,
6 tweets,
1 min read
Read on Twitter
Yes and no, Zimbabwe is not in west Africa and the huge gap between academic outcomes of ‘Caribbean’s’ (black English working class really) and 1gen British west africans is more likely due to chronology than culture see below...
The vast majority of Caribbean’s came to Britain before their nations received independence and thus before there were Universities in their respective nations, whereas British West Africans came later and mostly were Uni educated ‘back home’...
I would stake good money on it that academic outcomes at the University of the West Indies compare well with any in Ghana or Nigeria so a more complicated and historically grounded explanation will have to be sought..
To explain the particular history of post war British Caribbean’s... especially when we add on the relative academic and occupational successes of our literal cousins in the USA too.
When we add to this that Caribbean nations fare better on most indices of human well being (apart from violence) it becomes clear the usual assumptions have not been properly tested, for example...
The English speaking nations of the region generally have a ‘fist world’ life expectancy and JA top 10 for press freedom, unparalllel athletic and musical success (with all the implications for infrastructure/organisation implied therein) and many Caribbean nobel laureates etc..
