It Is Confusing

 

 

 

How light is too light

Without being flippant?

How serious is too serious

Without being distant?

 

Margins for error

And demarcating lines

Flummox and bewilder me

Most of the time.

 

It is confusing

To say the very least

And I am yearning as I write

For some relief.

 

He is too serious

And she is too light

And he has an earned doctorate

But not too bright.

 

From education reform

To education transformation

Is there a difference? Please rid me

Of my confusion.

 

 

And those bottom ones

Lodged in the cracks,

Will there be any hope for them

In their lack?

 

There is much talk

And bewitching rhetoric

But re these schools and those schools

Will this actually exit?

 

Fifty percent intake

From within its zone

Sounds amazingly progressive to me

But it’s a contentious bone.

 

How will they be selected

For the high-end schools?

Don’t pretend not to understand-

You are no fool.

 

 

Will HC and QC and

Cawmere and St Michael

Be given by the super powers that be

A clear principle?

 

Or will it be as usual

Dependent on the scores

Thus, the bright ones from the zone

Will have orientation tours?

 

I will not spell it out

You know what I mean,

Sounds like the old pecking order

From what I glean.

 

I still smell a rat

To coin a Bajan saying

But I am desperate for a change;

For change I am praying.

 

 

Will Parkinson and Springer

Get the bright ones too

And pertaining to such schools

Will the MOE alter its view?

 

We need an overhaul

In our education system

And to do this we must aptly identify

Its major problem.

 

 

It boggles my mind

That the MOE knows

But so far in this education reform venture

There is nothing to show.

 

We subtly ignore

Those at the bottom

Except, of course, when they become

A societal problem.

 

That is, on exiting school

And joining the block

And then society’s well-oiled engine

Begins to knock. 

 

Then more is promised

Like a heavy grade oil

And this old elitist, archaic system

Requires more toil.

 

Teachers to work harder

And longer hours

Along with decreasing autonomy

Meaning less power.

 

Power to problem solve

Via critical thought

And to teach clearly defined morals

As they seriously aught.

 

Pushing community

Where each helps the other:

Teacher to teacher; student to student

And an SOS is not a bother.

 

No doubt you would say

But this is admirable

And that’s why it’s confusing to me

That it’s not factual.

 

Too much remains

Just simply written down

And eventually becomes a document

That can’t be found.

 

 

Often stashed away

In some officer’s cabinet

Waiting for that officer or another

To vet.

 

For that proposal to die

A most unnatural death

And at the end of all the long talk,

Only “same-old” is left.

 

 

It is confusing

Most definitely to me

That the more we upgrade our skills

The less we see.

 

One would surely think

With such brilliant minds

We would have been further on

At this particular time.

 

EDUTECH in the nineties

And the following decade

But concerning our underachievers,

To little or no avail.

 

For some it’s comedy

For others it’s tragic

But for some others it’ so confusing

It’s making them sick.

 

So too, for our country

In this subtle malaise

Where the only success for some

Is to consistently fail.

 

This is why it’s confusing

When politicians speak

For what they so oratorically present

Falls at their feet. 

 

 

From a confused writer

That longs for policy clarity

As well as the kind of transparency

Open to public scrutiny.

 

Stewart Russell © September 1, 2025