「讓小校存留」:給奧地利官員的一封聯名信

去年四月,我和開平餐飲夏創辦人與政大教授、幾位偏鄉小學校長、主任到奧地利參訪的一所只有19位孩子的山中小學,觀摩他們混齡教學的成果。

還記得那天雖然外面大雪漫飛,Herwig校長熱情有勁的接待卻馬上感染了我們。他那時暢談25多年深耕在那所小學,令在場的眾人都感動不已。

因為奧地利法令規定,少於20位學童的小學都必須關閉,10年來就有50多所小學面臨廢校的命運。因此,每一年,Herwig校長都必須到小學外的大城Graz,懇求官員讓這所小學存活,當時他說:「我為這所學校而奮鬥,我的目標就是守住這所學校」。至今我仍記得校長那黯然與希望交雜的神情。我也將那時的感動寫成一篇文章:成為讀懂孩子的「閱讀大師」

上週,Herwig校長寫給我一封信,說到政府因人數考量,最終決定要關閉他們的學校,他詢問我們是否可以為小校做點什麼,我當下立即寫了一封信給政府官員。但後來政大鄭教授提醒我,可以寫一封聯名信給奧地利政府,會更有力量。

透過Line、E-mail,我很快聯絡到教授們、校長們,並寫出了這封聯名信。在幾天內,一股力量迅速集結,大家紛紛響應,包括我共有9位皆表達樂意一起聯名,希望這微小的行動能帶來一些改變,用行動來支持弱勢的小校。

在今天,我將這封信寄出給奧地利政府的這位官員,信件大致內容如下:

“A Joined Signed Letter to Support Falkenstein Schule from Taiwan”
Dear Major, 
I've informed some professors and principals about the sad news about Falkenstein Schule, and they all share my deeply concerns. Therefore we decided to write this joined signed letter in more formal way than previously one to you: 
Last spring we visited Falkenstein Schule, we are profoundly inspired. After coming back to Taiwan, we applied some pedagogical methods (including mixed-age teaching) we learned there, and we found they are truly beneficial to our kids. 
Falkenstein Schule might be small in scale, though, its meaning to community nearby is tremendous, which earns our respect to Austria's educational spirit. 
Sincerely we wish schools like Falkenstein Schule could be sustained and cared, so we can still keep having faith in education, also know Austria's government will leave no one behind, no matter how small it may be.

我不曉得這種浪漫的切盼、理想的希冀代表什麼,或能帶來什麼,很可能它會無情地被國家機器踩踏;但也許,就那麼一點渺茫的也許,能像大衛面戰歌利亞,扳倒橫阻在前那尊巨大的冷漠。