A teachable moment – Waterloo Chronicle

Should Macdonald secondary school keep its name? — Aug. 25

Where do we draw the line in political correctness? Should we rename any school named Sir John A. Macdonald because he did something that we now know was bad?

On the surface the reasons make sense, but I want to look a little deeper. In 1867, what the government did to our Indigenous peoples seemed to be correct. We have three choices. First, we can ignore the entire issue. Second, we can rename the school and pretend nothing happened. Or, thirdly, we can use history as a lesson and prevent repeating bad decisions.

I believe we should be teaching that even good people can do bad things. What a great lesson to give our kids and encourage critical thinking.