Jamesy5008

That WOULD be worth seeing!!!!

Eldudebros

Gordon Barlow

Gordon Barlow

Further to my earlier reports on the shortage of school-places for expat children... The situation seems to have reached a crisis-point now, with some intending migrants to Cayman withdrawing their applications because their kids can't go to school at all. Unless government lifts its ban on expat kids going to government schools, parents of school-age children will stop coming here - to the detriment of our economy, especially our Offshore Finance sector.

Jamesy5008

Gordon, as you will be fully aware, there have been a couple of stonking articles recently in the CNS and the Compass regarding the schooling crisis. The Gov must now be fully aware of the depth of feeling surrounding all things education, particularly with a very well written article by a former teacher here which I think was in the CNS?

Thankfully I'm here without kids but I can only imagine the quandary that ex-pats with kids are in. A chance for a new life but with the possibility of massive added expense for education.

You've been here forever. Why is the Gov so against absorbing ex-pats kids into the system?

TandD2017

https://www.caymancompass.com/2018/0...ation-changes/

Well personally I am not convinced it's going to change based on the above. Increasing teachers pay although welcome is a small part of the problem. Rehashing the curriculum may have some merit in terms of keeping it more current. Opening a year 12 & 13 at A level for government kids may be a cost saver, but there is capacity for them already on island. Bringing computers into the classroom is moving with the times but not really an educational overhaul. But the real essence of any education system is the attitude of the pupils and families to achieving well at school, how are they going to do that on an island where you are guaranteed a well paid job anyway if you are a passport holder, raise expectations! So Johnny, previously we expected you to achieve pass, now we expect you to get a merit, it's not going to work. I really hope I am proved wrong.

Gordon Barlow

Back in the early 1970s - maybe even before that - the local politicians of the day (all un-salaried and merchants, then) faced a choice between educating the children of the Islands and protecting them from competition, and they chose the latter. Every second penny spent by the Education Department since that time has been wasted. Half of the native population is illiterate by any objective standard; you only have to browse the comments on the CNS or Marl Road websites, to find evidence of that. The fact that the other half isn't illiterate, can be attributed to the middle-class aspirations of its parents, inspired by expat parents. Government schools are hopeless; if the authorities were ever to open them up to expats, they would get very few takers.

The latest silly idea is to set up yet another anti-expat agency, called "WORC" - I forget what the acronym stands for; most of us pronounce it to rhyme with "pork" - whose stated aim is to reduce Caymanian unemployment to zero. Think about that for a moment! God help the employers, eh? There is not the slightest intention to raise educational standards, as long as protectionism can be, well, protected. For as long as I've lived here, the Immigration Department and its Committees - traditionally anti-expat almost to a man and woman - have forced employers to hire and promote native Caymanians however unsuitable. (Not all of the latter are unsuitable, of course; suitable ones are in high demand, and no force is needed to hire them.) The employers have fought back by imposing informal "glass ceilings", and lying in their job advertisements. TandD - you won't be proved wrong, I'm afraid. You understand the problem very well.