by KRISTIAN GRAVENOR

One of our enduring, local peasant myths sees provincial politicians forcing parents to send their kids to schools they don't wish them to attend, while the politicians provide their own children the very finest in private instruction.

So I held this notion up to the light by conducting a survey of our elected Members of the National Assembly to find out whether they personally had attended private school or have chosen to send their children to private school.

Overall, 11 per cent of Quebec's elementary and high school students attend private institutions. It's a high proportion compared to, say, Alberta, where only 4.7 per cent of students go to a private school.

And Quebec encourages private school enrollment. They claim such institutions save tax dollars. Quebec funds 60 per cent of a typical private school budget. Parents pay the difference. The 40 per cent discount supposedly results in $45-million saved per year.

Some might object to our government helping the moneyed class perpetuate their advanced socio-economic status at the expense of the poor. People freak out about two-tiered health. But they yawn at two-tiered education.

Many families are abandoning public schools. Last year, I returned to Westmount High and found the once-bustling hallways eerily still. The lockers, once in short supply, were almost all abandoned.

Many old-time classmates lived in mansions atop the hill. No more. I asked a class of 30 which ones actually lived in Westmount. Not one.

Could it be possible that such public schools are being starved partially because individual MNAs are biased by their personal involvement in the private school system?

Fifty-nine of our 125 MNAs replied to my survey. Some, like Education Minister Pierre Reid simply refused to disclose his or his clan's educational ties. About an equal number of Parti Québécois and Liberal MNAs answered. Some eagerly encouraged the research. Others, such as a Thomas Mulcair staffer, aggressively told me that such information is none of my business.

Of the 59 MNAs, 45 personally attended only public schools, while 14 had attended a private school at some point. Twenty-five MNAs replied that they sent all of their children only to public schools, while 17 had sent at least one child to private school somewhere along the way.

"I'm a total product of the public school system and the five children that my wife and I have together are also public school rejects. It all seems fine like that," replied J.P. Charbonneau, PQ MNA for Borduas.

For Daniel Bernard, the Liberal MNA for Abitibi, the decision was simple. "There's no private school in Abitibi-Témiscamingue," he wrote.

None of the francophone MNAs indicated that they sent their kids to English school, but Nancy Charest, Liberal MNA for Matane, explained that her children learned English early. "They went to a day-care where the caregivers were anglophones."

By party affiliation: 17 Liberals have never attended or sent a child to a private school, while 10 had either attended, or sent at least one kid to private school. For the PQ, 15 MNAs are pure public while 13 have a private school connection.

One childless Independent attended public school. Two ADQ MNAs are pure public; one has private school links.

Many MNAs offered explanations downplaying their participation in the private system. Those MNAs who replied only after aggressive hounding were more likely to have private school backgrounds, suggesting that non-respondents might have a slightly higher proportion of private school involvement.

Altogether, 23 per cent of MNAs attended some private school at some time and 40 per cent had sent at least one child to private school. These numbers soar above the 11 per cent seen in the overall population.

It's no crime to go, or send one's kid, to private school. Some flourish within private school walls, other public school bums like myself turn out okay. But it would be nice if those pristine, elevated academy conditions could also be spread out among the less privileged.

Our politicians could start such a noble project by showing more personal devotion to the educational system that they provide us.

Comments? kgravy@openface.ca