What 2020 made me realise

2020 lockdown made me realise - 

That I am really comfortable with my own company,

That I don't need to be around people to be happy,

That I can entertain myself,

That my life does not revolve around meaningless partying, clubbing, drinking,

That I still love reading and learning,

That music still soothes the soul,

That education will not be an easy journey but the rewards will be worth it,

That life is enjoyable no matter what happens,

That cooking is a simple pleasure when shared,

And

Stupidity is universal but seems to affect governments disproportionately. 😂

What I found out

During this 'lockdown', I've found out:

1) I still love cartoons.

2) I still enjoy reading, even expanding to non-academic books (°_~)

3) E-books are not so bad, and I can store about 10,000 on my phone. My personal library in my pocket.

4) Audiobooks are overrated. The joy is in reading, my friends.

5) I can still lose weight by adjusting my diet. Down 12 kg.

6) Bonsai can be difficult, more than children.

7) A high-speed internet connection protects your mental health. Who knew?

8) I can creatively invent new meals, and I'm a badass in the kitchen.

Watching the world go round and round

It's been quite some time since the Capt has made a post here - needless to say I have been in some sort of 'existential crisis' about the world over the last year.

It has been very hard to generate words to post. Several draft blogs have been discarded or remain on the back burner. A blogger's life is not as easy as some think it is. There are tons of blogs out there - some good and some bad. To generate a really well reasoned and evidence based blog takes tremendous personal time and effort. There is no pay involved and there are no tangible rewards, for people like me.


The big crushing stories seem to have common themes.

1. Smoke and mirrors.
2. Abuse of power.
3. Outright lies and other deceptions.
4. Justice corralled and made to deliver injustice.

It has been too much really.

So - I've resorted to a different kind of blogging which starts today as you see in the images here. They will be shorter on words and with more emphasis on imagery.
Best wishes to all.

Why Trinidad, Why?!!

This morning, I called the High Commission for the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, London. I need to renew my TnT passport. My experience reminded me of the piss poor service one gets on that gawd-forsaken Rock.

First of all, the phone system is apparently dodgy. When one chooses option 1 to get passport/visas department, the phone stays on the main menu. There is no forwarding of the call. You have to choose option 4 to get the operator. Now, I needed some other information, so the conversation went like this:

Jumbie: “Hi, Good morning. Can you tell me how does a Ukraine National go about obtaining a visa to visit Trinidad?”

Operator/Rep: “Well, dey have to apply.” [Jumbie is a lil taken aback at the insolent tone, and thinking “Duh!”].

Jumbie: “I’m aware of that. Where do they apply?” (Thinking that the woman will give me a location in Ukraine or somewhere East).

Operator/Rep: “In de embassy.”

Jumbie: “But which embassy? The one in London or is there one in Ukraine?”

Operator/Rep: “De London one.”

Jumbie: “So the Ukraine person has to come to London to apply for a TnT visa? What if they don’t have a UK visa to come to London?”

Operator/Rep: “Well, dey eh go get it!”

I was then transferred to the passport department, but won’t you know…despite the working hours on the website stating 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM for Passport/Visas, at 10:30 AM, no one was there. At 10:55 AM no one is there… still. The operator just said to call back as “there is no one there to take your call at the moment”.

For me the experience is enough to conclude a few things:

1. The Government (and by extension the staff at the High Commission) don’t really care about nationals.
2. The same piss poor attitude from the Rock has been trans-located to London.
3. The concept of ‘Trinidad time’ is also trans-located… the work ethic of the British has apparently not rubbed off on them yet.
4. It is hopeless to make meaningful change in a Rock Crawler without a bull pizzle or some equivalent.

Cold calls

Cold calls are usually marketing calls made to a person without prior appointment, in hopes of making a sale. Cold callers in the UK are aggressive and very annoying. Many companies have automated dialling that simply dials numbers and wait for someone to pick up. If the number is not active (working), it moves to another. If no one answers, it moves to another. So theoretically, a system like this can dial and contact dozens of persons in a short time. The seller then makes an aggressive sales pitch, usually bullying a person (sometimes older persons who are vulnerable) into purchasing their product. On the other hand, the other type of cold callers are persons who turn up at your door out of the blue, with a sales pitch and a hard sell approach.

Both types are very annoying, coming at inconvenient times. Think middle of a shower, dinner, coitus etc. and you get the picture why annoyance is the first reaction.

This morning, barely awake, I had one such phone call.

“Hello, this is Ms _____________ from ______________”, the caller said, “May I speak to ‘Jumbie’?”

Jumbie: “What is this about?”

Caller: “Can you confirm you are ‘Jumbie’?”

Jumbie: “This number is unlisted. How did you get this number? I don’t accept marketing calls, don’t call here any more.”

Caller: “To proceed with the call, I need you to confirm your address___”

Jumbie, rudely interrupting: “Does it sound like I want to talk to you? Were you born stupid, or did you have to learn?”

Caller quietly hangs up.

Another day in Paradise?

Nothing spectacular in that photo at left (double clicking may bring up a larger view).

And that’s just my point – it’s an average day in Birmingham. It’s the Bull Ring indoor market (or part of it). It’s what’s happening day in, day out. “What?!!!” – you scream in your head.

• People
• People driven by drives and motives.
• Some in search of food.
• Others in search of personal advantage.
• All eventually securing there food. Hey – everybody has to eat – except corpses of course – but they’re not ‘everybody’ – though they may be a body.
• The haves and the have-nots doing their exchanges.
• Some making a living others doing the living.
• One on the side of the street scraping a living.

I saw many people in their stalls selling stuff, being very vigilant for customers. If ever I came close to a counter, it was noticeable how a ‘body’ moved closer in my direction and said some thing like “Can I help?”. It made me think? “Are they really concerned about helping me?.. Why would they want to help me?” Well, it’s not really about helping me. I mean helping me is a means to helping themselves - earn a living!! They not genuinely interested in me – let’s be real about this.

And what about their products? What about ‘profit’? What is profit? What drives the making of profit? Ultimately it’s partly driven by greed? Greed – yes greed. You know that thing that makes you want more for yourself by taking from others who don’t know how much you’ve profited. But hey.. if they’re willing to pay and play.. who’s to complain? ‘Such is life’ you may have thought.

As I stood in a corner of this market taking these photos covertly – so as not to cause a panic – I must have appeared odd. After all – I was just an observer, whilst the rest were ‘in it’ – on the stage.. part of the play.. just doing what they had been scripted to do. [Panic? Oh yes – in England cameras or the sight of anyone – who is not obviously of Chinese or Japanese extraction - taking photographs with a device that is not an SLR, is likely to cause marked degrees of anxiety. About what? Jeez.. terrorist attack – obviously.]

Do what? Scripted to do what? Jeez – I have to spell everything out – and when I do somebody will ask a dumbass question like “Is anything wrong with that?”

1. Grow up
2. Get educated
3. Procreate or not – bring up some off-spring (or not).
4. Get a job (or not)
5. Earn a living – by whatever means lawful or not.
6. Make some impact on the rest of the world (or not).
7. Repeat above (or not)
8. Grow older - then.. die!

So the boringness of this ‘scene’ has hit me? Why? I left thinking, “What’s it all about?” Is this what Gord, or our Blind Watchmaker wanted for us – after 5 billion-plus years of ‘evolution’? I mean are we confined to being slaves to our evolutionary inheritance.. to consume food, seek it, excrete used products and head back to bed to restore ourselves for yet another day of the same (basic) activities?

Well – ultimately somebody out there must be wondering why I’m writing this. You can be assured it is not for ‘you’. I write for me – because I’ve learned that I’m unlikely to please most people with my ideas and way of delivery. I write it for me, because it’s like part of my diary. When something strikes you – as the scene above did me – you can’t let it go. It’s of course difficult to convey all emotions that such an awakening has.

Ultimately my awakening was about the degree to which our lives are scripted by biological and macroeconomic forces.

A small gift from the Captain

Small, free and useful – best wishes. Download, print and keep it in sight.

2014 Calendar - From The Captain's Watch by Captain Walker

SWOT analysis

SWOT Analysis - a powerful tool for development by Captain Walker

Recently the Cap has been reviewing a whole lot of things, about life, work, the future etc. It’s been a difficult exercise trying to work out where to take the ‘ship’ – speaking in parables here.

How does one assess what’s the situation, where to go and what resources to throw at something. Then you find out that you don’t have all the resources, or that there are certain risks. So what’s the path? What will be the strategy? I’ve therefore had to carry out a careful assessment.

I share with you a ‘stupidly simple’ thing called the SWOT analysis. I came across it over 15 years ago but did not knuckle down to actually ‘doing the thing’. I mean it’s actually easy to glare at it and think ‘Yeah, I know what’s what’. And that is actually the wrong approach! So – when recently I did knuckle down and type into the thing and saved it, and then came back at it an looked at it again, a sense of greater awareness came over me.

The first thing was that I wasn’t being 100% honest with myself. I noticed I was trying to tell myself a story about me – as if I was speaking to somebody else. “Who as I trying to fool – by telling some version of the truth?” – me! So I get down again and revise the thing a few more times. Then something new began to emerge after a few days. A different course began to take shape. The future looked clearer. I could see ‘the light' – the path was easier to plan for. I could better appreciate the risks and cater for them, and I certainly knew more about what I needed to change or prepare for.

So – I give you my version of the SWOT which you can download for a small donation. But surely you can Google it as well and make your own with a word processor, or you could just use pen and paper. Now you’re wondering whether I need a few quid, and why I’ve put it up for sale.

No - I don’t need the money.  I’ve only done this version because I’m practicing with Adobe Forms  - and trying to develop new skills there – building my strengths! Putting it for sale, is about getting the experience of how to do that. If I was truly interested getting paid for this, I wouldn’t be telling you that you could make this with blank piece of paper and a pencil. If you need a free copy the above email me (if you’ve not been previously blocked) at walkerDOTcaptainATgmailDOTcom. But whatever you think – please do a SWOT. I mean really do it. Don’t just look at the thing, as I had done years ago. This could be life changing.

Some things about Scotland you may not know

The photo above is a panorama of the Scottish highlands, and lies on the way to Ben Lomond. It shows Loch Tulla in the valley. The Bridge of Orchy is under repairs.

The above shows a panorama of Loch Lomond at sunset. Loch Lomond is the largest body of fresh water in the UK, holding more volume than all the rivers and lakes of England and Wales combined… or so the guides said.

This photo shows the beginning of Loch Lomond, at Balloch. To the right rear of the building is a children’s play park and entrance to the hiking/cycling trails. The boat in the middle background is the Maid of the Loch, a paddle steamer that is currently being restored. Her ‘twin’ is the oldest steamer in active service, named after lawyer and writer Sir Walter Scott.

Loch Lomond is also known from a famous song, the chorus of which is very recognisable:

O ye'll tak' the high road, and Ah'll tak' the low (road)

And Ah'll be in Scotlan' afore ye

Fir me an' my true love will ne'er meet again

On the bonnie, bonnie banks o' Loch Lomon'

Wemyss Bay in early sunrise.

It was only when I visited Scotland that I began to see the rich (and I do mean RICH) history of the Scottish people. Listed below are some famous Scots and their accomplishments:

1. James Young                       Inventor of Paraffin (kerosene)
2. James Young Simpson      Pioneer of Anaesthesia
3. Robert Liston                       Pioneering surgeon noted for speed in surgical procedures
4. George Forbes                   Scientist and inventor of carbon brushes for electrical motors (still used today)
5. Sir Walter Scott                   Lawyer and writer
6. David Hume                         Historian, writer and noted philosopher
7. Robert Burns                        Poet
8. John Logie Baird                 Inventor of television
9. John Boyd Dunlop               Inventor (independently) of the modern rubber tyre
10. Robert W Thompson           Inventor (independently) of the modern rubber tyre

A more complete but still partial list of famous Scots can be found here.

Shifting the fulcrum

As some may have realised Jumbie and I were both fascinated with George Carlin recently. To dispel any ‘mysteries’ from cropping up, we do share a lot of information about current events and other stuff. That’s easy to do if you have ‘Google Hangouts’ on cell phones (aka mobile phones if you’re English), and on computers. It’s like the conversation just continues.

Well, interestingly the late George Carlin had made a career of insulting the stupid; from pleb to politician.  Carlin was more than just a comedian. Comedy was his angle to get into the human psyche and getting people to reflect. My strategy – which is shared by other writers is polemic and frontal assault.

However, I’ve been coming to a realisation in recent months, and it’s been spurred on by George Carlin actually. I realise that Carlin wrestled with stupidity much of his time. He’s gone. His videos live. He made money. People in more or less same percentages remain stupid. I think I rightly conclude that stupidity is incurable – not that it’s my aim to cure it. Punishing the stupid may provide pleasure but my realisation now is that it’s a waste of my time.  See my thinking below:

1. Stupidity [S] is far more common than wisdom [W].
2. I’d estimate the ratio  S:W =  4:1
3. That means the chance of me encountering stupidity is pretty high.
4. Theoretically I could be spending the order of 80% of my life’s hours dealing with stupidity, if I allow the numbers to prevail over me – as they have up to this point.
5. This means that I could be wrestling with stupidity most of my life and not getting myself forward – if simply ruled by the numbers.
6. It also means I could be missing bigger opportunities to further myself, if I get tangled up with people and situations that take me nowhere.
7. Pleasure derived from suffering fools is actually counter to my principles of pleasure seeking. Mea culpa –  it takes time to discover a weakness that is so, pleasurable.

Based on the above self-assessment here's the new plan:

1. I will punish less fools by conscious effort. No I can’t give it up completely  - and shouldn’t. Wisdom is better appreciated when contrasted against human stupidity. So I have to stay in touch with the stuff; just less of it.
2. I will also avoid more fools so as to manage the situation and better manage my time.  No – this doesn’t mean I avoid people who disagree with me or have a drastically different point of view. Don’t be stupid.
3. People who are unable to demonstrate application of core principles of critical thinking and to self-correct, stand a good chance of being deselected from my circle of contacts. Sure – they’ll be given fair and prolonged opportunity. But this is not like employment where they are performance managed. This is like dropping a hot potato – it happens suddenly. I said ‘people’ which means any living thing that meets the criteria for being defined as ‘people’.
4. I will be spending more of my time seeking out wisdom and wise people – and learning from them.
5. I will be reading more of the writings and listening to the utterings of the wise.

I have outlined what stupidity means in different places. The concept is wrapped up in things like application of critical thinking – so it isn’t simply about people having a different view to my own, at all. I relish new perspectives, just not stupidly new perspectives.  So that’s it! It’s all change. Some will have seen it coming, some will think I’ve been joking, and some will ‘feel’ because they’re.. just stupid.

Car tyre stabbed–police respond.

My car tyre looked like if it was slashed, whilst it was on my driveway. It was not like that when I left the house this morning 08:15 AM, in my other car. When I got back at about 09:30AM that's what I saw.

Initially, I thought it was just punctured and went down overnight. However, on trying to reinflate it, I heard a hissing sound, which then led me to spot the cut on the sidewall.

I reported the matter to the police at 10:05. Today is a busy day in my town with a major festival happening. So I didn’t have high hopes of a timely police response.

However at 11:33 AM the police called me back and said they’d be over in minutes!!

Think – is it just because this is England that we get this sort of police response. By Rock standards this is a minor issue – “..you eh getting ‘ah police’ to budge for somethin’ like dat.’ Ah right or wrong? Talk nuh.

Update @ 14:55 GMT

The tyre repair man arrived at about 12:10PM. The Police arrived about 15 min later. No it wasn’t blue lights and sirens blaring – just in case you needed to have a bit of a chuckle. It was a blue crime scene van. The police officer was in uniform and approached with some sort of special case full of thingamajigs to detect crime. LOL. My car was dusted for fingerprints, around the damaged tyre. Nothing found, as expected but the police detective was careful enough to check for fingerprints anyway. [Clicking on pics below bring up larger images]

That’s what the cut looked like as it was. To the right it’s clearly a straight cut. The police officer concluded that it was a deliberate stabbing of the tyre with a sharp object, like a knife. There were no glass splinters in the cut or on the inside of the tyre. And no broken glass anywhere on my street.
That’s Keith Wilson of Hometyre to the rescue!
	That’s the new replacement tyre. Cost £163 fully fitted and balanced etc. Ahhhh. - but the Cap is always a few steps ahead. It’s all covered by my 4 year tyre insurance. BTW the tyre that was slashed had 5 mm of tread on it. They normally start at 9 mm when new. It’s not legal to drive with less that 1.5 mm, and it’s advised that tyres are changed when less than 3.5 mm. Well, I haven’t knowingly caused any disturbance in my neighbourhood to provoke this act of crime against my property. My next door neighbour was surprised by this. We don’t have this sort of thing in our neighbourhood. We have a suspect or two in mind but no proof or evidence. But you can bet the Cap will be plugging that ‘gap’ soon.

It has made me wonder what people get out of this. All I can say is that there are some very twisted people out there. But why they do it, I imagine is because they can – and they know that they’ll get away with it. What a strange twisted sense of ‘achievement’.

Keith Wilson is an interesting chap and I’m doing a blog on him next. Stay tuned.

Unconnected ramblings of my fed up mind

Lately I have been blogging less often, mainly because I am completely fed up with the nonsense that I see on a daily basis. Stupid acts perpetrated on the public by the government, by public servants, by health authorities, by police dunceys, by lawyers, by “independent” bodies… The list is seemingly endless.

Having been blogging for over six years, I can say with all honesty that blogging takes a lot of effort; especially if one does it every day as I do. While some postings may provide a cathartic effect, some induce a depressive despondency - a funk, if you will. In the long run it takes an emotional toll upon the writer.

Since my heart attack at the end of June 2012, I have been in and out of the hospital nearly 10 times (that is a mere three months), so the additional stress upon me to blog every day is not something that I need at the moment; Apologies for the intermittent postings.

At the same time, I have decided to put my recuperative time at home to good use - I have registered for two more university courses, one of which has already started. The second starts in February 2013. One would think that I have a lot of time on my hands and that progress will be remarkably quick… Unfortunately this is not the case. I find myself quite exhausted and certainly cannot be as active as I was prior to my heart attack. My concentration and hours of study are severely affected.

I have also been exploring many of the free courses that are available on iTunes from different universities around the world. I especially recommend that Oxford University’s free courses on critical thinking and ethics.

One of the bright spots in all of this was chatting to my Ukrainian penpal more often through Skype and email. I discovered that she is a remarkable woman, admirable in many ways.

She pursued two undergraduate degrees simultaneously at two different universities, and Masters and Ph.D., achieving all of this at the age of 26, while being married, working and raising a child. She also taught herself English by reading the dictionary (her native languages are Russian and Ukrainian, but more Russian since she lives closer to the Russian border) and learning pronunciation from the dictionary’s directions. She learnt sentence construction from the meanings of the words. She reads and writes English well. But having limited exposure to speech, especially to foreign accents, her understanding of the spoken word is limited.

I find her method of expressing herself rather charming, because even though she uses the “wrong” words, the meaning is crystal clear and sometimes even more vivid than if she used the usual words that we Westerners would use. We became penpals because she wanted to improve her English; but I confess, sometimes I do not “correct” the enamouring way she has of expressing herself. Shhhh.

For example, boat becomes “bow-AT” (the ‘at’ having a distinct pronunciation, instead of the proper ‘bowt’). When speaking to someone, she describes it as “conversating”.

Enough about that…

Recently, another friend of mine became a published author; a book of poetry, no less! Congratulations to her.

After three years, I am finally upgrading my Samsung Galaxy S to the ultra-new Samsung Galaxy Note 2. Expect more on its performance from next week as I receive it on Monday. Punks, of course, is delighted to inherit my Galaxy S… Although she has hinted that she is getting a bit tired of my “hand-me-downs”. We will “retire” her Nokia 6220 as a spare for emergencies.

I recently managed to catch Skyfall on IMAX… I’m delighted to see the film concentrated on Bond, the man rather than the gadgets. Like Casino Royale, this movie went back to the true roots. An interesting note is that I have never seen in all my 10 years in England, a crowd of the immense size I met at the cinema. With perhaps the exception of the final two Harry Potter movies, I have never seen a full cinema, except for this movie.

Well, I am out of here… Things to do, people to see et cetera…

The Bloggers’ Press

Bloggers unite!! Let us declare our INDEPENDENCE on or before 31st August 2012.

We are totally fed up of traditional media inappropriately censoring the people and our comments, when no policy, and no moral or legal principle, has been breached.

The actions of traditional media are wrong especially on the Rock. They grossly infringe our rights to freedom of expression.

Spread the word through the blogosphere, that we will be creating a BLOGGERS' PRESS! This will go live online very soon. Yes - this is where we will collectively deal with the issues - as we see fit. We will be accountable for what we produce.

There will be unlimited space for citizens to speak freely in an accountable way - true freedom of expression will be yours.

If you are a blogger or an aggrieved citizen and you wish to be part of this effort, please express your interest and thoughts by a comment below. Alternatively email Jumbie or me. My email address is walker.captain@gmail.com

You can text this blog from your phones to others by sending this: http://bit.ly/jw-bloggers-press

United we stand – a force to be reckoned with! Let’s do it. Yes you can!

Changing world

The world, as we know it, has become infinitely smaller. Twenty years ago, I had to write ‘snail mail’ (letters by hand, routed through the postal system) and wait a month or six weeks for a response. now, we have email, text messages, MMS messages, Skype, WhatsApp, Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook, etc. This changing world has made contact a different ‘dance’ if you will.

Which brings me to my rant this morning.

Lately, I’ve been getting ‘friend’ requests from people I don’t know, usually friends of friends. Not that it’s a bad thing, it does increase the ‘social’ network, but me being the Grumpy Old Man that I am, I ask myself, “What’s the point?”

My ire is raised because:

1) These are persons I will never meet.

2) I do not know them, will never know them, and have no interest in knowing them.

3) Accepting a ‘friend’ request merely means a person added to a list but with no further attempt at communicating. No messages, no emails, no contact…

Alternatively, some of the requests come from people I went to school with, more than 3 decades ago... I have never had contact with them since, never intend to contact them, and we weren’t friends even back then. So.. why?!

It’s inconceivable to me that I would be even remotely interested in renewing or maintaining contact.

But flashing through my mind, is “What is going through theirs?!”

I cannot fathom the workings of a mind of what could quite possibly be a deranged person… or am I just paranoid?

As a Grumpy Old Man too, I raise my eyebrows, because clearly, coming from married women (mainly), there is no nookie involved. Heh Heh. But the puzzling part is, why would a woman, married and with kids, want to contact an unknown man? I mean, how would your husband take that?

I think maybe the world is changing too fast for me, and I can’t keep up. Sigh.

Finally seeing the light

I’ve been using a particular optician for the 10 years I’ve lived in England, having worn glasses since about the age of 10. In England, there are several large chains (franchises) of opticians such as Specsavers, and Vision Express.

Recently, a friend was going to get his eye test done, and I went with him, also needing to get mine done as well. I tried his optician for the first time, and essentially was told me what my former optician told me: that I continued to need varifocals.

Due to a medical condition, I am eligible for NHS assistance with the cost of my glasses. After the test, I was told that with the varifocal lens, I would have to pay somewhere in the region of £172 for my glasses. My own optician, whom I visited after, quoted me a price of £134. I spent several hours checking online stores which gave me various quotes from £99 to £300. These costs are after the NHS assistance is deducted.

I then called up a small optical business close to where I live, and asked the person who answered if I can have someone explain my prescription to me, since the change was significant from last year to this year. The owner, a qualified optometrist, volunteered to do so, so off I went.

First, he explained my prescription. Then, I enquired the cost of glasses and found out, to my delight, they were very well priced. I had the option of choosing 2 new frames, or sending off my old ones (I have 2 pairs) to have the new lens fitted; but that would mean about 4 days of not having any glasses. I opted for the new frames.

While being fitted for the new glasses, the optometrist found out my prescription was incorrect, and that I did not need varifocals. Rather significantly, he demonstrated to me with new lens what my vision would be like with the new glasses. I found that I could see a lot better than with varifocals.

A lesson learnt:

The big stores have an assembly-line format. An optometrist does a quick eye test and shoves you off to  ‘dispensing’ optician, who would help choose a frame and then recommend lens etc. It is in the store’s interest to sell you an expensive frame, and they have several ‘tricks’ to persuade you.

• warranty on new frames.
• 2 for 1 offers.
• persuading you that your old frame is ‘stressed’.
• ‘free’ lens in new expensive frames.
• additions such as transitions, tint, anti-scratch, polarisation, UV protection, etc in new frames.

The list is not exhausted here.

The decision:

I chose to remain with the smaller business. I got two pairs of glasses, one a reading glasses and the other a distance pair but to which I added 1 feature.… a brown polarised tint. Cost? £10 as opposed to £60 at the bigger store.

Final total cost to me for 2 pairs… £10.

English education system, dissected

I recall, in Trinidad and Tobago, I selected my ‘O’ level subjects at the end of Form 2, and began studying the syllabus at the very beginning of Form 3 (Year 9 for English readers). That gave me a clear 8 terms (and a few weeks) to prepare for exams.

Punks however, had to choose her subjects this term, and as she is already 2 terms into Form 3 (they do grow up fast, don’t they?), this leaves her with 5 full terms, and a few weeks, to complete the syllabus for her GCSEs.

I am befuddled about the ‘English’ education system that I encountered here. I use quotation marks for ‘English’ system, since in Trinidad and Tobago, we still have the remnants of an English system also… albeit an ‘old’ one. There is confusion in the grading system for example, which to me does not make sense. Punks is graded according to a ‘national level’ which seems to me a bit misleading. Why a ‘national level’ when the individuality of the child is never taken into account?

The distinct disadvantage which might have clearly occurred to readers, is that if the 'national level is low, then the performance of any individual child is also graded low, and a high grade compared at national level is not necessarily a good grade. For example, a mere 65% in mathematics might grade a child as well above the national level if that national level is, let’s say, 40%. So, in effect, the current system is one rife with manipulative possibilities and a ‘dumbing down’ of performance overall.

According to the figures, the national average for making expected progress in English this year was 72% and for maths it was 65%.  [2011 figures]

So, 70% in mathematics, according to last year’s figures, makes a student above the national average, but not necessarily an ‘A’ or ‘A+’ student.

One of Punk’s frequent complaints too, which I hear almost every evening, is that the children in school are poor in English as many do not have English as their first language. They struggle to keep up with the class work, not only in English but in all other subjects as well. Other students are then kept back while these catch up (else there would be a complaint of discrimination) and thus, no child really is given an opportunity to realise his/her full potential. The language barrier, so prevalent because of the multi-national composition of students, dumbs everyone down.

Punks has been chosen in her school, as one of 30 students to pursue an English Baccalaureate path. The English Baccalaureate is a new creation of the English education system:

It is not a qualification in itself. The measure recognises where pupils have secured a C grade or better across a core of academic subjects – English, mathematics, history or geography, the sciences and a language.

So Punks is now studying for her GCSEs English, Maths, Geography, Physics, Biology, Chemistry, Spanish, ICT, Religious Education (compulsory) and a couple of other subjects I cannot remember.

Only 30 students in Punks’ school were considered ‘gifted’ to pursue this baccalaureate. The problem is that these students are considered ‘gifted’ according to the national level, which does not necessarily mean they are exceptional students, merely above the false standard of the national level.

Another false assumption of following this baccalaureate path is that misnomer of ‘gifted’ which falsifies to students that they are exceptional. In a non-grammar school, most of the students who attend are ‘average’. Even above national level, they are still average. Were these students not average, they’d be attending a grammar school. By labelling a student as ‘gifted’ when the child is not, I fear that the child may develop and harbour a false sense of superiority.

Punks is not ‘gifted’ but she is a consistent and persistent hard worker. She is achieving high scores (above the national average, but also in percentages in grading) in English, mathematics, science (biology, physics and chemistry), geography, history, Spanish. Usually, she finishes her homework in school, and still has time to join several after school clubs, including learning Japanese, photography, drama, art, and she has started an after school club in which she tutors her classmates in Maths and English.

While I am pleased with her achievements, I cannot help but think the system is stacked against her realising her full potential.

Tamasic

Word of the day: 'tamasic'.

I've been judged by an intelligent individual (who will remain nameless - and no it's not a mental patient) as being involved wholly or in part in "tamasic" qualities. This is taken as intended to mean any one or all of the following: I'm a lazy irresponsible cheat, who is malicious, insensitive, criticising, fault-finding, frustrating, aimless in my living, lacking in logical thinking or planning, and I make excuses for all the above and more. It also means I overeat, oversleep and consume alcohol and drugs. Reference - Wikipedia.

The above judgement, is founded on no appraisal of facts or evidence taken in proper context, that is shared with me or discussed with me [read that again]. That's called fair - by the way - cuz it's such a busy world. No marks for me, for my criticism of things that are referenced and reasoned on hard evidence. In fact to be not-tamasic, one should not criticise period! ;) [Got it?]

I'm meant to admit that if the above is 'factually' and 'contextually' true about enduring aspects of character [note the words carefully chosen] - then I'm totally insightless and will probably remain that way for quite sometime. That I'm willing to put this here - will then be taken to mean (one or more of the following):

1. there must be an element of truth in it (why else would you be bothered to go on about it?) - never mind if that truth of the word tamasic applies to large numbers of people including possibly you who reads this.
2. The sum total of the description is 100% the truth - and I'm actually mortally wounded
3. that I'm defensively or defiantly putting it here in a lame attempt to pretend I'm not mortally wounded.
4. that I'm pretending that I'm not pretending to be mortally wounded

Those who clutch 'tamasic feelings' towards me that are so far undisclosed, will collectively punch the air!! And those who are commanded by unconscious religious brainwashing to judge others in this way, will join in - no doubt. Today is your day too! Enjoy.

On the grounds that s/he who asserts is burdened to prove/reason with real evidence (a tall 'untamasic' order, I should add) - I will not be attempting to prove that I'm not 'tamasic'. It's like being accused of sexual infidelity. How do you prove you've shagged no one?!!! People are entitled to their opinions and perceptions - which they justify in their heads. And they may justify their opinions based on cursory reading of comments on Facebook!!! One thing they don't know - is what they don't know. Self-justified opinions have one important quality i.e. they are 'tamasic' in nature.

It's interesting that it's such fast-paced world - with people rushing around so madly - few have time to know a person for real. Instead if they spot a few comments on FB, a few emails, or some blog - they make judgements - which they know are right. Of course everybody – except me - is entitled to judge other people. I’m not sure why such an inequality exists. Thankfully my circle 'self-selects' and 'self-deselects' those types.

I have never said I was a perfect being - however, my imperfections do not disqualify me from making statements that are lawful, reasoned and evidence-based - whilst remaining open to new opinion and evidence.

Thought for tomorrow

“Four things come not back: the spoken word, the sped arrow, the past life and the neglected opportunity.”

- Anon (probably Arabian in origin).

Inspirational

Guess what

Well, as many will know by now the Cap rejuvenated his interest in photography. So – see if you can guess what this is, along with its size and approximate weight.