This brief went on to point out in a very forceful way the 
     
     urgent need for the development of guidance services in Island 
     
     schools. For example, a very graphic and accurate breakdown of 
     
     specific areas in which children urgently required individual help 
     
     was outlined. It concluded that in this province an absolute 
     
     minimum of 5000 children required the assistance of guidance 
     
     counsellors who could go beyond the diagnostic competence of 
     
     the average school teacher. 
     
    
   
   
    
     The two basic recommendations consisted of: 
     
    
   
   
    
     1. the immediate establishment of a comprehensive system 
     
     of guidance at all levels of education. Along with this, a request 
     
     was made for the expansion of special educational opportunities 
     
     for exceptional children, be they exceptional because of a par- 
     
     ticular disability or exceptional because of unusual abilities, 
     
    
   
   
    
     2. the immediate appointment of a Director of Guidance 
     
     and Special Education Services who would be responsible for co» 
     
     ordinating existing services and for. developing a completely 
     
     integrated program of guidance. 
     
    
   
   
    
     HIGHER EDUCATION 
     
    
   
   
    
     Needs in higher education, which is to say on the post- 
     
     secondary level, were a major concern in the early 1960's, to 
     
     students, to parents, to educators, and to Island citizens in 
     
     general. A considerable number of students were leaving the 
     
     Island to get a university education elsewhere, and of those who 
     
     left for that purpose, few returned. The Island was suffering a 
     
     constant loss of its best educated young people. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Clearly, the time had come when action had to be taken, 
     
     and the government appointed a Royal Commission under the 
     
     chairmanship of John Sutherland Bonnell to study the matter. On 
     
     January 20, 1965, the Commission presented its findings, with 
     
     the recommendation for the development of a ”University of 
     
     P.E.I. so set up that its historical components, St. Dunstan’s 
     
     University and Prince of Wales College, while suspending all 
     
     degree granting powers in favour of the new University, would 
     
     remain individual entities within it.” 
     
    
   
   
    
     Feeling ran high on this proposal. Citizens formed them- 
     
     selves into independent study groups, some favouring a total 
     
    
   
   
    
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