What value is culture to economic development? (Pt 2)

Dr
Rose M. Thompson, Guest Columnist

From the beginning, Lee Kuan Yew, a visionary and an extraordinary leader, used education and training as a key strategy to building both the Singaporean economy and the nation.

The key objective of this strategy was to deliver the human-capital engine for economic growth and to create a sense of Singaporean identity. Using this approach, in less than three decades, Singapore was transformed from a backwater undeveloped economy, where most of its two million people were illiterate and unskilled, into a world economic and educational leader. A critical component of the strategy was culture, which is inextricably linked with education and is rooted in value.

The public-school system was, and is, still used to inculcate Singaporean values and character, while civic and moral education is taught from as early as primary school to assist in character development. To achieve economic development, great leaders design and implement deliberate strategies to shape the culture of a people and create a sense of national identity. This critical component of nation building and economic development cannot be left to chance. It would appear that culture creates economics and not the other way around.

To achieve the level of economic development that will provide the standard of living every Jamaican deserves, education and training must become a central strategy in our economic reform to building both the economy and the nation and to create a sense of national identity. Our public-school system must be used as part of a wider system to change our culture, create a sense of national identity, and instil value and character. Other systems should be used to instil honesty, commitment to excellence, teamwork, discipline, punctuality, hard work, loyalty, humility, national pride, and an emphasis on the common good throughout the society.

WEALTH IN PEOPLE

It has been advanced that the wealth of a nation lies in its people. In fact, Adam Smith, in his classic Wealth of Nations, shows that the wealth of a nation is really the ingenuity and drive of industrious individuals. Therefore, every Jamaican must be used to create wealth for the country, except the elderly, and physically and mentally challenged.

The education system should ensure that every student is trained to enter the workforce. Our aim must be to create a nation where the talents and potential of all Jamaicans are used to build a wealthy and prosperous nation. We should also strive to keep our highly educated workers in Jamaica to contribute to its economic development. A small elite, no matter how highly educated or highly paid, cannot build a successful nation. All unskilled individuals, irrespective of their socio-economic status, must be made to contribute to building the nation.

A visionary looks at the unskilled and poor and sees not poverty, but the wealth of a nation in these individuals. Poverty is a state of mind, which can be changed. All persons are born with unlimited potential, a brain which has enormous capacity and potential that the Creator gave us to create wealth for ourselves and the wider community.

To date, there is no scientific evidence that the brain of one individual, irrespective of nationality, has greater capacity than the other. We need to break down the ideology of exceptionalism in individuals as well as other nations. Given the right environment, everyone can become rich if he/she works hard.

Napoleon Hill, author of Think and Grow Rich, states, "Both poverty and riches are the offspring of thought." The mind knows no limitations except those we acknowledge. Individuals with low socio-economic status must be taught that their brain is no different from the brain of individuals from higher income levels. They, too, can think and dream big because they have unlimited potential to achieve all their dreams if they are given the right conditions to work hard.

ROAD TO PROSPERITY

Great leaders create the right environment
for all citizens to flourish. Other nations have used all their people
to achieve economic prosperity. Jamaica must adopt this tried and proven
approach.

Our leaders should use the current harsh
economic situation to conduct a comprehensive reform of the education
system left to us by the British. Because of the value that must be
placed on human resource development because of its critical
relationship to economic development, a clear vision of what is needed
in education and training must be articulated.

The
Ministry of Education must become a key player in our economic reform
and should design and implement policies that will ensure we achieve the
vision.

Accountants, especially management
accountants, have significant expertise in translating vision into value
and can contribute substantially to this
process.

Changing any system takes five to 10 years
and cannot be completed within an election cycle. Where there may be
changes of political leadership, a guiding coalition or political
agreement should be created early to keep the vision moving forward
rather than having a change of direction with every change of
government. Improving people's lives and the time value of money are too
important to keep changing direction.

I know we have
the political maturity to implement such an agreement. We must organise
the entire society behind the broad national vision, and whether the
right or left comes to power becomes almost irrelevant. All that should
matter to voters is who is better at delivering the common
vision.

The Singaporean approach is a tried and proven
one. Let us stand on the shoulders of giants, learn from their
experiences, commit to changing our culture, create a sense of Jamaican
identity, and build a prosperous nation for all Jamaicans. Is this
beyond our capacity and potential? I believe not.

Dr
Rose M. Thompson is also a CPA and management consultant specialising in
full business management, financial education and business coaching
services. She is an accounting and mind-brain researcher. Email feedback
to columns@gleanerjm.com and
thompsonrose@hotmail.com.