To date Gibbons has remained silent.

The PLP knew in 1998 that the education system didn’t work anywhere else it was tried, and they complained bitterly about it back then. Their 1998 platform actually included education reform. That was 14 YEARS ago, and for 5 of those years they had NO effective opposition to stop them doing anything they so desired. Yet the best they can produce is an abysmal 72% failure rate. In the words of your favourite phrase – MONUMENTAL FAIL

@ Andrew Simons: You were far to gentle with the Premier. Her statement: “Our public education system is student-focused and designed to allow our students to pursue their dreams – be that in the trades, business, law, medicine or whatever their dreams so desire.”
Given the latest GCSE results, that is a truly brass-faced statement. Less than a third of the graduates earned grades high enough to allow them to enter college/university. Whatever dreams the rest had, unless they included pot-washer or nail tech, don’t appear to be likely to be realized.

Maybe it’s a part of the UBP’s secret plan to have black surrogates render flags erroneously to prove their superiority? D:

you would know best

Nah feral chickens and cats are more of their priority.

Hey, maybe we can eat them, they should be cheaper than buying meat at he grocery stores.

PLP all the way (down)!!!!

That means more than TWO THIRDS of the students FAILED their examinations.

And somehow that is standing strong!!??

Check the upper left section which shows the British Union flag: at the lower left the bottom white stripe is thicker than the white stripe above… WRONG! It’s the other way round. And the white stripes at the top right are INCORRECT also!

I’m astounded that this was not caught by anyone, but was merrily sent to the printers!!

“Our high cost of living imposes a tremendous financial burden on Bermudian families. We will make Bermuda more affordable for them”.

• Reduce the cost of electricity by properly regulating the energy sector.

– Under the PLP the Energy Commission was formed per the Energy Act. 2009 to regulate the cost of energy in Bermuda. This has already taken place.

• Lower energy costs for households, hotels,businesses and the hospital through the promotion of combined heat and power generation (cogeneration) and more energy-efficient building design.

– This has already been brought fourth and outlined in the energy green and white paper which have been written and released under the PLP. The goal is actually to have 20% of electricity produced as renewables by 2020 as well.

• Reduce the cost of healthcare through tighter control of Government financed programmes, including the Bermuda Hospitals Board, which accounts for 40 percent of all healthcare spending in Bermuda.

– Government have already cut consulting fees and overall spending organizational wide. Bermuda Hospitals Board has already cut costs along with MAWI which is still in need of a heavy renovation. The list goes on…

• Waive stamp duties for first-time homeowners on properties valued under $1 million

PLP has proposed there value of $750,000 which is debatable.

-They have not addressed the costs for groceries. Last time I checked $8.50 for a box of cereal that costs $3.25 in the US. They have not addressed inflation and how to bring the actual costs of goods and services down.
-They have not addressed high shipping costs to Bermuda given the fact we import 99% of everything on island.
-They have not addressed the failing retail sector
-They have not addressed rents which are still relatively expensive.
-They have not addressed the price of hotels for our tourists which are still expensive (Bahamas has the Atlantis for deals from $99 per night oh and it has a casino as well for tourist).
-They have not addressed the actual costs of houses in Bermuda.
-They have not addressed the high costs of automobiles in Bermuda.
-They have not addressed the HIGH interest RATES on BANK LOANS!!!!!
-They have not addressed a ton of things…. Open up your eyes people…

NOT EVERYTHING THAT GLITTERS IS GOLD.

Please tell me how this is is suppose to lower the cost of living???

> “The OBA’s dangerous plans would lock into place two Bermudas – one Bermuda that looks after big business and their friends and another Bermuda for the rest of us.”

Premier Cox was a high paid lawyer at the big ACE Insurance Group. Zane Desilva is the boss of a big construction firm. Vince Ingham was boss of a big electric light company. David Burt, Scott Simmons, Rolfe Commissiong, and Walton Brown are all friends of the Cabinet Office.

> “We are most concerned about their alarming plans to overhaul our education system. “

Here is a summary of the OBA education platform:

“Our mission: Great schools for great kids.

The OBA believes in the strength of our teachers and the potential of our students. We believe that the quality of a child’s education should not be determined by their parent’s income. We believe excellence in education is key to opportunity for our children.
An OBA Government will:

- Implement a fully integrated technical curriculum, starting in the middle schools.
- Expand preschool places to make early education more accessible to all, especially single parents.
- Extend the school day to allow more time for the arts, music, sports and additional academic assistance for the students who need it.
- Empower our teachers by giving them the support and resources they need.
- Expand the options for Bermudian students by transitioning Bermuda College into a four-year institution.
- Provide additional support to GED programmes.
- Follow through on the Hopkins Report recommendations to ensure real education reform.
(http://oba.bm/index.php/our-plan)”

Is this “alarming”?

> “Their plan pushes our Bermudian public school students into the trades from a very young age. The trades are very noble and we honour our tradesmen and women. However, we find it deeply troubling that the OBA plans to track our public school kids away from their dreams from the tender age of 11 and push them into the trades.”

If the technical curriculum is “fully integrated”, how does it “push” students into the trades? If we believe in the potential of our students, how would we “track our public school kids away from their dreams”?

> “The OBA specifically notes that they will begin an aggressive technical education programme in middle schools and track it all the way through Bermuda College. This is disturbing. Our public education system is student-focused and designed to allow our students to pursue their dreams – be that in the trades, business, law, medicine or whatever their dreams so desire.”

Perhaps the premier could explain the “disturbing” part in more detail.

> “The OBA’s plan would lock into place two Bermudas wherein a permanent class of tradespeople is created while those who can afford to send their children to private school can seize other opportunities.”

The OBA clearly states “We believe that the quality of a child’s education should not be determined by their parent’s income.”

The premier is exaggerating. Is she sincere at least?

Remember that Ms. Cox was the Minister of Education from 2001 until 2004. During that period of constant reform, she made a few comments on school curriculum.

On Oct 2, 2002 Ms. Cox said:

“We will provide a wide range of programmes and opportunities for students at all levels to develop and have the critical skills and practises necessary to ensure continuous growth and development.

“We will identify and stimulate giftedness and talents in our students and develop/provide flexible programmes and community partnerships to challenge them to meet their needs and interests and ensure their optimum development.”

Ms Cox said schools had to reach students, no matter what their ability, and said she was eager to see students benefit more from vocational and complementary courses, especially those pupils not academically-minded.”
(Smith, Karen. “We will raise the bar”. 2 Oct 2002.)

Then, on July 14, 2003 Karen Smith reported:

“[Ms. Cox] said she wanted the public system to bring out the best in every student, no matter what their strengths and weaknesses were, and said her aim was to see the system grow in both vocational and areas of the arts, as well as academically.

Third on the list was to offer students more vocational and technical training through the National Training Board and BTech.”
(Smith, Karen. “Cox sees BEST initiative as way forward”. 14 Jul 2003.)

In October 2003 Ms. Cox said of B.TEC, the Bermuda Technology Education Collaborative (http://www.btec.bm):

“This feat is further proof that the technology curriculum that is in place in our two senior public schools has met or exceeded the alignment requirements that are set by the National Education Technology Standards Board for the United States Department of Education,”

“That is quite a coup and acknowledgement. The International Society for Technology Education Standards are considered to be the International Standard for technology fluency and I am pleased to announce that the B.TEC curriculum is the only one in the world so far to receive this certification.

“As Minister of Education and Development, I am immensely pleased to see that the work of so many persons both within Bermuda and in the United States has borne such sweet fruit. The B.TEC initiative has opened up new vistas of experience for our public school students, their teachers and their parents.”
(Smith, Karen. “BTEC gets `seal’ of int’l approval. 21 Oct 2003.)

(As a side note, I wrote curriculum for B.TEC while studying computer science at Stanford University. Perhaps the premier or current minister of Education could provide an update on how this sweet fruit has been shared with current students.)

In March, Premier Cox announced Mr. Horton as a candidate in the next election. His roll-out speech included the following comments:

“I commissioned the 2007 review of education.Education is in my blood.”

“I keep a keen eye on what’s happening in education in an effort to impact positive change, because I truly believe education and success in education eventually is what leads to a successful and productive community.”

Surely the premier knew that in December 2007, the Hon. K.H. Randolph Horton, made the following remarks as Minister of Education:

“In the next school year, we will ensure that technical education is introduced at the middle school level and technical programs in the senior schools will be enhanced. We are giving consideration to the development of a Technical Vocational School and we will ensure all schools administer Parent, Teacher and Student Opinion Surveys each year.”
(http://www.buzzmakerdev.net/~plp/node/2823)

The premier has endorsed a candidate who harbours “dangerous”, “alarming”, “troubling”, “aggressive”, and “disturbing” plans that will “track our public school kids away from their dreams”!

Vote for your children’s future. Vote OBA.

Andrew Simons
One Bermuda Alliance candidate for Pembroke Central, constituency #17
https://www.facebook.com/AndrewSimonsForPembrokeCentral

They said no layoffs, but the time has come for productivity to increase from the govt worker. There needs to be a shake-up of responsibility and everyone has to do something more and even something different.

It’s called maximising talent and efficiency and in a case like this all would win. Kids would get a better education and govt workers within the dept of education would feel greater pride. Win win.

This is just my opinion as I have no insiders info, but this is what makes sense to me. Let’s get the most out of what we have and we will all feel goood about it.

PLP 7 pages, OBA 9 pages
PLP split into three columns with a larger font size than the OBA’s that is in only 2 columns
PLP’s contained a lot of repetitive statements, vague details, mentioned ideas that have been batted out in almost every election, and while they didn’t come out a say it, there was a lot of phrases that gave me the sense that they would be hiring many consultants
OBA’s plan had the occasional repetition, definitely more details and defined out ideas

I will sum up by saying that while a couple of the OBA candidates haven’t done as well in face to face debates, I’m willing to chalk this up to them having been up late every night working on actual details for the future of this country. I would suggest that the PLP focus more effort in figuring out how to help restart our economy and less on figuring out how many ways you can use a 5 year old report given to a now defunct party, to flog their supports with some fabricated conspiracy of the white community out to keep the black community down. Doesn’t matter how many times you repeat a lie, it won’t make it true.

Saying that, they are going to come under the microscope with everything they co and if they mess up, we will hive them hell until they make it work for Bermudians and Bermuda.