Voices and Visions of Education Heroes, Leaders, and Elders

Book excerpt: From the birth of a formal education system through the end of slavery in the early nineteenth century to today’s struggles to incorporate technology into classrooms, this book delivers a detailed history of schooling in the British Virgin Islands. Charles H. Wheatley, OBE, PhD, a lifelong educator and school administrator, has been practicing his craft since 1955 when the first Education Act was passed in the Virgin Islands Legislature. He puts the classroom to life on the printed page. The author highlights the struggles and triumphs of the leaders, elders, and heroes in the growth of the educational system, focusing on the period from 1834 to 2016. On this journey, you will hear various voices of British Virgin Islanders as they fought for better educational opportunities for the children of the territory—and you’ll see faces of change as society evolved. Each chapter addresses issues in education from a historical perspective, with the characteristics of each historical period clarifying the roots from which our educational growth started. Trace the path of the British Virgin Islands’ development through the prism of the educational strides its made while responding to massive demographic, social, and technological change.