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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Times-Advocate, 1973-05-10, Page 19baroe 144IN Lum -rooNOrk A PAIR OF QUEENS - Two Queens were involved in the official crow- ning ceremony at Friday's At Home dance at South Huron District High School. Above, 1972 Queen Lynne Farquhar places the crown on the head of the new Queen Val Regier. T-A photo. eidee„.44 Support Educont, student awareness Bill Paul, Coordinator, Educon London, Central Secondary School, 509 Waterloo Street, London. You may phone 433-8651 or after hours call 433-5361 or 438-3909, In Exeter, you may contact the editor of the Guardian in care of Newspaper Editor, South Huron DHS, Box 760, Exeter. You may call 235-0880 after 3 p.m. or 235-1713 after 6 p.m, Your cooperation would be much appreciated, By MICHAEL FOREMAN The week of May 7 to May 12 is work week for senior students, at South Huron, Most of the students are on the job to get first hand experience as well as teaming the ropes of their jobs. These students are all from the 440 level, However, this is not the only thing going on in the student society. In London there is a conference at Central Secondary School on May 19. This conference is in association with the London Board of Education, London Intra-City Student CoUticil and the Ore taro Student Union all part of the program called "Student Awareness '73", Educon is a student education conference, to be held for the first time in London. The purpose of the conference is to promote a meeting place for student leaders and organizers to exchange ideas and experiences, to further increase their knowledge and broaden their outlooks in certain areas, and to make them aware of some organizations that students would never find out about otherwise. If this conference is to be representative of the needs and desires of students, we need a flow of ideas from the students as to what topics they are interested in and which resource people they would like to have in attendance, All ideas are welcome. The conference is open to everyone who would like to attend, although we hope there will be at least five representatives from each secondary school involved, For more information, contact: THE QUEEN AND HER PRINCESSES - Val Regier was named Queen for 1973 at South Huron District High School, Friday night. Val is shown above seated on the throne surrounded by her princesses. From the left, they are, Bev Finnendoan Allen, Sandra Stock, Debbie Riddell, Adrienne Van Raay and Pat Regier, Letters to the Editor Discuss abortion, By C.W. LONG There is a growing tide of opposition to the "abrupt" change in secondary education forced upon us by HS1. We had best all climb aboard quickly, or be left "out of step" with reality. It is difficult to imagine what might have prompted the Department of Education (now the Ministry, presumably reflecting their omnipotence) to tamper with the structure, so nearly perfect, that education had going for it, To impose such a change so abruptly, with "no" time for examination, discussion, or experimentation, and to deny any possibility of future modification, is a display of blatant arrogance and lack of concern for those intimately involved. It is surely time, considering the "long" and "fair" trial (71/2 ) By LISA McIVER A man and his son who were on their way to a sporting event were struck by a train and in- jured seriously. Having been rushed by an ambulance to a local hospital, the boy was prepared for an operation. The doctor prepares to operate on the boy but suddenly exclaims, "I can't operate on this boy, he's my son!" Who is the doctor? Puz- zling perhaps for the unliberated mind, but the doctor is the boy's mother. Since the beginning of time woman has been led to believe that it is her part to submit willingly to male domination, Aristotle is quoted as saying, "We must look upon the female character as a type of natural deficiency." Roman law put females in the custody of males in recognition of feminine im- becility, and finally, as a last straw, Hebrew males greeted each day with the utterance, "Blessed be God, . that he has not made me a woman." I am not about to go about shouting, "men, give us our freedom," for if anything this would only enforce their mastery. But rather I urge that all women stand up and take the share of dignity and human achievement that is theirs. The tendency of Women's Lib., to explain the whole phenomenon as an opression of women by men, is terribly misleading; it is im- portant that women should see that they themselves have connived in the situation, that they themselves have consented in" the streamlining of themselves into the role of super chattels, A child is kicking strongly in her mother's womb, it is assumed it Must, be a boy as it ie 80 active And aggressive, Mid from the time that girl is bore and banded with a pink bracelet in the hospital wintery she is eon- ditioried to become a boring, passive, narcissistic bitch. A small girl is given sub- misSive toys such as dolls and A teacher's view months) we have given it, to examine the strengths, and weaknesses, of the credit system. I deal first with the strengths. NONE!! Time and space do not permit a detailed examination of all the weaknesses, Only the more pro- minent will be mentioned. The implementation of HS1 has required CHANGE, Now, everyone knows that education should reflect society in general, and any "fool" knows that there is NO change taking place anywhere in our society. Clearly, there aren't enough "fools" in the Ministry, We must be well sup- plied in O.S,$.'l',F., for we ad- vocate, through mends for tenure (assurance of em- ployment for all but probably incompetent teachers), maximum resistance to change. The credit system allows students to choose what courses miniature appliances to mold her early years, while a young boy bides his time with aggressive toys like doctor's kits and trucks. The tiny girl soon learns that to please her daddy she must be cute and bouncy and giggly while the male child must show in- telligence or athletic prowess to please his father. By the time a girl reaches puberty, the Freudian concept of the female sexual role, social conditioning and the cosmetic conspiracy combine to drown a girl's energy and curiosity leaving her passive, narcissistic and mindless, A girl soon learns boys are turned off by smart girls and gets hints that other girls too are turned off by smart girls. The whole middle class educatioe system in general destroys our minds by forcing us to linear writing and thinking, and by ramming the whole structured male-female role concept down our passive throats. Even the mass media portrays woman as a tedious, boorish creature whose only concern in this wondrous world is whether Tide or Brand X will get the dirt out of her wonderfully aggressive husband's work shirts, Surely a Woman possesses a greater conscioushess, a greater spon- taneity and a greater love for life? Sexually too, the woman has been led to believe for far too long that she is to be the passive side of a partnership, The act is to be performed for the masculine pleasure and female orgasm is a necessity only to bolster the male ego. And the teenage girl will all too soon learn of the double standard which allows a sexually active boy to be termed as "sowing his wild oats", while a girl is termed a prude if she fails to consent to the Sex act and a "whore" if she agrees to it, Everyone understands the sexual frustrations of a young man Which can lead to crimes such as rape, but does anyone ever they take. This is completely irresponsible for many reasons. One; It "forces" responsibility onto young, immature minds. The fact that these "children" will be voting in 1, 2;3, or 4 years is hardly reason to start "bur- dening" them with responsibility now. Full maturity, in all respects, will undoubtedly arrive on their 18th birthday, Two: It "forces" teachers to present Mickey Mouse courses, for everyone knows that today's youth is a useless, good-for- nothing bunch who ALWAYS opt for the "line of least resistance", Three: It almost demands that teachers put effort, and planning, into class preparation, or face the prospect of declining class population, and hence job in- security. NO ONE else in our society is expected to produce results, so why should teachers. Four: While the Ministry has taken pains to publish denials, surely the student choice, inherent in the credit system, includes the licence to "do nothing", The weakest link in the credit system is the assumption that there is some common interest, and communication, between the community, students, parents, and educators. The success of HS 1 is predicated on parental in- terest, and involvement, in the child's education, and its relation to the "outside world". What an absolutely asinine idea!! The course for education to take is clear, We must "turn back the clock", at least to the Robert's Plan where a professional educator can make the unerring decision on a Grade 8 child's future education, and hence, future. Better, perhaps, to go back to the "fabulous 50's", and eliminate the burden of virtually any option selection from our students. At least there were far fewer dropouts them Indeed, there are probably more dropouts today (all the fault of the credit system) than there wemhigh ' etudente then. In those ,clays grade 8 students were More considerate. They dropped out before high school. I guess it would also be fair to return to the salary schedules of those "wonderful years". The most frightening aspect of the whole business is the realization that many readers will agree with this article, ex- cept for the preceding paragraph, consider the sexual frustrations of a teenage girl? For far too long we have been submissively happy, pawns to masculine sexual ego. With 20 years of passive con- ditioning behind me, it is of no wonder to me that, though women make up 52 percent of the U.S. population, they make up only 35 percent of the work force, and 75 percent of them are clerical workers, Women make up 99 percent of the household help but for some reason they make up only 12 percent of the professionals. Social conditioning of women has produced the secretarial proletariat of the U.S.A. Women who do take positions as executives often find it necessary to become tran- svestites or castrate males to make it in a male world, for only the female eunuch can make it in this conditioned, patriarchal society. Women are not oppressed by men; they are oppressed by themselves and the roles in society they have allowed to be built for them, Women, arise! Do not allow society to continue patterning you into brainless, unfeeling dolls. Lay claim to the humanity and human achievement that is yours. Realize you are more on this earth than a combined vacuum cleaner and baby fac- tory. A Share of the dignity and spontaneity of life awaits you. It's yours if you want it, VaI Regier, reigns at ball An 18 year-old Zurich area girl was named Queen of Swat Huron District High. School, Friday night. With the gym crowded with youthful dancers and the gallery jammed with spectators, Val Regier was chosen as school queen for 1973. Student council president Don Noakes made the announcement at the stroke of midnight after the seven contestants were in- troduced to the large crowd along with their escorts. Val is the daughter of Mr, and Mrs. Gerald Regier and resides at RR 3, Zurich in Hay township. The new queen was officially .crowned by 1972 queen Lynne Farquhar, After the official ceremonies were over, the first dance to the music of Opus II was reserved for queen Val and her escort Doug Fairbairn. The new queen is a grade 12 student. After high school graduation, she plans on at- tending Fanshawe College to take a two year course in Early Childhood Teacher Education. The queen is selected by way of a secret ballot open to all students at the school. The other contestants were Joan Allen, Adrienne Van Raay, Debbie Riddell, Pat Regier, Bev Finnen and Sandra Stock. Calls teachers 'hypocritical' My dear fellow students & honoured teachers: If you stop long enough to read this, it's at least a start. I won't be disappointed if no one un- derstands because you'll have to care about yourselves sooner or later and then it will come to you. No one lately has had enough insight to see nor the courage enough to voice any harsh opinions against our education system, including teachers. I only hope that because of this some teachers with the apparent mannerisms of childern, do not take out frustrated feelings on (all but one) innocent students. Much of my anger stems from the fact that I have perhaps placed the ideals of our teachers too high to meet. I only realize now how badly mistaken I have been for such a long time, and perhaps this has been the worst thing I have learned so far from school, As a growing person, like everyone else, there are mistalae that have to be made and allowances for corrections. And as a human being I don't like being preached to by another imperfect human being no matter if his title is TEACHER or not. I don't like being accused of being amoral, nor do I appreciate hearing my friends' names treated in the same manner, It wears, my patience thin when I know my future opportunities may be influenced by hypocritical judges I have now and have had in previous times. From time to time I hear about a new way of describing the purpose of education but it seems that with each new stand there has bee" a need for protecting those who have planned educational methods. Now that the education budget has dwindled away they throw in some new words to protect themselves and the big desk in which they sit at a regional office. With any change like this, the bottom of the ladder suffers, and once again the students fall a bit short of what should rightfully be theirs. I want to add one more item for those teachers who have read this far already. I would like to apologize for all the deadbeats you have to teach. We realize that it must be quite a burden on your emotional state but our parents will still send us to you for you to babysit, Now that the roles have been reversed we will all try to get to know you and help you to straighten out your head over why you became a teacher in the first place. Very sincerely, One student Presents case By DEB HILLMAN I am sure you have heard at least one gripe from every student in this school about exams, Yes I mean those two- hour tests that make your mind go blank when you sit down to them and that you cram for until two minutes before they start. There are many complaints about them and I am going to tell you tnihe. I feel that We should not have to write exalts in the second term. They are immaterial because we do not, in the nine weeks of term two, learn enough to be able to Write any type of exam Of ex- tended length, I think the teachers take more time making up a second term exam than they do teaching the Material it contains, Frets! January to March there are 47 school days compared to 71 Sir: As summer is drawing near again, I can't help but wonder how this area's summer resort will fare this year. I have a job in the summer months that brings me in close contact with cottagers and tourists and I have found that quite a few of them have varying opinions about Grand Bend and its future. Some say Grand Bend is a dying resort and don't find it as enjoyable or as restful as it used to be. Young people have told me that they come to "the Bend" to meet people and just plain "have fun", After staying awhile they then said that there wasn't really that much for them to do except walk the streets, and even then they were being pushed along. It seems this is also true with the local kids. On the other hand, the older 'residents and tourists as well as ;holidaying families say they come to "the Bend" to get away from the dirty city, etc., but then they find they must deal with the for two terms from September to December, so how can they expect us to write on a subject that we are only half- way through. I certainly don't relish the idea of cramming two month's work into two weeks of Confusion, I think the best passible solution to this is to set up all the Courses at South Huron on the Smile basis as the senior English Courses, the borne economics courses and the shop courses. We Would then have a two-semester year, First semester would go Until January and We Would write an exam then, and the second semester would go until June. If this schedule were followed, the teachers could seen the subjects So that we would have sufficient Material to use ter an exam. These are my views and ideas. If you agree or disagree on them speak up! Don't just complain do somethingll so-called hippies and trouble- making motorcyclists. This, they claim, shouldn't be allowed if Grand Bend wants to flourish business wise. It is true that the holidaying families and cottagers do provide a great part of the business, but the visiting youth and local people, as well as tourists passing through, fill the rest of the gap as far as I can see. Of all the complaints I've heard from tourists and residents, the most popular one is that there should be more recreation facilities, and therefore more variety of things to do for both young and old. It was suggested at the first of this year that Grand Bend would get tennis courts, shuffle boards, and a baseball diamond, but as yet, we haven't seen or heard any evidence of this coming true. Many other people as well as myself feel that plans like these should be carried out if Grand Bend wishes to be more en- tertaining to the tourists and local residents. Not everyone would find these things appealing but I can see where they could be a great start for better recreation in this village. I think that if Grand Bend can supply the summer tourists with more entertainment, keep the beach and water clean, and also hope for better weather this year, it should never fail as one of the best tourist resorts. Name withheld On request Sit: Row could anyone possibly agree or take part in such an inhuman action as abortion? A little child is being deprived of life merely because of irresponsible people who believe this is the 'answer to their preblems. Just at many doctors advocate, I believe that life begins at the point of fertilization and not three months later when the fetus looks Mere like a child. The fetus is human, and should therefore be given the right to live just as anyone else. Why should the baby suffer because of the mother's selfish actions? This isn't fair! Besides the murder of a child, there are usually terrible side effects for the mother after a bloody operation. I don't un- derstand why two parties (the mother and child) should be hurt when there are two simple solutions available. Either prevent getting pregnant, or if the mother really doesn't want the child give it up for adoption, giving the child a chance to live. After all, he is human! Name withheld on request * * Sir; How many of you are getting Sick of hearing Mr. Wooden every morning telling us to quit dropping our garbage all over the place? Well, don't you think it's about time we did something about it? A visitor to our school or even a complete stranger in town would be able to find his way to or from the school; all he would have to do is follow the trail of garbage! All it would take to clean up this mess would be to have every student go out and pick up a couple of hands full of litter. This clean-up campaign could be carried out some noon hour or some activity period. We had better hurry up and decide quickly before We are "surrounded by garbage." Cathy Siddall * * * Sir: I would like to voice my opinion on the subject of deterring crime. First, I think Our laws per- taming to bail and parole should be tightened up. Secondly, I believe dangerous criminals rapists, skyjackers and murderers should face the death penalty, or as an alternative a T-A photo sentence of natural life im- prisonment as proposed by the Police Association. Thirdly, the most important move the public can make in deterring crime is giving the police full support in curbing criminal activities. Yours truly Randal M. Glenn * * * Sir: I am a grade 11 student and am experiencing the credit system for the first time this year, The credit system has some good points. It allows you to choose your subjects freely. I think it is very advantageous for those students in the senior grades, These students have a knowledge of what they wish their career to be, and this system allows them to select the subjects that they feel are useful for their career, The credit system also has its bad points. This system can make school very boring. Students have the same subjects every day, and this becomes hectic since students have to make sure that most of the work that is assigned to them in each subject is finished for the next day. It is also very difficult for these who are beginning high school, because most of them have not yet decided what they wish their career to be. They become confused when it comes time for them to select their subjects. The part I like best about this system is that you can choose your eubjeets freely, but I de feel that school authorities should do something abciut having the sane subjects each day if this system carries on, (Name withheld on request) Read This Page FOi H161-1SCI-300L NEW8 THE FIRST DANCE - Immediately after the crowning of Val Regier as the new Queen of South Huron District High School Friday night, the first dance was reserved for the regal couple. Above, Val is shown with her escort Doug Fairbairn. T-A photo. gdarcian Speaks on credit system Urges women to take share of dignity, achievement garbage, tourists