TEACHING - NO LONGER A VOCATION

TEACHING - NO LONGER A VOCATION

By Randall Butisingh

This article was written in 1971, a few months before I retired.

I was very dissatisfied with what was taking place in school; where political expediency ousted teaching ethics resulting in a breakdown of discipline, insubordination and the degradation of Education in the schools of Guyana.

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Teaching had always been regarded as a vocation, and it was expected that the men and women who entered its ranks did so because of that sense.

The earliest teachers were volunteers who gave their spare time to educate the young ones of their time. Robert Raikes, an Englishman was one of the first of this kind. His pupils were the scum of the English slum – the stray boys as they were called – and his first task was to teach them Religion, and later Reading and Writing.

From that humble beginning sprang the Church Schools which gave formal lessons in the Three R’s and also taught them Religion… Teachers were remunerated but the pay was so small that only the dedicated offered their services. To these it was an opportunity for service to their fellow men.

Even in this country, in the nineteenth century, teaching attracted to a great extent, the dedicated and conscientious worker. Teachers never used to grudge giving services during unofficial hours; to them, it fitted with the sense of vocation.

Vocation knows no holiday and working in an occupation in which one is dedicated is a holiday in itself. The good teacher enjoys this perpetual holiday and is bored and unhappy when he is away from his charge.

For the past half century and more, much has been done to mar the spirit of devotion, though it is not entirely eradicated. The payment by results system, in Dual Control, when government came in and paid the bills, has been one of the ugliest blots in the administrative system. If teachers gave extra service, they gave it through compulsion; they struggled hard to survive, and in the struggle, some resorted to unethical means. The smartest and not always the most conscientious survived.

This state of affairs, where results mattered most, proved a bane to real progress because, if volition which is consistent with the spirit of dedication is removed, then vocation becomes a misnomer, and true education, that what is worth knowing and becoming suffers.

At present the payment by results system does not obtain, but teaching in the context of Guyana, has been made attractive in the form of more pay for teachers, opportunity of training for all – formerly only the few academically best were selected for training – protection of a trade union which can resort to the strike weapon and go-slow tactics, and numerous holidays.. These have attracted into the profession many who have no love for teaching, self-seekers, opportunists, who can never inspire or motivate their pupils.

Some of these square pegs however, are intrinsically good, with a potential for other type of occupations, but unfortunately, the system offers them no scope for their development, neither has it been able to discover their hidden talents. So the potential technician, craftsman, farmer, fisherman and others find teaching a field for financial exploitation, and also a stepping stone to more lucrative employment… With the promise of free education for all, what will happen to the army of youths of average ability who will pass five or more subjects at the G.C.E “O’ level? Surely the teaching profession, the civil service and the industries will not be able to absorb all of them in white collar posts. Many of them will roam the streets and be a burden to state and society.

The type of Education which does not take aptitude into consideration cannot successfully build a young nation that is struggling for economic sufficiency through Cooperatives. Technical skill and brawn are the things most needed… Without them our Education would be unproductive, it would produce unproductive teachers who would perpetuate un-productivity.

A manual- based Education is the best thing for our schools. Pupils should be made to use their hands right from the beginning and produce. This productivity should continue all through the school… No school should be without a Garden, a Handicraft and a Domestic Department. Here is where the children would learn that there is dignity in labour and would enjoy the fruits of labour. Every School, if properly organized will be able to pay some of its expenses. If this is done, when the pupils leave school, they will be able to wrest a living from the Agricultural lands, Forests, Water and other resources of the country.

Again proper incentives should be given to the manual-type worker if this type of occupation is to be stressed. The scavenger who does the dirtiest work but very essential job should be better paid than the clerk; the farmer should be rewarded with bonuses and national honours and compensated when his crops get destroyed by floods or pests.

The indispensable service of the farmer should be properly recognized as his profession is a noble one and people owe him its sustenance. Also a National Farmers’ Day should be held every year when public recognition could be paid to them.

Because of the security which teachers enjoy and the unwillingness of many to go the ‘second mile, they should be made to do by compulsion what their counterparts of the past did voluntarily. What reason is there why teachers should not work more than five hours a day, five days a week and during vacation? This does not mean that they will have to do routine work all the time, but they can surely help the Nation in social work like Adult Education, Youth Club activities and classes for the underprivileged. They can also find some time visiting parents, arranging their own refresher courses, writing text books and learning to use their hands among other things.

The holidays given throughout the year should not mean exemption from duty for teachers. They should be considered on duty and be available for utilization in the National cause, especially as they are paid for these periods.

At present, apart from the three months’ holidays teachers get every year, a month’s leave every three years, many hours are lost to teaching in this country by teachers who take leave for illnesses real, or imaginary, and for selfish reasons.

Is there any wonder, taking all these things into consideration that Teaching has ceased to be a Vocation for many?

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Update: All the recommendations concerning Farming that I have made in this article were later implemented by the People’s National Congress (P.N.C.) Government administration.(1964-1992)

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

REDUCING POVERTY IN AFRICA

This is my letter to Brian and Kristen Konkol, recently appointed as missionaries in South Africa. They are dedicated and committed individuals, who were missionaries in Guyana before moving to South Africa a few months ago. They are now settling in and have asked my advice on: “How to reduce Poverty in Africa”. Here is my reply dated April 21, 2008. Your comments and advice on this most important subject are welcome. Feel free to contact Brian and Kristen Konkol with your help and ideas at: (bekonkol@yahoo.com

To: Brian and Kristen Konkol:

Before I attempt to give my opinion on “how to reduce Poverty in Africa”, I will attempt to define Poverty. In my opinion Poverty is a relative term. How? An individual may have very little, and it takes very little to sustain life. He may live in a one room shack with one or no shirt on his back, but he works honestly for the little that he has; he is always cheerful and will gladly share the little he has and his shack with a needy stranger. He is the personification of contentment; his conscience is clear, his sleep at night is sound and unbroken and he lives without fear. Would you call such an individual poor?

On the other hand a person may be laden with this world’s goods, like an overlade camel, much more above his needs; But he is the personification of greed; he cannot have enough; he is discontented; always wants more and more, never share what he has with the needy for concern that it will diminish him. This makes him grouchy, irritable, and cheerless. His sleep at nights is unsound and broken because of fear that someone may come and rob him of what he has. Would you call such an individual rich?

Now, how about reducing Poverty in Africa! Africa is a continent, beautiful and potentially rich, but it has been exploited by foreigners and recently, after independence by its own leaders. There were very few leaders, among them being Nelson Mandela, who did not succumb to the plague of corruption. Billions of the country’s wealth and foreign aid have been stashed away in foreign banks by corrupt politicians while those whom they have been supposed to serve go hungry.

This brings us to the question of education. If the populace is not adequately educated in order to understand the issues and the ability to confront injustice wherever it rears its ugly head, exploitation and corruption will continue to have a field day. Recently two benevolent Americans have been working in this field. They are Oprah Winfrey who is spending millions to educate over a hundred girls in South Africa to become leaders in the future and Bill Clinton who is spending millions to improve Agriculture in one of the countries in Africa.

It should also be noted that Poverty is an attitude in some of the countries. The men leave all the hard work to the women. When they do not hunt or fish, they gather in groups and idle away their time while the women work in the fields. Recently a group of women banded together in a community, and refused to slave for their idle husbands.

We need people who can educate, motivate and inspire these people, raising them from their present level, especially the women to one of respectability. Here is where you and Kirsten can fit in and I know that with the meager physical resources you have but the abundance of will, dedication and commitment, you will make things happen.
Africa does not need to be spoon fed. But while they are given the tools to progress, effort should be made meanwhile to eliminate hunger and disease.
Remitting of debts will be of little help if attitudes do not change.
Love, joy and peace,

Randall

randallbutisingh@hotmail.com

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

INTERNET NEUTRALITY

The Internet was created some 15 years ago and its real effects are now being felt around the world. It has literally overturned the way we communicate and do business and its democratic influence threatens the vested interests in business, governments and repressive entities. Internet neutrality must be maintained if the Internet is to achieve its fullest potential. The plan for Humanity Lobotomy has to be prevented.

The following video discusses this important issue of “Internet Neutrality”, which is the democratic use of the Internet by all users based on their connection speed. In today’s Internet the Internet provider (telephone or cable company) supplies a connection only and does not control the content with fees to large users, however the large media corporations see the effect of the democratic media on their monopolies and are in the process of locking down the Internet by establishing various levels of service.

This issue of Net Neutrality which threatens to lobotomize the communications future of the Internet has become a hot issue in the USA elections in 2008, where members of Congress are being queried and measured on their stance on this most important subject, as it is the Congress that will give the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the power to allow a tiered Internet to become a reality.

This could spell the end of the Internet as we know it as speed limitations are put on “free services” not paying the premiums. The Internet could then follow the way of the printing press, radio and television back in the hands of monopolies and oligopolies. If the USA implements any laws that affect Internet neutrality other nations will surely follow, and therefore this is a very important issue that has to be addressed to ensure a democratic Internet in the years to come. Here is the Video entitled “Humanity Lobotomy” - Second Draft:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JP_3WnJ42kw

I do hope you find this content interesting and would pass it on to your friends

.– Cyril Bryan

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

INDIA’S POSITION IN THE COMMONWEALTH

— Another peep into history (1947)

When Nehru the Prime Minister of the British dominion made history by advancing the country to the status of a Republic within the Commonwealth, political diehards thought that such a situation was, if not undesirable was impracticable. The bond was too frail, they thought, to hold together these two nations who appeared so geographically and ethnically in contrast. Many thought that a final break would have been the normal thing, but Nehuu who towers head and shoulders above most of the best statesmen of our time and is politically far advanced for this age, in a stroke of policy shattered the misconception of friend and foe.

Nehru is no hot-headed political opportunist; he is a cool, able statesman with a remarkable capacity for self-suffering. Lacking a genius for religion, agnostic in outlook, he sees the wisdom of following the advice of that great spiritual leader Mahatma Gandhi who did not believe in isolation and race segregation. The fact that he was in and out of prison for fourteen years did not blind him to their intrinsic worth.

The execution of justice by fallible and selfish men which often obscure the brilliance of Democracy is no fault of the system, but of its interpretation and implementation. Again the ties which bound these two peoples and which could not be severed by the stroke of a pen, could not possibly have failed detection by a leader as astute as Nehru.

At present, language has a strong hold on the people. Nehru himself was educated as a lawyer in England. He speaks fluent, polished English, and though the Government is reverting to Hindi as the official language, the fascination with English among the educated cannot be outlived.

Cricket, too, has played and important part in binding these two nations together. India, on account of its huge population has millions of fans, and if the true significance if the game could be grasped, Britain will endeavour to select, not only skilful men, but men of moral worth to play into the hearts of India and Pakistan,

It might have been evident to the Prime minister that breaking away from a nation to whom India has learnt much, notwithstanding the blunders of British statesmen in dealing with the Indian situation, would have been tactless and drastic. So by retaining the Sovereign as the symbol of a free people, he has not only shown vision and superb statesmanship, but has quite appropriately paid tribute to one of the finest evolved democratic institutions in the world.

British statesmen erred in not believing that India was no politically ripe for conducting her own affairs, but Indians proved their ability by running the gauntlet of restriction, imprisonment and lathi charges. They, like the cultured people they are, refused to be bitter or to evince hatred or malice, but have shown a willingness to cooperate in the interest of humanity.

India’s mission is peace and the brotherhood of man. Her independence of Britain gives more status to their relationship. Here is a friendly and spiritual bond which transcends the geographic and ethnic ties of the other members of the Commonwealth.

— Randall Butisingh

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

ONLY A BREATHING SPACE

Article written when the Venezuelan Government made its preposterous claim to the whole of the Essequebo county, in Guyana.

It is to be regretted that a final settlement concerning the Venezuelan claim to two-thirds of Guyana’s soil could not have been made. As the situation is at present, our delegation to the Geneva conference has only achieved a breathing space, after which we are likely to be faced with another preposterous claim by our neighbour.

The anticipation of this possibility by loyal and responsible Guyanese will surely cause some uneasiness.. It is sad that at this stage of the human race when education and the achievements in science are removing geographical and cultural barriers, short sighted nations should try to extent territory. Mankind is one and indivisible and prosperity is not to be found in national surfeiting, but in the use of all the resources of the world for the whole human race.

It seems, however, that man’s political advancement has not kept pace with his remarkable scientific mind. He has failed so far in his quest for a happy and peaceful coexistence simply because his politics lags behind his scientific progress.

Let us hope that our neighbour will realize the vanity and futility of their aspiration, and try to achieve, instead, peaceful coexistence. And let us also hope that this momentous matter will help to weld Guyanese of every ethnic group into a united nation, using our own mistakes of the past as lessons for tolerance, goodwill and harmony among ourselves.

— Randall Butisingh

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

AGRICULTURE, A NOBLE PROFESSION
and the peasant the most important of all people.

Excerpts from poem, THE DESERTED VILLAGE
BY OLIVER GOLDSMITH (1728 - 1774)

“Ill fares the land to hastening ills a prey,
Where wealth accumulates and men decay;
Princes and lords may flourish or may fade,
A breath can make them, as a breath has made;
But a bold peasantry, their country’s pride,
When once destroyed can never be supplied.”

— Oliver Goldsmith

Oliver Goldsmith is one of my favourite poets. In the poem
above he depicts the destruction of the peasantry when they
were evicted from the land by greedy landowners. Many were forced by  to leave the land and hie to the towns where they worked long hours, for hard task masters, in an unhealthy environment for meagre wages and suffered poverty and ill health. This is what happens in any part of the world where wealth accumulates to the few who sit on it, while the majority labour for a pittance to continue to feed their greed.
Injustice, an evil can only flourish for a time.  The DAY of reckoning is not far off.
— Randall Butisingh

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

SPECIALIZATION AND INTERDEPENDENCE

There can be no doubt, that the prosperity of the industrial nations since the Second World War has been due largely to global specialization and interdependence. No one country does all tasks today — products are designed in one country, produced in another and assembled in a third. The increased standard of living resulting from global specialization in turn has led to the growth of the modern welfare state, including an increased demand for economic security and social measures which guarantee politically-determined minimum consumption standards for citizens.

Mervyn Krauss - How Nations Grow Rich: The Case for Free Trade - Oxford University Press 1997

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The following article: “Specialization and Interdependence”, was written by Randall Butisingh and published in the Guiana Graphic newspaper in 1955.

Specialization is an important factor in the march of civilization. In primitive time man was wholly dependent on himself for his living. Whatever he enjoyed had been the fruits of his own efforts. He had been his own carpenter, tailor, cook, boat builder, soldier and the sole provider of all his daily needs and possessions which had been in the main, necessities. Naturally, the standard of his living had been low, as he depended solely on hunting and fishing and he ate when he could find game. But from so humble a beginning, when man’s concept of God was embryonic and narrow and his itineration constricted within a narrow periphery, emerged man the reflection of Divine Personality and the conqueror of time and space.

This progress of his achievement has been built up gradually throughout the ages by his indomitable an unconquerable spirit until it culminated in the highly advanced civilization that appears today.

In this process all his faculties came into play, and from scattered primitive huts appeared villages, and later towns. That was the beginning of specialization with opportunity for leisure and the advance of civilization.

Later as a wider concept of God developed and letters were invented, man’s thinking developed, his amenities multiplied, his standard of living rose and there became a greater need for specialization.

So a state of society evolved with its farmers, carpenters, tailors, brain workers and manual workers, spiritual preceptors, teachers, doctors, lawyers, musicians and the like; and where one occupation may have various branches of specialists; all for man’s cultural advancement - a high standard of living and a good standard of life. This state of affairs calls for a greater measure of interdependence and the refusal of one group to cooperate will cause serious inconvenience or harm to the whole social structure.

Because of this opportunity for specialization, man has been able to rise to great scientific and cultural heights. The specialist is a product of society and exists for the benefit of humanity.

This precarious interdependence in our highly evolved modern society posits the indivisibility of humanity and the unity of spirit. Man then cannot build barriers of racial or national prejudices against his fellow men. Every unit is necessary, however insignificant it may appear by itself, in the whole pattern of the mosaic structure of modern society.

Now that man has overcome time and space by the speed of his inventions, segregated nations have become neighbours, and natural and artificial barriers will now be ineffective against an invader. With increasing population, the need for modern conveniences to keep pace with life and the natural resources not evenly distributed, nations too have become interdependent, and there should not remain the invisible barriers of prejudice and isolationism which divide mankind and frustrate unity.

That spiritual development has not kept pace with scientific progress has been the bane of society through the centuries. All scientific progress in man points to a global unity, not geographic, national or political, but a spiritual and moral one, a recognition of Universal Brotherhood which according to Sir Patrick Renison is not only a general impulse, but a Divine command.

Man the animal is recalcitrant. Dick Sheppard, that bold cleric once remarked that long after the ape has been driven out of man, there remains the donkey. If man does not heed this longing of his higher self for unity, and continues to be led by his baser nature, his own tangible means of self-preservation will prove his undoing..

Randall Butisingh

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

THE ELECTRONIC INFORMATION AGE

Down through the ages the ways which man communicates have determined his thoughts, his actions, his life. The mass media of today are decentralizing modern living, turning the globe into a village, and catapulting 20th century man back to the life of the tribe.

Marshall McLuhan - Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man - 1964

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We are now living in the ELECTRONIC INFORMATION AGE

In 1964, Marshall McLuhan was truly a visionary, who was able to perceive the future and analyze its affects on society. He coined the terms “Global Village” and “The Medium is the Message”, and the concept of the “new tribalism of man” in the new electronic age. I remember his lectures at the University of Toronto and interviews on television during the 1960’s and 1970’s. They were always controversial, futuristic and insightful as he was a man perceiving the future. He was a truly great thinker who was able to explain and bridge the gap between the mechanical and electronic ages my generation has experienced.

Now in 2008, some 44 years since the publication of his book, we can look to see what has occurred. In 1964 there was only printed media, radio and TV - no fax machines, no personal computers, no cell phones, no Internet, no e-mail, no on-line social networking, no I-Pod, no video games, no communications except the telephone… yet Marshall McLuhan came up with a revolutionary theory that the future man would be transformed by the usage of the media he perceived in the future.

Has the new media, or the way we communicate, decentralized modern life? Has it turned the globe into a village? Has it catapulted man today back to the life of the tribe? I believe that it has based on what we see today. Ask advertisers about the fragmentation of markets. The difficulty in targeting advertising and the globalization of every facet of life. Ask your kids what they value most… and you would find that many value the “Cybernetic tribes” that social networking in MySpace, Facebook, and YouTube and online games and Internet groups give them - like minds gathering to share like ideas and interests… a tribal village…. not necessarily in a physical space but in the the virtual space of the Internet and high speed communications.

Most of the physical connectivity has occurred over the last 15 years as the Internet became established. However, it was recorded music and radio and television that started the electronic revolution that changed the thoughts and actions of this new generation of adults who have built the instantaneous social networks with friendship, music and gaming as focal points. Their fathers and grandfathers built the building blocks for the computer and the Internet and the radio and TV and communications networks. The new generations of “rewired brains”, who only know this electronic or information age, will now take this new technologies in new areas that would definitely affect how we interface with each other and how we live, communicate, and do business and commerce in this new “Information Age”.

Cyril Bryan

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

ECONOMIC GROWTH

If economic growth is founded on the ever-increasing reliance on chemicals, toxins, poisons, and energy by-products, then we will choke on the growth that is supposed to save us.

Paul Hawken

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We all live on Planet Earth -with ecosystems that were once balanced. Our “scientists” have “created ” products that have disrupted this ecological balance. Many of these products will eventually affect the human DNA and global warming may create devastating reactions as many ecosystems collapse due to the destruction of the natural environment which has accelerated over the last 50 years.

The economists, politicians and most of the populace have been programmed to believe that economic growth measured in GDP and GNP are the only true measures of progress. To them, the qualitative aspects of life due to the effects of growth are just footnotes to a statistical analysis. Now that the evidence is in regarding global warming, chemical pollution, and ecological destruction, few can honestly dismiss the stark realities that the world now faces.

The problem is that the solutions that are required would mean a revolutionary paradigm shift, or complete change in how the world is run, how we live and what is really important in life. We will have to accept that there are limits of growth; that products must be eco-friendly; that the quality of life must be paramount and that blind consumerism is destructive and mindless as well as spiritually empty. This change in human behavior may not come about unless forced to through a global economic collapse.

Entrenched vested interests that control the present economic systems will not easily surrender their power or corporations to a new world where they may not be influential. We have the capability of transforming the world with solar, wind and tidal energy systems. We can reduce the uses of fossil fuels and stop the use of destructive chemicals. … but could we do so quickly enough - before we annihilate ourselves and future generations. It is truly a difficult situation as we are told that there will be famines if we stopped using pesticides, herbicides and other deadly agricultural chemicals.

We do not have much time left to listen to the international organizations, governments, corporations and influential people who state the problems but take no real action. All we have had over the last 30 years or so are conferences and lip service rather than concrete solutions. Delays are in the interests of the vested entrenched thinking of those who look for corporate profits, while others suppress solutions and alternate discoveries for their own personal economic and political reasons.

The time for ACTION is NOW, before the ecosystems of Planet Earth self-destruct.

Cyril Bryan