I am a freelance writer - usually commentaries and articles on current issues. I am a retired High School teacher, and also a rural councillor in the RM of South Qu'Appelle.
The Sask Party response to this hot button issue is truly pathetic. The only way to restore equity in the system is to undo the giant administrative regions and revert to something more manageable. Yes, it's hard to unscramble an omelet but, unless those playgrounds for bureaucrats are done away with, the ultimate conclusion will be no rural schools and, as Christine ponted out, no reasonable alternatives for farm kids.
When I was a child in the Cypress Hills, there was no nearby school and no roads to more distant ones. Luckily for me, I had two sets of grandparents living within walking distance of a two-room village school, so I stayed with them. (Born 20 years too soon!) With the advent of graded roads and school buses, all Saskatchewan kids had the opportunity to attend school while living at home, and we all blessed the old CCF.
It's ironic that the old farmer- friendly CCF has morphed into the mean-spirited NDP that, having effectively destroyed rural health care, is now well on the way to doing the same for education.
"Just keep sending in your taxes folks, Regina knows what to do with them."
The Sask Party had better wake up soon, and come up with something more practical than playing around with the funding of individual schools, or its rural base will melt away like snow in April. What would be the point of backing them if, like the NDP, they have already forgotten their roots, (and in less than 1/4 of the time that it took the NDP to do so?)
I too believe that the Sask Party response was evasive - all they hope is that all the closures will be done before the election so that if they get in they will be home free. The political parties better be careful what they wish for and get. If they want a huge province that is basically desolute with nothing for miles and miles then they are going about it the right way. Remember that our province was founded upon diversity. Once you destroy the small areas you destroy the culture and values and if you do not think that each community has their own culture and is different from each other community then you don't know the rural area. Through diversity, discussion and knocking of heads comes ideas and growth - compromise , yes but growth. All this goverment wants is to have the masses, the non thinking masses, the drab masses that will do just what the government wants them to do. Good luck. I have lived in this province almost my entire life and I am ready to pull up stakes and move.
2 comments:
The Sask Party response to this hot button issue is truly pathetic. The only way to restore equity in the system is to undo the giant administrative regions and revert to something more manageable. Yes, it's hard to unscramble an omelet but, unless those playgrounds for bureaucrats are done away with, the ultimate conclusion will be no rural schools and, as Christine ponted out, no reasonable alternatives for farm kids.
When I was a child in the Cypress Hills, there was no nearby school and no roads to more distant ones. Luckily for me, I had two sets of grandparents living within walking distance of a two-room village school, so I stayed with them. (Born 20 years too soon!) With the advent of graded roads and school buses, all Saskatchewan kids had the opportunity to attend school while living at home, and we all blessed the old CCF.
It's ironic that the old farmer- friendly CCF has morphed into the mean-spirited NDP that, having effectively destroyed rural health care, is now well on the way to doing the same for education.
"Just keep sending in your taxes folks, Regina knows what to do with them."
The Sask Party had better wake up soon, and come up with something more practical than playing around with the funding of individual schools, or its rural base will melt away like snow in April. What would be the point of backing them if, like the NDP, they have already forgotten their roots, (and in less than 1/4 of the time that it took the NDP to do so?)
I too believe that the Sask Party response was evasive - all they hope is that all the closures will be done before the election so that if they get in they will be home free. The political parties better be careful what they wish for and get. If they want a huge province that is basically desolute with nothing for miles and miles then they are going about it the right way. Remember that our province was founded upon diversity. Once you destroy the small areas you destroy the culture and values and if you do not think that each community has their own culture and is different from each other community then you don't know the rural area. Through diversity, discussion and knocking of heads comes ideas and growth - compromise , yes but growth. All this goverment wants is to have the masses, the non thinking masses, the drab masses that will do just what the government wants them to do. Good luck. I have lived in this province almost my entire life and I am ready to pull up stakes and move.
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