{"id":11048,"date":"2021-09-11T02:02:23","date_gmt":"2021-09-11T02:02:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.vsb.bc.ca\/heritage\/?p=11048"},"modified":"2021-09-12T03:47:12","modified_gmt":"2021-09-12T03:47:12","slug":"how-a-vancouver-school-board-motion-to-decommission-prince-of-wales-high-school-in-1941-was-nullified-by-its-pupils-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.vsb.bc.ca\/heritage\/2021\/09\/11\/how-a-vancouver-school-board-motion-to-decommission-prince-of-wales-high-school-in-1941-was-nullified-by-its-pupils-2\/","title":{"rendered":"HOW A VANCOUVER SCHOOL BOARD MOTION TO DECOMMISSION PRINCE OF WALES HIGH SCHOOL IN 1941 WAS NULLIFIED BY ITS PUPILS"},"content":{"rendered":"

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by Oliver Matisz, a Grade Eight student attending Prince of Wales Secondary School (Sept 2021)<\/strong><\/p>\n

On Friday June 14, 1941, Prince of Wales School Principal, J.H Hall, stood solemnly before a full assembly of students gathered in the school auditorium and announced that the secondary portion of the school would close prior to the commencement of the next school year. The proclamation was met with a momentary hush, then broken \u201cswiftly by a full-throated roar from over 200 young voices – a roar of indignation that their school should be forced to disintegrate.\u201d<\/p>\n

That evening, senior students massed on the front steps of the institution to denounce the so-called \u201cpadlock law.\u201d The closure was drafted by Vancouver School Board Superintendent H.N MacCorkindale due to a sustained lowering of attendance at the school. MacCorkindale, one of the inaugural teachers at Prince of Wales, asserted, \u201cWe must be realists. We must face facts.\u201d The facts he was referring to was a projected decline in the school\u2019s secondary population from its current enrollment of 239 to below 100 students.
\nIf the secondary program was abolished, students would attend neighbouring Magee School. Students did not espouse this facet of the closure policy, recognizing that Magee was an execrated foe of Prince of Wales. \u201cMr. MacCorkindale told us that we\u2019d soon forget about P.W., when we get dispersed among the other schools,\u201d one student stated. \u201cWe don\u2019t look at it that way. We\u2019ve got more school spirit than any school in town.\u201d<\/p>\n

The following Monday, student representatives were heard before school trustees. The students deftly executed their speeches and affirmed their ardent belief in the institution they attended. Prince of Wales student spokesman John Mathers outlined the students\u2019 principal objections to the policy:<\/p>\n