Little Einstein’s of the Caribbean

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.

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    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.

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    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.