Dear Editor,
It was news for me reading the letter in KN of October 29 by Claudia Heywood, mother of 2009 valedictorian Loria-Mae Angela Heywood furiously complaining that one year after graduating and receiving the President’s Medal for “distinguished performance” and sending out about 40 job applications (this has got to be a record for a top UG student) her daughter is still jobless. This letter highlighting the valedictorian’s situation is unfortunate and did not make for pleasant reading, but I was not amazed since I know that she is not alone in this regard. But the letter most certainly grabbed my attention, since I recalled one I had written (SN, January 25; KN, January 26) which had been prompted by the speech she had delivered at the graduation exercise, and carried in part by SN under the bold headline, ‘UG graduates need well-paying jobs to stay here -valedictorian.’
In my letter I asked some questions: How can this desirable change be made? Whose responsibility is it to effect the change? How do you see yourself in the service of your country? Whom does your labour serve? Is our highest institution of learning, shaping, enriching, and motivation young students to reach beyond self? What is the true purpose and intent of education? For so doing I was taken to task by one of her fellow graduands, Stanley Wong, who in his missive to KN attacked me for using the distinguished Caribbean writer George Lamming as a role model; clearly, he failed to understand the role and place of Lamming and by extension his contemporaries within the context of their time, claiming that Lamming too was no different from his batch mates – apolitical, bent on self interest and seeking greener pastures. Wong missed my line of reasoning completely and so failed to grasp the thrust of my letter; in fact he dealt with just one small part of it and not in its entirety, and ended up accusing me “and others” of not understanding “our problems and dreams,” which he called “self preservation.”
However, I think there is time enough for the youthful Stanley Wong to become seriously acquainted with the writings of this eminent Caribbean thinker. But one gets the impression that this graduand who was speaking on behalf of his batch mates as saying: look here, listen up, we did not attend UG to become moralists, humanitarians or correct the ills of society. But then neither was I even remotely suggesting that any of them emulate Steve Biko or Angela Davis, Gandhi or Rodney – no way! Too tall an order! He also stated: “Having our heads chopped of now to appease critics makes no sense to us,” yet in the same breath talked about “how we can improve our contribution to the welfare of Guyana.” There was nothing in my writing that conveyed the impression that I was against personal development/ upward mobility, greener pastures or self preservation, but from the tone of his argument one sensed a mindset that was a bit discomforting, as if to say: here we come with our acquired knowledge, create the perfect conditions and make us an offer we can’t refuse. But this is how everyone in this land has become – all material and nothing else, which is one of the main reasons why things are the way they are.
Editor, if that trend of thinking is thought of as the sole purpose and intent of a university education, then I’m afraid then we are somewhat lost. But what I was also trying to get over, was that our young and brilliant minds should seek to implant into their character among other things, some degree of moral integrity, courage and concern beyond self. A sense that yes, everyone has a right to be consumed with an overriding concern for self, but if that obsession is not tempered, it could be to our detriment, and at the expense of our soul whereby we end up being feeble, spineless, submissive creatures – the very antithesis of what a university education should offer.
If for whatever reason one’s quest for greener pasture is not realized and one is left stuck, then obviously one becomes yet another victim within the scheme of things, and of the ills, shortcomings and decadence plaguing the society. This then is one valid reason why it behoves us to become involved in things that our existence is hinged on. It stands to reason that no sane person will help to fashion a system which they know will handicap them or render them helpless; this is why we need to relinquish our passive posture at some point and be bold. These are commendable and honourable acts that learned people do to effect desirable change and have nothing to do with ‘heads being chopped off’ to appease critics. Seven times Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong once said that if you are scared of falling off a bike you will never learn to ride. When a thing is wrong, if it is not corrected it stays wrong, and eventually gets worse. My letter ended thus: “and rest assure Loria-Mae, that once this trend continues each succeeding graduating batch will be echoing your sentiments about the state of affairs, only by then it will be worse.” That the 2009 valedictorian is still unable to land a job stands as testimony.
But you know what, we cannot despair; we have to keep the faith as Guyanese like to say; take every disappointment for a good. Sometimes it’s all fate/providence that these things happen, and they are designed to bring us back into line with a duty or calling that was marked out for us and which we have been stubbornly rejecting. Who knows? No doubt Mrs Claudia Heywood – a believer in the word will most certainly agree with me here.
Yours faithfully,
Frank Fyffe
