Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1975-09-11, Page 17• THE HURON EXPOSITOR, SEPTEMBR,14) 1975 SECONp SECTION PAGES IA 10 A "You start with the fact that small children love to go to school; they can't,getenough of it. But by grade six or seven they have already begun to lose interest." Judge Emmett Hall, to author of the Hall-Dennis Report on educational reform p John Vintar, Director Huron Perth Roman Catholic Separate School Board. ' We ask the administrators 7" What's going n in our sch People in our area are somewhat baffled by what's happening in education. Since the schools were centralized under county board's of education a few years ago parents and other taxpayers have felt increasingly out of touch with what is going on in them, Ten years ago the people on the school board were the people across the street, down the concession or perhaps yourself. The teachers also lived in the community and you knew them personally, whether or not you had children at school. Things were smaller then Each board had only one school to run and parents could see a direct relation between their tax dollar and improvements at their child's school. But most of that is gone now. What most people know about the schools are that millions of dollars are spent, that administrators and teachers make more money than they do and what they read in the newspaper, mostly about new programs. construction and transportation. If they have children in the schools, they hear more about what is going on, But that is often confusing. Parents brought up on the three 'r's may have trouble making sense out of talk of new math, Open classrooms, options and courses called "Man in Society". It appears as if there's been a revolution in education and that those who aren't directly involved have gotten little information about what the changes are and what they are designed to accomplish. Education gets a lot of criticism in Htiron County, perhaps because people feel they have little control over what is going on. In an attempt to get more infOrMation about our education systems **what can Anne across in a news report from a WWI 1,Oarti meeting. the Expositor interviewed the two Directors of Education who operate in this county. We •talked to them about their jobs, their ideas about where patents, trustees, teachers and administrators fit into the system and their explanations about what's been happening in educition. communication is a problem, Huron director agrees John Cochrane, Director Huron Board of Education John Cochrane, 51, director of the Huron County Board of Education is one of the few people around who will argue that amalgamation of the schools nder county boards of education has actually cut down on expensive duplication. Before the county board, there were three elementary and one secondary inspectors in Huron working for the provincial Ministry of Education. Now Mr. Cochrane points out, the Mum, County Board only has four superintendents of education who have taken on the inspecting, role. These superintendents in 1976 each will earn from $32,19 to $37,792, depending on their experience. They are responsible for about eight schools each. Then too, before the county board Mt. Cochrane says , all of the county's high schools except Seaforth had a business administrator who did all the accounting for his school. Now of course, business matters for the board's 31 schools are all done from the board's .Clinton office. John Cochrane admits the bigness isn't always better and that people do feel alienated and out of touch with their schools since they were amalgamated. "It's a problem, but I don't know what the answers are", he sayS. He says he's thought about a public relations program, but that .costs money and. may be seen as just window dressing. "We try to encourage principals to keep parents informed" about what's going on in individual schools, he says. But in general the Huron County Board of Education has been quiet, some might say secretive, about it's activities. Amid charges that the board is run like a closed corporation, with the administration making most policy decisions and many trustees not too involved in 'the big picture', the past response of the Huron board and its director of education has been to retreat further into silence. Mr. Cochrane said that perhaps the board has been too defensive in the past and has failed to let— the public know about its successes. Consequently, only the controversial things, like salary increases, hit the papers. Reaction from the public is bad and Mr. Cochrane's administration clams up further. But there is good news from the Huron Board of Education too. John Cochrane positively glows as he tells about the success Huron has had in including mentally retarded kids in the regular school system. "We set out in 1969-70 to integrate retarded children. Why should we put a mark on their foreheads?" At least time, he says, the Ministry of Education w as saying 'tNo, no it can't be done." Now getting retarded kids classes into the regular schools is ministry policy, "the in thing", John Cochrane says. But the Huron board pioneered. the effort on their own. The school facilities for retarded children in Huron are good and he'd "stack them against any I've seen." Retarded children whose claisrooms are in regular schools are able to use the gym, home ec and industrial arts equipment. When one school in the county has fire drills, each grade eight student has a retarded child as a buddy and accompanies that child out of the school. Blowing our horn "Perhaps we've been too hesitant about blowing our own horn", John Cochrane says, when the interviewer comments that probably very few people know anything about what their schools are doing for retarded kids. Mr. Cochrane says that he can understand the frustration of the man on the street who can't see why the director of education should be earning what he does — $42,924 per year in 1976. But he says, every director of education in the' counties surrounding Huron makes more. When the interviewer asked who else in the county makes that kind of money, he replied "who else runs a system with 800 employees?" He says his salary should be compared with what administrators with other boards get, not with different jobs within the county. A consulting firm once did a job description analysis, comparing jobs and salaries in industry and school administration, Mr Cochrane says. At the top jobs they levelled the graph off because in every case the top man in industry with a job comparable to the director of education's was making a lot more money, say 160,000. At's when people criticize his wife and kids, because of his salary, that John Cochrane gets really angry. "It's not their fault." Anyway, someone's got to pay income tax for all the other welfare cases, he says. Besides the fact that the same job pays more in other counties of comparable size, the Huron director of education says that because of ,the province-wide equalization of education grants, education expenses, including salaries, are financed more by Toronto people than "out of the local pocket." Grants are based on'the ability to pay and cities, like Toronto. with their higher assessments, pay a bigger percentage of their education bill than Huron does. Huron gets a 70% grant, which means that only 30% of the school budget is raised here, the rest coming from provincial taxes. some of which, of course, are also raised here. Not harder up Keeping this in mind. Mr. Cochrane says local schools really aren't harder up than they were before the county boards, And although he feels they still lag behind city schools in offering special sery ices, Huron schools are better than they were before regionalization. Two teams of special education teachers, one team working with learning disabilities and one with speech problems, visit all schools. Every elementary school has a remedial teacher and gets help from the special educational teams in diagnosing problems. A former principal at Central Huron Secondary' School in Clinton, John Cochrane likes to see a lot of courses offered at Huron High Schools. It's not economical to have music or drama -bffered at every school in the county but it's board policy that students from any county high school can take one of these special courses at one of the other schools, if he or she can get there. Mr. Cochrane says that the board may look into providing transportation for students who want to take as special course at another school in the county. They don't have to pay extra for the courses as long as they are not offered at the student's home school, The board will also pay the tuition costs for a student to attend high school out of the county, if the courses they need aren't available at ani of the schools here . That is, as long as the courses are helping a student work towards an occupation. "We have to look at the whole transportation system". he says. noting that there is a good vocal music program at Clinton and a, good instrumental one at Godetich and "there should be some way of sharing," Lose Out He agrees that. as far as extra courses go, kids in the small high schools, like SDHS. lose out. The high school in Seaforth will probably have to become "some sort of exclusive or different school in order to continue to exist." They cant hope to imitate the big schools in the county and shouldn't try to." In the future SDHS could specialize in some area, perhaps foreign languages or as acrack academic school, and hopefully attract kids from other schools, the director of education suggests. Individual principals, have a lot of leeway in running their schools, under Huron board policy, For example, "quite deliberately" the Huron board has no policy on the use of the strap - it's up to the principal. "My basic philosophy is that we are paying these men a good salary to run their own show, not so we have to look over • theii shoulders," Mr. Cochrane says. He adds that Huron probably gives principals more autonomy than do many boards. "It's a decentralized operation." Because of this, the atmosphere in each of the 31 Huron schools can he very different. Basically, the principal sets the tone but often staff members have differences in philosophy. "It depends a lot on the age of the staff." He says he's intrigued by an education program proposed in British Columbia which would see authoritarian and ' permissive schools in the same system. Parents could then choose which type of school their child should attend. Mr.Coehrane agrees that kids these days are aggressive and come to school prepared to ask questions, not just answer them. "If they don't like something, they come right to the top", he says, chuckling as he tells about two kids from one county school who marched right in td see him at his office with a grievance. Complaints People with complaints can go to their local trustee "we encourage that" and to the local principal Unexectedly, most complaints aren't about discipline problems that a particular student might have, they're about courses or a student's finure and a parent's fear that he's not getting all the help he needs. The director says that he doesn't get %too much criticism here that school's aren't stressing the basics. But he's not convinced that the criticism generally is valid. Most kids take core subjects anyway , the credit system is 'not all bad. It means more can graduate." He points out that it was pretty sad in the old days when a student had to repeat a whole year after failing one subject. "Why is' it so important?" is his just reaction to the fact that a survey last winter showed very few Canadian high school students can name all the provinces in geographical order. It's an offshoot of the age in (Continued on Page 11A) Educational quality isn't suffering- HPRC head The stress on education in the * 1960's, and the spending of billions of dollars on our schools came from a belief that "education was going to solve all the problems in the world", John Vintar, director of education for the Huron Perth Roman CAtholic Separate Schools says. The 1968 Hall-Dennis report with its recommendations for . change in the way Ontario children were educated, revolutionary change really, "raised expectations among the educational community". Although it was never officially adopted by the provincial government, Mr. Vintar says that doesn't matter, because much of what the report suggested was implemented by the Department of Education. Mr. Vintar says the Hall- Dennis report and the subsequent changes in our schools stress "the fundamental things that everyone buys, like the importance of the individual person," It was a view of education as being a preparation to meet experiences that formed the core and the reasons for the changes. In the 1960's education was the answer; now, a decade later, Mr Vintar says a great percentage of the province's money is being spent on health programs. "Every department seems to get a turn," he says. In the 1910's there no longer is as much money for educational spending. John ' Vintar acknowledges that he doesn't know if education could solve all our problems today even if a lot mote money was available. But he does have strong feelilngs about our schools and the changes ht them. "Say 120 kids graduate from high school these days. years ago only 20 would ever make it that far. I'd match 20 of today's graduates against the 20 who graduated several years ago and today's kids would come out on top." That's how he answers the criticism that quality of education is being sacrificed,. since the educational revolution. Mr. Vintar says he doesn't think it's time the schools got "back to the basics". "We've always had the basics", he says, citing studies that show that even with all the options they face, kids today in high schools choose to take the basics. Critical Of university professors who complain that increasingly they are getting students who &frill know how to read, the director of education is critical. "Where do their facts come from? I'd like to see it researched." Mr. Vintar, who has headed the 19 school H uron Perth board since it was founded six years ago, says he thinks kids today are more competent and have more general knowledge than earlier generations. More go on to university because they are not counselled out or forced to drop out by financial pressurs as the majority once were. "How do you develop zeal in a society that is permissive, with no perfection in it's automated products?" he muses, talking aboht whether or not it is good for their character if kids discipline themselves to work at subjects they have trouble with instead of dropping them. "These kids have money, security, they've never really had a need to sacrifice." "Do we go back to reading out loud, to rote learning", he wonders. Although he says with a grin "what did 'latin do for your character?" it bothers him that his son doesn't want to learn French. But he figures in the end "when you've got to learn, you learn." What about the criticism that while today's kids are sure of themselves verbally, they don't have too much experience at writing things down? A lot of parents think they do projects instead of essays and cut coloured pictures out of magazines instead of writing book reports. The director of education said he heard recently that the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, the province's mecca for educational research, had turned down a PhD thesis because it consisted only of slides. Mr. Vintar, who is 46,- has had recent experience with higher education. in 1973-74 he took a leave of absence , without pay, from the Huron-Perth board to complete his doctorate at OISE. He studied educational administration and his thesis is "pending". Mr. Vintar has done a lot of thinking about the differences between educating city kids and kids from small communities. he agrees that in this area things aren't so permissive and says there is more feeling of family and community here "People are creators first hand" he says, because they are close to nature. Perhaps some of the so called sophisticated changes in education are irrelevant here, because kids are in touch with the basics. They have their feet on the ground and they have, especially in the case of farm children, responsibilities. Mr. Vintar says the schools under his jurisdiction, perhaps with the exception of Stratford, haven't changed all that much. There is a time lag between when educational inovations catch on in the cities until they get to the smaller areas. Perhaps small town children should by aware of new trends though because more and more they will end up in the cities, he says. The strictly structured authoritarian school system of a generation or more ago was okay for that time but it wouldn't work these days, Mr. Vintar says. But he's careful to insist that schools now aren't the complete opposite of the authoritarian ones - "there was less choice then than now but it's not a reversal." "I'm not convinced that the schools should lead society," he says. They perhaps should reflect and mirror what society is, because after all, they are using public money. Fairly rigid Mr.Vintar points out that the big changes in classroom operation and in how subjects are taught has come in the elementary schools. The high schools still have a fairly rigid period system with each teacher specializing in a subject area. He feels they should look at making changes. All the HPRCSS schools are elementary level and Mr.Vintar thinks high schools and probably the universities will have trouble with modern students as they try to adjust to the different ways of teaching. He wonders why the structure hasn't changed in secondary schools and why courses continue to be narrow, and specialized. He suggests teachers could try teaching in groups so that the students get say geography, sciente and literature lessons so that they touch on the same country or period in history complement each other, and form part of a whole. High schools could work on the house idea, with students and teachers working in teams. He says restructuring along these lines is being tried in South Porcupine, in Northern Ontario. Home Ec He'd like to see home ec and industrial arts courses taught to high school kids in grade 12, or near the time that they graduate from high school, "when they're closer to leaving home , so that they can take care of themselves." There are no home ec or industrial arts classes in any of the Huron Perth schools, although the subjects are taught to elementary public school students in Huron County. The Huron Perth separate schools do have facilities for children who have problems in school. Superintendent Joe Taker handles this area. Mr. Vintar says an itinerant special education teacher helps slow learners. Students can also be withdrawn from the regular classroom into another class where they can get extra help in areas where they need it. Huron P erth schools have pioneered in making speech therapy available to their students. A 'speech therapist from London works regularily with a number of children from schools in the two counties. Mr. Vintar is from Tirnniins and he went right to work in a garage for a year after he finished high school. A friendly family doctor lectured him and told him to get back to school. An English teacher who had really influenced him in high school also persuaded him to continue his education. After a year, he did. "Everybody's got to question things ...maybe I just did it sooner", he says, After teachers' college in North Bay he taught school for eight years, was a principal for five and taught on the staff of the Toronto Teachers' College. Before he came to the Huron Perth office in Seaforth in 1969, he was an inspector for the Metro Toronto Separate School Boyd. The separate school board had just been created following the closing of rural schools when John Vintar came here. When he first walked into the Seaforth building, he says, looking around his comfortable office, there was only a table, no phone and no secretary. It was two weeks before he succeeded in getting a phone installed but things gradually came together and he says he enjoyed the challenge of making "something out of nothing." At the beginning of the school term, the board offices moved to the former Ursuline Convent in Dublin. Some of Mr. Vintar's administrative and management experience comes from longtime stints with the army ~=serves. He first served wnn Me Algonquin Regiment in the north and then with the Royal Regiment of Canada with the rank of Major His work with the reserves included some teaching of Canadian forces personnel who were being sent to Cyprus. He says the soldiers are depersonalized so that they can destroy someone "the only way war can be fought." Not so tough now There is a toughness in statements like that which contrasts with the gentleness of a man who says he likes plays and literature and nature and comments that Europeans emphasize people while we stress machines. He says that he's not so tough anymore, he's mellowing. "You have children...." He likes to ponder and have "sympathy for humans". He wonders too if kids these days aren't more concerned with their fellow man. "They don't see that some of the tinsel that we see as happiness is worthwhile." Maybe adults are being had and maybe its good that kids aren't sn imhued with our blind faith in progress, he continues. John Vintar says he doesn't think you can arrive at a final "philosophy of education". He hopes that education means exposing a person to things, developing .an awareness of self and of others and a sense of worth. "This can't develop in isolation", he says, "we have to be part of other people and they are part of us." Not Details The director of education sees the role of the elected trustees as as one of policy making, but he feels they don't have to be involved in small details. He says he's concerned about duplication of effort if trustees got too involved in administration. "It struck n.e coming out of the city that people were prepared to dig in and work much more here", he says, speaking about the early days of the board's operation. Too many board committees can become like royal commissions, he says, and adds that he's not so Sure the board should even have standing committees as they dd at present. School boards new taVe tnett room to ad polity within the Ministry of Eductitinn he says, than they did int* total (Continued on Page My.