Life’s Pursuits

 

 

Some pursue popularity

Some strive for fame

To be popular and or famous

Is to have a great name

 

Some go after money

Some yearn for great wealth

They want to be rich and wealthy

Even at the risk of their health

 

Some want great possessions

Some desire position

Status and power for these

Are their soul ambition

 

Some prefer big families

Some want a big name

Leaving that kind of legacy

Ensures posthumous fame

 

Of course they won’t know

But that matters not,

They will get some idea

Before they leave this spot

 

Some long to discover

Some press hard to innovate,

These are the life pursuits

That will make them great

 

Some want to be doctors

Some want to be teachers

To be known for healing and teaching

Is a phenomenal feature

 

 

Some want to be great actors

Some to be astonishing playwrights

Presenting an alternate reality

Must be their undying delight

 

Some aspire to be magicians

Some the reading of palms

Regarding paranormal activity

They have no qualms

 

Some gravitate to sports

Some to the music industry

In these they’ll make a name

And become world celebrities

 

Some must live in a mansion

Some more than one or two

And wherever they are located

They must have the best view

 

 

Some want to be entertainers

Some to be stand up comics,

They will be quite happy

Once they control the script

 

Some pursue great knowledge

Some the wisdom of the world

Often these particular people

Will even dispute God’s word

 

Some desire universal power

Some even want to be gods

This is their life ambition

Go spread the news abroad

 

 

Some want to be great preachers

Some yearn to own a church

These will have great followings

Leaving many in the lurch

 

Some just want to make it

Some just to get two ends to meet

They stand in awe of the others

And love to be at their feet

 

Something is sadly left out

From all these aspirations

God is conspicuously missing

For each and every equation

 

They will all be total failures

This I can most assuredly add

And at the end of the day

They will all be very sad

  

With God out of the equation

Nothing can be solved

Doesn’t matter how you add it up

You won’t get it resolved

 

Whether scientist or astronomer

Mathematician or philosopher

Without God as the centre

Expect to be a failure

 

Whatever the operation

Be it addition or subtraction

God is the equal sign

That balances every equation

 

Whatever the problem

Without God it’s unsolvable

Doesn’t matter your expertise

You’re still in deep trouble

 

I trust I’ve made the point

To which I remain resolute

There will be no success

Without God in life’s pursuits

 

Stewart Russell © June 2018

 

Going Off

 

 

I like to play with phrases

They are so much fun,

Let’s take the phrase “going off’”

And see how far it will run.

 

Only a couple days ago

I treated to “getting on”,

Several different meanings I gleaned

But I could have missed one.

 

Okay, here is “going off”,

I’d better be getting on,

In this heat that we are having

My ideas are quickly gone.

 

Going off number 1

Refers to mental instability,

Going off one’s rockers in Bajan

Is a term for insanity.

 

"He like he going off!"

Or, "Like he losing he mind!"

This you would hear quite often

Or, “he looney” sometimes.

 

Going off can also mean

When milk begins to curdle,

Some will drink it in this form

For me, that’s a hurdle.

 

 

It has a repulsive smell

And looks like baby’s vomit,

I would have to be going off

To drink any of it.

 

Going off number 3

Is leaving for other shores,

She left for Canada and America

Only the day before.

 

He is going off to study

To pursue a legal career,

I trust he doesn’t go off course

When he gets over there.

 

There is also a going off

That can refer to spoiling,

Like cabbage left out of the fridge

And this can be nauseating.

 

Going off target is another

Just like someone losing focus,

When pupils are guilty of this

Teachers make a fuss.

 

She was going off on him

Meaning she took a turn in him,

Whatever it was the boy had done

Must have been a terrible sin.

 

When last I saw him

He was going off on a trip,

With school just about to start back

He’d better make it quick.

 

There is something I like:

That is, going off on my own,

It was easy to do when I was young

But difficult now I am grown.

 

 

 

“De radio going off air!”

We would hear this in the past,

After the broadcast had ended

The national anthem was last.

 

This happened every night

At exactly eleven o’clock,

Once you heard the National Anthem

It was eleven on the dot.

 

An alarm was going off!

This was not difficult to tell,

I am sure it awoke my neighbour

For it woke me up as well.

 

That’s all I can think of

Maybe you can think of more,

I really must be going off now

But I had fun galore.

 

Stewart Russell © September 10, 2023

 

Out of Reach

 

 

Hi there Madam Chief,

I heard you used to teach

But what I heard you say today

Is clearly out of reach.

 

For your reform explanation

I give you an “A” for muddle,

Strugglers like me received an “F”

For we are puzzled.

 

I did a little teaching too

Maybe not as high up as you

But if I am lost re what I heard,

How will our children do?

 

You can pull this apart,

I have no doubt you would

But if you can’t explain this reform

This would do no good.

 

Excellence is not created

As in building a new school

Any more than being stubborn

Makes one a mule.

 

 

Excellence is crafted

Through effort and over time

By a teacher’s excellent pedagogy

To stimulate the mind.

 

Excellence is to be aimed for

Regardless of the school

And each school must be enabled

To find this groove.

 

Stop stereotyping children

Based on their local community,

These too are full of promise

And are a thing of beauty.

 

Made in the image of God

And created to succeed,

Like in the heights and terraces

All can believe.

 

Socio-economic circumstances

Need not have the final say

If we all come together

And show them the way.

 

 

Each one help one

Must be part of Education reform

And the upliftment of Barbados

Must become the norm.

 

So that “this is who we are”

May make sense to all

And not only to a privileged few

Who are the “chosen called”.

 

Out of reach, Madam Chief,

Bring it closer home,

This excellence you struggled with

Must be in all zones.

 

Stewart Russell © November 8, 2023

 

Committed or Compliant?

 

 

How does one feel

To be treated as a yo-yo?

“Come,” and you come,

“Go,” and you go.

 

Little or no respect

Is being given to teachers,

Many of whom are being treated

Like robotic creatures.

 

Very committed they are

Or perhaps compliant,

Contrary to popular opinion

They are very reliant.

 

Having sat and planned

At one particular school,

They were suddenly moved

Like silly little fools.

 

And not just teachers

But principals also,

Having planned with their staff

They too had to go.

 

A glaring mark of disrespect

If ever there was one,

Tell me, my fellow Barbadian citizens

Where has mutual respect gone?

 

The high-ups and big-ups

Daily demand respect

But when it’s they turn to give,

They are negatively set.

 

For them that is stooping

To their subordinates

And they most surely detest such

With irreconcilable hate.

 

Not even an apology,

At least, I didn’t hear any,

Some may consider it laughable

But to me it isn’t funny.

 

Had this happened to me

I would have felt very small,

It seems to me that teachers

Have no value at all.

 

One union was silent

And that was strange to me,

However, I’ll say no more on that

Since I like being free.

 

 

 

No marches or protests,

Just a meek surrendering

To the unfeeling despots in authority

And their whimsical ruling.

 

Just a few days before

A so-called victory was wrought

And just a few days after

Teachers were distraught.

 

Dare I stand up

And like a good soldier acquit?

With a mortgage to pay and more

I could lose my pick.

 

For unions they are

But in union with the boss

And there is not much to gain

But quite a lot to be lost.

 

Stewart Russell © October 2, 2023

 

Of Guards and Guardians

 

Who will guard the guards?

That’s a question often asked

And the answer oft not forthcoming

Leaves an unfulfilling task.

 

And what about the guardians?

Another answer often sought,

And that too oft not forthcoming

Leaves us even more distraught.

 

Of guards and guardians

Are they both exactly the same?

No they are subtly different

They are on different planes.

 

Guards are usually on the lower end

A building or some property,

Guardians on the other hand

Are more involved with destiny.

 

Guards mostly operate at nights

Or when very few people are around,

They watch when others are sleeping

Or at least are lying down.

 

Oft the owners of these properties

Cannot get enough of sleep,

Their minds are so disturbed

That sleep becomes a treat.

 

Guards are paid little money

And their lives are always at risk,

Restricted to where they watch

They are at the lower end of the list.

 

Guardians are more hifalutin

Theirs is a higher calling,

They hold the keys to people’s lives

And around them much is revolving.

 

 

They are not security guards

In the sense of watching a property

But maintaining a way of life

And in such must be exemplary.

 

The quality of a people’s life

Is highly dependent on them,

Pastors, teachers and politicians

Are prominent in this realm.

 

These are guardians of morality

In the country and the church

And when they’re absent from their post

Many are left to lurch.

 

There is definitely no comparison

Between one’s life and material gain

Even though a lack of the latter

Can cause some distress and pain.

 

Regarding guards and guardians

There is also no comparison

For while one protects our property

The other informs our decisions.

 

Decisions about life in general

Decisions about our spirituality

Decisions re: education and development

Decisions about the economy

 

Decisions regarding our children

And the future of our country

Decisions about our relationships

At the personal level and community

 

Hence regarding guards and guardians

They are vastly different

And this difference goes much further

Than the money that’s on either spent.

 

The latter protects a whole lot more

There is far more at stake

Hence the need to choose more carefully

For we’re all guardians of our estate.

 

“Strict guardians of our heritage

Firm craftsmen of our fate”,

Our national anthem is clearly explicit

In all that this implicates.

 

Stewart Russell © August 2018

 

Mathematics: A Teaching Problem

 

 

“If you have taught

And there is no learning,”

Said a tutor many years ago,

“Then you have not taught.”

 

I struggled with this

For it did not make sense

And in my view way back then

This tutor had to be dense.

 

It was one of my early courses

At Erdiston Teachers’ College

And as far as I was concerned,

This was utter garbage.

 

He was blaming the teacher

For a pupil not learning:

For him, it was a teacher problem:

Transmitting not receiving.

 

I was young and cocky then

And I would have none of this

For, regarding my teaching prowess,

There was a lengthy list.

 

I was not only a natural

But I was endowed with passion,

Add to that a love for children

With subsequent flair and fashion.

 

I’d had a fair bit of success too

With pupils passing exams,

So, this tutor’s nonsensical ideology

I was forced to body-slam.

 

He was a mathematics tutor

And his grading was very tough,

After a few assignments results

You knew it was going to be rough.

 

For that mathematics course

I averaged just C+

And I must truthfully confess

At times I felt almost crushed.

 

He assured me years later

That I was a very good student

And he took some of the responsibility

For my subsequent achievement.

 

“If you have taught

And there is no learning,”

This tutor had stated,

“Then you have not taught.”

 

Back then he was my teacher

And the reason I was distraught,

My not learning was a teacher problem,

Yes!  It was his fault!

 

C+ was his mental set!

It was not really mine,

He was clearly annoyed with himself

Over a fixation back in time.

 

I have come a mighty long way

Since those early days

 And slowly but surely

I have mended my ways.

 

Much experience has been gained

From the exposure I have had

And the truth be told,

The good has eclipsed the bad.

 

I am retired now,

It is almost twelve years

And I am proving more and more

My greatest fear.

 

That that tutor was right

I now have no doubts,

One by one, the arguments I held

I have thrown them all out.

 

It’s a teaching problem

That retards pupil-learning

And this is particularly evident

In basic problem solving.

 

“Expose the pupils

To many and varied problems

And by the time of the examination

They will be able to solve them.”

 

Sounds good, Yes?

But so very wrong

Yet many teachers’ hold on this

Remains very strong.

 

“Practise, practise, practise!”

That’s the way some others go

But this too is just as wrong

As one practises what one knows.

 

Often the foundation is shaky

Or there may be none at all

And so, the scaffolding put in place

Must eventually fall.

 

The syllabus reigns supreme

At the expense of pupil learning

And it is often covered down

With little understanding.

 

“Telling” the pupil is optimum

Like the baking of a cake,

"This is what you do next,

Hurry up! It's getting very late!"

 

Most pupils are asking HOW?

Very few are asking WHY?

And with concept building non-existent,

There is little to apply.

 

Three basic levels to doing Math:

Skill, comprehension, application,

Problem solving rides on all of these

And is based on investigation.

 

Concept building is critical

And must never be treated lightly,

It must be informed by models

Either concrete or pictorially.

 

Much of math is outside

And of an informal nature,

Bench-ridden within the classroom

Is like old-age stricture.

 

 

From the intuitive to the concrete,

From the concrete to the semi-concrete,

From the semi-concrete to the abstract,

Not one we should delete.

 

Then the application should follow

With the communication right behind

And if the student can reflect all this,

How to learn is right on time.

 

The best learner is a teacher

That communicates what he learns

And with the passion that he derives,

For more learning he will yearn.

 

Learning is not the target

But how to learn is, instead,

And when the pupil hits the bullseye

We can say he is well-read.

 

Learning-strategies will develop

Problem solving will be a breeze,

And with less teacher-dependency

Pupils will learn with ease.

 

Learning is the ‘fish’ one catches,

How to learn is the “how to fish”,

The former is not sustainable,

The latter is the desired wish.

 

Do not ignore a pupil’s ‘why’

With a “This is the way to do it”,

Instead, encourage intelligent questioning

To make him better equipped.

 

Teacher, take responsibility

For the learning of every pupil,

Treat each one as your own offspring

And do not suffer in silence.

 

Encourage pupils to share

Ideas and methodologies,

Utilize their composite brain power

To come up with strategies.

 

 

Assign yourself a mentor

Or, maybe one or two or three,

And with the input from them all

The better you should see.

 

Mathematics is a teaching problem

And one the teacher must solve,

The student’s learning is the variable

That each teacher must resolve.

 

Stewart Russell © April 4, 2023