Who was Dudus’s teacher? Who taught him to write? Good job! Dudus seems a normal person, took over his family firm and now reaps the reward. They say he is a good man as he gave away plenty of money. I would like to give too, but can’t. I work hard for my pittance.

I know Dudus by his letters. He writes English; avoids the patois trap which enmeshes most people – smart man! I am sure he speaks both languages; penmanship is legible, displays the syncopation of a warm person; loops tight; words even, good spacing, slight backward slash – possibly depressed? His expressive punctuation and ampersand surprised me – sign of a disciplined, acerbic mind. Salutation like my granny, and he is not text “assured”, so BFF, LOL are not his speed. Like most degreed persons today, he can’t “quality control” his English as the rules are not in him.

We must bring back good English teaching. We must not confuse patois and bad English – they are different. The key is how people speak when they purport to speak English. I know one pastor who rages against patois in cringeworthy English. Dudus refers to “Almighty God” three times – a cry from a dark place. He writes better English than a footballer or entertainer and he uses adjectives correctly. I support rehabilitation. Dudus should get a law degree in prison, write a novel entitled “Tivoli”; give the right to play him to Denzel Washington, become a prison millionaire; pay reparations and in 2036 run as MP for a normal Tivoli. Lesson? Can we improve education and impart good values as one deal?

Education is for life. School really screws up some kids but change is slow. Why so? Education is not an exact science and everyone with some thinks herself an expert. It is also riddled with insecurity or an abundance of caution, and the recent application of scientific method to education has not helped. Long proving times do not guarantee good results. It takes some five years from scratch to implement a curriculum; but will it work? No guarantees! Will our kids be better off? God knows! Changes to GSAT (however rebranded) may not come into the system until 2016. Same for all other tests. Your little Jordan or Kim in Grade 2, 3, 4 will not see the new test. If the vested interests permit, we can do it in six months.

At the PM’s Awards to Education event, I heard English names as Eudesea, Wellesley and Egberia – all now extinct. Dudus’s Tanisha, Keisha, Brittany will be top teacher names in future. Incidentally, I was about to leave the event as leaders arrived late – bad example, disrespect. I tarried and my reward was to see the self-assured Portia in understated dusky tones. The most sexy prime minister in the world. Teachers were absolutely thrilled with their awards! A bright star in their firmament. But did they work in vain? Maybe so.

Why do kids leave school illiterate, innumerate and with poor values? Thwaites says start the infants right and a “causality review” may confirm it. What did Minister Holness think was the cause? If we don’t know the cause, how can we fix it? An industry has built up around education – experts, booksellers – good contracts, poor results, cheerleaders for mediocrity. The GSAT review started last year. Here is a prediction. They will find defects. We will comply with new tests, curricula; develop, evaluate; train assessors, writers, moderators, teachers and pilot the system – hundreds of millions of tax dollars. Educators who preside over failure do not lose jobs and we cannot get them to tell us who failed the kids – it is always some inanimate or aggregated element or they reduce everything to “resources”. The back-scratching in education is palpable and a blight on the nation!

The best primary schooling was when church and private interests ran things – the 4Rs with a biblical core; latin (logic), classics, skills (we need them), exercise; quality teacher training at Mico. The problem then was to spread it to all kids. We now have coverage and the problem now is quality. Schools were started by churches and private people; government got into the act later. State schools in Barbados are the top schools – not here. Why? We invest but do not get the results. The “soft sectors” get a bly but taxpayers must hold them to account. If a bridge collapses we see it; if a curriculum collapses the public do not have a clue. The proof that you are expert is your results. We applaud them but educators and teachers enjoy and abuse our trust for decades – their results suck! What do they say causes our decadal non-performance? What causes our poor results? Curriculum? Low contact hours? Short school year? We are behind, but do we put in more time to catch up? Have we ever fired educators or teachers, cut leave, increased the school year from 190 days and the contact hours?

Educators intimidate parents with language and the bond with teachers is not arm’s length. I asked teachers, educators to explain our appalling decadal results and I got words; not even, “We failed, we missed, we don’t know”, or “This is the cause!” Failing kids or failing teachers? Why don’t schools turn out educated students as the norm? Educators use arcane language and acronyms to exclude parents and mask poor results year on year. Here’s a question. Should the state run schools? Or return them to faith and private interests? Should the state retain oversight, approval, planning, evaluation; funding, research, quality, equity, etc, and divest operations? Should a school be free to build its bespoke teaching around a core curriculum? We have people who know quality. Can we leave it to market forces?

GSAT will change, but parents do not. Parents say “even I can’t pass the GSAT” So what? Aren’t you the same ones who can’t programme the new TV, DVD and call the kids to do it? Face it, you are not as bright as your kids. A 10-year-old set up my iThing but I dust her at scrabble – know yu size, pickney! Parents are the past. The answer to parental hysteria is Valium, not to changes. The revolution is to infuse quality into 2,500 basic schools; make nimble changes to curricula and exams in months, not years. Parents must reject poor results and hold educators and teachers to account. You say you are good? Show me results. Incidentally, transformation funded by the IDB and World Bank started under Henry-Wilson, who handed the baton to Holness and he passed it to Thwaites. Despite the talk, Andrew made no seminal changes or the IDB would have stopped the funds. It will be years before transformation impacts schools. For now we rely on activist ministers to drive performance, accountability, introduce new priorities and relevant new projects. Stay conscious, my friend!

Dr Franklin Johnston is a strategist, project manager and advises the minister of education.

franklinjohnstontoo@gmail.com