knowledge and information, and even a young baby or toddler quests for knowledge, and is curious about things, about life and about learning. It is innate that we get some satisfaction from learning new things and being able to do things. We tend to feel a sense of self-worth and pride in our accomplishments.
When a child is very young, we try to encourage socialisation – how he/she interacts with mom, dad, siblings, other family members, pets, toys, etc. At some stage we create opportunities for the young child to interact with other children and we watch the way that he/she adapts and socialises with his/her peers, and monitor how issues of playfulness and aggression develop and how they are managed. We try to encourage the children to be loving and respectful towards themselves and others as toddlers.
When they are in day care or pre-school, we start the process of teaching children the ABCs and counting, and parents – in particular – want to see how quickly their young children can acquire this new knowledge because, as far as parents are concerned, that is a measure of their children’s brilliance and they want them to learn those things – quickly.
Parents start orienting their children – even at this tender age – to the possibility of future careers in disciplines with the potential for making lots of money – doctor, lawyer, engineer, accountant, etc. These parental orientations and predictions often follow the children through their secondary education journey in an unrelenting pursuit of learning towards a career with potential for great earnings and high status.
As children move into primary school, they often learn to read, compute, analyse and become more familiar with their environment in terms of what exists. They learn story-telling, to speak well, to engage in fun physical activities and to develop an understanding and appreciation for safety practices.
After achieving the foundational learning of primary education, children go into secondary education which is really intended to build on the foundational education and broaden their skills and knowledge. They tend to develop a better understanding in areas of science and biology dealing with issues of the body, animal and plant life and the natural world; in areas of geography and history dealing with where they are relative to the rest of the world, and how systems of the world work – economics, commerce, politics, people and populations.
Sometimes they encounter things and issues of human development, some of which appear to be in conflict – evolution and creation, religions and spiritualism, forgiveness and empathy, morality and choice, consequences for actions, and the order of things.
At the tertiary level, education is sought after to zero in on an area of academic or skilled interest and expand on our knowledge about the particular discipline of the interest. It is at this level of education that most persons develop an appetite for a profession and become sufficiently skilled to be able to enter the workplace and function at a basic level.
It is also at this stage that, having completed a tertiary education at the university level, persons demonstrate that they are trainable and are possibly considered to be relatively quick learners in their areas of interest.
Having completed this level of study, most persons are somehow of the naïve, and often short-lived perspective or view that they have it all together and are now able to enter the workplace and, in some instances, are able to lead in their area of trainin=g within that workplace.
They soon realise that a lot of the “stuff” that they learned in school, while it is good as foundational knowledge and skills for their particular areas of interest, is insufficient for the workplace. They now discover that there is a whole new phase of learning that has to happen in the workplace, because what is actually happening in the workplace is very different from what happened in the classroom. They now realise why they were encouraged to subscribe to professional journals and periodicals, and take supplementary courses to enhance their understanding and appreciation for what happens within their chosen profession.
As they enter the workplace, many persons strive to get ahead, get promoted quickly and start earning lots of money. The truth is, for the most part, in the early stages of their careers, they are not making a lot of contribution to the organisation. They are rookies still being trained to work in that particular area of the profession. It takes a number of years for that competence level to be there and for the knowledge that comes – in part through their own experience – to be sufficient to develop the confidence to function in that area.
So, keeping in mind that no one comes out of university as a genius, no one should come out – even at the doctoral level – thinking that he/she is now entitled to be the boss. Getting to that level takes lots of experience.
In the Anguilla context, when we think of successful business people in Anguilla, we think of Albert Lake, Walton Fleming, John Proctor, and the like.
One thing to note is that our older folks – like the late Mr Albert Lake – whom we deemed to be a successful man, had no education beyond primary school, as he was a product of the 1920s and 1930s. While he left school with no tertiary education, he was a man of humble beginnings who learned from mistakes and successes along the way. After many years of experience – making his own mistakes and encountering his own successes – he became an Anguilla business icon. Even in his later years – in his 90s – he was sharp and astute, and when he was sought after for advice, he was very measured in his communications and his advice was sound – you could take it to the bank.
The same is true for someone like Mr Walton Fleming, who is still with us today. He struggled as a young man, went overseas to work and returned home. He established himself and became quite successful here in Anguilla with no formal education, but through trial and error, avoiding the mistakes of the past and enhancing the successes along the way, he expanded his potential and capacity and developed himself into the success that he is today.
So, what is education? For Mr Lake and Mr Fleming, education was the practical learning and experience that they gained over the years which helped them to fine-tune their craft, tailor their entrepreneur techniques and strategies, and build up their managerial experience to get them to the state where they were able to achieve what they had over the years.
When one steps back from the discussion and conversation about education, what is it really about? I would say, in summary, that education is the acquisition of knowledge which helps one to live among other people in a harmonious way while pursuing your interest – financial and otherwise – all helping to contribute towards a quality of life, recognising your responsibility to your family and to your fellowman.
The richness of one’s life should be less of an accumulation of information and material things at the expense of others, and more of a harmonious coexistence in society with other people while zeroing in on the things that should matter to you as a human being – issues of family, community, health, a life of comfort, recognising that there is no clear roadmap as to how to live this life successfully.
What is also important, is that at every stage of our lives, we need to remember to live – to live in the present because that is our life. We can’t spend our entire existence planning for an ever-changing and evasive future.
I am also reminded of a happy-go-lucky guy – Mr Charlie Gumbs who died at the age of 103+.
Mr Gumbs was not considered to be a “smart” man by any means, but was considered to be a “wise” man by every means. He understood how to pace his life, what fights to take on and what fights to walk away from. At age 100 he was still taking his daily ‘early morning walks’ and, as a consequence, at 103+ years he had, in his own words, “a long life well-lived”.
So, what is it that we are really trying to achieve in this life? Sometimes we all need to step way back and just “get our kicks from watching people coming to and fro, and if you ask them where they are going, half of them don’t know…”
Don’t take yourself too seriously, because, in the grand scheme of life you are not really that important. Enjoy your life, embrace the opportunities that you encounter, but pace your life because even if you live to be 100+, it is only 100 years – and this world has been around for many, many years, and is likely to be here for many, many more years beyond your existence.
Strive to be happy!
