Since I've been asked... Part Three

Mea culpa; in the first two portions of this series I ended up getting lost in my own convictions; I should have been more specific as to my answer to the question 'What should we do next?'

I think that what's needed most regarding the schools closures situation is producing a genuine, logic-based effort to gain understanding about what the current realities of our education system are, how funding is applied, all of it. 

Not a 'debate'; that could certainly follow once there's a better level of comprehension on the parts of our 'aware-and-energized' residents. Before you can debate, you need to have the basics down pat. 

'You're entitled to your own opinion. You're not entitled to your own facts.' 

So we need an examination of our realities before we can begin debating the best course to take. (Presuming that the HWDSB's decisions are not acceptable. And given the outcry –no matter its size– I think it's safe to say that they're not. Or at least, given our level of understanding we're maintaining that they're not.)

I'm a believer in getting people together in a room to discuss things. It's a fundamental dynamic going back tens of thousands of years: the clan around the fire. 

Yes, I believe in social media. 

Yes, I believe in 'all things-Internetish'. 

I believe in newspapers, I believe in magazines, I believe television, radio...and mental telepathy. (Just seeing if you were paying attention.)

But call me 'old school' if it makes you feel better, I believe that there is something elemental about proximity, about physical process, about immediacy, about breathing the same air that renders just about everything else  as 'complementary contributory factors. Great adjuncts to 'being there'. 

'It ain't real until you kiss 'em.'

So I believe we need to have these discussions, these explorations in-person, in the same room with other persons, finding comprehension together. (As augmented by all of the above; it's not 'one or the other', it's all of them. But first-and-foremost, I believe in the process of being there. Think of it as having the same status and implication of going to church.)

We should be having a roving town hall. 

From ward to ward. 

An 'Education Examination Tour'.

Part seminar, part panel, part 'Speakers' Corner Squared' (open-mic), where an investigation of our educational realities unfolds. 

Yes, I believe there should be a website. Where basic, solid information is presented. And there should be message boards. For 'aware-and-energized' Hamiltonians can get their hands dirty and discuss factors to their hearts' content. 

And I believe that the neighbourhood associations throughout our city should be driving this kind of effort hand-in-hand with entities such as the Hamilton Civic League and the Council of Canadians, amongst others. 

So the practical answer to the question 'What should we do next?' to me is not predicated on sending emails or letters of protest to trustees and councillors and MPPs and the Premier, but on people starting to think hard about how this discussion can best be fostered. 

I have to frame things this way, because this is what I believe in. 

M Adrian Brassington


Town Halls Hamilton
Hamilton Neighbourhood Associations