As investor confidence blossoms Chinese giant takes root....

[Jangle]

One tends to get what one prepares for

For many decades we have prepared ourselves to be servants, taxi drivers, trinket sellers, maids & butlers. We do a fair job of that in serving millions of fat tourists annually

Unless we prepare our education shitstem to move our workforce up the value chain to higher value add production...we'll continue to be mainly servants. But no one plans (and acts) for that transformation so it will not occur

While Jamaicans yap incessantly about the necessity for "growth"....they don't appear to get the connection between our servant workforce and our relative poverty....even if we achieve the "growth" they yap about

Forget the man in the street....even our so called leaders are largely clueless about 21st Century realities

It's absolutely pathetic

[Islandman]

So true. Spend any time on a North American cruise ship and this will be self-evident.

The captain and his staff are mostly European descent

The technician/engineering staff is largely Asian descent.

Care to guess which set of people are serving the food, playing the music and cleaning the rooms?

[Muadib]

Some more than others..

But admission of that will then force one to make a sensible choice when presented..

[Don1]

So true. Spend any time on a North American cruise ship and this will be self-evident.

The captain and his staff are mostly European descent

The technician/engineering staff is largely Asian descent.

Care to guess which set of people are serving the food, playing the music and cleaning the rooms?

No guess necessary. The power structure you describe is a microcosm of Planet Earth

[Muadib]

Who own di ship ??

BTW.. mi hear seh Singapore mek ship.. ah chue ?

[Muadib]

ah whofa fault dat ?

[Muadib]

This is what LKY was launching in 1972..

<The government further hastened the progress. Once again, Singapore turned to Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries (IHI) which earlier launched Singapore into international shiprepair. Dr Goh Keng Swee, then Finance Minister, met IHI top executives in Japan in 1968. This led to the formation of Jurong Shipbuilders in December with Jurong Shipyard and Development Bank of Singapore as partners. At the official opening of Jurong Shipbuilders on March 29, 1972, then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew explained the logic behind the government's intention: "Shipbuilding is high on labour content. In some advanced countries, wages are going up faster than automation can cut down total wage costs. "So the building of standard vessels will move to those countries, like South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore, where wages are lower than those of the industrialised countries and where the workers are diligent and can be trained to high skills.">

What was Manley yapping about ??

[Mosiah]

Filipinos?

[Assasin]

Are we preparing ourselves? There is a big difference between hustling and service and a that you need to understand.

I understand that they need middle management in Negril hotels but you have to speak Spanish and they can't find people.

We are not even servants in our own country. Just look and see in most of our hotels. You think fi stand up outside hotel and wharf and harass tourist is service?

[Assasin]

Iman I went on Disney a while ago and they have a very diverse workforce in all area, they also offer top class service. Not surprising to me that more than 80% of Jamaicans on it are graduate of HEART Runaway Bay. They are in demand by Disney. Nothing wrong with a young man getting his first or second job on a ship and he can work for a few years and build a little two room and get some Entrepreneur money or use it to further his/her education. Also a lot of student from UTech and UWI come to America on summer program and earn enough to pay their tuition for the year but others. Nothing wrong with that and that will not change anytime soon.

[Islandman]

I have been on Disney cruises as well as Carnival and almost exclusively the only place I see black people is in the entertainment and cleaning jobs.

Nothing is wrong with those jobs if that's the only thing you have the skills to do, just as nothing is wrong with working in Burger King if the alternative is to not work.

What we are saying is that the majority of our people don't have the skills for anything above that and as long as that is the case we will not progress much. Even if the jobs are in your backyard, if you can't do the work then someone will be imported to do it.

[Assasin]

Most of our people have no skills, they don't have the skills even to work in the tourism industry at any level execpt touts. With unemployment in Jamaica the way it is nothing is wrong with a start in an industry where you can start and acquire some skills. Tourism is not to blame here. If we can't train tourism workers, how are going to train ship captains and pilots?

One take 6 months to a year and the other takes ........... and you include other life skills and language which will help other fields.

[Mosiah]

How much of this is due to racism?

Yuh tink Disney or Carnival wouldn't have a problem with a black Captain? Yuh memba The Love Boat? What was Ted Lange's (the black one) profession? Nuh bartender him was? Suh why unnu tink Carnival ready to change that script?

KMT

[Mosiah]

Most of our people have no skills, they don't have the skills even to work in the tourism industry at any level execpt touts. With unemployment in Jamaica the way it is nothing is wrong with a start in an industry where you can start and acquire some skills. Tourism is not to blame here. If we can't train tourism workers, how are going to train ship captains and pilots?

One take 6 months to a year and the other takes ........... and you include other life skills and language which will help other fields.

Why is that? What are we doing to change that? Should we try to change it?

[Islandman]

Did you miss where I said the majority of technicians were Asians? You think that is because they love Asians? You think the large numbers of Asians in Silicon Valley is because Americans love Asians? I hear them making racist statements about them all the time, yet they still hire them because they are who are skilled and available.

Anyway black people can keep riding the racism horse for the next 200 years and wait for those with the power to have a change of heart.