I had always been under the impression that boycotting was a point of pride for PLP Cabinet Ministers. So it was a surprise to see the Minister of Education himself responding to my column of July 26 entitled ?The Abysmal State of Our Schools?, which called for a public inquiry into the continuing failure of public education in preparing our young people to participate in our prosperous economy.

Other than the unbecoming tone, Mr. Lister?s response was notable for its evasiveness on an issue of increasing concern Island-wide: that with a 47 percent failure rate the public education system fails about as many students as it graduates, while Bermuda?s economy demands record numbers of highly educated workers.

It gets worse. Exacerbating this declining education rate is the Government-led expectations raising game around the right to a high-level, high-paying job. The result? Surrounded by wealth, yet not equipped with the qualifications or skills to perform at the required level to share in it, too many of the inadequately educated turn to an alternative lifestyle.

It?s little surprise then that the ill-tempered Minister resorted to lashing out at anyone who has publicly expressed concern, disappointment and justifiable outrage that a growing segment of Bermuda?s young people face economic marginalisation by a failing education system.

I for one will not sit silently, or be silenced as the Minister attempts, while bureaucratic incompetence and a lack of political will produces declining standards and plumbs new depths of futility.

And I?m not alone. Approximately 40 percent of Bermuda?s children are already enrolled in private education, indicating that the community has rendered its verdict: there isn?t a crisis of confidence in public education, there?s simply no confidence in it. Mr. Lister seems blissfully unaware of this fact.

He rants that people like me who ?make blanket statements that condemn a whole system? need to ?step up to the plate? to offer assistance, suggesting that the Minister broke rank and subscribed to in March of 2005.

Why? Well, in February of this year I wrote consecutive columns on the problems in, and a potential solution for, public education. The first was published on February 1 and the second on the 8th, entitled ?Education: The other ?E? word? and ?Set Bermuda?s schools free? respectively.

It was then that I discussed the decline of public education and proposed replacing the bureaucracy with elected school boards to introduce competition and accountability and eliminate the counter-productive meddling of career bureaucrats and politicians.

Unfortunately the Minister wasn?t interested in responding to those columns. Of course he is entitled to disagree with my proposals, but he?s just plain wrong in suggesting that those worried about public education are insincere, partisan and unfair.

Mr. Lister, in his letter went on the offensive, calling me ?intellectually dishonest? for failing to acknowledge the variety of factors that impact on student success, something previously addressed in those February columns. But for the Minister?s benefit, and as he failed to name any factors himself, I?ll provide the relevant quote:

?And while there are many factors that have led to where we are today, the most significant must be a tolerance for low standards, poor discipline, an inadequate curriculum, social promotion and a bureaucracy that seems to answer to no one.?

The Minister goes on to assert that those of us who condemn the 53 percent graduation rate as inadequate are insulting the teachers, students, parents, scholarship recipients and graduates of public schools, as if the rate itself isn?t insulting enough.

But again, and for his benefit, I?ll direct him to my column of February 1 where I wrote:

?It?s also important not to condemn everything and everyone within the public school system. We can all point to success stories ? incredibly dedicated and effective teachers, successful schools, or students who have succeeded in spite of the system ? but somewhere, something is terribly broken. And when something is terribly broken the answer is not to play on the fringes as we?ve been content to do.?

Perhaps then, if the Minister cares to respond again, he?ll dispense with the all too familiar diversionary personal attacks and turn his attention to my challenge for a public inquiry into public education?

Petty insults and vilification aside, Mr. Lister?s 423 words were very educational; they provided indisputable empirical evidence of what is wrong with the administration of public education, leaving me doubly concerned about the prospects for a turnaround.

Firstly, the Minister (and his Ministry) refuses to acknowledge that the system is broken, easily the most significant impediment to change. He even chides me for my inability to ?acknowledge anything positive that comes out of this Government?. Is he serious?

Was he expecting a victory parade through town ? complete with honking convertibles ? to celebrate the 53 percent graduation rate achieved on his watch?

The Minister?s response also adopted the tried and true tactic of blaming others, having us believe that those who demand a better public education system are the problem. He argues that the parents of the 40 percent who have walked away from public schooling have no right to comment on the quality of public education as they have no ?intention to associate themselves with the Bermuda Public School [sic, no matter how good it may ever become?. Because of course, hard working-Bermudians relish forking out tens of thousands of our hard-earned dollars annually to educate our children outside of a system we also fund through hefty taxes.

But did he really say ?no matter how good it may ever become?? Wow. Maybe the Minister, unintentionally, did admit that the system is broken. That brief statement exemplifies the defeatist attitude prevalent among the administrators of public education. Evidently the Minister has little confidence that it will ever improve.

How?s about some bold confidence and optimism ? backed up with proposals for comprehensive reform and measures to gauge their impact ? that the public school system can and will be the first choice for every parent in Bermuda, as it should? How about some specifics to convince that 40 percent to entrust our children?s futures to the habitually failing Ministry of Education? A few ideas from the Minister himself would have been welcome. They were glaringly absent. In their place was a call for everyone else to ?step up to the plate and to offer tangible assistance in terms of their time to assist those who are in need?.

Which is yet another of the monumental problems holding back the public schools; those in charge at the highest levels are clueless. Not knowing where to start, they?ve resorted to chastising the community for not coming up with the answer; the ones that the professional educators and politicians lack. If this isn?t a sign that it?s past time to close the doors on the Ministry, nothing is.

But isn?t it precisely the Minister?s job to offer solutions? And Mr. Lister is the Minister right; or is he just a bad-tempered cheerleader for a failing system? Surely he was appointed to improve things? Was the Minister of Education really berating Bermudians for not offering solutions, when he himself offered not one in his rebuttal to my column?

If Mr. Lister really wants those of us who fault the system to get involved, then I?m confident that he will lend his whole-hearted support to a public inquiry. If he?s really so confident that things are going well in the Ministry then there?s nothing to fear is there?

Hell, we?ve thrown every taxpayer resource and six months at the Bermuda Independence Commission, an initiative that two thirds of Bermudians actually want to fail. Surely public education ? something we all want to succeed ? deserves the same treatment, or better. Or does it not warrant the same sense of urgency and high-priority that Independence does in the Cabinet Office?

So will you step up to the plate and appoint a Bermuda Education Commission, Mr. Lister? Will you send them off to investigate jurisdictions that have successfully reversed their educational decline? Will Cabinet bring in foreign experts to tell us where we need to go? Will the Minister invite public input at town hall meetings, with these experts in attendance? Will Cabinet release the BEC?s report, in full, at its conclusion?

Well, Mr. Minister. Will you?