Arm's Length

Those old stone and brick educational edifices of the past aren't crumbling fast enough. As a province with a progressive mindset, we should take a more ephemeral approach to the school buildings themselves.

The building of new schools in Alberta should be approached considering their eventual dismantling and ease of disposability in mind. As they continue to stand, old schools in old neighbourhoods pose a significant threat to Alberta’s progress by their very defiance to crumble over the centuries. They make our modern structures with their space-age materials and cookie-cutter designs look cheap by comparison.

In light of dwindling student enrolment in these old neighbourhoods, we face the risk of seeing empty schools hijacked by community leagues as desirable and cost-effective public meeting spaces. We need to tear them down before it’s too late – before too many young professionals and growing families begin to see the merit in establishing themselves in old, centrally located, “walkable” communities.

If Alberta is to move forward and truly embrace the 21^st Century, we need to keep the heavy machinery running at all costs. I propose that the ideal lifespan of any school structure should be no more than seven or eight years - to avoid stagnancy in the growth of Private Public Partnerships. Building contractors love building and demolishing schools, and they're not shy about making political donations. Is it not it time for disposable schools?