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Major Irritant: No kidding, when will we say enough is enough?

COWARDICE shown by the Ministry of Education is the Major Irritant of the Week.Today I witnessed a real act of bravery. I was walking down the steps of Par-la-Ville Park onto Par-la-Ville Road when I noticed a man across the street talking to a woman. The woman was saying: "He was on a black pedal cycle. He went that-a-way."

COWARDICE shown by the Ministry of Education is the Major Irritant of the Week.

Today I witnessed a real act of bravery. I was walking down the steps of Par-la-Ville Park onto Par-la-Ville Road when I noticed a man across the street talking to a woman. The woman was saying: "He was on a black pedal cycle. He went that-a-way."

The man was grey-haired and I'm guessing was close to sixty. (I apologise to him if he was much younger.) The grey-haired man turned from the woman and began to race against traffic up Par-la-Ville Road at a good clip. I watched with some horror as a large truck missed him by an inch.

He crossed the street and stopped the guy on the pedal cycle who was stupidly attempting to ride up the street the wrong way.

Luckily, traffic was typical of Par-la-Ville Road, and even driving the wrong way didn't get him very far quickly. The older gentleman talked to the boy who was taller and more nimble.

I expected the boy to start swinging, or pull out a knife, but he didn't (not that I could see). The older man took the cycle and began to walk back, with the younger man walking beside him cursing loudly about his luck.

Some passers-by told me they thought the man had pocketed some cash from a nearby store. What bravery the old man showed by nabbing this jerk.

The recent stabbing of security guard Kariim Wales at CedarBridge Academy has us all thinking about the nature of bravery.

But as brave as Mr. Wales and the other security guards are, it's sad that we even need them in the first place. How quickly we've become accustomed to the idea that a Bermudian high school needs four or more security guards to control the students.

A colleague of mine, on hearing about the stabbing, said: "Don't they have metal detectors at CedarBridge?"

For goodness' sake, this is Bermuda not New York City. The fact that we need security guards at all is a glaring indication something's wrong in the land of Nod.

The Ministry of Education is feeding the general public a line when it says: "There are just a few bad kids at CedarBridge that are causing problems."

In other words it's the kids, and not the general lack of control the adults exert over them, that is the problem.

It's so easy to say the kids or the parents are at fault. It's so easy for the Ministry of Education to say this and then absolve itself of any blame. We can put a man on the moon. We can split atoms. Why the heck can't the Ministry of Education figure out how to teach and control its students?

There has, understandably, been an outpouring of sympathy for Mr. Wales and the other security guards. What about the students who have to attend classes with other maniacs like this one?

People talk about the CedarBridge Academy kids as though they're animals. On the talk shows it's all: "How are we going to restrain them? How are we going to punish them? How dare The Coalition for Protection of Children say we can't abuse them." What kind of school sees its students as the enemy?

It's time for Education Minister Paula Cox to dry her tears and show a little bravery of her own. CedarBridge Academy is just too big. EARTH TO PAULA COX . . . CEDARBRIDGE ACADEMY IS TOO DARNED BIG.

After the CedarBridge Academy stabbing I had several calls from people asking for me to reprint a previous column in which I said exactly this. I'm sorry to say, we could not reprint the column on the front page with letters the size of the Enron scandal, as one woman requested.

The biggest concern of the former educators who contacted me was not only CedarBridge Academy but the Berkeley Institute.

"They've messed up CedarBridge Academy by making it into a mega-school and now they want to do the same thing to Berkeley," said one former teacher. "I just can't believe it."

I have to admit the Berkeley situation is a bit of a puzzle to me. It sheds new light on the Bermudian belief: If it ain't broke, fix it anyway.

Let's face it, our Government is comprised almost entirely of Berkeley Institute graduates.

Why on earth would anyone want to turn around and violently tinker with a school that has been churning out some of Bermuda's finest thinkers for decades?

Why would you want to take a winning formula and replace it with poison?

Do we need a clearer picture than Mr. Wales struggling for his life in a pool of his own blood to show us the mega-school approach is not right for Bermuda?

How many tears will Ms Cox shed when the first 14-year-old is stabbed to death on school grounds? It's bound to happen.

When will we say enough is enough?