After the SEA results were announced for this year there were outcries that the system was a failure, children were being left behind, and that it needed to be replaced. Isn’t this why Common Entrance was replaced? So is it still the system or are we not addressing the root cause of why some of the nation’s children are not catching up? Many people had suggestions as to how SEA should be repealed and replaced so to speak from ditching the whole idea of grading according to academic merit and creating placement according to how students performed generally in life by giving them a GPA based not solely on academia but an all-rounded approach to life and/or a personality assessment. While this might sound like all flowers and candy what is the ulterior motive behind such suggestions to place students according to some new system, again, in what is termed ‘prestigious schools?” Some have even suggested replacing prestigious schools altogether. But there seems to be an ulterior motive as the suggestions are coming in on a one-sided basis.
The SEA exams have already replaced the Common Entrance Examinations which were effected in the fifties and sixties to place most students as they could not afford a secondary education and especially a tertiary one. It was the only way to fairly provide a next-level education for gifted students who excelled amongst their classmates and differentiate from those who might be better placed in a trade school. Although the paths diverged it benefitted the nation as a nation needs gifted innovators, leaders, and thinkers in their field as well as those who could keep the country running.
As the economy of the country grew education became free at all levels, but in the long run this will reduce the ability of students to compete with each other thereby producing a nation of people with degrees but no innovation or genius. This also causes students with behavioral problems to be mixed with students who put in more effort or whose parental input and time to raise more responsible citizens goes to waste as children with greater behavior problems create a slower pace in the classroom. With free education as a right and not a privilege competing for the best schools becomes null and void. It’s all schools fits one size, no room for competition.
Certain principles are universal, in economics competition breeds improvement of an economy and more choices for customers, that is, competition is better. The same thing applies to education, we are not producing people who can improve our world, that is, children who were always challenged by the education system. We are now producing a bunch of robots coming off a factory line all spouting the same thing carrying a superficial degree. The prestigious school was a guarantee that Trinidad will always have a highly educated class pushing the boundaries of science, politics and other fields of intellectualism. No one said trade schools were anything to be ashamed off either, our society is now lacking people with such skills, ever heard people say “can’t get nobody to wuk these days boy.” Trades are also highly respected professions and if done well in collaboration with business can make you more successful than being a specialized doctor.
However what about the ulterior motives? I have suspected for a very long time that such proposed changes were only being constantly made because it seems “too many” Indian children were topping the Common Entrance and SEA exams as can be verified by even the direct complaints coming from the other side and by black leaders who have been many times outwardly racist and biased.
Indians need to be able to properly answer people like this. Why is it that Indian people continue to be silent and accept their destiny always being chartered by someone else? Why is it that Indian people in Trinidad are so meek they cannot challenge the status quo that is openly trying to fix a system to keep Indians ousted? Opponents of the SEA exams are the same advocates who had brilliant ideas to improve the agriculture system but mechanized it as a ploy to destroy thousands of Indian workers and by extension the agriculture of Trinidad. I am predicting if UNC began to win 2 to 3 times consecutively all of a sudden they will want to revise the electoral constitution or have more shared power. The hidden agenda is to check Indian power, progress, and if need be curtail fair competition. However, all the other side has to do is mask the proposed changes with some kind of reason and Indians are foaming at the mouth to go along with it. All they have to say is, “well you know sugarcane not really doing so well” and foolish Indians will agree and guess what ?… Indian income is gone! UNC vote base is gone! Now it’s “the poor children can’t handle all that studying,” really Indian people? Really? Because Indian children are doing fine. Are you that daft not to see the plots against you? Indians cannot continue to allow this black privilege to continue unchecked.
Whatever Indians are good at, even if they keep to themselves and behave the only good Indian is a dead Indian. The opposition will always complain. Indians must put a stop to this ongoing war against their community. The others will continue to push a racist agenda against Indians so long as they feel we are quiet! Let’s face it, many times the education standard kept lowering as the PNM government kept dropping standards for black children to be allowed in because they felt Indians were filling up the universities too much. They even encouraged using teachers’ input on the grading system rather than allowing fair standardized exams. Can you imagine what that means for teachers who will take advantage of a student they personally dislike? It has happened to many people I know. The PNM government instead of trying to address the root cause of the problem why black children might be failing (a topic for another time) in comparison to Indian children would rather destabilize the whole educational structure to find a way to keep Indians at bay thereby destroying Trinidad in the process. No one is saying not to address why one group is lagging behind, but they must assess the root cause of the problem instead of taking it out on another community. And if I must spell out everything such people are not beyond using an Indian scapegoat to forward their cause and claim what I am saying isn’t true.
Yes, it is true that when a student fails they are momentarily embarrassed or when someone passes they are momentarily joyful, but it is the culmination of a life’s work that will determine how successful they are. Yes, I believe Indian children should diversify their hobbies as well and be more all-rounded than just medicine and cricket, but Indians must speak up when they fully know these changes are being designed with racist intent. If academic GPA and getting into a good school must include personality assessment and whatever other fields you are taking part in aside from just academia then what is the point of an academic GPA, what is the point of academic life? Why do we send the fastest man to run the 100m race in sports? We should send the all-rounded guy to the Olympics regardless if he’s the fastest. In fact, do Indians complain to change the requirements of sport to allow more Indians to compete and get into the Olympics? No, in order to do that we must address the root cause of the problem in our community of our lack of participation football and other sports, not blame the other side or destroy sports altogether so it can lower to a level for us to get in once in a while. If a principle cannot uphold itself when logic is applied, then perhaps it has no place in being applied. If the system was working the other way around and Indians were failing, then nothing would have ever changed over the years.
Yes, it is also true that nothing we have is perfect whether it’s democracy itself or the education system, but do not corrupt a working system for intentionally racist reasons. Lowering a nation’s education standards because everybody-needs-a-trophy type of snowflake mentality will defeat Trinidad and Tobago in the long run. This type of black socialism will cause Trinidad and Tobago to collapse. Children must be taught at an early age how to survive in a democratic capitalist republic nation at all levels and not expect a handout to survive. How will they deal in the real world?
So in an effort to stop Indians from reaching higher, the rest would rather destroy the whole country in the process and bring down our entire education system. No Trinidadian will be able to be groundbreaking with the downward spiral of our education system fueled by a racist need to keep one population in check by the other. And please stop quoting useless statistics and that other countries are doing it because other countries are also collapsing under a socialist type education lowering-the-standards system “no child left behind” syndrome. Indian people need to speak up because the day will come when it is too late. If you give a man an inch and he takes a yard and you don’t complain what you think he will do? Rinse and repeat. My answer to our nation’s developments [politically, economically, and culturally/ educationally] is let each constituent chart their own future without big government centralize inputs as much as possible.
