International Journal of Bahamian Studies
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Policy Issues in Selecting Students for Higher Education in The Bahamas, 1975-1989
Get PDFA shared experience of developing countries is the compelling need to "catch up". Perhaps in no other area is this need so keenly felt as in education for the underdeveloped systems of education, a legacy of the colonial era, have proven to be incapable of making the necessary contribution to national and economic development. In an attempt to compensate for the past deprivations and inequities, policy makers seek to formulate and implement in their respective countries, educational policies which have as their goal the democratization of all levels of the education system.
In these countries, in most instances, the democratization of higher education has created a demand so great that it has outstripped available supply. Further, it has given rise to the need to reconcile equality of access with the maintenance of standards of excellence. As a result, many countries have attempted this reconciliation through their selection procedures for admitting students to institutions of higher education (UNESCO Report, 1989).
In developing countries national institutions of higher education face complex issues in the selection of students seeking admission. These issues are related directly to national education policies or emerge from the need of the institutions to be responsive both to societal demands and national priorities, within a context of resource constraints.
This paper presents a discussion of some policy issues in the selection of students at the College of The Bahamas during the early period of its existence (The College is the sole state-funded institution for tertiary-level education in the Commonwealth of The Bahamas). Major issues examined were concerned with the reconciliation of: 1) equality of access with the maintenance of standards of excellence; 2) freedom of choice in programme selection (implicit in democratization) with the national imperatives of manpower needs.
It will be the position of this paper that in developing countries, such as the Bahamas, issues in the selection of students for higher education emerge primarily from the national education policy which has as its goal the provision of equal higher education opportunities for all citizens. Selection issues come to the fore when the attempt is made by educational administrators to translate the broad principles of such a policy into practice. Often, the experience is that, when implemented, the policy has the opposite effect of that intended and, therefore, corrective action is considered necessary to redirect the goals of the policy or to redefine the policy itself
Central Banking in The Bahamas
Get PDFThe Central Bank, as the premier financial institution, is entrusted with the responsibility of formulating and conducting monetary policy on behalf of the Government by exercising discretionary control over the monetary and financial system.
Monetary policy plays a very important role in the process of economic growth and development and the Central Bank is empowered with various tools of monetary and credit control which can be applied singly or in combination to achieve various policy objectives such as a stable rate of economic growth; a high level of employment; stability in the purchasing power of the local currency and a viable balance of payments position.
This article will essentially be concerned with the operations of the Central Bank as it relates to the domestic banking system. However it will also examine the Bank's relationship with the offshore banks as this is a unique feature of central banking in The Bahamas
Censorship, Academic Freedom and Legal Regulation: A Bahamian Case Study
Get PDFThis paper provides an analysis of a dimension of the legal environment within which academic freedom in The Bahamas was encroached upon by government agencies of The Bahamas exercising regulatory authority over the public viewing of a film.
The analysis was conducted through an inquiry to determine whether the constitutional right of freedom of expression was violated when academicians, having organized a public study session relating to censorship, were prohibited from using footage from a banned film as part of their study session.
This paper suggests that Bahamian courts, based on the analysis presented in the paper, would conclude that the regulatory actions of the administrative agency in question constituted a breach of the constitutional right of freedom of expression
Gender Sensitivity and the Inheritance Act of The Bahamas, 1833
Get PDFThe motivation for this paper stemmed from the realization that discrimination against women in the Bahamas still exists, is being continually perpetuated and, in fact, is institutionalized by the law which should enforce justice for all. Against the backdrop of preparation for the 1995 United Nations Conference on Women, a closer look is taken at gender discrimination in the Bahamas by examining the Constitution and the Inheritance Act of 1833.
The assumption that institutionalized patriarchy gives rise to gender discrimination guides the analysis. The organs of male domination and the reasons for its perpetuation are discussed as well as obstacles to the passage of the draft Inheritance Bill (1983). It is recommended the inequities arising from an inbuilt structure of a male dominated society be addressed by legislation that will ensure equity and social justice for all. Finally, it is suggested that the draft Inheritance Bill (1983) with modifications to some provisions has the potential to accomplish this
Learning Styles of Post-Secondary Vocational Education Students and Hotel Managers in The Bahamas
Get PDFThis study sought to determine the learning styles of full-time post-secondary vocational educational students and general managers in the Bahamas. Data were as drawn from two groups: 94 full-time students at Bahamas Hotel Training College (BHTC) and 24 hotel general managers, using the Marshall and Merritt (1984) Learning Style Instrument with a Semantic Differential (LSI-SD), which is based on Kolb's Learning Style Model. Results of the study indicated that the majority of the students (n=44, 50.7%) and managers (n=21, 87.5%) had a diverger learning style. In other words, there is evidence that all full-time post-secondary students and hotel managers in this study had a predominant learning style that was measurable
The Shallow Sea by Neil Ruzic [Book review]
No full textReview of the book The Shallow Sea by Neil Ruzic
Coloured Members of the Bahamian House of Assembly in the Nineteenth Century
Get PDFThis article focuses on some little known 'coloured' members of the House of Assembly of the nineteenth century. The position of the Bahamians of mixed race is discussed, particularly vis-à-vis the white Nassauvian elite. Their achievements are noted, but the limitations of their political careers are emphasized. These men were, in essence, politically and socially ambitious individuals, who did not seek to represent the lower classes or black Bahamians. Moreover, party organization was not yet a feature of the Bahamian political system, except during a period of religious turmoil in mid-century when denominational adherence was the grouping factor. The coloured representatives were generally pro-Government and pro-established Church
Islam in a September 11, 2001 Perspective
No full textThe tragic events of September 11, 2001 that took place in the United States (New York, Washington, D.C. and Pennsylvania) have been linked with Ben laden, a Muslim Saudi Arabian extremist leader, acting in the name of Allah and Islam.
More recent news linked these events with Saddam Husein, a Muslim Iraqi head of state. For the purpose of this essay, it is not important to prove that some Muslim individuals were the true and efficient authors of the above-mentioned tragedy in order to conclude that if violence is correctly linked with some Muslim individuals, it must also be linked with Islam as a source of violence.
Instead of tracing the recent September violence back to Muslim authorities, who may have commended such violence, it would be more fundamental to investigate whether Islam truly teaches the violence associated with the concept of jihad (Holy War) and then investigate whether jihad is likely to imply violence similar to that of September 11
Telling a "Nativist" story: Patricia Glinton-Meicholas's "A Shift in the Light"
Get PDFPart of the investigation of the decolonizing project undertaken by a variety of women writers from The Bahamas and the larger Caribbean, this paper reads Patricia Glinton-Meicholas's "A Shift in the Light" in the context of women's writing of nation. The paper examines Glinton-Meicholas's novel as instantiating the modulation from an unqualified assertion of nation to a more complex representation and interrogation of nation and nationalism. It focuses specifically on the employment of nativism in the furtherance of cultural nationalism and the (re-)formation of the Bahamian nation
Problems of Social and Economic Development Facing Third World Countries
Get PDFThe developed Western countries with their free market economy; the Socialist countries of Eastern Europe with their economies that are highly planned and subject to both public ownership and control; the developing countries of the Third World with oscillating differences in their political systems and economic structures yet linked through a common history of conquest and exploitation by colonial powers, are all bedevilled by the problems of organizing their own economies in a manner which would maximize the interest and social welfare of those they purport to serve