Walking is healthy, kids
Back in 1852, when the Free Education Act authorized Island communities to establish their own schools, proximity was everything. If the law said that schools could not be any closer than three miles from one another, then that’s how things would be. And if you couldn’t face the long mile-and-a-half uphill through waist deep snow, then you took the family horse. Exercise was part of daily life, and the local fitness club simply didn’t exist; it didn’t serve a purpose. Above all else, school was accessible.
In the mid 1960’s, the mandarins decided that the small school no longer met the needs of Islanders, so the beloved Consolidateds were hatched. Now you suddenly had to face the fact that the Island was a big place, and that there were people who didn’t live in the same village as you and the family. After all, that magical yellow bus arrived every day, and the roadsigns that named a new community every three miles were simply a reference to ancient history. The bus decided where you went to school, and who sat behind you.
Until yesterday. With the simple decision to take every school bus (325 vehicles) off the road for a tougher safety inspection, the Island returned to being small. A province where you walked to school; or didn’t. You see, the distance from home to school now precludes a quick saunter down the lane or across the back field. School, for the first time in over a century, was too far away to get there by “shank’s mare”.
Whether or not the decision to park the fleet has merit is still unknown. After all, rust is a result of a well-understood chemical process. If, come Monday, the fleet of school buses is still “unsafe at any speed”, the Island will be forced to rethink the educational process. We do live in interesting times. Other provinces reform their curriculum. The Island reforms its transportation system.
