Well, that is one of the questions that we asked 16-year-old Eric Febuary, the graduate of Mountain View Adventist Academy who wrote and passed 20 subjects in this year’s Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) Secondary Certificate Examinations (CSEC).
Febuary, who was born in Guyana and moved to St. Vincent when he was 4 years old, was educated entirely in his adopted homeland.
He created history by becoming the first person in St. Vincent and the Grenadines to write or pass 20 CXC subjects in the same sitting.
He passed the 20 subjects, receiving 17 Grade I’s and three Grade II’s.
Please watch the entire interview below.
“Why would a student want to write 20 CXC subjects?”
The answer is easy as kiss hand.
The Caribbean Examinations Council or CXC was established in 1972 to replace the colonial-era General Certificate of Education (GCE) examinations still used by England and some other members of the Commonwealth.
Over the years the standards for both examination systems have declined in response to mass education (i.e., education for the masses) but there has been far more dumbing-down at the CXC.
Passing 20 GCE exams in the 1950s or 1960s — even if there were so many subjects available — would have been impossible for even the most brilliant of students (e.g., Ralph Gonsalves or Kenneth John or Parnel Campbell). Today, it is a piece of cake or, as I said, easy as kiss hand, especially since many of them are in bullshit non-academic areas, as the interview clearly shows.
Congratulations Master February; well done!
Reminds me of Nehemiah’s account in the Bible,
“…the people had a mind to work”! Nehemiah 4: 6.
Blessings my young friend, well done!
Sometimes C. Ben David you have to give Jack his Jacket,a lot of the things Ralph,Parnell and Kenneth learned under colonial rule were proven to be wrong,the education system back then was very flawed.Today,in the information age students are required to know far more,not only does this kid have the social subjects but the business and science subjects as well.The advantage he has going for him is that both his parents are teachers,and in the information age everything is available at your fingertips,so to compare him to people of olden is laughable,he has the internet which gives him far more information than they could have ever dream of.CXC is still hard but certain kids are capable of ignoring peer pressure and stay focused,in his case he’s Seventh Day,his parents are teachers,and he’s Guyanese these sorts of numbers are normal in Guyana and once in a while in St.Vincent.His Success as Usain Bolt’s success shows what a focused,talented individual is capable of.Each year the bar is lifted,and that’s always a good sign for progress in SVG,we may not be able to beat Guyana,Trinidad or Jamaica but we’re getting there