IT in Caribbean: Barbados the Leader?

[Assasin]

that is simply your opinion. Do you realise the amount of people who live off entertainment, art and sports worldwide? Is this a reaction to mIake up for failure?

If that is the case I am in the failure category.

[Don1]

Of course it's my opinion... that's simply obvious.

It's also obviously true... from seeing the objective reality of Jamaican's behaviour regarding sport and music vs education.... and the relative performance results in those fields absolutely validate the hypothesis.

People are good at what they practice... and people generally practice (or enable resources for) what interests them...Ergo: our reality of poor education and brilliant sport/music.
Unless you believe we are genetically predisposed to be world level musicians, sporting high performers... and ignorant

Critical Analysis Lesson CXXXV1: Personal anecdotes are often a very poor tool for analysis of a large cohort. One needs to drill down further than analyzing oneself or acquaintances to encounter truth about a larger population. It's a sample size issue

You routinely claim to know individuals who do this or that (including yourself above) ...and use such flimsy anecdotes to support an argument about a general population

Most unwise

[Assasin]

where is your stats. How do we compare to Americans, British etc. in partying and putting money into sports.

The fact is that not enough money is going into sports and music or education. Can you tell me what is government investment in music. We are not even reaping a fraction of what we could in music or sports. Education is vital but technology is not the only thing that is important in education. There is a huge career in sports education and the arts as well.

As usual your opinion is the only fact so I won't argue about that. Yes I get a scholarship and knew a lot of people who did so, so I have to make that known as I see how it has changed people's life. I won't belittle anything you doing but sports and music is vital.

[Don1]

where is your stats. How do we compare to Americans, British etc. in partying and putting money into sports.

The fact is that not enough money is going into sports and music or education. Can you tell me what is government investment in music. We are not even reaping a fraction of what we could in music or sports. Education is vital but technology is not the only thing that is important in education. There is a huge career in sports education and the arts as well.

As usual your opinion is the only fact so I won't argue about that. Yes I get a scholarship and knew a lot of people who did so, so I have to make that known as I see how it has changed people's life. I won't belittle anything you doing but sports and music is vital.

Belittle?? It's not about belittling personal achievement. It's saying that because certain individuals achieve one cannot use that to describe a large group.... that's an argument built on a faulty premise.
That's logic.

You want stats?

Jamaica: 15%-20% formal illiteracy rate. Functional innumeracy ~30%

At the bottom of the pile in the region... Fact

BUT...

Our music sweeps the world...the only nation outside the US & UK to have developed an indigenous, global pop brand music.... fantastic

Our athletes sweep the World.... greatly overachieving in relation to our size...fantastic.


It's not all about money...it's also about focus.. ie time. That is a huge resource. We get those results in entertainment fields because we put a tremendous focus on practicing that relative to other things.... and relative to its importance in development.

We get very poor results in education because of a lack of focus and a lack of resources being applied to the problem...relative to the importance of it in development.

We have developed a culture that highly values and celebrates music & sport...so our EXPECTATIONS are high and our focus on them is similarly high. We have no such high cultural expectations regarding education unfortunately....and it shows.

Consider Asian kids in the US. There's no more money spent on their education vs other groups...but their results are remarkable. Why? They spend their time practicing school work... not incessantly bouncing a ball or singing chune.
Their culture values that educational achievement very highly...and so have high expectations...and so they spend the time required to achieve at a high level... significantly outperforming Whites.

If you cannot understand or don't agree with that relativity or cultural issue...no problem, that's not surprising... but mi dun wid it

[Jawge]

Good points. Let's extend the argument; Bolt competes globally and Ja's musicians are known internationally.Is the MATH and SCIENCE faculty of UWI and UTECH publishing in renown journals globally?If yes please cite the source with respect to math and the physical sciences. Thanks.

[Don1]

Why ask me to substantiate a claim I have not made?

I'm at a loss

[Jawge]

Let me give you a chance to read over what I said; then you can come with a more intelligent response.


Quote: "Maximus is merciful"

[Don1]

When people write nonsense I generally don't re-read. It's a waste of time.

Take your UWI or whatever theories to people who have time to waste...I don't

Thanks in advance

[Islandman]

If you are saying that our local universities do not publish enough, then based on the criticisms I have heard over the years from people who know about these things that is probably true.

What is your larger point though?

[Jawge]

How noble; I see you have chosen Seppuku. Ah well, I rest my case.

[Jawge]

This reminds me of the movie Gladiator Russel Crowe's version of course).

Let's do a what if: We can start with Compsci and math. Now if UWI and UTECH faculty were publishing in renown journals;can't you see the spin off
for students at the graduate and undergard level? I'm sure major corps from abroad would fund the applications of these papers. Yes? In a short time, due to population size the effects would reach schools at the secondary and primary level.

[Willi]

But you are AGREEING with Don1 !!!!

[Jawge]

Interesting. Please explain by comparing the two premises. Thanks.

[Islandman]

Well I'm not sure it would play out like that. Certainly not in the straightforward way you have described it. Corporate Funding Depends largely on the area of research.

Nonetheless we can agree that more vibrant academic research and it's practical application can only benefit the country. I will note that Prof Shirley has applied pressure to the dinosaurs at UWI to improve in this area. He is a good man trying to achieve a difficult transformation. Hope he gets the support he needs.

My feeling on it is that we lose our way much much earlier at the early childhood education stage. Even Where I am in Florida when I see the difference between the children in the elementary school I have volunteered in and the ones my child and our friends children go to, you see how early they fall behind. Only the very bright ones have a chance to catch up if they get a break.

We still dealing with illiteracy 30+ years after JAMAL to rhatid

[Willi]

Too much wuk fi explain the obvious.

Borg dont like inefficiency.