MacLauchlan gets failing grade

Well, how is Premier Wade MacLauchlan going to get out of this? Not well, by any means. The idea about closing small schools has enraged “rural Islanders” in a way that may never have been seen before.

Well, it has been seen before. Former Premier Catherine Callbeck tried to roll back civil service wages by 7.5 per cent in the 1990s. It may have cost her the election. So what’s going on with this government? They see the protests, they know the anger and still, still, they carry on. When Callbeck tried to roll back wages, she wouldn’t face the masses. She escaped the legislature during a major demonstration through an underground tunnel at Province House. MacLauchlan needs no underground tunnel, he just doesn’t show up to the public meetings. He has appointed minions to do that for him.

This all stems from a consultant’s report that government paid $9,000 for several years ago. We all know consultants write junk. But wait.

This government promised, in its campaign slogans and other literature, that it would not close small schools. And now it’s trying to. Why? Apparently, it is supposed to improve the education of Island students.

But where is the evidence that students in small schools are performing lower than those in large schools? I haven’t seen it. It does not exist.

I know MacLauchlan is an academic. Possibly, he had the best schooling possible and lived a rather privileged life before he became premier — a life that most Islanders, rural or urban, had no access to at all.

There are a few things he has to realize. The “rural” population on P.E.I. is 50 per cent of the population.

But perhaps what he doesn’t realize is that the Island, which is only 212 kilometres in length, is just one big suburb.

And he has really pissed them off.

So what’s the point? Why continue on this journey?

It could be that he’s entrenched, can’t admit it’s a mistake. Here’s a thing. I may be showing my age here, but I attended a oneroom school for two years. There were four of us in Grade One. Two in Grade Four.

My teacher’s name was Bernice. She was my next-door neighbour. Some days I called her Mom by mistake.

But, she taught me how to read and she taught me how to write. And she instilled in me a love of reading and writing because she paid attention to me and recognized my alleged talents.

So how does MacLauchlan and his government get out of this?

Is it hubris that’s keeping them going forward? Stubbornness? A feeling of “We’re right and you’re wrong?”

At this point, the best thing to do, to try to re-earn the respect of Islanders, is just to say: “We made a mistake. We broke a promise. We will keep small schools open.” And we can keep reading the wonderful success stories of Islanders who went to small schools.

It might work. Islanders are very forgiving.

And we can keep reading the wonderful success stories of Islanders who went to small schools.