STUDENT WALK-OUT ON MONDAY - HERE'S AN IDEA - UNDERSTAND WHAT'S GOING ON FIRST
GRAVENHURST HIGH SCHOOL INVOLVED IN PROVINCIAL ONE-DAY STUDENT PROTEST
JUST AS A LITTLE EDITORIAL SIDE-BAR; NO MATTER WHAT THE LOCAL PRESS WRITES, AND IN A RECENT ISSUE, WITH CONSIDERABLE EMPHASIS ON THE EDITORIAL PAGE, THE DISTRICT OF MUSKOKA ONLY HAS SIX MEMBER MUNICIPALITIES, INCLUDING THE TOWNSHIP OF GEORGIAN BAY, TOWNSHIP OF MUSKOKA LAKES, TOWNSHIP OF LAKE OF BAYS, TOWN OF HUNTSVILLE, TOWN OF BRACEBRIDGE AND TOWN OF GRAVENHURST. NOW UNLESS THEY JUST WENT OUT AN ADDED ANOTHER TOWNSHIP FOR THE HELL OF IT, THINGS IN THIS REGARD HAVEN'T CHANGED SINCE THE REGIONAL GOVERNMENT WAS ORGANIZED BACK IN THE LATE 1960'S. I'VE READ THIS IN THE BANNER A NUMBER OF TIMES, AND I JUST CAN'T BE BOTHERED WRITING THEM A LETTER TO THE EDITOR TO MAKE THE CORRECTION. NOW UNLESS I'VE BEEN IN A TIME WARP OR SOMETHING……OR SUFFERED SERIOUS LOSS OF MEMORY, THIS MUSKOKA HISTORIAN HAS NOT YET ACCEPTED, THAT MUSKOKA IS NOW AN AMALGAMATION OF SEVEN MUNICIPALITIES. IT'S PARTICULARLY POIGNANT WHEN WRITING A POLITICAL EDITORIAL, TO GET THE FACTS CORRECT……ON SUCH A FUNDAMENTAL ISSUE. A HISTORY LESSON? THERE ARE LOTS OF FOLKS WHO COULD PROVIDE THIS INFORMATION, INCLUDING A PHONE CALL TO THE DISTRICT OFFICE ON PINE STREET IN BRACEBRIDGE. NUFF SAID!
STUDENT PROTEST
BACK IN THE WINTER OF 1985, AND IT WAS A NASTY BEGGAR, WEATHER-WISE, MY WIFE SUZANNE, WITH-CHILD, MARCHED ON THE PICKET LINE FOR ABOUT SIX WEEKS, WHILE THE MUSKOKA BOARD OF EDUCATION AND THE ONTARIO SECONDARY SCHOOL TEACHERS, IN THE REGION, PUSHED AND SHOVED FOR A NEW CONTRACT. SON ANDREW WAS KNOWN AS A "STRIKE BABY," AND WAS BORN THAT SPRING, HUMMING THAT UNION STANDARD, "SOLIDARITY FOREVER." BACK THEN, STUDENTS PROTESTED TOO, AND MAY IN NUMBERS HAVE EVEN WOUND UP AT THE BOARD OFFICE ON PINE STREET. IT WAS A MEDIA HAPPENING THAT TURNED UP SOME PRETTY AMAZING STORIES…….AND A FAIR AMOUNT OF FICTION. THERE WERE THE USUAL ARGUMENTS ABOUT STUDENTS LOSING THEIR SCHOOL YEAR…..WHICH WAS COMPLETE NONSENSE. IT WAS A PLOY BY THE BOARD TO BRING FEAR INTO THE FREY. THERE WERE STUDENTS LIPPING-OFF ABOUT HOW UNFAIR IT WAS TO BE CAUGHT IN THE MIDDLE, NASTILY WEDGED BETWEEN THE HARD LINES OF UNION-BOARD DEADLOCK; STATING, YELLING, AND BLURTING HOW THEY WERE SUFFERING THE TERRIBLE, LIFE ALTERING CONSEQUENCES, OF ADULTS BEING BAD! WELL, WHAT WAS INTERESTING ABOUT THE COMMENTS, AND ALLEGATIONS BACK THEN, AS I'M SURE WILL REPEAT THIS TIME AROUND, WAS THE INCREDIBLE LACK OF KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THE CONTRACT DISPUTE IN GENERAL. IT WAS IN ALL THE PAPERS IN THE REGION, AND I WAS EDITOR OF ONE OF THEM. IT'S NOT LIKE THEY COULDN'T HAVE PICKED UP THE NEWSPAPERS, BEFORE THEY PLANNED THE STUDENT PROTEST; AND ISSUED INFORMATION SHEETS TO ALL PARTICIPANTS IN ADVANCE. SO WHAT I'M NOTING HERE, IS THAT A MAJORITY OF STUDENTS WHO JOINED THE PROTEST MARCH, WERE JUST TAGGING ALONG BECAUSE IT WAS SOMETHING DIFFERENT TO DO ON A WINTER DAY. THERE'S A GREAT DEAL OF POWER, YOU SEE, LEADING A PROTEST. BUT IT'S PRETTY DAMN HOLLOW, WHEN STUDENTS HAVEN'T GOT A CLUE, WHY THERE IS A PROBLEM WITH THEIR TEACHERS AND SCHOOL BOARD IN THE FIRST PLACE. AND JUST WATCH THE MEDIA FIND THOSE STUDENTS……WHO MUMBLE SOMETHING ABOUT THEIR RIGHTS IN A DEMOCRACY BEING ABUSED. THEY OFFER ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO THE MISSION STATEMENT, OF WHAT COULD BE A HIGHLY EFFECTIVE PLAN, IF IT WAS BASED ON SOMETHING MORE THAN A KNEE-JERK REACTION. "THE REST OF THE PROVINCE IS DOING IT…..SO WE SHOULD TOO!" BRILLIANT. SO THE MEDIA COULD DO A LITTLE "Q. & A." THIS TIME, AND INSTEAD OF PRINTING RIDICULOUS, UNFOUNDED, AND HEAT-OF-THE-MOMENT COMMENTS, ASK THESE PROTESTING STUDENTS QUESTIONS, WHAT THEY KNOW ABOUT THE UNION'S POSITION, AND THE PROVINCE'S DEMANDS……AND IF THEY KNOW THEIR STUFF, WELL,……THEN THEY SHOULD MAKE THEIR POSITIONS KNOWN…..AND GET SOME INK. OTHERWISE, IT'S JUST A STROLL UP AND DOWN THE STREET.
On Monday, and looking at the weather report, it may be a snow day. How ironic would that be? I certainly wouldn't wish to discourage students from exercising their democratic right, to let the teachers and Board of Education, and the Province, know they are discontent at the way the school year has been compromised……..and will be affected in the weeks before Christmas, with the withdrawal of extra-curricular activities. It's a drag. It's disappointing. There will be inconveniences. But you know what? This is what goes on in that wild and whacky adult world, where there are facts of life other than what happens with the birds and bees. Better get used to the real world. And yes, it can be cruel. Just read the world news, and you'll find out just how brutally cruel it can be, on any given day. If there are even any good days at all. What about the students in Syria and Egypt? What about their rights? Don't they deserve quality education as well?
It's what happens when the Premier of our Province decides to shut down parliamentary democracy, because he can! I've never seen such an obtuse political situation in my years of political watching, so I'm pretty sure if the historian is feeling bullwinkled, the students are going to find it hard to find sharp corners to hang onto for leverage. The Premier creates the stand-off, and then, when the going gets rough……he takes a time-out. We should all be so privileged, as to be able to just opt-out when we feel like it. My mother made it clear to me, while holding a substantial portion of my hide, that when I created a mess, it was my responsibility to clean it up. My publisher used to tell me the same thing, with his finger wagging in front of my nose. "You have to fix this mess up, Mr. Currie, or else." In the retail trade, it isn't any different. You create a crisis by mismanagement, a successful outcome depends on your ability to face the music, rectify, and stabilize. The Premier (for the time) must not have had those lessons in life. Or forgot them. So while the students will undoubtedly divide their disdain between teachers and the board……there's someone else they should be chastising…….for making a pretty big mess, and then counting on others to clean it up. It's "Protest 101!" Know the facts before the placards are inked. Before the first chant, sing-song, yodel or whatever the students might prefer, to register their outrage; let this be a walk-out with civility and integrity……..and that only comes when you know exactly what the protest is all about. By joining this protest, ignorant of the facts, students will be doing a disservice to the democracy they wish to exercise. They will be nothing more than delinquent from class, without cause. It would be infinitely better to stay at home and fake an illness, if you just want a day off……than to enter an important political debate, without the basis for meaningful, well positioned argument. If students want to create the environment for change…..start reading now, before the big protest on Monday.
I live with a teacher. We have a good and strong marriage. We are miles apart in politics, and we argue frequently, because we're both obstinate and ornery. When we're not hugging and snuggling after a long day's work, you might hear us in a rant and rave session. Just like a lot of married couples. We didn't give up the independence of conviction, just because we got married. So what? We have always had an understanding in our house. I am not the member of a union now, and I have never once in my life, been employed in a union position, or been an active union supporter. I have supported union initiatives but when I worked for Muskoka Publications, when it came to strike action, I had to step away from active editorial writing, to avoid any perceived conflict of interest. It would be impossible for me to say I'm unbiased, because I know my wife loves to teach, and after 30 years on the job, it's a lousy way to end a career……facing this latest debacle. She sides with the students all the time. In truthfulness, so far, the inconveniences to students locally, have been pretty modest, if at all, but I know the crunch is coming, when she will come home angry and perplexed about the loyalty of the province, in which she has dedicated so much of her life. This is the part I see. This is the woman who looks forward to going to school every single day, and who has always had an entourage of kids waiting for her in the school library, when she arrives. It's a joke between us, that she has two separate lives…….and two separate families. So when the students turn some of their dismay toward teachers, I'd like to think they'd ponder first, about so many teachers just like my wife, who have made the same commitment to students……..as they have made to their own families……and no matter what the "nitty gritty" of the contract dispute may herald, in hurtful rhetoric, the truth is the truth. Suzanne has been upset since last spring, anticipating exactly what was going to happen…….and it has. She just can't explain why the Premier of our Province, a supposed passionate advocate, of this same education system, decided to start the fire, and then exist stage right……without any substantial excuse. This isn't supposed to happen. In war or peace. On ship. On a plane. Battlefield. In government. The leader leads! Till the end. Isn't that normal practice? Apparently, democracy is more adaptable and flexible than we thought.
I support the student protest. I support my wife, the teacher. I support good and democratic governance. I'll take reasonable proportion over reckless over-reaction, ten times out of ten. I want to believe, I really do, that the students, regardless of their perspectives, or philosophies, will show the citizens of Gravenhurst the respect they deserve, by participating in a peaceful demonstration on Monday. It isn't the town's fault there is a contract dispute. Respect is earned. If you're going to carry the torch of democracy……then carry it proudly and responsibly……or stay in class.
Thanks for visiting today's blog. Maybe if you have some time on Monday, you'll wish to attend the school rally yourself…….to check out the students' point of view.
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