Dear Editor,
There have been sporadic reports of determination to establish a local law school; a good thing by any measure. Similarly, there is occasional word of the need for robust oversight of “medical schools” that crop up from time to time. And now there is conversation surrounding awarding of honorary doctorates. My questions are simple: Is this society ready and competent for these sensitive embraces and leaps? Is the broader environment conducive?
The easier one is addressed first -honorary doctorates. No issues with the awardees. I just do not believe that the local institution has garnered a sufficiency of credibility and standing to advance to this step. I envision that change for the better could come in time under the hand of the Vice Chancellor and his team. For now, I think much more work has to be done, and this step is on the premature side.
As to law school establishment and medical school presences, no one should argue against what is contemplated. Still, I believe that these priorities are upside down with the cart before the horse. I think that the priorities ought to be in the feeder system. That is, the lower level of CSEC and the general lack of quality material that issues forth into the crucial and pivotal legal and medical streams. On many occasions at the high school level, I have heard the familiar refrain that questions the raw materials in the classroom. Stated differently, that would be the calibre of the feeder student population. From looking at the environment, I would assert that the really promising talented and studious range somewhere between 2-5% of the annual production of successful students. Successful students must be defined as ten subjects including the two mandatory ones (and the sciences where such is relevant). At best, this leaves a yearly national cohort of high single-digit hundreds. But there is an additional consideration: many students experience great difficulty in offering twenty-five words on any topic in any subject. Mostly what is presented lacks vocabulary, lucidity, cogency. Two short sentences could be the maximum for the majority; venturing further exposes shallowness. This is not exaggeration, only reality. I daresay if there is little reading, there can be less writing, even less understanding, and probably zero extrapolating.
Examine closely a sample of CSEC answer sheets (possibly excepting English Language ones) and a whole examination can be satisfactorily completed on both sides of a single page. Things are that simplistic; functional simpletons result after thirteen years under this learning tree. In those instances where there is quantity, there is palpable deficiency. Meaningless. Impoverished. Embarrassing. This is the reductionism fostered by effort and educational demands that limit to the paltriness of cellphone texts. With few exceptions, this is the architecture of what forms the tertiary structure, what leeches into the demanding legal and medical student bodies. The hard charging, results oriented cream powers forward to CAPE or overseas. The outstanding CAPE performers end up similarly. What remains to occupy local spaces are the questionable (to be kind) and the inadequate (to call matters as they are). I have heard the same lament at this higher level: raw materials in the sensitive prestigious legal and medical streams, as in quality of influx. As if to underscore the gravity of the situation, it has been shared that seasoned, highly skilled educators are saddled with carrying classes, and then carry contemporaries entrusted with classroom guidance. In other words, teach the teachers. I would submit, that to some extent, the contexts of those in need of enhancements are that of the existing CXC feeder system. The harsh reality amounts to this: the encouraging, many times glowing numbers from CXC success now collide with the immovable wall of academic challenge and intellectual rigour. In view of learning backgrounds, fateful struggles ensue. This is what emerges to probe our insides and existences. This is why I question local law school and local medical schools at this time. Fix the foundation first; construct a firmer stairway for those who could be the constitutionalists and specialists of the future.
A reasonable corroboration exercise would be the revealing statistic of those from the CSEC level who succeed at the CAPE level; those who are shunted aside and away from the top schools for not making the grade. No repeating! Not surprisingly, too, is the fact that only young stalwarts of substance can confront the SATs. Rather damningly, it must not be ignored that CSEC glitter has little standing and less traction with most institutions of higher learning worth their salt. This says a lot. Obviously, some serious scrutiny, review, and reengineering are overdue with Guyana’s continuing subscription to the CXC as it stands. With prosperity hovering at the doorstep, the present and next generations are at great risk of being relegated to populating the ranks of the kowtowing class. If that eludes, then chew on this: mediocrity is quickly discernible. This would incentivize foreign cats to eat the dinner of locals, and they, too. Our people would be at a tremendous disadvantage and unable to operate at high levels or to merit confidence. This is the reality of local content writ large.
For these reasons, I think that serious attention and action have to be invested now in turning around what is definitely a daunting situation from the ground up. Thereafter, law school and medical schools could be pursued.
Yours faithfully,
GHK Lall
