The URL can be used to link to this page

Home My WebLink AboutClinton News Record, 2014-09-10, Page 44 News Record • Wednesday, September 10, 2014 Clinton News Record PUBLISHED WEEKLY — EST. 1860 53 Albert St. P.O. Box 39 Clinton ON NOM 1L0 (519) 482-3443 www.clintonnewsrecord.com SUN MEDIA A Quebecor Media Company MARIE DAVID Sun Media Group Publisher Grey Bruce Huron Division 519-364-2001 or 519-372-4301 NEIL CLIFFORD Publisher neil.clifford@sunmedia.ca MAX BICKFORD Advertising Manager max. bickford@sun media.ca TARA OSTNER Reporter clinton.reporter@sunmedia.ca DAWN JOHNSTON Sales Representative clinton.ads@sunmedia.ca SUBSCRIPTION RATES 1 YEAR $50.00 (47.62+2.38 GST) 2 YEAR $95.00 (90.48+4.52 GST) SENIORS 60 WEEKS $50.00 (47.62+2.38 GST) 120 WEEKS $95.00 (90.48+4.52 GST) Advertising is accepted on the condition that in the event of a typographical error, the advertising space occupied by the erroneous item together with a reasonable allowance for signature, will not be charged but that balance of advertisement will be paid for at the applicable rate. In the event of a typographic error advertising goods or services ata wrong price, goods or services may not be sold.Ad- vertising is merely an offer to sell, and may be withdrawn at anytime. The Clinton News -Record is not responsible for the loss or damage of unsolicited manuscripts, photos or other materials used for reproducing purposes. Publications Mail Agreement No.40064683 RETURN UNDELIVERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESSES: CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT 53 Albert St, Clinton ON NOM 1L0 (519) 482-3443 We acknowledge the financial support of the Govemment of Canada through the Canadian Periodical Fund (CPF) for our publishing activities. Canada Member of the Canadian Community C) Newspaper Association and the Ontario Community Newspapers Association editorial Student math scores don't add up QMI Agency Ren when former premier Dal- ton McGuinty said he'd be happy to be own as the "education premier"? Apparently, that didn't include math. For the fifth year in a row, testing by Ontar- io's Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) shows that while reading, writing and literacy scores are improving for most students — with one notable exception — math scores are on the decline among ele- mentary students in Grade 3 and 6. In Grade 3, 67% of students met the pro- vincial standard (an A or B) in math in 2014, a four -percentage -point drop from 71%in2010. In Grade 6, 54% of students met the pro- vincial standard in math in 2014, a seven - percentage -point drop from 61% in 2010. By the time they get to high school, math scores improve for many students although not all the news is good. In 2014, 85% of Grade 9 students enrolled in academic math met the provincial standard, a three -percentage -point increase over five years. But in applied math, fewer than half of Grade 9 students — 47% — met the provin- cial standard, a figure the EQAO described as worrisome, even though it's up from 40% five years ago. (In the areas of reading, writing and liter- acy, student performance is fairly high and has improved over the past five years, except for students taking applied English in Grade 10, where the number passing a standardized literacy test has decreased by 10 percentage points, from 60% to 50%, over five years.) The government's explanation for the continuing decline in math test scores for elementary school children is puzzling. Education Minister Liz Sandals and the EQAO say the falling scores show that while students can do basic math equations, they aren't as strong at using those skills to problem solve. But Doretta Wilson, Executive Director of the Society for Quality Education and a long-time critic of the education system, says math scores in the elementary grades are getting worse because schools don't focus enough on basic skills, such as memorization of multiplication tables, which are "crucial for teaming:' www.clintonnewsrecord.com Some ideas don't belong in City Hall Tara Ostner The Clinton News Record Last month at the last full Toronto council meeting before the Oct. 27 municipal election Toronto city councillor, Ceta Ramkhala- wansingh, asked her fellow council members to vote on requesting the federal government to change the lyr- ics of our national anthem. In particu- lar, she wanted to replace the lyrics, "all thy sons command," with the words, "in all of us command:' In the end, council rejected the motion. I try not to let people's need to be politically correct bother me but, hav- ing said that, I'm not sure what I would have done had this motion actually been passed. I realize that Ramkhalawansingh is filling the Trinity-Spadina seat only to replace Adam Vaughan and will serve only until the end of the current coun- cil term in November. However, if she wants to be remembered positively, I think that she ought to better under- stand three things during her remain- ing time on council. First, she has to remind herself about the roles of responsibilities of each level of government. Is the anthem, 0 Canada, a municipal song that only Toronto sings? No. It is a national song that the country sings. Therefore, changing the words to the song would be a federal matter and thus the responsibility of the federal government. (However, even at this level I doubt the issue would get off of the ground as it has been debated at the federal level in the past and was shot down). Second, Ramkhalawansingh should realize that many Canadians are not bothered by the words, "all thy sons command," because they value tradi- tion. According to a poll conducted by Forum Research in 2013, 65% of Eng- lish-speaking Canadian adults oppose the idea of changing the lyrics of 0 Canada. Only 25% are in favour of the idea and 10% are undecided. Did she honestly believe that in her three short months of being essentially a substi- tute councillor that she could reword a song that was written over a century ago? Canadians care about tradition and the polls show this; Ramkhala- wansingh's beliefs are unlikely to make one iota of a difference. Finally, she should understand that, like anything in life, there is a time and place for everything and debating issues of social justice, such as, inclu- siveness and diversity at a municipal council meeting is neither appropriate nor acceptable. Municipal govern- ments govern towns and cities and provide these towns and cities with local services, facilities, safety and infrastructure. They also aim to fix problems related to these services and, currently, Toronto's public transit sys- tem is overflowing, its roads are packed, and the Gardiner Expressway is deteriorating. Moreover, there is an important municipal election coming up which should have been council's focus at its last full meeting. Creating gender neutral language - whether this language is in an important song or elsewhere - is simply not a municipal government's responsibility and nor should it be. If Ramkhalawansingh has an interest in social justice that is great. However, rather than wasting council's time and frustrating the citizens who she is sup- posed to represent, perhaps she should consider going back to college or univer- sity and enrolling in a social justice pro- gram where she can debate these kinds of issues all she wants. I was in university long enough to realize that the general public usually cares very little about esoteric issues (yes, compared to deteriorating expressways, gender neutrality is eso- teric) making a municipal council meeting the very last forum a person should raise them. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR The News Record welcomes letters to the editor. All letters must be signed and include a daytime phone number for verification purposes. Letters can be sent care of the Internet at clinton.news@sunmedia.ca, sent via fax at 519-482-7341 or through Canada Post care of The Editor, P.O. Box 39, Clinton, ON NOL ILO. CLINTON NEWS RECORD - HOURS OF OPERATION MONDAY: 9:00 - 5:00 • TUESDAY: - CLOSED • WEDNESDAY: - 9:00 - 5:00 • THURSDAY: - 9:00 - 5:00 • FRIDAY: - 9:00 - 5:00 • SATURDAY & SUNDAY: - CLOSED ADVERTISING DEADLINE: FRIDAY AT 2:00 • PHONE 519-482-3443 • FAX: 519-482-7341 www.clintonnewsrecord.com