Virgin Islanders used to build everything for themselves - Dr the Hon Wheatley
Appearing as a guest on the Monday, September 13, 2021, edition of the Umoja show with host Cromwell Smith aka 'Edju En Ka', Hon Wheatley said the lack of technical teaching has resulted in the need for the territory to import skillsets in technical areas like carpentry, masonry, and mechanics.
VI schools prioritise administrative training
“We have a model of our economy for the last 30-40 years and because of the rapid expansion of the financial services and the Virgin Islanders who went into certain jobs, a lot went into government administration,” he said.
Hon Wheatley said before the widescale importation of skilled workers, Virgin Islanders would build everything themselves, including houses and boats.
“When persons said Virgin Islanders don’t know how to build anything, we used to build everything for ourselves!” he said.
However, the minister noted that with the emergence of financial services, the education systems started to prioritise training for persons to get administrative jobs.
“We don’t want our children doing that anymore [technical jobs], we want them to wear suits and ties and sit down in air conditioning, so we still coping with that today.”
Dr Wheatley said young students have had to fail regular classes in order to take technical skills training classes, since students with good grades were not allowed to do the more technical courses.
More technical training needed in schools
He said there have also been stigmas associated with technical learning; however, things have started to turn around regarding perceptions. He added that programmes will now be developed for students who are struggling academically.
“So we have students who might be repeating a grade and you just keep them repeating. When you see a student is struggling that way, you have to put something in place,” he said.
Hon Wheatley said the Education Ministry is working to have a vocational programme, which was developed at the VI School of Technical Studies, to be extended to the other high schools. He said this would be implemented at least from 7th grade, once they see students struggling academically.
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20 Responses to “Virgin Islanders used to build everything for themselves - Dr the Hon Wheatley”
Dr. Hon Natalio ‘Sowande Uhuru’ Wheatley, R-7, MEC, DP and former lecturer at HLSCC, is on point on a few issues, ie, lack of proficiency in a) craft/technical skills( carpentry, mason, electrician, auto/diesel mechanic, plumber, architectural tech, joinery, air conditioning and refrigeration, IT, surveying tech), b) Virgin Islanders are concentrated in administrative skills area; others, technical skills area and c) a stigma is curiously attached to working in technical areas, especially outside in the sun. True, in the past, Virgin Islanders by necessity had to build every thing. However, a change occurred and the reason for the change needs to be looked at.
Neither space nor time available here to take an in-depth look into what changed. The best at this point is a very cursory peek. In Slavery, the VI was an agro society; and out slavery the VI was also an agro society. With the flight of plantation owners from the territory, subsequent land owners/small plot holders employ the land to build the peasant economy. Working ground was common place. Then, at some point, parents decided they wanted their children to do something other than working ground. They encouraged their sons and daughters to dress up and head into Town to find work in government and other offices. That is still happening, ie, concentration in admin skills. Parents intentions were well-meaning but clearly there are some shortcomings and unintended consequences.
Additionally, tourism and financial services busted on the scene in the 60s and 80s, respectively, improving Virgin Islanders standard of living and quality of life. And when a community standard of living and quality of life changes, locals tend, for the most part, to avoid doing certain jobs. Take a quick peek around the VI to see what jobs locals are not into. Clearly, there is dearth of locals in the technical skills area. It is a problem but what is government going to about it?
The first action should be commissioning an ad hoc committee to explore the issue and make recommendations. Secondly, goals, objectives , strategies and tactics must be developed and implemented to address the issue. Thirdly, government needs to engage experienced, retired local educators, ie, Dr Charles H. Wheatley, former President of HLSCC, among others for advice on addressing the issue. And Fourthly, Singapore, a small, resource-poor, and 270 square mile dot in the China Sea, is always at or near the top in educational achievements. Bench mark Singapore. Develop a plan of action and milestones to address the issue.
progress is good but progress can be detrimental: look at us, the universe filled with a pandemic however we must expose our people for the sake of balancing the treasury