#BTColumn – In-person classes at The UWI

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the author(s) do not represent the official position of Barbados TODAY.

by Rahym Ron Augustin-Joseph

Our ‘elation’ which is undergirded by our need to engage in meaningful social interaction with our teachers and colleagues, was made manifest in the circular shared by the University of the West Indies Cave Hill Campus on Monday 21st February 2022, when they announced the gradual resumption of in-person classes across all faculties after the announcement of a phased reopening of school in the Emergency Management (COVID-19) (Protocols) (No.2) Directive 2022 by the Barbados Ministry of Education, Technological and Vocational Training.

This notice begs us to interrogate whether our return to ‘normalcy’ is masked with the continuation of the fundamental flaws and inner contradictions within our education system. By no means, must we cross-examine the invaluable and irreplaceable nature of in-person education, as it is well documented and proven that it provides a more conducive environment for effective learning through meaningful interaction between teachers and students.

Further, it exists as a safe haven for many among us living in quarters of extreme vulnerability. Without going into an exposition on the effect of the enabling environment of our material circumstances on our ability to learn and thrive, which is not the focus of this short piece, we are forced to theorise in this moment of crisis.
Examinations in COVID-19 and beyond

One of the major bones of contention among the student population worthy of interrogation, but not from the same lens, is the future of examinations in post COVID-19 or in our return to normalcy.

Examinations within the COVID-19 pandemic prior to the installation of monitoring examination systems which sought to quell alleged actions of ‘cheating’ saw the slight variation from our continued appreciation of the pedagogical wisdom of the colonial epoch which prioritises regurgitation, memorisation and rote-learning as key methods of assessing competencies as we chimed out ‘Mimic Men’ to quote VS Naipaul.

These methodologies continue to affect students’ ability to learn for their lifelong careers and for the elation of learning, but enabled by the quick pace at which our system operates, forces them to learn because and not in spite of, an examination which needs to be taken. Learning is therefore seen as a chore for some but an opportunity to amass high grades for those among us who have mastered the art of remembering and regurgitating information.

While examinations reward these competencies, the digital revolution and future of work will scorn what is enabled by our broken system which inadvertently supports storing of information to be forgotten mere seconds after the examination. I therefore wonder about our placement in the future recognising the incompatibility of our testing regime and what we are learning and what the future of work requires.

Unfortunately, we have come to accept a defeatist posture on some of our most pressing developmental challenges and we are unable to utilise the knowledge gained to provide solutions to our everyday issues as excelling in one day examinations has become our modus operendi.

In COVID-19, the take home- examinations, assignments, quizzes, oral presentations and other methodologies utilised as key elements of assessing various competencies were complained about in some quarters because of what they deemed to be a misrepresentation of the skills and talents of students.

While, these methods were always employed in pre-pandemic times, our heavy emphasis continued to be final examinations. I wonder whether students who should be partners and not clients in education, felt more pressured by the invasive online monitoring systems and would prefer a range and combination of assessments which test their abilities in the post COVID-19 environment. After all, it would test the analysis and application skills of students lauded by educators as the objectives of learning.

While some of the concerns about the withering away of integrity within educational institutions may be factual, it is worthy that we interrogate whether students felt more connected to their educational aspirations through these modalities and latched onto it and exploited it considering the realisation that one day ‘the more things change, the more they will remain the same.’ Are universities now rating their level of success only on the weight of high achievers or how many students can be deemed as ‘failures.’? Are we still assessing resilience by putting students through undue stress and trauma because what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger? If we continue to solely prioritise the notion that grades remain forever, but knowledge utiliaed to achieve grades can dissipate, then we will not be able to answer the developmental challenges of our times such as poverty, unemployment, climate change, among others. After all, Sir

Arthur Lewis, noble laureate from St Lucia in Economics, was the one who so aptly noted that “the fundamental cure for poverty is not money, but knowledge.”

When we therefore return to normalcy students will have to confront the reality of returning to examinations which only seek to test their ability to remember and rarely their ability to understand and apply.

What therefore is the role of education within the third decade of the 21st century, if we are not able to jettison this idea and replace it with an appreciation articulated by former Minister and Revolutionary thinker George Odlum of St Lucia who noted that “we all have fancy ideas of what education is, but education must come out of a total cultural experience and it must teach us not to learn things by rote but to develop a kind of deductive system which we could reason and that reasoning must come out of our experience.

We must be able in our normal life to use the educative process to bring to bear on the problems that confront us, as simple as they might be and arrive at solutions from them, then we would be producing a human within the totality of their environment.”

Therefore, our obsession with a singular perception of ability and achievement cannot withstand the diversity and combinations of talents needed as competencies for the 21st century digital revolution.
Some educators proffer the confined view that if we remove these modalities of testing, we will be left with no means of testing competencies, as opposed to investing the creative geniuses into removing the linearity and rigidity inbuilt in our education system and ensure that it is student-centred, collaborative and dynamic.

As many of our jobs become obsolete and replaced with the analytics of algorithms which make it possible for computers to sift through enormous quantities of information and reach rational conclusions that would have taken people weeks to reach, it is worthy that we question our futures with the degrees we are attaining.

Moreover, questions must be asked about the extent to which the pandemic has transformed education wherein it was imprudent for students to work full time during their educational journey because of the substantial work load.

However, the exacerbation of poverty and other social ills aided by COVID-19 have allowed online school and the ability to earn an income to assist in your educational expenses. I wonder about the fate of these students together with my regional colleagues who in a few weeks might have to make their way to Barbados for school.

It is my view that while we are all frustrated with the pandemic, we lost a moment to transform education and now we must reflect and take fresh guard and realise that in this new innings, we start at zero and must re-evaluate our batting approach to planning, teaching and testing in these changing times as the pitch is never going to be the same but, the more things change the more they remain the same.
See you at the 3W’s Oval!

Rahym Ron Augustin-Joseph is a St Lucian second-year student of The UWI Cave Hill Campus, reading for a double major in Political Science and Law. He is a member of the Cave Hill Guild of Students Council. These views are not affiliated to this organization and are his own. rahymrjoseph9@gmail.com