The Central Technical School Blues took on the football players of Sir John A. Macdonald Collegiate Institute on Nov. 7, 2013, before going on to win the citywide finals that year. The field was locked down shortly thereafter, following the discovery of contamination in the soil. The Central Tech students are keen to get their field back, and support the TDSB’s plan to install a championship field, which would include artificial turf and a seasonal dome, at the site. Photo Brian Burchell, Gleaner News

By Helen Zhou

There are a lot of things that could be said about Central Tech students. And, I accept that as human beings my fellow students are flawed and imperfect, just like all the rest of us. What I cannot accept is that we are being labelled as “pawns” by the Annex Gleaner newspaper simply because we support the TDSB’s plans to build a new state-of-the-art championship field at our school. The proposed plan for a public/private partnership between TDSB and Razor Management is a golden opportunity for us, which, if seized, will be immensely beneficial to our school and our students.

I would like to clear up some misunderstandings about the way our peaceful marches and protests have been portrayed in the December edition of the Annex Gleaner in the editorial entitled “Neither mobs nor pawns rule.” In calling us pawns, it was condescendingly implied that our protests are controlled by the TDSB and that we were only mindlessly following orders. Being a part of these protests myself, I can assure you that it was quite the contrary. The “mobs,” as our student march on October 6 and our protest demonstration at the Harbord Village Residents’ Association (HVRA) annual general meeting on November 3 have been unfairly branded, were organized and planned by students alone, and what we expressed during these protests was entirely justified and of our own free expression.

In fact, I feel very offended, as a student, that we would be labelled by the Annex Gleaner as pawns. This implies that we are haplessly being used, and that our efforts to send a valid message are being reduced, falsely, to an illustration of the TDSB’s “mounting desperation.” We are people, human beings with minds, visions, convictions, and aspirations that are completely our own, and which we are free to express. As a result of the protests that we planned and executed of our own volition last fall, the voices of the students are finally being heard and considered by the community, the media, and the broader public. We are very happy with the results of our actions, and I would point out that we live in a free and democratic country in which it is perfectly legitimate and acceptable for us to participate in the political process in this manner. At both the school march and the protest action against the HVRA, we were at all times peaceful, respectful, and civil in our conduct and in exercising our freedom of expression.

We truly do believe in what we are advocating for: a state-of-the-art sports facility that will enable us to practise sports through rain or shine, heatwave or blizzard. A facility that will boost our school pride and give us a multitude of opportunities that were never available to us before. A facility that will not only benefit the 1,800 students of Central Tech, but also the students of neighbouring schools, such as Harbord Collegiate, King Edward, and many others. And a facility that we will share with the downtown community, and that will also benefit thousands of non-students. This is not a game of political chess. There are no “ringleaders,” and we are not “pawns.” We are people fighting for what we need.

All we ask is to be taken seriously by the Annex Gleaner and the community. We may be students, younger with less experience in the world, but what we are working towards is a vision that will genuinely meet our own needs and desires. Not our teachers’. Not the school administration’s. Not the TDSB’s. Ours. And we would like to be treated with a little respect. And although we want to be good neighbours and share our facilities with the community, it is, after all, our field. And ultimately, the field is there primarily for us students, isn’t it?

—Helen Zhou

CTS Student Council President