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26 comment found!

Literacy : 2/16/2010
The reality is that a debate,or even an article of this sort is virtually meaningless unless some effort is made to cite the implied or conventional definition of literacy. Furthermore an assessment of literacy for purposes of international comparisons is necessarily going to have a more rudimentary standard of literacy than an assessment of the pragmatic importance of the skill to the individual. Given the wide range of intellectual capacity that is to be found in any un-selected population, it would be meaningless to compare the literacy skills required by a medical practitioner, for example, with the skills required by a farmer's field hands. For this reason alone, however well intentioned, the declaration of the goodly educator needs to be taken with a pinch of salt, and NOT taken out of context.

clcking

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Re: renae : 9/16/2009
Note the end of my last post... I stated "(Wikipedia) Which in turn used: UNESCO Institute for Statistics 2003 as a reference..." Statements on there are okay in a very loose context. Although, for research you have to be more careful and only take things as a grain of salt, and I suggest only doing this (*if*) it has a backup source for verification. Furthermore, it needs to be a credible source and those sources should be reviewed as well to make sure it was cited in the correct context. P.S. I agree about the effects of the economy on Barbados. Barbados has tumbled quite a ways down the UN Human Development Index ranking. It is now at 37, (almost down to the 40s.) There is real possibility that Chile might surpass Barbados on the next edition. Thus, becoming the new the third holder in the Americas. ( http://hdr.undp.org/en/statistics/ ) It's a shame Barbados used to be way up there. Ahead of Spain and much of Eastern Europe back in the mid 90s. The European Union has lifted most of those countries up higher on the list though. The EU gives aid to their less well off members so they are going to increasingly climb the list.

J. Payne

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TO J Payne : 9/16/2009
Just so you know wikipedia is not a recognised source as any one can alter the information available on the sight.... i must say though education is free the entire system is closed minded and does not provide an avenue where people can think for themselves nor does it foster creativity. Though people here may be literate they are still very stupid as they seem unable to speak for themselves (this is evident in the way we allow this country to kill us in this recession and not speak out) renae

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Facts are facts: real Literacy is best estimated by books read per capita : 9/16/2009
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literacy I dont believe you have read what i wrote below carefully..However litereacy from wiki source is typically described as the ability to read, write, speak and listen in meaningful or socially-recognised ways..however a further broader defintion is attempted saying; Literacy involves a continuum of learning in enabling individuals to achieve their goals, to develop their knowledge and potential... try reading more books!

Facts are facts: real Literacy is best estimated by books read per capita

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Re: American Economist : 9/15/2009
Where is your source for your information? I have a source that says otherwise. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_literacy_rate Which in turn used: UNESCO Institute for Statistics 2003 as a reference...

J. Payne

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Facts are Facts; people need to admit problem to address it..to few people read books in barbados! : 9/15/2009
No disespect Ettenuahs but your comment is a perfect examaple of what not grasping the concept of a point is. The point is that by whatever indicators used, barbados rabks low. Hence the proble must be admited and realised to solve it..not buttered away by leaders To answer your question more detailed, Per capita book usage = sum of books per head loaned in library + per head books purchased in given year with survey data on non-readers and heavy readers in each country. A baseline decent indicatro shoudl be above 8 books per year Barbados's avergage hovers below that. American Economist

Facts are Facts; people need to admit problem to address it..to few people read books in barbados!

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: 9/15/2009
But how do you measure books per capita? By sales figures? If that's the case then the figures would be misleading. Americans may buy books and never read them, as they're relatively cheap. Whereas in Barbados for everybook bought locally, many are bought overseas. And for every book bought a large number of people read it. It's read and passed on to friends.

ettenuahs

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Facts are facts, books per capita is one of most credible indicators of literacy : 9/14/2009
From my experiecne unfortunately Some of the teachers illiterate too and dont read much books, but Godspeed to the men and woman who have this task to teach. TO Bree, Facts are facts, barbados is at bottom avg, for you to say anything negative because of the fact about U.S.A in general specifically when it come to literacy would be pointlessly unwise...Go read economist magazine or annual country year in figures and see America is 100yrs socially and eonomically ahead of any nation and leads all social development indexes. It is a lot more credible than European colonist....your conmment without facts to base your point about Americans just reflects the level of illiteracy permeating too many people i Barbados..I sadly wonder if you read more than 17 books for the yr. On top of it..Bajans are other Americans as well, it just they bow politically to a woman in Europe, you exist in the new world of the Americas for 300 yrs..watch american T.V, plug in 110V,shop at price mart and its culture can be quite sophisticated in some aspects compared e.g to Somalia or Congo, however the hard core fact that doesnt change is that learning to read english is not true literacy.. reading many books is what helps develo that.

American Economist

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: 9/14/2009
I WANT THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION TO STOP LOOKING AT FIGURES AND COMPARING OUR CHILDREN,IT SEEMS TO ME YOU MORE INTERESTED IN STATISTICS AND WHAT LOOKS GOOD OR SOUNDS GOOD ON THE NEWS , THE FACT IS THAT OUR CHILDREN ARE GROWING UP WITH THE LEAST LEVEL OF COMPREHENSIVE SKILLS , ITS A NATION WIDE PROBLEM , AM SURE A HIGH PERCENTAGE OF TEACHERS WILL AGREE TO THIS, ALSO JUST TO NOTE THAT IF WE COMPARE OURSELVES TO THE VAGRANTS OF COURSE WE ARE GOING TO LOOK AS THOUGH WE RICH , TRY TO BE THE BEST WE CAN BE , NOT JUST TO CLIMB ON THE LIMB OVER THE OTHER COUNTRIES

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: 9/14/2009
Bajan in Trinidad, the citizens of Most countries, which border other countries whose languages differ are mostly the ones who are multi lingual. Not even the people who live in the US are commonly multi-lingual and they are exposed to many languages. If people in B'dos take up foreign languages without practising them, how long do you think they will remember? Foreign languages maut be practiced if they become second and third languages. I think it would be a waste of time and government money to introduce foreign languages where not necessary. Let's not get ahead of ourselves here.

Just my opinion

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Re: J. Payne : 9/14/2009
I must say i have to agree with J Payne on this one, it only takes a couple minutes of browsing to see that most government websites are in dire need of updating. I'm just a small fish but in a globalized world where the number one source of information for many is the internet, I would assume greater attention should be payed to the content of our online service and the credibility of the information posted.

D. Gittens

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: 9/13/2009
What would the world do without teachers! What would the world do without teachere! j Richards teacher for 30 years

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Literacy : 9/13/2009
To American Economist...In the U.S.A there must be a very small number of people who are reading a disproportionate number of books, for most Americans don,t really read for meaning.One can read words, but does one really understand the concepts or the ideas presented? I also believe that Barbadians should not be mislead into this false sense of accomplishment. Judging from the articles I read on this site, much needs to be done to improve the standards in all areas of language proficiency.

Bree

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There should be a Ministry of Information and Communications. : 9/13/2009
That could sort out these types of things. Itcould comprise of the Telecom unit, the BGIS, the government printery and archive, the CBC, Barbados Statistical Service.

J. Payne

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If 97% is a myth someone needs to update website. : 9/11/2009
If the 97% was a myth the Barbados government needs to learn how to code HTML and change what it says on the Barbados Central Bank website too... http://www.centralbank.org.bb/ NOTE: the far right hand side. "97.6%"?? As it stands, right now the government is contradicting itself. I asked the government if they need some more web administrators because many of the sites are out of date, but they implied that they could manage. As the French say: "C'est la vie." (a.k.a "Such is life")

J. Payne

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FYI all:Real Literacy is ability to grasp concepts and create ideas, NOT read English. : 9/11/2009
Sorry to burst bubble of any false pride. but fact is the real literacy indicator is about books read per capita, not number of people who can understand how to read english. Barbados ranks in the bottom 20% percentile in the world with Somailia. USA leads the world with 17+ books per capita, i.e read by average person. UK and Western Europe is about 13 - 15 books per capita. Without prejudice to anyone. American Economist

American Eonomist

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: 9/10/2009
Reading and writing are important, but don't forget to teach children to be kind and considerate to others as well. What use is it to be able to brag about our literacy rating and meanwhile produce adults with blinders.

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literacy : 9/10/2009
Can't be too much of a myth if Barbados is # 4 in the world , is it ? The world is huge and for B/dos to be in the top 5 , speaks volume ! Perhaps, we were 2 and fell to 3. Or we were 3 and fallen to 4. Regardless, it can't be a myth with such high ranking. Instead, it would have been a myth if Barbados had ranked in the bottom 5. What myth ? Keep up the good work Barbados.

RB

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Agreed - @ Striving Bajan : 9/10/2009
Initially I was aghast at Dr. Saul's comment but in retrospect, we should use it as encouragement to strive for even better. We have an excellent education system. Working with grown folks from our Caribbean neighbour to the south, I sometimes cringe at the lack of proper grammatical usage. Let us not measure our achievements by being ahead of our Caribbean neighbours or in the top four worldwide. Instead we should be striving to produce a society who is not simply literate but also articulate. When we compare ourselves to countries where young children are bi, tri and multi-lingual, where does that leave us in the grand scheme of things?

Bajan in Trinidad

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98% literacy : 9/10/2009
i heard that from the time i was 3 years old when my gran would chase me into the house with a belt and made me learn to read and write. "barbados has a 98% literacy rate" even though we were in the US... but i always read and wrote better than everyone else. my gran would have been 107 today if she were alive. granny R.I.P.

anon

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'Our literacy rating : 9/9/2009
Reaching the high end in any goal in life is always the easy part just like losing weight. the hard part is keeping it off.this is where the struggle really is maintaining this high standard.My point is we should not look at Dr Patricia Saul's statement as dumbing down the achievement of our Education system, but a pep talk to work harder and make our system a model for the other countries in our region if not the world.

STRIVEINGBAJAN.

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Devil always in the details : 9/9/2009
No question that a literate population is important to a country's development, however the way it is measured now probably represent nothing more than the easiest way for countries to collect the data and therefore is nothing more than an indicator but people can get jingoistic and jump up and down if they wish. There is no one yardstick by which all countries measure literacy and even within the two major definitions some countries have 'tweaked' the one they use. Most countries use ..."age 15 and over can read and write", (some countries use a lower age, Anguilla uses age 9). Other countries, including Barbados use ... "15 and over and has ever attended school", (Antigua and Barbuda use ..."age 15 and over and has completed five or more years of schooling" which is the UK's standard too). So you can see how and why countries will get different results.

Critical Thinker

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Top 5' : 9/9/2009
How ever you look at it we are in a downward spiral. we cannot rest in our Laurels. We now have to work. and build on this rating. At the same time i have to ask how does this rating affect our biggest problem? [JOBS] Are they not supposed to go hand in hand? we have the Educated personnel. the promise has always been go to school, and learn so you can get a good job.They have done that. Now where are the JOBS?

JOBLESSBAJAN.

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Barbados is GREAT!! response to previous poster : 9/9/2009
Its sometimes sad to hear some people discredit down the education we are provided in Barbados when we should be grateful that we are so privileged to receive it. Its a shame that persons blame teachers for the failure of their children..though teachers are entrusted with educating our children that is for a mere 30 hours per week. What happens to the other hours..children are left to their own devices!! Parents need to contribute to their child's advancement a well. Its easier to blame the teacher than take a close look at home and aiming to resolve the problem. Barbadians are some of the most literate people and some of the praise goes to the teachers who work hard to ensure what needs to be done is done. Don't paint all teachers with the same brush.. because all are not the same.

Proud Barbadian

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: 9/9/2009
As a parent whose children went through the secondary school system about 5 years ago, if our literacy rate is really that high, it certainly cannot be credited to teachers across the board. While there are some who understand and accept their responsibility as educators, my experience indicates that there are many who teach perhaps because they can't find a job elsewhere. Stories of teacher absenteeism and lack of interest in students' progress abound. Most parents refuse to report incidents for fear of reprisals against their children, so the status quo remains. Perhaps Mr Jones and his ministry should look more closely at what actually goes on in the secondary schools before quoting statistics that suggest that he has been misinformed at the very best.

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Thank You Barbados : 9/9/2009
Many thanks and praise for those great Barbadians who had the foresight to see the free education was the right move to make at the time it was made. THANK YOU MR. ERROL WALTON BARROW A GREAT SON OF THE SOIL. We are indeed a proud people and with just cause. #4 in this large world is something to be proud of and something to shout out LOUD!!

Bajan in Cayman

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