Two quotes to go

Quote 1: Only "rational, logical arguments which brought up new information" would convince him to reverse his decisions about the future of Invercargill schools, Education Minister Trevor Mallard said yesterday.

Quote 2: Mallard is unsure whether there will be any further school reviews: "I haven't made a decision about that yet."

The second quote fascinates me. I feel that the Minister's declared lens should be focused on it. You know, the lens he applies, the lens of logic and rationality.

Are birth rates only projected to fall in those few areas that have been subjected to network reviews? Because if birth rates are projected to decline throughout New Zealand then for the sake of a sustainable school network we should carry on with the reviews until the viability of all schools has been ascertained. To do otherwise would not only be unfair, it could leave us with a dangerously unbalanced network...

And how does the word 'decision' fit into this process? By what consideration has the Minister chosen the areas that have been subjected to reviews? And by what consideration can he suddenly decide that there will be no further reviews?

i.e.: If he were to stop now, why has a network review been done in Upper Hutt, but not in Lower Hutt? Why should one lose its schools and the other be left unaffected?

If these decisions have been driven purely by predictions of falling birth rates then logically the Minister can't be backing out now, can he? If it has been logical and rational to close schools, why consider stopping now?

Or is the logic of an approaching election year causing Mallard's sudden doubt?

9:55:45 PM