The last recruitment drive by Bermuda Fire Service attracted 83 applicants — but just three passed the entrance tests and only two accepted the job. Chief fire officer Vincent Hollinsid said of applicants: “They are failing because of the academics, they are failing because of the medical exams, they are failing because of a number [...]
Entries Tagged as 'Education'
Education System, Still Fumbling
January 18th, 2010 · 1 Comment · Education
The Bermuda Government loves to commission top dollar reports from international experts …. and then to ignore them. Bermuda First, which was heralded as a bipartisan effort to gain the input from the business community, quickly disappeared without a trace. Even more worrisome is the Hopkins Report on improving education which has been sitting on [...]
Tags:Hopkins Report
Democracy Needs Education
November 4th, 2009 · Comments Off · Education
A reader points out that – while we need to reform our education for the practical reason that children in our community deserve it, and our country needs those children to be able to achieve and earn – we also need better education to protect our democracy. The New York Times reports that Basically no [...]
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Mincy Report
November 3rd, 2009 · Comments Off · Bermuda Politics, Education
The long-awaited report by Ronald Mincy of Columbia University has been released. A Study of Employment, Earnings, and Educational Gaps between Young Black Bermudian Males and their Same-Age Peers (pdf, 1 Mb) At 233 pages, it is worth skimming, and then reading again properly. This subject tends to be clouded by staccato emotion and political [...]
Tags:race
Education
October 21st, 2009 · Comments Off · Education
The muddle over Bermuda’s poor quality of public education continues unabated. The NYT underlines why education is important: A Washington lawyer friend recently told me about layoffs at his firm. I asked him who was getting axed. He said it was interesting: lawyers who were used to just showing up and having work handed to [...]
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When Worlds Collide
June 2nd, 2009 · No Comments · Bermuda Politics, Education
I guess times have changed since I was a young ‘un. The thought that there would be “gang warfare” at the prom for the costly private BHS for girls at the costly private RBYC just boggles the mind. Bermuda is small – and the swishy crowd can’t feel isolated from the discontent, violence, and uselessness [...]
Saying Thank You
January 29th, 2009 · Comments Off · Education
Before we get too excited about the Premier being named as a Caribbean Illuminati at a fundraiser held by the American Foundation for the University of the West Indies (AFUWI), Bermudians should note that this is a Big Thank You for Dr. Brown’s kind offer for Bermuda to subsidize UWI. Under the terms of the [...]
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Impolitic
November 20th, 2008 · Comments Off · Education
Phil Butterfield’s impolitic comments about the teachers union gives the feeling that the education imbroglio will get a lot worse before it gets better. And by decrying that fact that the union’s leader – a gym teacher by background – was deemed an opinion maker, he opens a whole new can of worms. “That indeed [...]
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Graduation Rates
October 14th, 2008 · Comments Off · Education, Transparency
The Ministry of Education today announced that graduation rates rose by five percent this year to reach 96 percent. This is up from a dismal 53 percent just four years ago. The 96 percent rate is based on the number of students entering S4. The rate is 71 percent when based on number of students [...]
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Parliamentary Committee Seeks Permission for Public Access
August 27th, 2008 · Comments Off · Accountability, Education, Transparency
Some encouraging news today. A cross-party parliamentary committee reviewing how educational reform is being implemented in the wake of the Hopkins Report wants to hold its meetings in public, according to its chairman, PLP MP Neletha Butterfield. She said that its members were determined to be “accountable and transparent”. In June the British House of [...]
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