Multi-generational Caymanians are disadvantaged
You (a first generation Caymanian) aren’t different under the laws, but you have an unfair advantage over multi-generational Caymanians. Your parents and your friend’s parents were smart and worldly and brave enough to move to another country and make a life there. Your average expat is always going to be a higher calibre individual than your average local because of this dynamic. All the Caymanians I know who live and work overseas are real go-getters too.
Every country has the full range of people from smartest/most competent to least smart/competent but expats skew toward certain traits that help them get ahead. The children of expats here get better education, their parents are more intelligent and speak more words around them so they gain bigger vocabularies, they take lots of family vacations and so on, so they’re comfortable in cold climates and other cultures and different parts of the world.
Their parents have climbed corporate ladders successfully and can pass the qualities that lead to that success onto their children, and when they finally go to apply for a job, they look like or their parents are from the same country as the people doing the interviewing and you have the perfect Cayman hire — technically Caymanian but in every other way white and expat — and that person gets hired over the multi-generational Caymanian.
I have seen it because I have been that person; I have literally been told ‘we would like to hire and train you, but we are waiting for someone we have already committed to train to get their Cayman status, sorry.’ That is supposed to be illegal here. And then those people are the ‘successful locals’ the business has created — that expat’s kid who got status just in time, not me.
That’s not how it’s supposed to work. If you are already Caymanian, then we’re equal, but if you don’t have status yet and I show up for a job I’m qualified for, you have a legal obligation to hire me and forget about the expat. But what happened? The expats chose the expat over me.
The children of expats come out of the factory the way good employers want them to, and the children of multi-generational Caymanians largely don’t (with the exception of the rare white multi-generational Caymanian families). Multi-generational Caymanians are still one more generation away from being able to raise their children to get ahead. Some lucky few born to parents who knew what they were doing are now young attorneys making big money and so on. Most aren’t.
But since we’re all declared equally Caymanian under the law, there is no way to protect those at this particular disadvantage anymore. The same protection goes to you as goes to me, but I’m the one who needs protecting because my parents didn’t work in London or New York for a decade before moving here and having children; they grew up with Cayman and had no idea how to guide me to get ahead in the cutthroat legal world. Now my talent is going to waste and it looks like I will not have a successful career after all.
If you knew me you would know how very sad that is. I can trace my actual ancestors in Cayman back almost 300 years, and I feel like a member of a dying species. It isn’t about discriminating against you — it’s about making sure multi-generational Caymanians don’t die off because they opened their country too fast to too many expats, and expected too much of themselves in terms of how fast they could evolve as a people.
This is why public policy making and the quality of representation is so bad as well — the previous generation is at an even greater disadvantage and they’re the people of the age to be leaders. When they grew up Cayman was a party town with a couple of cops who would drop you home if they caught you driving drunk.
But they got lucky see — they grabbed all the local business opportunities as Cayman grew. Anyone who opened the first this or the first that became rich or at least well off. But their children, not raised properly because their parents were busy partying or working hard and didn’t know what they needed to teach their kids to be successful in the 21st century? They’re at a disadvantage. Opportunities are few. They don’t have the soft skills. They need a leg up or they will literally just die off. I am one of them.
Thank you for reading.
This comment was posted on this article, Legal Services Bill marginalises Caymanians, in response to this comment.
Category: Viewpoint
Immigrants are generally highly motivated individuals regardless of nationality. Cayman has a very high ratio of expat workers….. do I need to say more.
I thought long and hard about responding and hope you do get a chance to read this. I completely understand your dilemma and feel for you and your generation and those to come.
When we hire employees from overseas we separate the wheat from the chaff from a populous of almost 68 million, and that’s just out of the UK (now a days they are recruiting from South Africa also). We pay hefty permit fees and so naturally we are looking for the best and recruit and pay accordingly. We try to get the best that money can buy with years of experience etc to make sure the permit holder can hit the ground running to have our businesses function and generate an income. We then relocate them to an Island of lets say 60,000.
So, exactly as you describe: white collar permit holders relocate to the Islands (where Caymanians are already a minority and have been for decades) and rise straight to the top doing the jobs they have been hired to do by mostly other expats. It is through this system that expats control almost all of the major accounting and law firms (E&Y are probably the only exception to the rule).
In the early years expats and Caymanians alike will remember when we had social harmony, but back then we had the Caymanian Protection Law. It was called this for a reason. The UK currently has an all time high of 14% foreign nationals. By comparison, at one point in Cayman 15% of our populous were indigenous Caymanians. Now we claim that its about 50%.
Now however we have a system that ensures that the most affluent of expats obtain Caymanian status. They are the New Super Caymanian which makes up part of the statistics of the 50% Caymanians in the Islands. They have economic power and wealth and quite naturally circulate amongst only their own (which is natural and fair enough). Over the decades the indigenous Caymanians have become increasingly a minority in their own home and the new Super Caymanians have been increasing, consistently and steadily over the years.
With the so called human rights etc Caymanians are powerless to change their own plight and to distinguish themselves from this new Super Caymanian. You can see the change. Caymanians are becoming resentful as they become increasingly marginalized and disenfranchised in their own country through no fault of their own. And Governments have done little to help protect them or their rights over the years. In fact quite the opposite.
Suddenly the very place we all loved (Caymanian and expatriates alike) with social harmony unlike any other Island in the Caribbean, has changed. I feel very sad for the younger generation of Caymanians and those to come. I felt it important that you hear this perspective and understand that what you have said isn’t entirely untrue and nor is it your imagination.
Ignore the condescending comments from those that have been plucked from a large populous who have emerged as big fish in small pond and have failed to take into account the importance of preserving the social fabric of these Islands. God forbid the day comes when theres a violent revolution by young Caymanians who demand a seat at the table in their own house.
Hopefully the governments of the day can ensure that Caymanians remain in control of their own country and not told ‘let them eat cake’ whilst they are hurting in their own country. We must strive for harmony rather than a revolution.
I am a first generation Caymanian, my wife is a multi generational Caymanian. Our children are well educated, well balanced and doing fine. I put it down to good parenting, which is probably more of my wife’s doing.
It’s called experience. Your best bet is to jump on a plane (when you can) and get some real life experience. Unfortunately too many Caymanians believe that Government should do everything for them and so should anyone else who employs them. Unfortunately there are too many bad employers in the Island who treat staff as slaves and won’t employ Caymanians as they are not willing to accept working in these conditions. Experience will help you through all of this.
The author raises several valid points of concern, and I commend him for his honesty. The problem as I see it is is this. If a person is a member of a distinct human group he will always have a greater chance to inherit more of the characteristics of the group. For instance, the east asian branch of humanity has an average performance IQ that is 5 points ahead of the average of the west european branch. This being the case, it is no surprise that East Asians are more numerous in American science and technical colleges and job positions (and persons of european descent less numerous) than their numbers in the general population alone would suggest. This does not mean that colleges and employers are purposely discriminating against any person of European descent. The statistical averages really do suggest that East Asians, as a group, have a natural edge. I believe that similar group factors might be causing some or all of the disparity that the author addresses.
Of course, on the othe hand, humans are a pattern recognition machine. The taxi drivers who are overwhelmingly robbed by young male members of a distinct human group are naturally going to start avoiding ALL young male members of that group. This will be very unfair to the many young males of that group who are not robbers. It doesn’t matter. The taxi drivers will still avoid picking them up also. I would just say to the author that I agree that he probably faces unfair challenges because of his appearance, accent, and the like. This is just the way things are. I have come to believe that one of the keys to personal happiness is understanding that life is not fair. A second key is overcoming one’s pattern recognition prejudices and making the effort to treat a given person as an individual on the basis of his unique characteristics, rather than on the averages of his group.
A final point is that Caymanians have fewer job opportunities than do expats. This is so because the expat could seek job opportunities in his home country or in some other country. The Caymanian does not usually have those options. For this reason I personally support job preference laws and rules for Cayman. God bless and good luck to the author.
Your last point is not really true. A BOT Citizen has the right to a British passport which gives us the right to live and work in the UK (and anywhere in the EU until recently) without restriction and of course any Caymanian born in the US can live and work there. In fact the opportunities are very much weighted in favour of the Caymanian. Even without the automatic right to work in the EU or US one can get a visa to work somewhere just like anyone else… if you want to.
Great Britain island has 62 million people and its own problems to contend with, and a constant influx of nontransitory migrants to compete with also. Just because you have the right to explore the option of living and working there does not mean it will be any easier than competing at home for said “opportunities”
First two paragraphs: Racist much?
Just what “distinct human group” are Caymanians then?
And re your last paragraph, no.
For example, every Caymanian has the full right to live and work in the UK, and (for now) the EU. That does not work both ways.
You are complaining because Caymanians with that have skills, experience, education or intelligence are being put ahead of those that don’t.
That is simply not a valid complaint. Equality of opportunity is something people are entitled to, equality of outcome is not. If have the opportunity to develop those attributes and if you don’t take them then that is 100% on you.
And don’t be tempted to take up the fashionable “inequality is bad” nonsense. Inequality is healthy and normal. All of us have more than many but less than some and that is the way of the world. If people didn’t get to reap the material rewards of success we would face a society without ambition or appetite for risk.
Poverty is an issue and any good society should help those who cannot afford the necessities of life, but do not listen to people who confuse poverty with inequality. They are in no way the same. One is based on need and the other is based on jealousy.
The divide has been created by the same protectionist laws and policies we all love … but then hind sight is 20/20
“we don’t want expats in our schools” so ex-pat kids go to private schools, where they get world-leading education because they are going back into the first world, private schools champion excellence, competition and good behaviour … public school become the free CIG daycare.
“you must hire Caymanians” so the quota/percentage of the staff complement have to be Caymanian and they get the administrative jobs, the professional jobs go to ex-pats usually as 25 years ago the number Caymanian professionals were limited … these ex-pats get PR and status increase the Caymanian percentage of staff so you will continually replace ex-pats who leave with other expats as you would already have the Caymaina percentage and the increasing Caymanian professions do not get experience before they come home to find work, the ex-pats all come with more than minimum experience so the Caymanian candidate will never be equal to an experienced ex-pat.
“We hold our seafarer heritage to our hearts” … so it’s quite ok for 16-year-old children to start having kids who will turn around and go into care and be maintained by the CIG and who will continue to have children until she is 35 for 4 different “baby daddy” who see no real need to not fall into the NAU trap like her mother and aunts … but ex-pats who don’t have the NAU security blanket will work hard, work menial jobs, save, buy a little home, go on rollover come back and continue the process and by year 18 be qualified for PR while the 40yr Caymanian girl who started having kids at 16 will still be sucking off the NAU teat !!!
I am a GENERATIONAL CAYMANIAN and I am happy that my Great-Grandmother came from Jamaica, I was told as a child “put you head to yuh book and nu meck no man tek no libati wid you”. My Grandmother had a college education as does my mother and I … my Caymanian friends all had babies right after high school, I went to college overseas. I studied hard, got experience before I came home and now I am working in a professional field …and I am not from a “rich” Caymanian family
Is your problem with expats or just white people in general. As you seem to go after the rare white Caymanian families as well.
If someone had written the same but substituted black where you used white there would be an uproar.
You’re acting like centuries of slavery and institutional racism (still prevalent in today’s society) haven’t 99% contributed to the enrichment of whites. if the script was flipped the statement would still be true. countless studies are done the world over that shows how companies push aside melanated people for jobs and/or promotions. You all need to recognize that current social structure plays a big part in landing you the cushy jobs you have now and it wasn’t because of your stellar job interview or resume.
This is an interesting read and a refreshingly honest take on the subject. However there’s a bit of a flaw in your logic. Let me start by saying yes you’re 100% correct those with status right now should be prioritized over those about to gain it shortly.
However by your own admission you’re saying that there is a group of people here who are “better” or more ready/able to perform at a higher level than those who have been here a long time; and the latter needs protection from the former. Based on the issue of Caymanian status etc you’re right. But looking at it this way isn’t all that different from comparing a family from the wealthy suburbs of New York to that of the inner city. Virtually all the points you make about the advantages one has over the other will hold true in this scenario as well. At the end of the day, businesses performing at a high level want the high performing individuals and are going to bend the rules as much as they can to protect their interests. I know some flat out break the rules but I’m not talking about them. If I need a really senior person on my staff, I’m going to advertise for really high credentials and if a Caymanian can fit that role then perfect; I can meet them in person, get to know them, avoid immigration hassles, and find out with two phone calls almost everything about them.
Frankly there’s a big skills gap here. There are lots of senior level jobs and not enough Caymanians to fill them. You’ve highlighted an interesting take on the reasoning behind the achievement gap here, and the reality in my mind is that this shows the need for better education and preparation for the Caymanian workforce. You won’t be able to legislate prosperity through the immigration or labor laws. There’s no shortcuts. Certain countries try this all the time in one way or another (look at Greece) constantly trying to move money from the wealthy, reduce working hours, reduce retirement age, so that their population can live the good life without doing the work. And their whole country is bankrupt.
The only way to fix the issue you’re discussing is to improve education and opportunities. And unfortunately it will probably take a generation or two to actually work. You’re short term best option is to go get your experience overseas and become “senior” or “expert” in your field in some huge firm with a ladder to climb that will help you do so. Then come back and try for the job here you really want. But the ladder here pretty much has two rings at the bottom or two way up at the top. Not a lot of room to climb it from bottom to top.
I would like to share my story, take from it what you will. My family moved to Cayman in 1996. My dad was a heavy equipment mechanic and no one on the island could work on the machinery that he was trained on. A local company had been flying him over for the past 3 years before convincing him to move over. They paid him 6 figures a year to convince him and he made about 45,000 in the states. I finished High School there and went to the community college after. I didn’t know what I wanted to do so I just picked something and it was the Electrical program. My parents paid $1500 to take that certification course because I was an expat. It cost $300 to locals at the time. I got to work for an electrical company a couple of days a week for work experience. I liked the work and the company liked me as well. I was always a hard worker. They didn’t pay me anything as it was for the work experience. After I completed the program my parents were ready to move back to the states and I wanted to stay. The electrical company wanted to hire me as a laborer and put in for a work permit. Immigration denied me and stated he needed to hire Caymanian kids in that program. I went back to the states and every job that came up they wanted two years experience. I thought how I am going to get the experience of
No one hires me. Finally a company hired me for $6.00 an hour temporarily as they had a lot of work but planned to let me go once they caught up. I hated being trapped making no money, no experience, living with my parents. It felt like I couldn’t get a start, kind of like the person in this article feels. But those temporary jobs turned into 2 years experience which landed me permanent jobs for more money. That $1500 electrical program got my foot in the door with telephone companies back in the states. I started out making $6.00 an hour and exactly 8 years out of the program I started making six figures. I made decent money at 5 years into it but started making great money at 8 years in the field. I have made six figures a year give or take 5,000 for 14 years all from a $1500 electrical program, $300 if I would have been Caymanian. I am a blue collar worker from a blue collar family, you have to scratch and claw your way to a living in the beginning but there is a way. You don’t have to be a lawyer, Doctor etc; to make a good living but you do have to have a work ethic. One thing I have figured out in life is your government will never solve any of your problems, they only take from you. You have to make it on your own.
Thank you for sharing.
“They didn’t pay me anything as it was for the work experience”..
I don’t know about Cayman Labor Law, but it is always illegal in many countries. Employees must be paid for all time they spent working, which generally includes training time.
Too right, the Government should not be there to solve your problems. They should provide a safety net for the ones who cannot help themselves.
While I can see both sides of the argument in some way, I do think today’s generation of kids need to learn to fight hard for what they want as it will not be handed to you. Life isn’t fair at times and no one is going to meet you half-way. The amount of the assistance that is available to kids that earn it on this island is staggering compared to the rest of the world.
That said, there are few things (I think) Cayman needs to do to help their youth:
1) Merge the public and private education systems. This island is small enough that it doesn’t need to educate the population in a two tier system. Make the tuition based on income and free for the many that can’t afford it. I would keep a separate school for kids with behavior or vocational issues, giving special assistance and training that differs from the traditional school. Also, provide what is needed to learn to EVERY child, internet/tablets and most importantly food.
2) Institute a livable minimum wage. There are far too many low skilled jobs being filled by foreign workers that should only be filled by foreign workers if there is a lack of Caymanians workers. There is a caveat to this, the employer must be able to manage these workers fairly and make the employee follow the rules – if they don’t want to do the job, out the door they go.
Some would say that this would never work and/or it is too expensive. These islands have an extremely high GDP per capita and low debt ratio compared to pretty much every other nation on earth. The money is there if it is spent wisely.
The people of these islands are separating from one another at a rapid pace and there will be even more of an “us and them” mentality if it continues.
Remember, these islands were not build by Caymanians or expats – they were built by hard working PEOPLE.
One last thing, get a decent government in place and hold them accountable!
Happy Holidays to all.
The current PR system will only make things worse for multi generational Caymanians. The same immigration policies implemented by your elected leaders. You only allow people to stay if they are very successful professionally, academically and financially. This widens the gap between Caymanians who are disadvantaged and the expats and it helps perpetuate the cycle perceived by the author of people having a hiring preference (whether conscious or not) for people from their own countries. I am one of the fortunate expats who has gained PR and unfortunately I don’t think this PR law is doing Caymanians any favours.
Your alternative is to allow people to stay only if they are unsuccessful or simply not allow anyone at all to stay? Either way is pretty much guaranteed to gut your financial services industry when you need it more than ever.
Is the implied assumption here that no capable Caymanians will step up to the plate and build Cayman’s financial services industry?
I’m sorry, but it is impossible to manage the financial services industry without expats. There simply are not enough qualified Caymanians with the global experience required to make the industry grow and prosper. Every other major jurisdiction in the world (including NY and London) has a plethora of expats in their buildings. That is how you build a business. No one group of nationals can be successful on their own.
The assumption is many of those capable of running the industry are already in it and that there aren’t even close to enough to fill all those jobs currently done by expats. Nor will there ever be; no town of 30k people anywhere on earth can fill that many FS jobs.
Earlier today I typed a response. Then decided to just delete it and cool down. It’s a few hours later, and I’m still of the same opinion.
Stop feeling sorry for yourself.
You are surrounded by more opportunities here than the vast majority of people born on the planet. Probably in the top 1%. Scholarships and grants are abundant for Caymanian people that want to train at the best institutions in the world – or even to get skilled in vocational trades on island.
Yes and no. Truth lies somewhere in the middle. It’s not as black and white as you make it out to be.
Listen to Jay-Z, “The Story of O.J.”
It’s a good thing you “cooled” down because some of you just don’t understand how inequality works. The one thing all groups- expatriates, locals, visitors, etc seem to agree on is that the Cayman Islands is a former shell of itself with its true charm and essence lost. It’s only the new Caymanians and work permit holders who are only concerned about earning remittance money, gleaming about how much opportunity is here that Caymanians are wasting. You should feel that way as the country has been designed to attract and retain economic migrants like yourselves while regressing and sidelining its own people for economic gain. BTW a greater number of “Caymanians” get denied scholarships especially overseas scholarships, than those who are granted them.
The scholarship is a very low bar. If you cannot get one then you probably don’t deserve one.
True.
http://www.education.gov.ky/scholarships
Some of this is right, but this post isn’t about the Legal Services Bill (where it originally appeared). It’s about the social and educational challenges in Cayman. There is no way to rectify these social challenges in the Legal Services Bill (which is what Alric suggests). Under the laws Caymanians are equal whether you are first-generation or multi-generational. There are other issues with the post:
1. CILPA Council is loaded with multi-generational Caymanians, who are well educated and experienced. Those same people who you want to get ahead. Yet simply get slagged off and disrespected by their own.
2. First generation Caymanians should not be penalized because their parent made good decisions and are capable. They are Caymanians plain and simple who had no control over decisions made by their parents.
The problems here are not related to the legal services Bill but to social issues. We need a better education system that does not segregate Caymanians into government schools and expat kids into others, we need a real-world educational and academic curriculum, we need more and better schools and teachers, we need more engagement between our economy and our education system. Our biggest challenges are ones of education and social integration. That’s how we deal with these issues. Not by trying to create different categories of Caymanian as Alric suggests.
What have our own rich Caymanian families done for us? The Thompsons, Kirkonnells, Fosters etc. As someone said, all of their stores are packed with expats. So we really can’t blame expats for our misfortune as they’re just trying to make a living as well, it’s these people in power that have taken every opportunity from Caymanians and given it to someone else when I KNOW there are Caymanians well and able to fill the job.
But are the Caymanians applying for the jobs…
They employ many Caymanians too lol. This island just happens to be predominantly expat.
Careful with all this, Remember divide and conquer? Did you apply for those jobs the “rich Caymanian families” had to offer though?
I’m sorry buddy but you can never fault a person of a certain nationality wanting to hire his countryman if given the chance. as someone said in the comments already, what have our wealthy Caymanian families done for this country except enrich themselves? their stores are jam pack of work permit holders, even the government who you would think would lead by example are advertising for foreign talent instead of looking to their own people and training them. we can never expect to hold expats to a higher standard than we do our own.
I have one simple thing to say to those of you who are from abroad , what are you called expats nah, you see our mistakes, you see our deficiencies, you breathe our air, you piss in and through the same sewage system, you drink the same city water or the desal water, you drive the same roads, go to the same supermarkets, same doctors and are attended at the same hospitals as us , some of your. Children even go to school with ours, play games together, and ebery everyday societal norms in a small community like ours..
Yet some of you arse holes have the gall to criticize our policies our government, our education system, our hospitals, our roads our hospitals, and every thing that you consume or use same as us; you really are unconscionable you know that. With all of the aspects you have to go through every day with us and same as us in many respects why in the raaahole are you still here, why are you cluttering my streets and breathing the same air if you so despise everything about us. Why? Why don’t you return to your land of disasters, shootings, looting, starvation, hunger, people pissing in the streets, cold winters where applies and where you are just another freaking number who like us put up with bad political policies and crookedness and the yadeyas that you take every opportunity from your daily routines to criticize by and through this media house; of course you don’t tell us to your face ya fraid nah?.
We are working through our issues we don’t have your long history or trajectory thus far , and we also have no apologies to make for where we are at this stage. We will get better , we will survive this era and you and your opinions, We will overcome “our” problems rest assured.
So mind what you say for anonymity alone cannot erase the feelings create when you write about us. While you write anonymous.y you live abundantly therefore respect your hosts or you will find that your hosts will get really sick and tired of your constant barraging diatribe and then it will be as the old song says what a bam bam bam bam bilam bam bam. Can you hear that!
Hurts when you realise your own elected people have failed you huh?!
Because we are here to make it better.
And what has our government done about an awful public education system? If our Caymanian people had better education we would not be whining all the time. We would get the jobs, however, we lack for the most part, basic skills in mathematics and English.
Sad but true.
Nothing wrong with the public school system. I’m sick and tired of hearing this BS. This problem you speak of is more of parenting skills and how they involve themselves or not with their child’s education, homework etc.
My kids go to public should and are thriving, they are thought the same curriculum as other schools. It’s the acceptance policy in public schools that has some wayward students amongst them.
Keep them on the right track and they will do great. It’s not the school system that’s failing us, it’s the way the kids are raised or lack of it , and that’s sad but true.
You think they are thriving and this is the mistake that we make. You won’t know something is wrong or where it is lacking unless and until you or your kids have first hand experience of education at leading institutions around the world (I’m not referring to schools in Florida here). You simply don’t know what you don’t know.
What a load of bs. Excuses! I am a multi-generational Caymanian and not from one of the “rich Caymanian families”.
I went to CIHS as did my siblings. None of us have ever had a hard time getting great jobs.
We have parents that instilled good work ethics and the value of continued education (despite not having more than a local high school education themselves). Also, they told us to never feel like we were entitled to a job but that we had to earn it to get it and prove ourselves to keep it.
Ok but how old are you…..You may be right as it relates to your generation but is the same true for the kids in school today. That is always the test…
11:45 am. The schools [have] children who are brought here as well as mixed nationalities whose family life, education standards and languages are different, thereby putting a stran on the production. Proper teaching skills is the other failure. Not every teacher has the nack to present a class with good material.
Start recruiiting highly qualified individuals, who can transform a class with the proper kno-how, gaining the students attention and interest and has ththeir interest at heart. Is that expecting too much, in comparison with the high salaries they are paid?
It occurs to me that the author’s comments strike at the heart of a phenomenon which is challenging many societies in our twenty -first century world. It is called “inequality ” and it is of great concern to institutions like the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Intellectuals and academics argue vociferously as to how best to have a fairer distribution of wealth . Regrettably, there are no magic formulas for equitable wealth distribution and the richest one per cent do not always feel charitable toward the “have nots”.
Years ago the French agronomist Rene Dumont authored a book entitled “False Start in Africa”. This is a topical and stimulating work which continues to break ground in relevant areas outside of Africa and which can be demonstrably relevant in our situation in these islands today . Dumont’s thesis is that educational upliftment is the solution to many of our dilemmas.
Eric Hoffer, on the other hand provides another interpretation to the conundrum …an interpretation one could describe as being at once’ more prosaic and philosophical.’ For what it is worth I shall share it with your readers.
“Where freedom is real ,equality is the passion of the masses. Where equality is real, freedom is the passion of a small minority. ”
Equality without freedom creates a more stable social pattern than freedom without equality “.
Eric Hoffer [Longshoreman cum philosopher]
“they grew up with Cayman and had no idea how to guide me to get ahead in the cutthroat legal world. Now my talent is going to waste and it looks like I will not have a successful career after all.”
First of all, your talent is not going to waste as you never had any to begin with. The Cayman Islands Government provides free education up to high school, and if you don’t think that’s worth a lot try asking the Jamaican labourers who send every penny they can scrape together back home to help with their children’s education.
There is no excuse for not going to school and applying yourself, as even free school lunches are provided to thousands of children throughout the Cayman Islands every day. All you have to do is put in the effort at school, and that’s not a whole lot, to qualify for a government scholarship that would allow you to attend the finest universities overseas.
You are just a lazy-ass ingrate who would prefer to blame your parents instead of taking responsibility for your own actions. And yes, I am a multi-generational Caymanian.
Great point but please let’s stop making references to jamaica for every single issue that occurs in the CAYMAN ISLANDS. You are only fueling their discrimination and hostility towards, you (the multigenerational Caymanian). Jamaica is far from perfect like a lot of places in the world, hence why they have such a large global diaspora and the largest here in the Cayman Islands. So why continue this apple to oranges comparison?
Oy, we both know that unless: your bank account has the “right” tone, you are born in the “right” families, you mix with the “right” people, you go to the “right” church, turn tricks with the “right” people in government, or participate in the “right” secret societies in Cayman, the road to success and being well-off is an uphill battle. Even with hard work, determination, and every other goalpost moving tactic they use to work people today like modern-day slaves.
And yes, I am a multi-generational Caymanian too!!
What makes you think that the author is not educated? My impression is that he/she is, but has encountered discrimination in the job market.
They probably have encountered discrimination but not in the way you’re implying! They probably do nothing but complain about how “disadvantaged” they are and nobody wants to hire a whiner.
Many of us, Caymanians, have established successful careers in spite of this “disadvantage” the original author goes on and on about. The difference is that we busted our a$$es in school and at work.
I sorry, but I never meant to imply that the writer was uneducated. Although, most “educated” people have a tendency to believe that they are smarter than they actually are.
My anger was riled by the fact that this person is bemoaning the fact that he/she received no guidance from his/her parents in how to be ruthless cutthroat in order to get ahead in his/her business career, while there is a high possibility that he/she was taught good manners, respect, and empathy for others in the same way that it was handed down to me, and hopefully I have passed on to my own children.
Look around. Wealthy professional expats should be the least of concern, as many of them give back. There are influential, multi-generational Caymanians, whose family names we all know, sitting on hundreds of millions in rolling Tbill interest, that couldn’t care less. They design the laws and chair the decision panels. They, as their forebearers, have lived off the back and sweat of their own fellow Caymanians, undermining their voice and advancement whenever they could, seemingly for sport. Deal with that.
100%. But it’s tough to accept that your own are holding you back. Easy to point elsewhere.
Not so easy, here in the cayman it’s a combination of both.
This is basically it in a nutshell. The real challenge is what are the underlying causes and more, what are the solutions? It is an easy and popular sport to blame expats but the fact is that the current situation is very much the product of successive poor governments, poor policies (school segregation is but one) and an inclination on the part of many to take the easy route and hope for a better outcome than they deserve. The most critical pillar- and this is not news – is education. Marginalising born Caymanians into second rate Government schools puts them on the back foot from the start. The ones that survive that system are then shunted into local post-secondary institutions (or for the more adventurous, to Florida). Students who are not academic have even fewer options. This is not giving the population the skills it needs to participate, let alone compete, in the local economy.
Cayman’s economy is based on globally competitive industries, and that’s just the reality of it – participants need high quality education, training and experience to reap the benefits. They are unlikely to find this at home – it’s simply not feasible any more than it would be in a community of 65,000 anywhere in the world. Talk to any successful Caymanian (multi-generational or otherwise – and there are plenty of both) and ask how they achieved it – sitting around waiting for someone else to make things happen will not be the answer.
Demand better of yourselves and your politicians – not handouts, but opportunities. Find the real roadblocks and remove them, even if it’s hard to do or politically unpopular. Schools need to improve. Wide ranging opportunities for vocational training are sorely needed – the skills of a generation are being wasted for lack of training and these jobs are unnecessarily imported. Academic students need to aim higher – go away to a good university, plan to get some overseas experience. Only once the population (particularly those who can vote) understands that their role has to be active rather than passive will things change.
This is 100 percent accurate. Spot on. I am thrilled that in my family we have many success stories and none of them came easy. There was a lot of hard work, grit and determination. We were not spoiled and couldn’t run home every time there was a day off. Worked overseas to gain that international experience, which is so necessary in this demanding market. We need to send strong messages to our students and job seekers. One must prepare and also be prepared for the demands of the top jobs.
1:59, Bang on. You got it. Education, education, education. Do something Caymanian Government.
No excuses. Demand it Caymanians from your politicians. DEMAND. Do not ask politely.
CIG already spends more per pupil on education than almost every country on earth and 2/3 more than the oecd average.
Do the math in what they say they spend and what they do…for example the money benchmarked for computers would provide every student in public schools 5 computers each! Multigenerational Caymanians lining their pockets on our children’s back.
Best comment by a mile.
The problem isn t ‘just’ education. It’s real world post education experience. I would take a person with experience in a field over an education every day of every week.
Education gets you the interview. Experience gets you the job.
Second, whether Caymanians like it or not they have a bad reputation. This may be earned or it may be unfair but the perception is you are weaned to believe you have a right to get a job. WRONG. You have to earn it, it’s not about your right, it’s about the employer choosing who they think is the best for the post.
Third. The incessant belief you have the talent on island to fill every conceiveable post is fundamentally flawed. In almost every instance I hear of, the incompetence in post comes from a lack of experience. Some Caymanians literally don’t know they don’t know. And that in some roles is dangerous.
It’s time to get real. Soon the expat population will be bigger than the local. The money generated by them in these islands sustain the local population. Locals need to realise they are a population of circa 30,000. They simply can’t compete against expats hand-picked because of their experience. Solution? Go to London or New York and get a job. Then come back knowing you know and you will flourish.
Just remember who voted in your minister of education and who segregated the schools. It wasn’t the expat.
Your commentary is very real and deals with many issues on many levels. If it is just a viewpoint then it is certainly is heartfelt by you and no doubt many others.
Sadly it is not solution based and certainly has tones of feeling unfairly treated within our society.
How do we differentiate between who has the most and least advantages? should it be based upon who got here first? or who has the most money? or who has the better education? or to use to your idea – who our parents are and their parents are / were?
An interesting and thought provoking viewpoint, but a little sad that you feel this way and are focussed on other citizens having an unfair advantage rather than just being accepted and moving forward together.
I suspect that a first generation Caymanian will feel equally disenfranchised if we try to differentiate between each other based upon how long each of our families have been here, rather than everyone just accepting and being proud their heritage and not trying using it for advantage.
Au contraire my friend.
It’s funny how it always race that threatens the generational populus of the lands. I grew up in Canada as a multi-generational Canadian. My fellow Canadians were always complaining about how the expat (or as we called them immigrant) Chinese and East Indians were taking their jobs and disadvantaging them in fulfilling their carriers. We reap what we sow and need to blaze our own trails.
The only difference is that there were already people in Canada before the Europeans arrived. Not the case here.
This island was settled initially by Europeans…..
That was my point.
Life is what you make it. We cannot continue to blame those that are first generation Caymanian/expats for what we are facing in Cayman today. We continuously elected people who did not put a plan in place for the future and they have blatantly ignored our social/education issues now we are dealing with the consequences.
The first thing that needs to go is the attitude of “ENTITLEMENT”. Being Caymanian does not give you an automatic job or successful place in society. You have to work for what you want. One of the most frustrating thing to see in this country is the handout mentality – the welfare state we are creating. Instead of “teaching our people to fish we give them the fish”.
We are busy blaming everyone else for our own problems. It starts from HOME. The way we raise our children and the expectations we have for them. There is a lethargic/non-chalant approach about tertiary education in Cayman. We are complacent with our children when they leave high school and we do not push to ensure they go further than a high school diploma.
We have to change the attitude we have towards others and realize there is no going back. Cayman will continue to diversify and because we do not have people that stand up to ensure that proper history is taught in the schools it will all be a faint memory I am afraid. Mr. Roy Bodden has some really good books that predicted what we are experiencing now. We have to start having these conversations with our children and come together on the way forward or we will always have a divided community.
What are you talking about? How disturbing was your article? If you had these great skills you mention you would get hired. So your family IMMIGRATED 300 years ago, who cares, you are still an IMMIGRANT like these new expats.
This multi generational status b.s. is so tiresome. Own your situation and get that job for your worth not wishful birthright! That is a lost gift. You earn what you get so stop whining and show these so called skills you have
Quite a forceful response. I was not expecting CNS to highlight my comment in this way (and have asked before for them to cease this practice) so I do not intend to tell you much else about my situation or myself. Suffice it to say that I am employed but missing out on the rewards of my profession. Also – I did not immigrate to the Cayman Islands. Let’s be very clear about that. I ask myself every day how out of all the lands in the world I came to be from this little rock. That decision was made for me centuries ago.
Rewards are earned, not given. Try adopting that perspective and perhaps those purported obstacles to your success will be alleviated.
Also, if you’re referencing Caymanians whose parents immigrated, they would be second generation. First gens are the actual immigrants.
But your family did. You are a child of an immigrant family.
Why are you missing out? You say you are missing out on the rewards of your “profession”. The post also was made in the context of the Legal Services Bill, so I’d make a reasonable guess that you are a lawyer or accountant. If so, take a long hard look at why you might be “missing out on the rewards”. What decisions did you make along the way? Were you at or near top of class, rather than just getting by in your studies? If you ever had a foot in the door at a leading firm, did you consistently perform, stay late when required, develop the technical skills that you needed, develop relationships in the office? If not, why not? Did you leave for reasons that you can’t now explain, or which, looking back today you would question? Did you go overseas or try to go overseas for international experience. The truth is that the “rewards” you refer to require a top-level commitment from most of the people who are in a position to reap them. Can you honestly say that you made that commitment? There are some Caymanians at the top level in accounting firms and law firms – their careers are follow a similar path and their answers to the questions above would be clear. Are your choices consistent with theirs?
Been saying this for years. Caymanians need not fear the poor black people who come here. We are just here for a pay cheque and to help our families back home. It is the ones who come here with one aim and one aim only and the Cayman Islands are now reaping what has been sown.
I don’t “fear” anyone but you bring your own problems here too. It doesn’t matter if you’re Jamaican, British, black, white, etc. Most foreigners are here for the money, and that’s it.
And the problem we bring is….what exactly?
Poor driving, cat calling, violent crime, corrupt police… Now can you tell me the “one aim and one aim only” of the blue-eyed devils?
The problem you bring is traffic jams, High cost of housing and everything else. New Airport too small etc. You havent been here long enough to know but the beach and water is not what it used to be either. Just read about the new hotel dart plans to build. The average Caymanian will get nothing out of it but more problems. But I agree we are doing it to ourselves.
What problems?