one thing on which the great majority of Bermudians agree, what is happening in education is little short of "crazy''. As nearly as we can tell, Government is simply going ahead building the mega school at Prospect and ignoring the wishes of the majority of the people. Once again, Government is not listening.

The problem is that those people with clout in this Country do not care about public education. Even politicians and top civil servants send their children and grandchildren to the long established and heavily entrenched private schools. For as long as any of us can recall, the private schools and the vested schools have had a reputation for being "better'', both educationally and socially. Thus the public school system is stigmatised at the same time that it suffers from a lack of attention.

A few years ago Government woke up to the political realities created by the plight of young black Bermudians, especially disenfranchised young black males, and decided to revamp the education system to stop them "falling through the cracks''. The concept was admirable. The proposed solution was a disaster.

The way to cope with social and educational problems is to use small schools with small classes where students can receive individual care and attention.

The way to increase problems is to throw all those with problems into one large school and hope for the best.

Small schools are expensive but not too expensive for a Country which is spending uncounted millions on a mega school. Even New York City is beginning to realise that small schools are the answer as witnessed last weekend by The New York Times Magazine headline: "The BIG answer for public education: SMALL schools''. The result of Government's plan is going to be both racial and social segregation and a magnification of the very problems which Government sought to cure. Sometimes the impending results of public planning are not very clear. In this case we can all see what is going to happen and what is going to happen will be totally wrong for Bermuda. We have said it before but it bears repeating. Those who can meet the standards and afford the price are going to be in the private schools. The best students in the public system will try for Berkeley because of its reputation and its historic position.

They will do that despite the fact that facilities at Berkeley will probably receive short shrift in the face of the huge expenditure on the mega school.

The Prospect school will have top facilities, a non-Bermudian head teacher over whom there is likely to be a major row, and those students who cannot afford the private schools or achieve entry to Berkeley. That will be racial and social segregation promoted by Government and the Ministry of Education and it is wrong.

Now the Government is paralysed by the debate over Independence and seems unable to move to correct the education mess. It must be corrected or our young people are going to suffer for the next 20 years.