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Thomas A. Gillbard, C.R. Gummow, Merwin Greer, Beatrice Strong, Drs. Hawkins and Powers: who were these people? Pioneers of education that's who and I suspect that they would be turning over in their graves if they were here today. Having devoted many years of their lives to the school systems of their day dismay would be the collective emotion that would course through their veins, as they would look at the nomination boards for the upcoming municipal election.
Two days before nominations close for all positions open to the vote there are no candidates for the School Board Trustees positions, this is apalling. I also go on record as saying that any brave soul who signs up before Friday will not be considered seriously as latecomers are hardly credible candidates. But let's look at why there are no takers for a position that is usually seen as the most hotly contested seat on the ballot.
If art imitates life then what we see on the TV and big screen reflects us. And, how has fiction treated schools and the administration of schools in family life? Pretty well actually. I cannot remember seeing any film or stage depictions of corrupt school board members, all I see is a parade of well meaning and dedicated people, both teachers and board members (from Mr Chips and Miss Beadle to their supervisors (Charles Ingles et al)). From the evolution of education through the "little red schoolhouse" to the mausoleums that current trustees reside in, the people involved have had one consistent theme: local schools have to be the best possible so that our children can be better equipped for life than we were.
With that in mind the people mentioned n the first sentence have had their dedication memorialized so that we may be reminded of their long and outstanding service so that we may be inspired to follow. Sadly in the year 2000 (how fitting it is that the first year of the new century would be marked by public apathy to the education of our kids for it!), there are few, or no, takers for the job.
With the current Provincial government's oxymoronic attitudes to the expression of local control and the desire to centralize education we now see an interesting public backlash. "You can fool the people some of the time etc." The public has seen through Mr. Harris and Janet Ecker. What we have here is a repudiation of democracy in the education system. Basically the people have said to Messrs Harris and Ecker "We are not interested in your phony setup. Why should we participate in your system if it doesn't benefit us? We cannot make any real changes if all we do is rubberstamp your directives, so why should we bother!"
I would suggest that in the master scheme (if there ever was one) written by the architects of the "common sense revolution" the first phase of the elimination of the public school system has been achieved. This first phase is to convince the public that the system is broken and drastic change is necessary. "These changes will be resisted but eventually the public will tire, then we'll be home free" I am putting words into Mr. Snobelen's (Mr. Harris's first education minister) mouth here but we have enough actual words captured on tape ("first we have to create a crisis….") to speculate that this thought was not far away from being uttered.
Now the public have tired just what is next and can we the parents, taxpayers and concerned citizens do anything about it? Following the well-written script on the path of destroying public institutions and government the next phase will be to demonstrate that we are not getting "full value for our tax dollars". Consequently the issue of school vouchers (and any other kind of vouchers) will arise again. I make no apologies for being the fellow at the government sideshow, you know the one "Bang a Mole". In this game the person who pays the coin gets to use a rubber hammer to whack the "thing (mole)" that pops up from various holes in the bench in front of the player. Pop/Whack and the "mole" disappears to reappear from another hole, and so the game goes on until either the player is bored, the mole is destroyed or the owner of the show demands more money. This metaphor for the current educational situation is apt. We the public can keep banging down the "mole" reactionary educational policies until they are destroyed or we can get bored.
I would suggest that because there are no interested or inspiring candidates for the positions of school trustee the public is bored and that must be the cause of much dismay and consternation to the esteemed individuals named in the first sentence. I just hope that these fine individuals will be vindicated in the long run by those of us who do not support much of the present changes to the educational system.
The Electorate is bored