Clinton News-Record, 1970-10-15, Page 4Our century has seen the unfolding and
then the blighting of a dream — the vision
that modern science coeld bring Utopia,
end poverty, hunger and war, cure most
diseases, alleviate most forms of suffTlne.
It hasn't happened. Instead we live in a
fear-stricken world of wars, polluted
environment, riot-torn cities and virulent
antagonisms, where every form of
separatism mocks the vision of the one
beautiful, round, blue Earth the
astronauts have viewed from outer space.
What went wrong? Why do not men
today live healthy, prosperous, fear-free
lives; active but with ample leisure for
enjoyment of the beautiful in' nature and
art; pressing on to explore the greatness of
space and the smallness of the nuclear
particle?
The answer is ignorance and greed,
more specifically the greed of North
What is equality?
Equality of education seems to be the
latest catch phrase in our area lately.
The phrase has been used in most of
the reports from Board of Education
meetings lately, particularly those dealing
with the situation in McKillop Township.
It's found its way into newspaper
editorials and even into the vocabulary of
the local population.
But what is this equality we're running
madly off in all directions to find?
This equality bit first reared its head
.about 15 years ago when people in the
rural areas began to feel that they were •
not getting the best possible education for
their young people in the one room
schoolhouse. So, in many cases, two or
three local school boards got together and
built a new school. The snowball started
rolling and with the help of the Ontario
Department ,of Education, which was
pushing allthezway, it soon began growing
at "a tremendous rate: • •
Instead of two or three schools being
amalgamated it grew to six or seven then
10 and even up to 20. From 30 or so
pupils schools grew to 400 and 500.
pupils. Bussing became a way of life for
rural . school children. We got caught in
our own snowball.
With small public schools becoming
extinct, the same fate was bound to
happen to small high schools, and it did,
Today few towns with fewer than 2500 .
people have their own high school.
Then came the huge county school
boards.
The feeling of those who pushed the
equality of education drive was that rural
and small town students should have the
same kind of education as the city
children. In the city it meant large schools
so the country had to have large schools.
Somewhere. along the line a good
education got mixed up with the type of
building used as a scvhool. Education used
America. Having had the luck to corner a
major fraction of the worldf's capacity for
technological mass production, North
America has kept the fruits of such
productivity largely to herself — mainly to
her.upper and upper-middle classes.
In the face of the world's
poverty-stricken two-thirds, this greedy
continent exhibits the psychology of the
spoiled child who, after opening his
twenty-fifth Christmas parcel, whiningly
asks, "Is that all?" Exploiting natural
resources far beyond their replacement
potential, we parade, without sharing, a
standard of living that holds out two cars,
a boat, a skidoo,, hi-fi radio, TV and
air-conditioning as the family norm,
meanwhile recklessly wasting the food for
lack of which millions of Asians, Africans
and South Americans go hungry to bed
every evening of their lives.
to be a person-to-person relationship
between teacher and pupil. Today the
huge building and the latest gadgets seem
more important than that relationship.
Education is big business today. Where
the teacher used to run the show,
highly-paid administrators now take care
of the plant. They talk in terms of
cost-per-pupils and maximum: use of
plant. They turn out students by the
thousand like shoes and ship them off to
rumour ever-expanding cities.
So what have we gained? Our old one
room schoolhouses used to turn out
students who went off to run the . cities
too. We don't know the quality of leader
We are graduating yet, but we do know
that our old school system turned out
many of the leaders who now run our
nation.
We aren't advocating we go back to the
One-room OtOol,.64t wa dOlhi0c
taken the:WtOrigThath` big, is
why it may sometimes seem to the reader
of this paper that we are against the
county school board. We aren't against
the board 'in itself, but again§t the whole
approach education is taking.
Certainly we can't get along with the
one room school house any more, but
schools os 100 to 250 students can give a
good, economical education with a
personal touch that big schools cannot
give. We feel that we should provide an
alternative to the depersonalized life of
the city. By imitating city school systems
with huge, impersonal schools, we are
giving ourselves the disadvantages of the
cities without their advantages.
To really have equality of education in
this part of Ontario what we need, is
post-secondary education. This is why
we are so much in favour of a college for
CFB Clinton when it closes. But the
government doesn't seem so anxious to
give us that equality.
aloac
The old, the new
UTDOOR -ETHICS
THE CLINTON NEW ERA
Established 1866
Amalgamated
1824
THE HURON NEWS-RECORD •
Established 1881
Clinton News-Record
A mentbdir of the Canadian Weekly Newspaper Association,
Ontario Weekly Newspaper Association and the Audit Bureau
of Circulation (ABC)
second class mail
registration number — 0817
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KBITii W, TIOULSTON Editor
J. 1-10WARO AlYKENI — General Manager
Published every Thursday at
the neart of Huron County
Clinton, Ontario
Population 3,475
TEE HOME
OF RADAR
IN CANADA
4 Clinton Nevvq-ReCOld, 'Thursday, October lb, 1970
Elift001 AVNINent
Time for an answer
It's more than two months now since
Clinton TOWn Council sent a letter to the
?apartment of National Defence asking
for some decision on whether or not the
department planned to make use of CFB
Clinton after the Armed Forces moved
out next fall.
We doubt the council beleived they
could influence the department one way"
or the other about the use of the base, but
they probably at least expected an answer
to their letter. They haven't had one.
lfr_s hard to know what goes on in the
bureaucratic minds of PeQpie Who run
government departments, but you would
at, least be able to answer, a letter when
the future of several million dollars worth
of buildings and ,the jobs of _several
hundred workers are involved,
This greedy continent.
LoR SK 1E US ,c-Ro fri r/1,4, r
R4F-, /5I3 0 ter T0 C /
Count your blessings before it's too late
Thanksgiving, one of our truly
important holidays, is losing
much of its religious signifi-
cance, and becoming more of a
bacchanalian festival, a last fling
before melancholy autumn grips
us in his frosty fingers.
The air — as it was last
weekend — is mofe apt to be
redolent of rye and roast turkey
than of incense, There are more
people cussing on the golf course
than praying on their knees in
church,
Despite this growing pagan-
ism, Thanksgiving is about as
good a time as any for stock-
taking, and I try to do it every
year. I hope you do.
The Lord, or whoever looks
after the Weather
'
nearly always
teems to feel a bit benign toward
us poor, forked animals on
Thanksgiving weekend, Almost
every year,, the holiday is a
amasheroo of Olden Sunshine
and glorious colour.
This is enough to get on your
knees for. I'm always humbly
thankful that I live in a country
where the ..seasons are so sharply
defined, And PM always doubly
thankful that it isett yet soggy
November.
Be honest now, What did you
give thanks, for thiS Thanks.
giving? Or did you just go, to a
faitily reunion, glut youraelf on
turkey and curse at traffic all the
Way honie? Or did you just go
for a drive in the country and
burble over the foliage? Or just
crowd in a last game of golf or
sail on the lake? Or just Shea a
bird or catch a fish? 'Shame.
We should begin with the
basics. Just being alive is some-
thing to be ineffably thankful
for. There's not much joie de
vivre in the graveyard. Forget
that arthritis, that insomnia, that
pimple on your nose, You'll be a
long 'time, dead, and you can
spend all of it whining over your
physical ailments.
To be sane, or relatively sane
in a world that seems insane, is
something for which we should
send up paeans of praise. Think
of the poor lost creatures over-
flowing our mental places, and
thank God you're not among
them,
Being alive and being sane,
then. Other basics are shelter
and food. We don't give them
much thought in this affluent
country. Almost nobody in this
land is without shelter, be it ever
so humble. And nobody is
starving, be he ever so hungry,
Unless he's plain stupid.
The worst Thanksgiving I ever
spent was in October, '1944. I
didn't even think of Thanks-
giving at the time, I had just
received a thorough going-over
for attempting to escape from
the Germans. My nose pointed
one way and one of my legs the
other., .My hands and feet were
tied. It was very cold and there
Were no WOWS, Poo& was four
slices of bread a day,
but, looking back, f realise I
had lots to be thankful for. T had
the roof of a bore-ear overhead
to keep out the rain (until a
night-fighter shot some holes in
it), I had enough food to stay
alive (and no steak has ever been
as delicious as that black bread).
'And I was alive, young, bloody
but unbowed. I should have
been singing "Bringing in the
Sheaves."
What else should we be
thankful for? Certainly not the
new car, the new boat, the new
snowmobile, the finer house.
These are trivia that we can't
take with us.
Definitely, we should be
thankful for our children, how-
ever much pain they have caused
us, We can't take them with us
either, but we can leave them,
and their children, and so on, as
testimony that we once lived
and lbved.
We should be deeply grateful
that we live in a land where
hatred and violence and preju-
dice are frOWned upon, rather
than accepted as part of daily
life,
We should be thankful, fer-
vently, .for real friends and good
neighbours. Not the type who
pry and are delighted When
something is wrong, but the
stalwarts, who rally round and
give comfort when things are
black, or bine.
Perhaps I Wend like 4 Polly-
anna. But you just try it. My
wife has burned the stew and is
diarly. The bills are piling in,
have a catbunele in an eXtremely
embarrassing and painful place.
But after counting my blessings,
I know be ,humble and
grateful, For at least three days.
Old friends, like old wines, are
best, so the saying goes. But I've
been, wondering if it's really
true,
We had a sort of reunion the
other night over a poker table,
seven of us whose careers and
personal lives have run on
parallel lines for these past 20
years.
I'd bumped into one of them
on the street, exchanged regrets
that we didn't seem to see each
other as much as we felt we
ought, to,, and he'd volunteered
'ae, 96, to arrm ri,getztogethex,
was pleasant . ,enotigh
evening. We're planning another.
But I think we all felt something
of a let-down. Something that
we once shared was gone and I
doubt if it could be recaptured.
Reflecting on this since the
night of the game, I've been
wondering if friends, like
automobiles, shouldn't be traded
in periodically for new models.
Certainly the loyalty and the
companionship of old pals is one
of life's rewards, but too often
such a relationship becomes
rusted and treasured only for its
sentimental value.
There was a curious sort of
guilt feeling among the seven of
us. We indulged in self-abuse for
having allowed ourselves to drift
apart. Each of us felt vaguely, I
think, that we'd rejected the
others when, in truth, we were
only the natural victims of time
and change.
We cherished the past we'd
known together. We mourned
the dead. Then, relieved, went
our separate ways.
My own concept of friendship
75 YEARS AGO
The Huron News-Record
October 16, 1895
The new furnaces in the
Public School have been going
for several days, coal now being
used. Thirty tons of coal has
been stored in the basement and
it is expected this will be
sufficient for the winter. .The
price per ton was $4,80.
Last Thursday the barns of
Mr. W. Berry, Brueefield,
together with all his grain and
most of his implements were
burned. Cause unknown
Mr. J. W, Langford, of the
Central Butcher Shop, has
inaugurated the cash system in
connection with his business. •
Prom one end of the Dominion
to the othr this should be the
rule in all lines of business.
55 YEARS AGO
The Clinton News-Record
October 14,1915
Mrs. William Grigg has sold
her cosy cottage on Station
Street to John Drury Who gets
possession at en early date. Mrs.
Grigg Will make her home with
her 84611 A. J. Grigg.
Herb CaSsels has rented the R.
Marshall farm of 176 acres on
the Bayfield Road,
40 YEARS AGO
The Clinton News-Record
Ottober 16, 1930
Beada covered With tweed or
crepe de Chine to match the
dress of the wearer are a fashion
"novelty" for the autumn.
One of the features of the big
plowing match at Stratford this
week will be the entry of Mr. W.
M. Doig, Port Huron and
Tuckersmith, who will use a
plow which his grandfather won
at a match in Scotland in 1811.'
25 YEARS AGO
The Clinton News-Record
October 11, 1945
Frank Ellwood, son of Mr.
and Mrs, Ernest Ellwood,
Clinton, left last week for
Hershey, Pa., to try out with the
Hershey B'ars of the
International Hockey League.
15 YEARS AGO
The Clinton News-Record
October 13,1955
Miss Joanne Castle, Clinton,
who placed highest in her honors
course of physical and health
education in her third year at
the thilvereity Of Western
Ontario last year, has been
awarded One of the Huron
County Busaries.
10 YEARS AGO
The Melon News-.Record
Ocfober1$, 1960
The Venerable H. F.
Appleyard MC. Archdeacon of
Rrant waa elected Suffragan
society or that I felt my
friendship with a Polish
immigrant farmer ' far more
dependable and productive than
anything I'd known before.
A good many of the
friendships that I once thought
would survive a lifetime have
dwindled away. It's not
surprising. I think you reach a
point in such a relationship
when you've each given all you
have to give and that loyalty
alone is all that's left,
I'm thinking of one old buddy
in particular. When we meet now
we've ,little for each other• but
reminiscences. We know each
other too well. Whatever wit or
philosophy we may have is so
care-worn from the years of
exchanging it that we've sought
not only fresher audiences, but
fresher 'views.
He'd be the first I would turn
to if I needed help and I hope
he'd feel the same about me, but
otherwise we're two old
gramophone records.
The friendship that's stayed
greenest the longest is with one
of those wartime pals who, being
located in Halifax, is ideally
suited geographically.
We meet on an average of
once a year, if that. Our feet of
clay hardly ever show. We don't
have the time for
disenchantment or, what's
worse, the truth. (Save me, said
a great philosopher, from a
candid friend.)
We're having the next poker
session two weeks from tonight.
It will be, I'm sure, a more
relaxed affair now that we've
reconciled ourselves to our loss.
Bishop of Deaneries of Huron,
Perth, Waterloo, Grey and
Bruce.
Councillor L. G. Winter spoke
of his intention to attend a
meeting on water pollution and
conservation in London and told
of his interest in seeing a
Maitland River Authority
established.
Twenty-nine plowmen from
Huron County competed at the
farm of Wesley NiVens, Ashfield
Township, near Dungannon in
the 34th Annual Huron Plowing
Match,
The Lucknow Sentinel
editorialized last week on the
absurdity of the attempt by the
N.H.L. President Clarence
Campbell to have scenes in the
dressing room of the Boston
Bruins removed from a television
show on Bobby Orr. •
The paper commented:
"Clarence might not realize that
the image of N.H.L. players is
not 'snow white' in the minds of
our,.children and adults. We see'
them, week after week, smashing
one another with fists and sticks,
holding out for higher wages at
the expenie of the team,
displaying uncontrollable fits of •
temper, making the most of the
dollar through endorsing
products they may not even use,
and yes Clarence, even using
`cuss' words at the referee and
team-mates.
"They're humans Clarence, so
why worry about a bit of beer
foam after our kids have
probably just finished watching
cowboys and Indians dying like
flies on TV, a war spectacular
or one of those dramas where all
normal forms of morality cease
to be.
"If the N.H.L. is seeking to
improve its image, leave the
dressing rooms alone and start in
the president's office."
The Exeter Times-Advocate
was concerned with the shortage
of classroom space at their
public school.
"It's rather difficult to
understand the reasoning behind
the statement of Huron board of
education director John
Cochrane that "we can't stand
still to wait for the have nots to
catch up."
"His remark was made in
regard to the planned addition at
the Seaforth school to handle
McKillop students. The school
addition is apparently going to
include such things as an
industrial arts shop and home
economics room.
"If it was simply a matter of
the 'have nots' being without
this type of facility, there would
be some reason behind Mr.
Cochrane's statement. Someone
always has to be ahead.
"However, some of the 'have
riots' are in the position of being
without adequate classroom
space and it appears totally
irresponsible that the board'
should consider an industrial arts
shop and home economics room
in one school before ensuring ,
that the room to provide an
adequate education in other
schools is available.
"Exeter -happens to be one of
those 'have note, and while local
ratepayers may not be too
worried about the fact their
children may- not gettindueerial
arts' and home 'economics
training, training, they should be
concerned that local pupils are
overcrowded and don't even
have a library resource centre.
"The board and Mr. Cochrane,
may argue that they'll take
everything they can get at
Seaforth because the department
of education has indicated
they'll pick up 100 percent of
the tab.
"But if that's the basis for
their reasoning, they can surely
take steps to persuade the
department to curtail the
expenditure in the "frills" • for,
the Seaforth school and spend
the money on providing the -
basic requirements at other'
Huron schools.
"Education officials in
Clinton and Toronto must surely
dedicate themselves to a
program of providing equal
educational opportunities and ,
this obviously dictates a policy
of the 'haves' waiting for the.
`have nots' to catch up."
"Be SURE TWAT CAMPFIRE",
IS RALLY OUT/ USE
YOUR WASH WATER TO
THOROUGHLY DOU'S.E.
THE'LEAARveiNA dIT,FORE
Other views
A SUMMARY OF EDITORIAL OPINION FROM
OTHER AREA NEWSPAPERS.
has changed radically in the last
few years.
A decade ago I hadn't a single
friend, beyond casual
acquaintances, who didn't share
my every interest. I went
around, so to speak, with
mirrors. It was an occupational
set. We were newspapermen or
writers or editors in allied fields.
Looking back on it now, I guess
we were snobs as well.
We looked on anyone outside
our intimate .circle as odd-ball
foreigners. At a party we
ht gathered in our own corner,
excluding the infidels, speaking
our own tongue, fortifying our
own concepts, nourishing our
- egos. There was us'and there was
the rest of the world.
It wasn't until I found myself
sharing a barracks with 60 such
strangers that I first became
aware that friendship could
mean something more than the
comfortable sharing of a special
niche and awoke one morning to
find that my closest pals were a
hard-rock miner and an
insurance salesman.
Later, when we went to live in
the country, I continued to
make the discovery that the best
of friends are those whose
kinship relates to something
. deeper than merely
complementing your own.
'character and values.
Many a newspaperman who
visited us in that period was
bewildered by what he felt were.
my strange companions. I found
it hard to explain to them that
such strong attachments could
shape from what they
considered an unsophisticated