Education minister opposes dividing kids
(CNS Election): The incumbent West Bay MLA and education minister, Tara Rivers, has made it clear that she opposes suggestions that young students should be labeled, divided or pigeon-holed before they are ready to make their own decisions about their futures. As candidates appear to be falling over each other on the campaign trail to call for earlier and earlier labeling of children as non-academic, steering them towards training as, for example, plumbers or mechanics even before they leave primary school, Rivers pointed to the dangers of making assumptions about children too early on in their school lives.
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Category: Local News
Better to identify and “label” as young children after timely diagnosis has been made than to appease, ignore, deny needs now . Ignore now, then label later with a police line up numbear prisoner ID nunber or DCFS file number.
so funny! you dont hear or see politicians until elections nearing…cayman. let vlean house…?
Why would you want to restrict young persons at their most creative and potential state? Have you thought this through well? Other jurisdictions don’t restrict opportunity and learning for their children, why should we? Be careful; think clearly. Children, more than anyone else, should have the greatest opportunity to going in the direction best fit for them in order to benefit the community. That is what a free society is all about.
Because that one “creative” student slows down that class to his level. Because that creative student exhausts his teachers so a teacher spends a disproportionate amount of time on the creative student. Because that creative student’s attitude will turn a group of eager leaners into a group of thugs. Diversity at its best.
Prior to Tara Rivers both UDP/CDP and PPM (Poor People Mistake) administrations failed to address the real issues in our education system.
Of course, it is now election time, and they all want to blame her for everything.
This is Cayman!
We Caymanians are hurting each other, bringing each other down like solider crabs.
Instead of recognizing the true value and major improvements in the last 4 years, we prefer another fool fool to come in and do nothing as long as we get a handout.
Just ask any civil servants working at the Ministry of Education who worked with many other ministers before. They all will tell you the same, there has never been any minister of education as committed and dedicated to make a positive change in the system than Tara Rivers.
So hash your mouth about she hasn’t done anything in the last 4 years.
It is obvious that you cannot and will not please everybody. Four years and a less than favourable budget is by no means sufficient time for someone to overhaul an Education system that has been neglected or placed on the back burner for decades! I think that Ms Tara deserves another shot to continue working to what she has planned. She just needs time and sufficient funds. So easy to criticise from the outside looking in ….
Anonymous 6:57am . Would you hire a CEO / Manager to run your company , and he or she didn’t make any progress or very little improvement in 4 years . Would you give them another 4 years and more money ? I think that 4 years is long enough to do anything . I think that it is obvious that she doesn’t know how to do it . Manage the Education System. People have to get of that Caymantime soon come attitude. We have to remember that the government and politicians like Ms Rivers are demanding that Caymanians be educated to get a job in their own Country , so back in return we must hold them including Ms Rivers accountable in doing their job .
That’s do it , or get of the job . The Taxpayers can’t afford to keep them on the job just for their good looks .
That’s the problem with the Education System! You said it, “Four years are not enough”. Now look back at the last 20 years and you will perhaps find 5 different strategic plans or Improvement Plans; 1 for every 4 years, including the last one developed by former Minister Rolston Anglin. Now the last one was a 2017 plan and it is now 2017 and it was thrown out long ago by the current Minister (now, that was not said, but of course, the actions speak louder). Everyone wants to have their own brand on the system and no one is genuine and mature enough to give what was in place a try for a reasonable period which would allow for TRUE assessment of progress. And the sad reality is that those at the top claim to give those on the ground a voice, but very often those voices become whispers in the dark heard only by those who utter them. Are we going to continue the cycle? We need a revolution: Education should not be political; a change of government should not result in change of Education Policy just for change sake! And that should become law! There are so many Policy Advisors in the Ministry! The Ministry of Education is too top-heavy, and we all know the dangers of that; bound to fall over!
Children first? Or party first? Which is it really? Politicians can fool some people some time, but they can’t fool all the people all the time. I sincerely hope that the right people will be elected for the right jobs on May 24th and that the Education System will get a true chance to grow and develop; no strings attached.
Ms Rivers has been a disappointment as Minister of Education. The schools are a mess and whatever if any improvement during her 4 years as minister is negligible. The importance of a strong competent Minister of Education cannot be over stated. The history of Ministers in this area has been deplorable and the children of the country have suffered as a result.
Blaming expats for the failure of Cayman schools to properly educate our youth is a red herring.
You can never fix or get close to fixing the educational system of these islands IN 4 YEARS TIMES…
Be realistic! :/
She certainly should have gotten more done than she did and let’s not forget how she dealt with the LPB. Part of her speech suggested caymanians don’t have the education required to succeed to partner level at law firms. That’s our minister of education. As far as I’m concerned she’s a total write off!
You must have listened to a different speech than me.
Of the current slate of candidates, who would you suggest would do a better job?
Cayman Islands should be called ” The divided class country”. this is more evident in schools. Public school children are being educated with the impression they will not get anywhere in life. growing up thinking…why couldnt my parents pay for me to go to a private school so i can get a good job? that is wrong on so many levels. The private schools have not been regulated and are turning over huge profits. If a child misbehaves, they call in the parents, label the kid ADHD, tell them the school is not a good fit and off load them. simply looking down the list of expat or local kids waiting for a spot and call them up. My education was simple. a class of 25 kids all with a mixture of backgrounds, personalities and education levels. the school managed it, gave help where they could and collectively educated a group of children growing up. my friends became lawyers, van drivers, policeman, nurses and a painter. In the end we were and are friends. the same cannot be said about kids these days. By separating children at such a young age through the many private schools your creating a class separation that will haunt you for years to come. Private schooling should be for the super rich….not the average family bringing in say 6 to 7k per month. Create a level playing field in education and you will create a better environment for kids and so a better future for cayman…why should a kid be forced to grow up feeling they have no future in the public system..some me make it but many dont.
I like your thinking @6:47. I went to a private school back in the day when there was only middle school and high school. In private school there were pretty even numbers of expatriate and local kids. When we took the NAT and moved to middle school, most of the set 1 and 2 kids came from the 3 private schools. They pretty much remained there until graduating high school. I think there was something we got in our foundational years that set us up for that success that I would like to see in the public schools. After high school, A-levels were moved from the high school to UCCI and an extra year added to the high school. I think moving 6th form from high school was wrong, it should have remained within that school’s governance. When in high school, the kids in the lower sets were off campus for work experience every Friday. I guess that was to give them the chance to gain a skill to be employable after graduation. I can’t comment if that worked but that separation was noticeable by students and kids in the higher sets used it as a way to put those kids down. The reality is, we could have all used some work experience.
I wouldn’t want the school system to decide now that my 9 year old is or isn’t academic but I would agree to her being introduced to TWO things that don’t seem to be given to kids here early enough: 1. vocational/technical training and 2. entrepreneurship. My entire academic career was focused on preparation to work for someone else in an office setting. I think providing kids with information and access to a number of different options from an early age would be beneficial. They aren’t mutually exclusive, someone who is academically inclined can be a plumber, we shouldn’t draw lines between them as that implies some careers are valued higher which creates a perception of better or worse that our kids do not need.
We also need to be careful of messaging. Don’t believe the one-sided stories. Today, there are more children in and coming out of the public schools who are bright, talented, achieving good grades and ambitiously working toward their goals. The packaging of the message about our kids isn’t accurate – similarly to how when its positive news its reported as Seven Mile Beach but when its bad news its reported as West Bay Road. Our kids are way better than we are being told, believe in them and open doors.
The primary value of private education is it increases the socio-economic strata of the parents of the school friends of one’s child. That is a huge benefit in life, much larger than people realise.
I see and understand you point but again it’s a class separation that shouldn’t exist. Just because you cannot afford or choose not to put your kid in private education your child misses out on birthday parties at rum point and motions? Many good parents cannot afford private schooling. We should offer ALL children an equal shot at education and life skills especially on an island this small.
There a good parents of poor kids. But there are disproportionately more in the lower social strata that have poor attitudes to self-control, criminal activity, drinking, drugging and general positive healthy attitudes to work and success. As long as I can insulate the little darlings from the influence of those groups I will.
Haven’t we learned anything from the story of King Solomon; if anything, we should be cloning the children – not dividing them into pieces.
Some of them would be better divided, for the good of the greater good.
Tara has the lingo wrong. Non-academic sounds negative with that non business. We must change the way we think and realize that gifted in different areas is indeed gifted in different areas. Bring the alternate schools on. My kids are academic but also technically oriented. I will let them make their own decisions but I am seeing vocational training winning out. If there is any…..smart kids.
What I don’t understand is why Tara won’t go and sit down and shut her mouth. She has been the minister of education for 4yrs and has done nothing yet she campaigns on what she will do if elected. She has done so well that if poor people mistakes gets back in Alden says he wants education. Quite frankly Tara can’t organize I piss up in a brewery. Sorry Tara but you failed us and you will see election day what we do to people like you. Bye bye ta ta
Gummies Story Again, My father was an auto mechanic and he was nobody’s slave. He provided a good life for our family so get the idea out of your small head that to be a tradesman is to be a slave. It is because of small minded thinking like yours that so many Caymanians don’t have the skills to find employment and provide for their families.
We need a trade school on Grand Cayman now.
Yes I am totally aware.
Please re-read my comment again – burn slavery Mrs Weston!!!
Bless up yourself sir.
I think that the way Ms Rivers is thinking is bad for the development of the kids today . She is thinking too much in line of the Child Protection Laws . I think that the kids should be taught how to do alot of different things from young age so that they can make a decision to what they really want to make a career in .
Bla bla bla bla
That is a University of Allen & Overy education for you. Our American friend spent 4 years ducking out of votes and hiding from controversial issues. On the subject of labeling, she can truly be labeled a complete waste of space.
I could not possibly agree more. She is as useless as politicians come!!
Easy to get on camera or radio and pretend but to really help support a cause that is well overdue is a true calling of the Great.
Trade schools would easily replace work permit holders with skilled and albeit “trained” Caymanians whom are otherwise already skilled and will only be getting a paper certificate (or equivalent) for the jobs they say we don’t want.
If we are thus “qualified”, then we must can demand some paper?? Even a “certified” welder…ask them who are here…none are Caymanian lol…wonder why?
Peace and love to you, however you won’t find that chillin in the salon galavanting bout it won’t help your people sugar.
What I do not understand is why a trade school is OK for Barbados, Trinidad, St. Lucia, Jamaica and other islands in the Caribbean but Caymanians are opposed to having one while at the same time bellyaching that foreigners or permit holders are taking the jobs from Caymanians.
Go figure?
Yes Mr Weston…Truth be told they don’t want or need any solutions…they want more problems and need more people in them.
Funny she did nothing the last 4 years and now wants to be heard. Not today Bobo.
This makes sense. So we can start eliminating work permit holders with “trained” albeit TALENTED Caymanian young men and women!
From welding to woodwork, metal architecture sculpting to furniture creation out out perhaps birch tree…or other indigenous species? The unique thatch trade is gone and was never valued on the outside due to lack of exposure anyway….
Heck…even environment causes for example reef preservation especially along the most prestigious side of the island! Even beach clean ups like that young guy from WB wanted to do and gain community help….
Its easy to get on camera or radio and ACT but do something or provide some form of legitimate help Is a true calling.