It's a sorry state of affairs when students, not yet even in their teens, are compelled to lobby for equal educational facilities.
The province has forced these students' hand.
And with that, students at Montague Intermediate School are circulating a petition in the hopes of mustering support that will pressure government into seeing good on a promise it has made and broken for a number of years.
The promise was an expansion to their school to accommodate a growing number of music students and an acceptable and safe space for the school's industrial arts program.
Surely their request isn't too much to ask when you consider students in the city, which are also part of the Eastern School District, don't have to campaign for equal opportunity.
It appears there is credence in the words of one of the students who moved from East Royalty to Montague in 2010. She said she toured the new Stone Park Intermediate School, which includes a large music room, smart boards in classrooms and other features the rural students in Montague can only wish for.
This student feels that when she lived in the city she was more important than she is now while living in rural PEI.
That's just down right wrong.
The Montague students who initiated the petition are also asking for a one-on-one meeting with Premier Robert Ghiz. Hopefully they will be granted the opportunity to tell him their plight in regards to standing on the bottom wrung of the ladder as far as their facilities are concerned.
The ball is clearly now in the premier's court. Whether he meets with the students remains to be seen but another question they might ask is how he would feel about sending his girls to Montague Intermediate, and more importantly if he has actually taken the time to see the problems first hand.
The Montague students aren't asking for the moon. They simply want something that was promised. Their battle is personal but the outcome will also affect students coming in for years to come, not just from Montague but from the feeder schools.
The actions of these students shouldn't be necessary. They and their teachers are deserving of an acceptable environment to learn.
These students are the adults of the future and among them are impressionable minds that one day could be in charge of education in this province. That's just one of a handful of reasons government should do the right thing post haste.
After all, "Example is not the main thing in influencing others, it is the only thing," in the words of philosopher Albert Schweitzer.
Happy New Year to everyone and here's hoping fulfilled promises shine in 2012.

Heather Moore is editor of The Eastern Graphic. She can be reached at editor@peicanada.com