NE HILLVIEW MEN??

[rebound]

Did you go to naps?

[KM_2NR]

Negative

edit: this was in my year , idk if things changed now. doubtful tho

[Redress10]

Another dumb colonial relic.

Who cares, alevels is no standard to judge academic brilliance. Just give the scholarahips to those who make the marks and let them get on with their lives. No need to pappyshow the thing. Focus on improving our universities and employment opportunities so these kids wouldn't have to leave to have a better future.

These poor kids end up feeling that they are "brilliant" until they leave Trinidad, end up in the real world and realise that they are actually behind the rest of the world.

[Redress10]

Basically the get the exam papers ahead of time and circulate it amongst the people with $$$ , think people were paying like 5k for exam papers in 2008. Obviously people will do well on there own but I know for a fact there's a lot of dishonesty going on.

If it's true then it just shows that trinis are dumb as fack. You don't go to school to win awards and to brag. You go to school to become educated. You become educated to solve societies' problems.

[Dohplaydat]

Another dumb colonial relic.

Who cares, alevels is no standard to judge academic brilliance. Just give the scholarahips to those who make the marks and let them get on with their lives. No need to pappyshow the thing. Focus on improving our universities and employment opportunities so these kids wouldn't have to leave to have a better future.

These poor kids end up feeling that they are "brilliant" until they leave Trinidad, end up in the real world and realise that they are actually behind the rest of the world.

Ahem, let me tell you a story. I got a schol, went UWI Eng, got my first class, went UK to study, realized the brightest person in UWI and my high school (hillview), paled in comparison to 75% of my class in the UK.

Not only that, but the level of work, committment and innovation expected there was on a different level.

Here in Trinidad we dumb down things because it too hard, we dumbed down CXC, we swapped GCSC for CAPE, we removed tonnes of the math in Nat Sci and Engineering because students were failing.

Meanwhile, the rest of the world is leveling up their standards.

[Redress10]

Another dumb colonial relic.

Who cares, alevels is no standard to judge academic brilliance. Just give the scholarahips to those who make the marks and let them get on with their lives. No need to pappyshow the thing. Focus on improving our universities and employment opportunities so these kids wouldn't have to leave to have a better future.

These poor kids end up feeling that they are "brilliant" until they leave Trinidad, end up in the real world and realise that they are actually behind the rest of the world.

Ahem, let me tell you a story. I got a schol, went UWI Eng, got my first class, went UK to study, realized the brightest person in UWI and my high school (hillview), paled in comparison to 75% of my class in the UK.

Not only that, but the level of work, committment and innovation expected there was on a different level.

Here in Trinidad we dumb down things because it too hard, we dumbed down CXC, we swapped GCSC for CAPE, we removed tonnes of the math in Nat Sci and Engineering because students were failing.

Meanwhile, the rest of the world is leveling up their standards.

Exactly but we patting these poor kids on their backs and making them feel like passing a couple of cape exams gonna be their life's crowning moment. Seriously? This is just a papyshow for the media and politicians and clowns like Sat Maharaj who felt this proved ethnic superiority.
Imagine the media in the poor child's living room because he pass a lil cape exam. Steups.

You went UK which is fine but places like India has IEETs where only 3000 people get accepted to their best engineering programmes. These people are better than people going to MIT and Cambridge etc and later on lead companies such as Google(Sundar Pichai).

Before we look to level up our education we still promoting charades of "excellence". Nothing these kids have done in their academic life is "special". In fact some other cultures would say they are underperforming. For other cultures this is the norm and basic expectation.

Can we have these awards for people who actually achieve something significant? I don't mind these awards at the undergraduate level as long as the recipient has achieved some feat that is recognised both here and abroad. Maybe the disovery of a cure for some kinda disease or a life changing patent.

Right now we just educating people to be cheaply employed by the 1%. Any UWI pharmaceutical grads ever created their own pharmaceutical companies? The 1% supplies the nation with Pharmaceuticals, they ever studied pharmacology? They ever won a national schol or a president's medal for excellence? Steups

[Skanky]

These poor kids end up feeling that they are "brilliant" until they leave Trinidad, end up in the real world and realise that they are actually behind the rest of the world.

Nonsense. Trinidad has produced a lot of brilliant persons of world class quality, better even than lots of people who the world puts on a pedestal. What holds us back is simply we were born in the wrong country and no matter how brilliant we are we will always be discriminated against.

Anybody who worked in a multinational company could tell you stories of the high ranking persons making 10x more money than trinis but are complete idiots and held up as world leading authorities within the company while the lowly trinis are actually better and more knowledgeable at their jobs.

You can never escape being a trini. It's like an anchor attached to your leg.

[Redress10]

These poor kids end up feeling that they are "brilliant" until they leave Trinidad, end up in the real world and realise that they are actually behind the rest of the world.

Nonsense. Trinidad has produced a lot of brilliant persons of world class quality, better even than lots of people who the world puts on a pedestal. What holds us back is simply we were born in the wrong country and no matter how brilliant we are we will always be discriminated against.

Anybody who worked in a multinational company could tell you stories of the high ranking persons making 10x more money than trinis but are complete idiots and held up as world leading authorities within the company while the lowly trinis are actually better and more knowledgeable at their jobs.

You can never escape being a trini. It's like an anchor attached to your leg.

You missing the point completely. The foreigners who work in multinationals maiking 10x what our locals make do not constitute their nation's brilliant citizens. Yet our "brilliant" citizens kick and scratch for an opportunity to work in those companies.

The multinationals pay the locals their worth because the locals don't bring nothing special to the company. Your skill set is literally a dime a dozen. That is why IEET grads command such a high price anywhere on the planet. Their skillsets are unique because their quality is highly respected globally.

[fallen_angel]

Some of you all here sounding real salty.

Trinidad, like every other country, has a lot of intelligent people who are competitive on an international scale, you will only understand that if you happen to meet them and get to know them. So if you can’t see that it may help if you look at the kind of friends you keep, your attitude towards people and level of interest you place in understanding them or the general things you follow up on.

Just a few days ago I read that the top 3 beta testers for a website (I think it was fb) were from India and Trinidad. Don’t downplay your own fellow citizens, that’s one of the reasons why in the multinationals the expats get treated better than locals, because the expats can get your own fellow locals to work harder than a local boss. Trini’s go outside and make a lot of money, don’t be mistaken.

People may not realize this, but we are just like everyone else in the world, we’re not any more or less special, just our opportunities different because we live on a small isolated island.

India has over 1000x the people TT has, it’s expected they would have more smarter people. Trinidad is a very small island with not much of a population.

Maybe the entire exam system is not worth much, regardless of that these children did perform better than the rest of the country at it, give them their credit and don’t be jealous, everyone has their time to shine, just be happy for other people sometimes.

In Trinidad people get awards and huge cash payouts for things which are benefit society less and may even seem more useless and trivial, like who could wine better, beat a steel drum better, glue beads on a string better, sing about getting drunk better, the list could go on. That’s all part of a multicultural society and we all have to live in unity and accept that. At least when these folks finish study they can become a cog in the 1%’s machine and help serve the people.

Don’t be salty, just be happy for the children and more positive towards our people.

[Gladiator]

These poor kids end up feeling that they are "brilliant" until they leave Trinidad, end up in the real world and realise that they are actually behind the rest of the world.

Nonsense. Trinidad has produced a lot of brilliant persons of world class quality, better even than lots of people who the world puts on a pedestal. What holds us back is simply we were born in the wrong country and no matter how brilliant we are we will always be discriminated against.

Anybody who worked in a multinational company could tell you stories of the high ranking persons making 10x more money than trinis but are complete idiots and held up as world leading authorities within the company while the lowly trinis are actually better and more knowledgeable at their jobs.

You can never escape being a trini. It's like an anchor attached to your leg.

You missing the point completely. The foreigners who work in multinationals maiking 10x what our locals make do not constitute their nation's brilliant citizens. Yet our "brilliant" citizens kick and scratch for an opportunity to work in those companies.

The multinationals pay the locals their worth because the locals don't bring nothing special to the company. Your skill set is literally a dime a dozen. That is why IEET grads command such a high price anywhere on the planet. Their skillsets are unique because their quality is highly respected globally.

LOL... if you only knew who you talking to. You are literally talking to one of the best in his field. Multinationals want absolutely nothing with him and what he says about the discrimination is spot on.

[Redress10]

A multi national is just an extention of the foreign country. They don't care about the local population "brilliance". They are there to expolit and extract the resources of the host nation. They have been doing this for centuries.

They are not here to cuddle and praise locals. They are here to bamboozle locals to work for them at a low fee. That is why expats are paid so highly. It's because coming to countries such as these are viewed as a step down in quality of life so they need to enitce their workers with extra money.

If you don't like it then build ya own MNC or change the requirements for MNCs to operate in ya country. I am a firm opponent of MNCs operating here without transfering knowledge or skills or offering locals equal pay.

But then again trinis worship at these ppl feet and a job at a MNC make them feel important even if they making pigeon money and doing dog wuk.

Why the MNCs want nothing to do with him? Best in the field in the world?

[Numb3r4]

Skanky's part about being anchored sounds a bit like Naipaul.

What field are you in Skanky? Serious question.

[Redress10]

But you can't claim to be anchored to TT yet praise awards such as these. Awards like these are the cause of the nation not developing.

These awards are just opportunities for politicians to further pappyshow themselves and the nation. Where is the actual development taking place to utilise these brilliant people. That is where the focus should be. Not in having a pappyshow award.

I think awards such as these send the wrong message especially if schools stop "educating" and start focusing on winning these awards and scholarships. You can perfect exam taking once you understand the formula esp if there is bobol involved. Which is even more pathetic if true considering how easy the exams already are.

We also have to consider if the school is neglecting the masses in favour of the one or two students who they think can be scholarship winners etc. When did education become a competition? Can we just try to graduate as many of our students as possible to increase our competitiveness internationally? Seems like we are too busy competiting amongst ourselves to see the big picture.

[Gladiator]

A multi national is just an extention of the foreign country. They don't care about the local population "brilliance". They are there to expolit and extract the resources of the host nation. They have been doing this for centuries.

They are not here to cuddle and praise locals. They are here to bamboozle locals to work for them at a low fee. That is why expats are paid so highly. It's because coming to countries such as these are viewed as a step down in quality of life so they need to enitce their workers with extra money.

If you don't like it then build ya own MNC or change the requirements for MNCs to operate in ya country. I am a firm opponent of MNCs operating here without transfering knowledge or skills or offering locals equal pay.

But then again trinis worship at these ppl feet and a job at a MNC make them feel important even if they making pigeon money and doing dog wuk.

Why the MNCs want nothing to do with him? Best in the field in the world?

No... they want nothing with him. His skills and capabilities they cant even wish to have. Yes he is one of the best in his field in the world.

[Numb3r4]

I REALLY want to know what field he is in.

[Skanky]

Engineer, but I highly doubt the person who thinks he knows me, actually does.
I am a very private person.

Since we're in the Hillview thread here's a funny anecdote.

I was one of the last batches of people to write Common Entrance. Time came when I had to select schools so my choices were

C.I.C
Fatima
Q.R.C

but my parents and I could not decide on what school to put for my last choice and we were told we should put a Junior Sec just in case.

We put Hillview My teachers never even noticed or cared lol.

No offense Hillview boys.

This story pales in comparison though, to some of the people I would later meet at Secondary School and why I maintain, we have world class, brilliant minds produced right here, you've probably never heard of.

[Numb3r4]

Can we assume that you acquired your degree abroad?

If so how was it?
Enjoyable, difficult or a good challenging experience?

[shake d livin wake d dead]

Another dumb colonial relic.

Who cares, alevels is no standard to judge academic brilliance. Just give the scholarahips to those who make the marks and let them get on with their lives. No need to pappyshow the thing. Focus on improving our universities and employment opportunities so these kids wouldn't have to leave to have a better future.

These poor kids end up feeling that they are "brilliant" until they leave Trinidad, end up in the real world and realise that they are actually behind the rest of the world.

Let me prove you wrong lil bit and stop talking gobar. My brother left Hillview after form 5 and went FIU. Did undergrad in Comp Eng and graduated with First class honours...All As. Came back to UWI to see if they offering his course of study for masters(cyber sec) they said NO. He returned to FIU to complete it with NO ASSISTANCE FROM OUR govt. Program was costing over 200k tt and he got assistance from FIU because of how he performed at the undergrad level. He graduated masters with 3.97. Where is all the media personnel? The stories? The assistance? Transcripts are below just in case you want proof

[Redress10]

Another dumb colonial relic.

Who cares, alevels is no standard to judge academic brilliance. Just give the scholarahips to those who make the marks and let them get on with their lives. No need to pappyshow the thing. Focus on improving our universities and employment opportunities so these kids wouldn't have to leave to have a better future.

These poor kids end up feeling that they are "brilliant" until they leave Trinidad, end up in the real world and realise that they are actually behind the rest of the world.

Let me prove you wrong lil bit and stop talking gobar. My brother left Hillview after form 5 and went FIU. Did undergrad in Comp Eng and graduated with First class honours...All As. Came back to UWI to see if they offering his course of study for masters(cyber sec) they said NO. He returned to FIU to complete it with NO ASSISTANCE FROM OUR govt. Program was costing over 200k tt and he got assistance from FIU because of how he performed at the undergrad level. He graduated masters with 3.97. Where is all the media personnel? The stories? The assistance? Transcripts are below just in case you want proof

I don't get the point you are trying to make? Your brother's achievement although admirable isn't extraordinary. So why should there be fanfare, stories and even assistance from the government for him? He didn't do anything special or noteworthy.

Scholars struggle when they leave TT. It doesn't mean that they fail. It just mean that they find it difficult to remain near the top as they become exposed to people from all around the world. People who are coming from more rigourous and stricter programs than our cxc and a'levels.
Mind you I am actually talking about those who go to a top 10 ranked university in the world.

[Gladiator]

Another dumb colonial relic.

Who cares, alevels is no standard to judge academic brilliance. Just give the scholarahips to those who make the marks and let them get on with their lives. No need to pappyshow the thing. Focus on improving our universities and employment opportunities so these kids wouldn't have to leave to have a better future.

These poor kids end up feeling that they are "brilliant" until they leave Trinidad, end up in the real world and realise that they are actually behind the rest of the world.

Let me prove you wrong lil bit and stop talking gobar. My brother left Hillview after form 5 and went FIU. Did undergrad in Comp Eng and graduated with First class honours...All As. Came back to UWI to see if they offering his course of study for masters(cyber sec) they said NO. He returned to FIU to complete it with NO ASSISTANCE FROM OUR govt. Program was costing over 200k tt and he got assistance from FIU because of how he performed at the undergrad level. He graduated masters with 3.97. Where is all the media personnel? The stories? The assistance? Transcripts are below just in case you want proof

I don't get the point you are trying to make? Your brother's achievement although admirable isn't extraordinary. So why should there be fanfare, stories and even assistance from the government for him? He didn't do anything special or noteworthy.

Scholars struggle when they leave TT. It doesn't mean that they fail. It just mean that they find it difficult to remain near the top as they become exposed to people from all around the world. People who are coming from more rigourous and stricter programs than our cxc and a'levels.
Mind you I am actually talking about those who go to a top 10 ranked university in the world.

Actually Red you talking tata... I personally worked at a multinational company. They couldn't even come close to my skills and me and the other Trini in many company training sessions was bored when these foreign guys were so slow to capture basic concepts and apply them.

Also an uncle of mine wrote his ACCA exams and was the top performer in the world... some people from England come and had a big commemoration in Hyatt for him. So Trinis do well and excel just as highly as people from all over the world.

I do agree with you that SEA is not a benchmark for competence. Many first choicers I went to school with ended up being very mediocre. In the end its all about what you do as an adult, what you can contribute to society and how you can apply your training and skills

[shake d livin wake d dead]

Another dumb colonial relic.

Who cares, alevels is no standard to judge academic brilliance. Just give the scholarahips to those who make the marks and let them get on with their lives. No need to pappyshow the thing. Focus on improving our universities and employment opportunities so these kids wouldn't have to leave to have a better future.

These poor kids end up feeling that they are "brilliant" until they leave Trinidad, end up in the real world and realise that they are actually behind the rest of the world.

Let me prove you wrong lil bit and stop talking gobar. My brother left Hillview after form 5 and went FIU. Did undergrad in Comp Eng and graduated with First class honours...All As. Came back to UWI to see if they offering his course of study for masters(cyber sec) they said NO. He returned to FIU to complete it with NO ASSISTANCE FROM OUR govt. Program was costing over 200k tt and he got assistance from FIU because of how he performed at the undergrad level. He graduated masters with 3.97. Where is all the media personnel? The stories? The assistance? Transcripts are below just in case you want proof

I don't get the point you are trying to make? Your brother's achievement although admirable isn't extraordinary. So why should there be fanfare, stories and even assistance from the government for him? He didn't do anything special or noteworthy.

Scholars struggle when they leave TT. It doesn't mean that they fail. It just mean that they find it difficult to remain near the top as they become exposed to people from all around the world. People who are coming from more rigourous and stricter programs than our cxc and a'levels.
Mind you I am actually talking about those who go to a top 10 ranked university in the world.

My point is kind sir(according to you, trinis struggle when they reach the real world of academics. Im showing you it can/was done by a trini....in a field of study which is not offered locally...not them setta bs bout carnival fcking studies...carry on

[bluefete]

I don't get the point you are trying to make? Your brother's achievement although admirable isn't extraordinary. So why should there be fanfare, stories and even assistance from the government for him? He didn't do anything special or noteworthy.

Scholars struggle when they leave TT. It doesn't mean that they fail. It just mean that they find it difficult to remain near the top as they become exposed to people from all around the world. People who are coming from more rigourous and stricter programs than our cxc and a'levels.
Mind you I am actually talking about those who go to a top 10 ranked university in the world.

Are you for real? Did you even look at that transcript, courses and marks?

You are quick to dumb down our achievements when we are just as good as anyone else. That was no mean achievement by Shake's brother.

Some quick stories for you.

1. Go and PROPERLY research - Dr. Rudranath Capildeo. Then come back and tell us what you learnt.

2. When I went to secondary school, one of the Math teachers had worked with NASA, doing orbital mechanics calculations, during the moon landing missions. That is as good as you can get.

3. I remember a time, I was teaching a British undergraduate course. I marked the assignments and the UK sampled tested. When the final marks came back, they downgraded ALL my students by 5-10 marks with no explanation.

When we had our meeting, I waded into them and asked what was the reason.

Would you believe they said that my students scores were "above the global average".

I went ballistic on their backsides and told them that whatever marks I gave to students, they fully deserved.

Do you know, they NEVER again interfered with ANY MARK, I gave to students?


Trinbagonians who work for multinationals, outside of T&T, are very well compensated.

Zoom could give you some insight on that as well.

[Redress10]

No one is dumbing down our achievements.

But let me ask you this. Do you think Shake's bro could get any job he applied for in his field globally? Do you think that a degree from FIU is viewed as equal to a degree from Cambridge/Oxford/ Harvard etc? There are some recruiters who wouldn't even look at his resume based on the university he didn't go.

Understand what I am trying to say.

We are dealing with big fish in small pond syndrome. Our small numbers make every little achievement appear as extraordinary.

That is what I am saying. Place those same achievement in a country with a larger population and you would realise that no one pays attention to those things.

Living in different parts of the world, I never saw national prominence given to exam results for 11 year old or the equivalent of o'levels and a'levels. No one literally cared. It never made news.

You can't compare men like Capildeo etc to what is taking place now. They would have been part of a different education system. One controlled by the british so they would have endured the rigours of the british education system of the time in order to win a scholarship and a place at Cambridge etc. But for every Capildeo that we produced, a countries such as India probably produced hundreds of thousands of Capildeos that we never even heard about because we are not privy to this.

A'level score is just a score to get into a university. The more prestigious and better ranked the university the better grades you need. That is all these grades are good for at this point.

You all need to get away from the belief that multinational corporations hire the best from their home countries. Understand this simple fact. Most people in the developed world have better career choices than us here in TT. People are not lining up around the corner in the UK to work for a BP or Shell etc. Even when they do work for those countries, they hardly ever seek opportunity to leave and go to countries such as ours to work. People try to remain anchored in their home country for career and family reasons. That is why expats are paid so much as well. It's part of compensation for relocating.

[De Dragon]

Having worked for both local and MNC, I can say without a doubt that foreigners pay better, and treat you better. Locals too advantageous, and quick to impose all sorts of questionable "policies" on you if you even look like a rebel.

[shake d livin wake d dead]

No one is dumbing down our achievements.

But let me ask you this. Do you think Shake's bro could get any job he applied for in his field globally? Do you think that a degree from FIU is viewed as equal to a degree from Cambridge/Oxford/ Harvard etc? There are some recruiters who wouldn't even look at his resume based on the university he didn't go.

Understand what I am trying to say.

We are dealing with big fish in small pond syndrome. Our small numbers make every little achievement appear as extraordinary.

That is what I am saying. Place those same achievement in a country with a larger population and you would realise that no one pays attention to those things.

Living in different parts of the world, I never saw national prominence given to exam results for 11 year old or the equivalent of o'levels and a'levels. No one literally cared. It never made news.

You can't compare men like Capildeo etc to what is taking place now. They would have been part of a different education system. One controlled by the british so they would have endured the rigours of the british education system of the time in order to win a scholarship and a place at Cambridge etc. But for every Capildeo that we produced, a countries such as India probably produced hundreds of thousands of Capildeos that we never even heard about because we are not privy to this.

A'level score is just a score to get into a university. The more prestigious and better ranked the university the better grades you need. That is all these grades are good for at this point.

You all need to get away from the belief that multinational corporations hire the best from their home countries. Understand this simple fact. Most people in the developed world have better career choices than us here in TT. People are not lining up around the corner in the UK to work for a BP or Shell etc. Even when they do work for those countries, they hardly ever seek opportunity to leave and go to countries such as ours to work. People try to remain anchored in their home country for career and family reasons. That is why expats are paid so much as well. It's part of compensation for relocating.

Id stop you again my friend. You're living in a bubble. My bro is currently employed at deutsche bank doing exactly what he studied(cyber sec at grad level)

He was also offered a job at the NSA but didnt follow through because of not being a citizen. So i would say he is competing out there. I challenge you to show me anyone with a transcript as close as what I showed you in both undergrad and post....in courses similar.

You say what he did was "normz"

1: Trinidad no where to having programs in cyber sec.

2: A local excelling in the field is a dammm good thing

3: Again, show me some of your people with similar grades in similar courses

FYI he was accepted into Ivory league colleges but the tuition fees were doubled the amt for international students

[ruffneck_12]

one setta paragraph and essay yes


If yall did write like this for Common Entrance/SEA maybe you woulda get in Hillview and you wouldn't be this salty

[Dohplaydat]

I'm honestly not entirely sure what redress10 is trying to say. But, there is some truth to both sides of this argument.

I am a hillview ole boy who studied in the UK (a top 5 school). Yes I got my first class in engineering and 3As in A-levels, it was hard but nothing amazing, and many others did better.

However, in the UK, dude things were on a different level there in that MSc program. It was there I realized how pathetic UWI's teaching was, especially as the entire UWI system is geared toward passing exams and not research or deeper understanding.

I adapted relatively quickly and finished in the top 20 in the MSc program, out of 190 students. Pretty good, but I worked my ass off to get there.

I worked in the UK for 5 years and I met several trinis who excelled in many fields. One of the top (like top 3 in burns) UK plastic surgeons is a trini (thick Debe accent too), several lecturers researchers at Oxbridge are trini.

I think per population we were very well represented in the top academic fields in the UK and the same probably goes for the US. I met/know of several trinis who work at Google, Facebook, some at NASA etc.

The issue where I can agree with redress10 is that many trinis down here are full of themself and not even close to international level, yet would claim they are.

All these stories you hear about clueless ex-pats and a trini who knew everything are quite one-sided. Personally, I've worked with many ex-pats who ran circles around our local engineers.

However, there was one guy, a brilliant guy too, who while very capable, I had to assist several times because he lacked understanding of the local context of our problem. Again, many stories you hear could be a case of that too. I could easily start a story saying this many getting 4 times my salary and I had to do his job. That same guy knew the technical design of the system inside out, back then I didn't.

Not saying they don't have dotish lazy ex-pats, many exist, but you can't take a tiny sample size like one waste of time man from foreign and think you're a hotshot. It don't work so.

Trinidad is not a place to develop yourself, it's not encouraged and our academic institutions have quite mediocre standards. Some in UWI try to change it, but the culture at UWI is often disgusting and not forward-thinking.

[bluefete]

I come from the Common Entrance era. That was a different quality of education but it allowed me to compete with the best globally.

Even today, for all its problems, the quality of our education is still very good.

I have a Trini family member who was offered a full scholarship by the University of Cambridge, to do a Doctorate in Nuclear Physics.

You will never read about that in the media.

I did not go to any big shot university in foreign. But I was good enough to compete with people from Stanford, Yale, Colombia, Harvard and so on when it came to getting jobs.

If you work for an MNC in foreign, as De Dragon wrote, you are definitely treated very well. Very, very well. I can attest.

[Redress10]

Let me put it like this. If you were to put any of those children in a country such as India where it is ultra competitive then they probably wouldn't make it to the top. "Probably".

If you were to take their achievements to the typical asian family, that family may not consider their achievements anything to be boastful about. Asian culture is very very demanding. That is why I keep saying, they are achieving the bare minimum that is expected of them. Just to put things into perspective, they typical "bright" indian student has MIT, ivy league and oxbridge schools as their back ups in case they don't get into one if their indian institute of technology university.

There is a reason that the bare minimum to get into a top uk school is 3-5 A*. That is the bare "minimum". We are not an unintelligent people so there is no reason why we should keep up with these sort of displays as though we are not capable of more impressive academic displays. SEA results and A'levels gets more coverage than the UWI valedictorians each year. I'm sure graduating UWI was more demanding and rigourous than any a level exam. A'levels main purpose is to get you into a good university. Simple. I think it's wrong to reward them seeing that they achieved what was expected of them which is meeting the standards to get into university. The awards should start at University level for me.

Trinis excel all over the world but part of that is the environment that they are placed into with other high achieving individuals. Overseas also tends to be more competitive and merit driven so trinis see hard work being rewarded so they work hard. Remember, overseas they are not going to reward you for the bare minimum. There are no pats on the back for passing exams. You are going to have to work extra hard to stand out. In trinidad we suffer from big fish in small pond syndrome.

I honestly believe we could be achieving alot more academically if we just raise the bar a little and set expectations a little higher. Stop dumbing down the curriculum just to make stats look better. In places such as Singapore they are increasing standards, exams are getting harder and they are becoming a smarter people solving more comolex problems.

[bluefete]

LOL. Well you now start to make plenty sense. Making the Dean's Merit List in university is a big thing. I fully agree that we should stop dumbing down the curriculum. I am sorry Zoom is not in this conversation because that is something he has also been saying.

A lot of what we hold up comes from our colonialist and elitist past. It may take many more years to get past that.

Let me put it like this. If you were to put any of those children in a country such as India where it is ultra competitive then they probably wouldn't make it to the top. "Probably".

If you were to take their achievements to the typical asian family, that family may not consider their achievements anything to be boastful about. Asian culture is very very demanding. That is why I keep saying, they are achieving the bare minimum that is expected of them. Just to put things into perspective, they typical "bright" indian student has MIT, ivy league and oxbridge schools as their back ups in case they don't get into one if their indian institute of technology university.

There is a reason that the bare minimum to get into a top uk school is 3-5 A*. That is the bare "minimum". We are not an unintelligent people so there is no reason why we should keep up with these sort of displays as though we are not capable of more impressive academic displays. SEA results and A'levels gets more coverage than the UWI valedictorians each year. I'm sure graduating UWI was more demanding and rigourous than any a level exam. A'levels main purpose is to get you into a good university. Simple. I think it's wrong to reward them seeing that they achieved what was expected of them which is meeting the standards to get into university. The awards should start at University level for me.

Trinis excel all over the world but part of that is the environment that they are placed into with other high achieving individuals. Overseas also tends to be more competitive and merit driven so trinis see hard work being rewarded so they work hard. Remember, overseas they are not going to reward you for the bare minimum. There are no pats on the back for passing exams. You are going to have to work extra hard to stand out. In trinidad we suffer from big fish in small pond syndrome.

I honestly believe we could be achieving a lot more academically if we just raise the bar a little and set expectations a little higher. Stop dumbing down the curriculum just to make stats look better. In places such as Singapore they are increasing standards, exams are getting harder and they are becoming a smarter people solving more complex problems.