EDITORIAL: Rewarding our Graduates

For the past seven years, the parent company for Caymanian Times have been presenting awards to the Most Outstanding Business Student at the annual graduations across the islands.

We have seen an increase in sponsors for other awards and we applaud these individuals and private companies who have stepped up and accepted their civic responsibilities.

We also applaud all students who have completed their high school education, particularly those who have excelled in their performance.

These acts of kindness not only motivate students but also demonstrates that the private sector wishes to collaborate with the Government to ensure that these graduation exercises are successful.

General Education for Citizens

A stable and democratic society is impossible without widespread acceptance of some common set of values and without a minimum degree of literacy and knowledge on the part of most citizens. Education contributes to both. In consequence, the gain from the education of a child accrues not only to the child or to his parents but to other members of the society; the education of my child contributes to other people’s welfare by promoting a stable and democratic society. Yet it is not feasible to identify the particular individuals (or families) benefited or the money value of the benefit and so to charge for the services rendered. There is therefore a significant “neighborhood effect.”

Extract from Milton Friedman (1962/1982), Capitalism and Freedom