Sometimes I do wonder what as human beings is important to our
existence. What as human beings do we believe make our lives worthwhile? What
makes us believe that one life is more perfect than another?
Is it the colour of our skin?
The length and texture of our hair?
The shape of our body?
The friends we have?
The jobs we do?
The amount of money we possess?
The qualifications we have?
The recent story that hit the Trinidad and Tobago headlines indicates
that qualification and intelligence are major aspects that determine how
society would perceive an individual. It is interesting though that in every
instance; the media was used to highlight the accomplishments of these
children.
· In Jamaica in 2006 a 12 year old boy, Winston Chue received
distinctions in CXC Math and English proficiencies.
·
In Jamaica again in 2010, Garfield Davidson, a twelve year old
boy, received distinctions in Human and social Biology and credits in Spanish,
Principles of Accounts, Office Administration, adding to the distinctions he
received in the previous year in Social Studies, Electronic Document
Preparation and Management and Integrated Science.
·
The latest addition to the bunch of little Einstein’s, is 12 year
old Sooma Chevalier, who received four 3’s in Math, Social Studies, English,
and Principles of Business; one two in Principles of Accounts; and a four in
Human and Social Biology.
As a
friend stated on her facebook page, “it’s just sad! As parents and members of
our community, we are pressuring our nations’ children on being number one in
academics, but not everyone can.” She continued to highlight that there are
other areas besides the academia that our Caribbean children can succeed in
naturally within being pushed and aged beyond their years. She adamantly
stated, that this sort of competition is becoming out of control in the
Caribbean. This idea of being the best, is putting way too much pressure on our
kids. This helps to create societies that are no longer based upon
collectivism, but instead on individualism.
For
instance, Finland is one of the most educated countries in the world, and they
don’t compete in academia like we oh so try to do within the Caribbean region. Parents
let us rethink our decisions, let our children had the childhood that the
deserve, not assist them in committing suicide.
