Dear Editor,

The world is watching a burgeoning paradigm shift that has been equated to the impact of the Industrial Age.  It is noted that the Industrial Revolution was a major economic change, which ushered in the growth of the middle class in the western world.  Today, we see rapid growth taking place in the middle class in countries like China, India and Brazil.  These countries, in different ways, released thousands of people from the clutches of poverty and ushered in spectacular growth into the middle class.  For some of these countries, these changes took place in a mere five-year period.  Grant it, many of their people were living in extreme poverty.
For Brazil, the simple changing of the laws to raise the minimum wage resulted in the transitioning of many from poverty to the middle class rank, where they could begin to enjoy conveniences such as simple appliances and computers.  In India, it was the reducing of taxes that put more income into the pockets of its people and lifted their quality of life.  For countries like China, it was making the necessary changes in its economic model and its position in the eyes of the world.  When China joined the World Trade Organization on December 11, 2001, it opened the floodgates of opportunity for companies to do business in China, and for China to get the opportunity to get its people employed and learning new technologies and industries.
In The Bahamas, foreign direct investment in tourism-related industries and offshore companies has contributed to the growing of our middle class.  However, over the years our over-dependence on tourism has made our economy vulnerable to external factors, as we have seen in the recent world recession and the 9/11 crisis in the United States.  Unfortunately, our fortune in tourism has also bred a high consumer driven mindset, which has not encouraged the development of our intellectual capital.  The education model for tourism has been to prepare our students, from high school, to find a job in tourism.  Most of these jobs have placed emphasis on physical capital as opposed to human intellectual capital.  So you can finish high school and work in the tourism industry making attractive salaries, which discourages young people from pursuing higher education or trying harder in high school, knowing they can get a job without good grades.
The lack of emphasis in the economy on intellectual capital has resulted in a low demand nationally for a highly-educated, highly-skilled workforce.  Exacerbating this problem is the fact that too often companies are allowed to bring in foreign labor to fill the needs that may exist.  Hence, Bahamians who have invested the time and effort to pursue higher education are often significantly challenged to find meaningful employment in the Bahamian economy.
Over the years we have created a highly consumer-based society.  This model creates consumers and not producers, employees and not owners, customers and not entrepreneurs.  We now need to encourage and motivate our people to become producers and innovators.  We need to see more labels reading, "Made in The Bahamas".
To accomplish this task there needs to be a radical change in our educational system and direction.  Thomas Friedman, in "The World is Flat" highlighted a very telling shift that we, as a people, must come to grips with.  The Industrial Age ushered in the revolution from manual labor to more intellectual labor.  That is, trained farmers, who only needed to have strong muscles and a primary school education, now found they needed less muscles (due to the advent of machinery), but a high school education.  Similarly, Friedman noted that with the ushering in of the Information Age (the age of technology), a high school education would no longer suffice for the new types of jobs being made available.
Tertiary education is now a must.  Our educational system must, therefore, not simply train students to make it through high school and find a job.  We must train our students to go to college!  Tertiary education is a must for whatever field of endeavor one aspires, whether academic or vocational.  Technology has transcended even the seemingly most physically intensive domains.
As a country we, therefore, need to make a quantum leap.  This is the time to create a paradigm shift in a generation.  This is the time for inspiration.  This is the time for nation building.  If we are to rise to the challenge and get our children through high school with better than a national grade average of D+, and get them interested in college, then we have lots of work to do.  We need all hands on deck.  We need many resources.  We need a comprehensive plan and then the fortitude and diligence to see the plan through.
This is the 21st century in which we have to live and compete.  This is not going away, and as a nation we must prepare for it.
 
- Charlene R. Paul
DNA candidate for Elizabeth

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