SPEECH LESS

"... for far too long, with consecutive governments we have the same faces with the same old philosophies and tired ideas. We need as a nation to engage our young intellectuals..." President Carmona: Ceremonial opening of the Fourth session of the Tenth Parliament at Tower D, International Waterfront Centre, Port of Spain.

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Perhaps it is no coincidence that my blogging spirit remained in a comatose state until the President’s speech. I admit to having suffered a bout of writer’s block; this due mainly to the fact that each time I attempted to pen my thoughts, I felt exhausted – with the political rhetoric being spewed from both sides; with one side ranting and raving about missteps and misdemeanours misconceptions and the other side seeking to explain that the writing on wall remains the same, that it our vision that is deteriorating. While the topics and themes usually revolved around Criminal Justice issues, the intent was to encourage vigilance and discourse over all matters which may affect policy and decision making. To this end a reading of the daily newspapers was necessary, as well as keeping au courant with public sentiment and expert opinion, enter the cycle of the ‘same old philosphies and tired ideas’.

President Carmona in his speech at the Fourth session of the Tenth Parliament referred to the ‘dinosaur legislation’ that no person under the age of 25 can qualify to be a senator in the Upper House – that such legislation lacks vision. Perhaps this is root cause of the sloth that pervades decision making and policy implementation not just with our politics but with governance across all spheres of public service. Academic institutions NOT excluded. It may also explain why, still, across social media there is hardly any meaningful expression of interest in matters related to politics, different from our preoccupation with deriding our leaders. To put the President’s utterances in of an academic setting, it may be timely to revisit all curricula to include public speaking and debating. At all levels, from as early as primary school, core skills in the written and oral expression should be honed. Such skills should not be developed merely as assessment prerequisites but with a view to encourage learning by discovery and research. The art of oratory can be further polished via inter and intra-mural collaboration. Hopefully this will be one way to recruit young(er) minds to the civic and political arenas. 

The affliction of rote speeches in our Parliament is borne out of our pedagogy, it is an ill that pervades all levels of schooling and particularly affects tertiary education where critical thinking is central to intellectual stimulation. At any event, where there is a lack of depth to dialogue brawn steps in and will prevail when the other side is unprepared. This is characteristic of our management styles, throughout and embedded in our methods of delivery of knowledge and instruction. It is time for change and that time is now. “In every generation there comes along an exceptional human being under the age of 25”, so says our President. Truth is, this IS the generation of exceptional human beings under twenty five. Now recruiting, the next generation -new thoughts, new ideas!