further to the intellectual ghetto.........

[Comment]

A few years ago I was privileged to attend a science forum at UWI put on by a great Jamaican living in America. This keen mind has headed the science department at Stanford for some 14 years, if my memory serves me correctly, where he learned and developed many things. Above all he learned what is supposed to be the core functions of a university in what is now a technological, highly globalized, largely non colonized world. He postured that really a university is supposed to test and drive technology and systems and develop partnerships with private enterprise to deploy these technologies and systems. This is what Stanford does he explained. This is why it is successful and relevant he argued. He explained that if the UWI wants to be current and relevant in the world economy of today then this is what it must do. In front of all the deans and heads of departments, in a very matter of fact way but with a remarkably cheery disposition, he dissected the reasons for the UWI’s inertia and explained that this was primarily because the UWI was a creation of our colonial masters to train locals to manage the affairs of the various colonies. It was never intended to spawn innovation and critical thinking, just to train managers to maintain systems already in place. The relevance of this obviously no longer exists yet the UWI he argued had not seemed to have adapted to changing requirements to its great detriment. He pointed out that successive heads of the institution seemed more concerned with protecting their status than launching out and seeking and developing knowledge and competing with the rest of the world, especially developed countries.

After his cheery and candid presentation, he opened the floor for questions. What followed was quite remarkable. In a context of pandemonium, the various learned and important deans and heads of departments, obviously not content with being labeled unthinking and unsophisticated colonial lackeys, launched a scathing attack as to the validity of his reasoning. With unquenched indignation they demanded of him who he thought he was and how he could expect them to compete with the established developed giants in America and Europe. Anticipating this weak, defeatist and puerile reaction he calmly presented a real life scenario to what had now become an indignant mob. Thirty years ago, he said, if you wanted to by a substantial cargo ship you went to any number of shipyards in America, today you go to a tiny little slip of an island called Singapore. He wondered aloud if they achieved this by blaming God for being a small nation that was subject to the vagrancies of colonialism and then accepting their place in the scheme of things, content with being the trained watchdogs of their former colonial masters, gleefully fighting over the scraps that he disdainfully scrapes off his plate, or by learning new technologies, IMPROVING these technologies and finally deploying these technologies. He questioned if the UWI can also adapt, learn and improve. To date this question has not been answered…………..

Losers produce excuses. Winners produce results.

[Muadib]

A few years ago I was privileged to attend a science forum at UWI put on by a great Jamaican living in America. This keen mind has headed the science department at Stanford for some 14 years, if my memory serves me correctly, where he learned and developed many things. Above all he learned what is supposed to be the core functions of a university in what is now a technological, highly globalized, largely non colonized world. He postured that really a university is supposed to test and drive technology and systems and develop partnerships with private enterprise to deploy these technologies and systems. This is what Stanford does he explained. This is why it is successful and relevant he argued. He explained that if the UWI wants to be current and relevant in the world economy of today then this is what it must do. In front of all the deans and heads of departments, in a very matter of fact way but with a remarkably cheery disposition, he dissected the reasons for the UWI’s inertia and explained that this was primarily because the UWI was a creation of our colonial masters to train locals to manage the affairs of the various colonies. It was never intended to spawn innovation and critical thinking, just to train managers to maintain systems already in place. The relevance of this obviously no longer exists yet the UWI he argued had not seemed to have adapted to changing requirements to its great detriment. He pointed out that successive heads of the institution seemed more concerned with protecting their status than launching out and seeking and developing knowledge and competing with the rest of the world, especially developed countries.

After his cheery and candid presentation, he opened the floor for questions. What followed was quite remarkable. In a context of pandemonium, the various learned and important deans and heads of departments, obviously not content with being labeled unthinking and unsophisticated colonial lackeys, launched a scathing attack as to the validity of his reasoning. With unquenched indignation they demanded of him who he thought he was and how he could expect them to compete with the established developed giants in America and Europe. Anticipating this weak, defeatist and puerile reaction he calmly presented a real life scenario to what had now become an indignant mob. Thirty years ago, he said, if you wanted to by a substantial cargo ship you went to any number of shipyards in America, today you go to a tiny little slip of an island called Singapore. He wondered aloud if they achieved this by blaming God for being a small nation that was subject to the vagrancies of colonialism and then accepting their place in the scheme of things, content with being the trained watchdogs of their former colonial masters, gleefully fighting over the scraps that he disdainfully scrapes off his plate, or by learning new technologies, IMPROVING these technologies and finally deploying these technologies. He questioned if the UWI can also adapt, learn and improve. To date this question has not been answered…………..

Losers produce excuses. Winners produce results.

Actually the University is further South of Stanford.. but besides that your memory is impressive.

Don't forget though.. it is the 'Brown Man' and di 'White Man' that are keeping us down...

I believe it is the INABILITY to ORGANIZE our individual brilliance...

Bwoy di Slavery ting was harsh but.. something else has to be at work 400 years later to preserve the 'chains'.. and it cannot be the motives of others..