THANK you! I kept think Andre, but I knew it was wrong. you rock.

WOO!

My friend had her baby this morning! I'm so freaking excited, even though I won't get to see them until tomorrow.

I'll have to bring them chocolate. She brought us chocolate, and it's the in-hospital gift I remember most fondly.

Whoooo hoo for the good news, Plei.

Am off to shower, pack and pick up DebetEsse. Then off to Joshua Tree for us.

ita, people try to tell you Jamaica is NOT a third world country?

people try to tell you Jamaica is NOT a third world country?

The last two times I said it. "Isn't it more like...a second world country?"

Which is a plain daft thing to say. Especially to a Jamaican. Apparently we don't get enough famine press to count.

Now I have to ask, is there a "second world" qualification? What are the qualifiers? Obviously it goes beyond poverty and access to the internets. Is it GNP? National debt? I'm very curious.

Apparently we don't get enough famine press to count.

Jamaica needs a new PR firm. And some catchy new slogans.

Something like "The tourists eat all our food."

Or

"You know what else gives you the munchies? Famine."

I think ita and typo boy have hit on the 2 problems in schools 1) time and 2) the importance of education

but I have a loooong list of things to do . and I should do some of them.... and I will think about saying something with coherence and depth later.

Now I have to ask, is there a "second world" qualification?

There is/was. And it's not a gradation. First world means what you'd think, third world is developing countries, and second world was the communist countries. However, it has seemed clear that every time someone was suggesting Jamaica was second world what they meant was "Well, poorer than us, but not that bad, really."

I think these days it's developed country, developing country, and there's a whole semantic tangle involved with "underdeveloped" or "least developed" or whatever.

I've always heard good things about Jamaican schools here. My Jamaican friends were educated in Florida and their parents have expressed the opinion that their schools were better/harder/more disciplined. Don't know if it was just parental opinion.

One of my college professors had the following on his wall:

"Young people nowadays love luxury; they have bad manners and contempt for authority. They show disrespect for old people and love silly talk in place of exercise. They no longer stand up when older people enter the room; they contradict their parents, talk constantly in front of company, gobble their food and tyrannize their teachers." Socrates 400 B.C.

I don't know if the quote is accurate, but I do believe that through the ages adults have seen young people this way.