Hi George,
This is just to thank you for your compliment to some of us ex East Africans
on "writing elegance." I am not sure it is so deserved, but I am still
'beavering' away to become a reasonable wordsmith. Goanet most certainly
helps in this respect!
Tony Barros has an interesting take on the Cambridge School Certificate and
particularly re English. I think he is right. I had forgotten, about the
demands it had made. Unfortunately, it had its downside as a general school
leaving certificate. This is because around this time, and with the
follow-up to the 2 year Higher Cambridge School Certificate Exam, (which
incidentally, I taught myself as it was unavailable in Mombasa), only 3% of
18 year olds, with good advanced level subject grades, could get into
university in the UK and this was what we basically had to compete for as
there was no higher education as such in Kenya. Today, in the UK, some 45%
gain entry to university education and the target is 50%. Consequently, in
our day in East Africa, we were, on reflection, on a very demanding stream
of education. Very sadly, it also took a very high toll of good people who
were perfectly capable but were definitely failed by the bottle-necked
system.
Incidentally, who is Milton as per your post?
Regards,
Cornel
