Dear Editor:
The announcement that Wellington Heights Secondary School (WHSS) will be closing the music department comes as a surprise to no one.
Regardless, I am bothered.
The four years I spent at WHSS were horrible, the institution itself strongly contributing to the misery. WHSS is defined by vapid course curriculums; faculty and staff constantly at odds with each other and the students; and a culture obsessed with malignant efforts at social engineering.
I, along with many others, spent four years feeling a chunk of our lives being wasted away beyond our control.
The music department was the school’s saving grace. Mrs. Kimberly Stewart created a safe space for students of all creeds, musically interested or not, to be themselves in an institution that did not accept them otherwise.
Any argument that the music program is a “waste” of resources is an outright lie – the school and its administration never provided any resources in the first place, save for a room and the occasional opportunity for the band to play.
No one can replicate Stewart’s efforts, but there is no need to cut the program, especially since the program had to rely on fundraising and outside donations for its continued existence.
And knowing WHSS, they will replace the program with yet more gym courses. WHSS is the only school in the area which allows students to take nothing but gym courses for all of their electives; certainly an apt demonstration of what the school’s administration thinks of its students and their prospective futures.
To the parents with students going to WHSS in the coming years, provide as healthy a space as you can, since the school itself will not be such a space, especially without a music program.
Richard Eugene Thomas Giles,
Alma