HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1953-10-01, Page 3'.i 41''`.)RSI)A`3; OCTOI I a 1, 1953
CLINTON NEWS -RECORD
PAGE ` 13,P,E.x'�,,
Fred Sloman Views
New pub
I
_Iho
Scool
(By J REJ) SLOMAN)
(The News -Record is fortunate in having for publication
the following from the pen of Fred Siouan, Capreol, Fred
grew up in Clinton, and Was educated in Clinton schools, He
became a teacher, and has for years taught in the-CNR School
Car at Capreol, in Northern Ontario, Fred has had several short
stories published in Canadian magazines; lately a quite piquant
one in MacLean's, He dashed this article off during that last
hot week in August. Thank you, Fred.)
That's a nice school house lo-
cated just where it makes the
tourist think he must be entering
a very nice town, All tourists are
planning some day to buy a fact-
ory site or to build a house when
they retire, or to set up their
grandson in business.
Because he thinks it is a nice
town, the tourist is inclined to
pause before hurrying on to the
next motel. .
Having paused, he buys a tie at
a corner shop and remarks that
it is a nice day. Or he buys a
nail or a fish-hook at the shop
that has an inviting front door.
And having stopped, he buys
seven gallons of gas that he really
didn't need until he got to the
next town.
That school cost me and my
neighbours a quarter million dol-
lars quite an investment. I
;have a thousand neighbours whose
money is sunk in that plant. It is
odd to think that from now on in
any given fiscal year only about
3.7 of us will take a look to see
if our investment is yielding .a
return.
Of the 3.7 of us who visit the
school, 1.9 will go to ,complain to
"Jeff" that some kids threw a
ball into our petunia bed on the
way to and from school . . . the
kids to -day have no respect for
other people's property.
That school cost me personally
the equivalent of four gallons—of
gas, or one tin of tobacco or one
Sunday dinner every month and I
haven't any kids to send to it. It
costs my thousand neighbours the
same and come municipal voting
day we are going to have some-
thing to say about the wild and
FRED SLOMAN
reckless spending of that School
Board. That school board is all
too free with my four gallons of
gas or my tin of tobacco each
month, in a day and age when it's
hard to make two ends meet . - ,
recently my union had to go on
strike to win a rate of $1.68 per
hour that we might survive and
buy bread, and a television.
We taxpayers ex p e c t that
school and its staff to teach our
kids to read and write in return
for our money. What an absurd -
Kindergarten Was Taught In Church Basement
This is the afternoon class of the 1952-53 kindergarten in Clinton as the children sat in a circle
to hear.a story from their teacher, Mrs. Bessie L. Falconer, At that time the kindergarten clas-
ses were being held in the basement of the Ontario Street United Church, Accommodation in the
church basement was made neces ary when enrolment at Clinton Public School was so high that
the eight classrooms there were filled.
Other classes were held in St, Andrew's Presbyterian Church and St. Paul's Anglican Church.
Although good co-operation was given by the church officials in each case, the rooms occupied by,
these classes were not at all suitable for classroom use. Built below ground as basements are,
they did not receive proper lighting. Besides this was the problem of decentralized supervision,
which made it difficult for both principal and the members of the staff.
On the opposite page is a view of the new kin dergarten room, It is in strong contrast with the
dark and dreary church basements in use in the spring.
ity!
If that is all we ask Jefferson
and his staff to do, we would be
foolish to pay them even one dol-
lar a day instead of the approxi-
mate four dollars we are paying
them. Thereisn't a man on our
streets or on the streets of To-
ronto or of Orangeville or Sea -
forth who can't read and write.
They learn to read and write in
this day and age with or without
schools. If the day were not so
hot as we write this, I could turn
up dusty files and submit a list
of a thousand names of men and
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We are pleased
to have had a
part in C !inton's
Community Progress a .
OFFICIAL OPENING OF OUR NEW SC 00/
OCTOBER 8, 1953
CLINTON OFFICE HOURS
Monday to Friday 8.00 a.m. to 0.00 p.m.
Saturday 8.00 a.m. to 12.30
Bali-, \lacau1ay
ite
CLINTON 97 -- Phones •-- SEAFORTJ{ 787
Coal — Sash -- Builders' Supplies Lime
Cement Prompt Delivery Service
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CONGRATULATIONS
to the,
"1. CITIZENS, SCHOOL TRUSTEES
and OFFICIALS of
C .' NTON
Completion of a fine new public school will add
greatly to the educational facilities of this
progressive community.
We are gratified to have taken part in the project
by supplying Pennsylvania "Super No. 1" Natural
Slate Blackboards installed throughout the various
rooms.
All school authorities are invited to communicate
with us whenever they wish to obtain chalkboards,
furniture, and supplies of outstanding quality,
Hendry Division
Central Scientific Company of Canada limited
146 Kendall Avenue
Toronto 4, 031111*
women who learned to read and
write in a total schooling period
of less than three months. A • re=
cent national magazine had an
editorial pointing out that we
have several thousand such repre-
senting Canada in Europe but
standing ready to bat out any
atomic bomb that may be tossed
towards the traffic light corner in
Clinton.
In this day and age kids learn
to read and write without a
teacher. Lucky they do learn to
read else the eighteen hundred
pounds of used Komics and True
Confessions that Kinsmen and
Lions recently shipped to Korea
might have been wasted,
If Jefferson and his staff are
merely teaching the kids to read
and write and to talk like parrots
about the story of 1492 when
Christopher Columbus, a native of
Genoa in Italy, set sail, I for one
am going to refuse point blank
the next time Jim Manning comes
with his confounded tax forms
trying to collect 12 mills from me.
I want value for my 12 mills.
Next week when the door of
that new school opens for the
first time and the kids come . .
freckled kids, nice kids, mean
kids, fat kids, lean kids, pretty
kids, scared kids, Iazy kids, spoil-
ed kids . they should pass to
the door through a guard of hon-
our. The guard of honour should
be made up of the nine clergymen
of town and the manager or vice -
manager of every local industry
and a deputy from every merchant
and a honk from every garage
mechanic and a deputation from
every women's organization in
town. A pipe band and a fife
band and a big -bother band from
a high School' should be there
giving their services free at ten
to nine a.m.
Dr. Shaw who has egged on.
several hundred kids to play ball
over the years and take their
lickings and victories like men
says that kids play like the devil
and for all they are worth I
there's a crowd of mothers and
fathers on the side -lines to cheer
them as they run or to groan as
they strike out.
A ball game is a ball game and
a public school is a way of life.
If we want our neighbours kids
to play that way for all they are
worth it might be well to stand in
a guard of honour on the side-
lines more often, as kids study
fractions and timestables, and'.
rivers of Spain and Samuel de
Champlain, Wilfred Laurier and
John MacDonald and the do -re -
me -fah and the papers that they
cut to look like doilies.
Kids' flat chests would stick out
with pride and with hope and am-
bition if we stood a bit and cheer-
ed them as they run for first
igase.
Department of Education statis-
tics say that 61 of your Clinton
kids that started school this year,
will stop school by theend of
Grade V . . . with only enough
education to read the Komic and
the True Confession.
It ought not to be.
It ought not to be, but that's
the fault of Jefferson and his
staff,
I remember twenty years ago
when my own kid failed to pass
from Grade II to Grade III when
much stupider kids got through
easily. I went to Jefferson and
complained for I want my 12
mills worth from any teacher I
hire.
I was younger then and now
for 20 years my conscience has
bothered me,
If the School Board will set a
great bouquet of white roses . .
nicer even than the ones they buy
for funerals . . . on the desk of
each public school teacher on
opening day, I am willing to let
my tax go from 12 mills to 12.1
to cover same,
Or if it is contrary to law for
a schoolboard thus to spend pub-
lic monies, surely the Society for
Citizenship could buy a dozen
flowers from the surplus in their
treasury.
How'd it be if a1I male tax -
Rural Teachers
lin This District
Continuing the theme of "public
school" in this issue, The News -
Record here publishes the names.
of .those teacclers in the public
schools in the four townships sur-
rounding Clinton, as of September
of this year.
Goderich Township: Miss C.
Christine Bogie, 1; Mrs, Reta Orr,
2; Miss Ann Shaddock, 3 (Holmes
ville) ; Miss Jean Pitt, 4; Miss
Della McFadden, 5 (Porter's Hill);
Mrs. Ruth Wilson, 6; Miss Marg-
aret Holland, 9; Mrs. Mabel Nes-
bitt, 10; Miss Shirley Pearson, 11.
Hullett Township; Mrs. Ida Liv-
, payers in this town of Clinton
would touch their hat each time
they meet a Grade teacher on tiie
street during the present academic
year . , a symbolic way of say-
ing "Thanks, girl,"
ingston, 1; Georgia Dunbar, U2;
Miss June Rodgers, 3 (Con-
stance) ; Miss Ruth Keyes, 5 u Au-
burn); Miss Carol Campbell, i'i,
(Ha.rlock); Mrs. Patricia Honking,.
7; Mrs. June Wallace, 8; Carl
Mills, 9; Miss Jessie Watt, Li/O;
Miss Flora Turnbull, 11; Miss
Grace Riley, U12 (Summerhill);
Duncan Maclay, U5.
Stanley Township; Mrs. Maxton
Powell, 1; Harry Nesbitt, 3; Mrs.
Phyllis Reichert, 4E; Miss Anna
Porter, 4W; Mrs. Blanche Parke,
5; Mrs, Mina Talbot, .6 (Varna);
Mrs. Laurabelle Reichert, 7; Miss
Grace Pepper and Mrs. Vina .Par-
ker, 118, (Bayfield School) ; Miss
Margaret Becker, U9; Burton
Morgan, 10; Mrs. Grace McClin-
chey, 14.
Tuckersinith: Mrs, Sara Situp-
son, 1; Miss Gwen Kennedy, 2;
Miss Margaret Stevens, 3; Mrs,
Eula Kellar, 4; Miss Regina Bow-
man, 5; Mrs. Florence Kay, 7;
Mrs, Elizabeth Weber, 8, (Eg-i
mondville) ; Spencer Jeffery, 9;
Mrs, Rita Morrison, 10,
CONGRATULATIONS TO THE TOWN OF
CLINTON AND THE CLINTON PUBLIC
SCHOOL BOARD ON THE ERECTION
OF THE BEAUTIFUL NEW PUBLIC
SCHOOL BUILDING ..
All Concrete Floors in the New
School were Machine -Trowelled
bey us.
H. T. YOUNG
GQENU+ RAL CONCRETE CONTRACTOR.
Phone 565W
Clinton
38-p
Sutter -Perdue Installed _ ew Frigidaire In Kitchen
Ot Clinton's New Public School ....
Yes, Mr. Jefferson, this is
a Model AS8.8 cubic foot
Frigidaire Refrigerator. The
Super Freezer holds 29.8
pounds of frozen food. It is
equipped with the famous
Meter -Miser, the most econ-
omical cold producing mech-
anism ever built. This model
sells for $299.75 and. is one
of the many fine refrigerat-
ors produced by General
Motors and sold by Sutter-
r'erdue, Clinton, Ontario,
Sutter -
Perdue
(Photo by Hodges)
IT HAS BEEN
A PLEASURE TO BE
OF SERVICE . ' . .
BARNETT & RIEDER
ARCHITECTS
TORONTO - - - KITCHENER