Christchurch Schools to Close

1. Read the personal blog entry written by a woman named Moata Tamaira (below)
2. Write a short paragraph summarising what she is feeling and why.
3. What do the words merged and relocated mean? What will happen to schools that will be merged or relocated?
4. Why do you think the government is merging, closing and relocating schools in Christchurch?
5. She says 'they (schools) put their mark on you'. What does she mean by this?
6. How would you feel if the government said Riverdale School was going to close or merge? Explain why.

Before yesterday I'd never really considered what it might be like if the schools I went to no longer existed. It's just not something that has ever occurred to me. I mean, I don't in the course of a normal day spend much time reminiscing about my school days, unless I happen to be having one of my infrequent catch-ups with high school friends.
But I suppose that yesterday wasn't exactly a normal day.
When I saw the headline that said dozens of schools in Christchurch would be closing or merging, I did what any normal person does. I scanned the list for the names of the schools I went to. With some dismay I learned that I'd scored a full house. My primary school is to be merged. My intermediate is to close, and my high school is to be relocated.
I haven't been to any of these schools in years and yet I felt very sad. I hold great fondness for my primary school, I cringe at the thought of my intermediate and I belatedly have come to appreciate my high school. And despite having nothing to do with any of them for a long time, I still think of them as mine. Schools do that to you, I think. They put their mark on you. They are the places in which you find out who you are and what you can do.
For instance, it's not for no reason that I avoid the colour bottle-green at all costs. It comes from wearing the colour every weekday for five years, excepting holidays when strategically ripped jeans, fluoro T-shirts and kung fu shoes were the garments of choice. Actually, now that I think about it, maybe the bottle-green wasn't so bad!
I'm not going to claim to be nostalgic for my school days.
But it's fair to say that a lot of the memories of your early life are made at school. A school is more than just jungle gym equipment and classrooms. It is greater than the sum of its parts.
And that's why people in Christchurch are feeling unhappy today. That's why they're angry and upset. I don't work at a school, or have kids who attend one and even I am surprised at how disappointed and aggrieved I am by this turn of events.
Part of this is down to the fact that we've lost so much already. But we'd mostly come to terms with that. All the buildings we'll never be in again - so many you could spend all day listing them - all the familiar things we miss, the people that we've lost. We've managed through that and it hasn't been fun but earthquakes can't be reasoned with. We were at the mercy of natural forces.
But how much more do we have to have taken away from us? Just how "resilient" can we be expected to be? I don't know a person who can stand to hear the word "resilient" any more, by the way. We felt like we'd got through the worst of it, we really did. The earth has settled significantly. I actually can't remember the last time I felt an earthquake. That statement in itself feels miraculous. But now, for a lot of the city, the world has suddenly and unexpectedly turned topsy turvy all over again.
So here's to Linwood Ave Primary, Linwood Intermediate and Linwood College (formerly high school). It seems that things are about to change for you, the institutions of my youth. We didn't always get along but I'll miss you when you go (if you go).