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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1960-08-11, Page 4Richard M. Nixon Nelson A. Rockefeller Vie Co Even before dust of the national convention is set- tied, principal Republican players in the election drama, above, were hard at work furthering the GOP cause in the November elections. At right, their con- vention behind them, Dem- ocratic presidential a n d vice presidential nominees ge..t together with Sen. Henry Jackson. (Wash.) new Democratic national chair- man, Sen. Lyndon Jollueson Sen.- Henry Jackson Sen. John Kennedy Ote'/GiM OP Tee WORD PENCIL R ANCIENT. Rt$MANS PAPYRUS WITH NNE 8±11.15,1 64110 a PeNelLettS*ORI.Ifra TAIL" ZUMBO PENCILS ARE /41/00- FOR KINPEROARTEN ARE, FIRsT.;IGRAbekn, DO-17:-YOURELP:. rr wouLn.cost hack, TO MAKE YOUR. Clifeet MOIL FROM RAW I II MAIreeRtAeR 440 Who Should Tooth Toon-ooers To Drive? IS It A Joh For School Or Parents? Fifty years age tbe- treat mo, enent, in a boy's. life was when Tad first eave bent the reins Of the tfamilre. beet team,. It wee: pethAps, only a historic ,develop- moat that, when 'motor cars ye* .pleyeed, the horse, boys would. • derive prestige from driving the family car -s- and Would be taught to drive by their Where. But today, with. 250 • horse power under the hood and an !nurse-sense, the car is lethal in the hands of many begienees. There are en estimated 350,000. licensed young .drivers in Cana- . da between 10 and 18 years, and litether 150,000 coming alone each veer — the product of the nation's host-war :baby boom, Nast of these drivers will be boys — not judged old enough to vote or take Alcohol, yet 'able. to.get a license in most pro- vinces at the age of, 16, At present the majority are self-taught or- home-taught dri- vers, Yet drivers between 10 and la years, according to insur- ance statistics, pile up 11 acoi- deets every million miles they drive, as compared to only 14 accidents for adults in the 411s year age eroup. Bays between 10 and le, who comprise only five per cent of drivers, are involved in more than 12 per cent of all accidents. Obviously, the proper driving instruction of young people has become vitally important, It poses one • of the most contro- versial traffic safety questions of our time: how and where should driver training be taught and, more -specifically, should it be taught :a the schools? High sebrols have so far done more than any other singlet agenc,y towards finding - a solu- tion, In the United States 10,- 000 schools now offer driver training. In Canada about 100 schools haye such programs and more are being introduced every year. Alth•ougn in most provinces some :schools give driver train- ing, so far Saskatchewan, Ontar- io, Nova Scotia. and British Columbia are most active. Tite- ' poet of the courses varies •con- siderably but, according to the Ontario Safety League, a good. round figure is $30 per student. Cars are usually supplied free by automobile dealers. The exact content of courses varies, too, bin all good courses provide for both classroom in- struction • . and "behind the wheel" training. In Vancouver,, for example, students receive 12 hours of classroom work, le hours of observation in a car„ end eight • hours behind the wheel. Saskatchewan students. spend 20 hours in the classroom' and eight behind a wheel, The text book recommended [a Sportsmanlike Driving publish- ed by the American Automobile. Association. To support the principle high school driver training, lit- surance companies, which nor- m.ally charge 'nigher rates for young drivers, are begipnitig to give prefeeenee to those who have taken these or other .ap- proved courses, Teclucatore agrees that school- trained drivers have fewer ace oidents. In Canada, the Kitchen, or - Waterloo Collegiate and 'Vocational School was the first. to introduce driver training, R. Hodd, the principal, swill "We are well pleased with the results deriVed from this course in terms not only of fewer so- oldente recorded by graduates but because of the splendid at, Vendee toward •driving reeporiela gr, Witty which. the (Miran foam and promotes," William White, the leitehe.aer driver - training instructor re- ports that, of 1,200 students trained, only' one per cent had violations or accidents. And these have been ruled noi the fault of the students. le Vancouver, where driver training is carried out in all city secondary schools, 4 survey of 800, students with two years' driving experience showed an accident and violation rate of abetit one-third that of the over- all average. W. B, Main, director of the Saint John, Na Vocational School, has been interested in driver education since 1933. "Records we have kept over the years," he says, "indicate that serious accidents are practically an unknown quantity as far as the graduates of this type of training are concerned," Goderich, Ont. Collegiate In- stitute has eight courses for young drivers arid principal A. R. Scott knows of only one re- portable accident among gradu- ates Similar experiences have been recorded in Ottawa by Lt,-Col, T. W. Bigelow, chairman of the sub-committee on high school driver education of the Ottawa Area Safety Council. There,,two eecondary schools provide river education. So far, graduates have had one ticket — for overtime parking. No Canadian school has gone as far as some in the U.S. For example, in a Detroit area high school for 1,200 pupils, driver education is 'part of the voca- tional program, along with home- making, art, drafting, printing, machine shop and auto mechan- ics. There is a special 20 by 30- foot driver education room (next door to auto mechanics where teen-agers bring their hot-rods for maintenance) with double doors that lead onto the street, permitting a car to be driven in for classes. According to Earl Allgaier of the AAA, a 17-year experience with driver training in high schools has shown definite bene- fits. About 11/2 million Ameri- cans completed training at a cost of about $34 each and an esti- mated saving in accidents of $137 million. For every $1 invested by the schools, he sasy, $2.60 has been returned in the form of ac- cidents prevented, In addition, an. estimated 1,400 lives were saved and 50,000 injuries pre- vented. Their surveys show that training reduces traffic accidents gy at least one-half. Alter eight years of driving training in high schools in one state, annual deaths in the 15: to 25 age group dropped from 433 to 45. Injuries in the same period were cut from 10,614 to 1,603. In 1957 the National Educa- tion Association made an ex- tensive study of 14 state and. 14 city programs of U.S. driver edu- cation, Highlschool-trained boys showed a 30 to 50 percent better performance during their initial period of driving, compared to other boys. As both groups gained more experience they leveled off: that is the • untrain- ed boys improved gradually, if they lived long enough. Yet not all Canadian educe- tore are whole-heartedly in fa- vour of driving being taught in the schools. Some school boards, according to a Canadian Educe* Con Association survey, give tto support. Some of those survey- ed — Moncton, Oshawa, Scar- borough and St, Runes in sub- urban Winnipeg — tried and abandoned it. Most educators agree on the principle of driver training but differ as to the best possible form of administering it. They are extremely anxious that it should in no way interfere with r e gul a r curricula. Therefore most say that, if introduced at all, it should be a voluntary course, outside regular school hours. "The schools have enough to do with their own particular work, which is education rather than training," says H, M, Grant, assi at ant superintendent of schools in Moncton, N.H. "We have plenty of room for im- provement in that job. There is a trend towards cluttering the schools with every training and education job which has of- ten been done poorly or not at all by others, including parents." Furthermore, says G r a t, driving training courses cost money. Why should everybody pay, through taxation, for the training of a relatively small number of privileged young- stare? Parents wbo wish their children to drive cars could pay for an adequate course of train- ing. "Teen-age people go hunting noveadays," he says. "Shall we put in a course in safety for them? Speed-boating is growing as a popular sport. How about that?" While not alt educators share exactly the same view, most agree in broad outline, The school's duty has been to pro- duce well,rounded citizens but not to usurp the jeeps of other agencies and the home. But 'W. Ateli Bryce, executive director of the Canadian. HighWey Safe- ty Council, Maintains there is tio comparison between driver education and other so-called frillsiebjects, "The Seating driver may look forward to a driving sateen` of 64 years,!' Bryce Says. "This carry-over Value cannot be equalled by such 4/nd-censure- irig Subjects aa football, basket- ball, 00100', rifle shooting and square deeding," • A student exposed to proper training in "the attitudes neces- sary for resourceful, accident- free, considerate driVirig is also absorbing citizenship training 1§gtt 1.964. which cannot be given in any direct way," he adds. The teach- ing of attitudes' is as important as the teaching of skills. Goderich principal Scott agrees: "The instilling of cor- rect attitudes involves far more than the training to drive, you. could probably train a Chimpan- zee to drive a car." Ofeiciels of the Saskatchewan Highway Safety Council feel that their biggest problem in battling traffic accidents is to develop good "driver attitudes," From spychologists they learned that it is easier to teach a "good" attitude than to "tin-learn" a bad one, Therefore when they were given $100,000 by the provincial government einsurence office to spend on driver training they decided to start where attitudes were still unformed — in the schools. In most schools where driver training has been introduced, there has been a comptomise be- tween public need and school tradition: it is not included in the curriculum, but is offered as an "extra" in spare periods or after hours. In Ontario, the department of education has ap- proved driver training courses for secondary schools if given outside regular hours, Some 313 Ontario secondary schools pro- vide training on this basis. In a few, such as Kitchener, stu- dents May train duritiga health period or physical editdation• period, Grants recently offered by the department of 'education in Nova Scotia carry the proviso that the course must not con- flict with "the regular academic classroom etheclule," A second objection to driver education in schools is that such courses eerie reach enough ate- dents; the licensing age in most provinces is 16; so is the school- leaving age, The courses ate voluntary; this alSd limits their effectiveness. In Vancouver, only 12 pet cent Of Students are at present enrelled, yet course's are reedily availeblee Sasetistehe- vvaties progeani is ectininittered by the Highway safety Cottrutit. General manager Leonard S. Bo-seinen -estimates that 1,200 students Will have been trained by the end of the current sehoel • year. Yet Many students are titisaed, he says, and unfortunately, "these Who deep out Of school Learn to chive somewhere seem to get jobs involving trans- port." Kitchener authorities estimate that school driver training pro- grains at best could train "only 50 per cent of the youngsters or less," This view is shared by educators in Alberta where only about half of the 73,941 persons between 15 and 19 are enrolled in sahools. The case for and against dri- ver education in high schools was summarized recently in the report of Alberta's Royal Com- mission on Education. The Cone mission wholly backed the idea of better training for young dri- vers, noting that half of the 3,205 people killed on Canadian roads in 1958, died as the result of actions of drivers under 24. At the same time, it tossed the ball back to the community: the best that schools can, or should do, is provide voluntary extra-curricular courses. Many organizations and agen- cies — service clubs, chambers of commerce, youth training groups; army, air and sea cadets could participate in a pro- gram of public driver education including that of the school age group, the Commission reported, "These agencies, including de- partments of the government, coul dbe More aggressive than at present if the crisis on the highways is of the magnitude claimed . . . The results of such efforts, involving many age levels and groups would, in all probability, be more effective thah the simple act of planting the program in the schools."' And Bryce el the Canadian Highway - Safety Council, re. ,ponds: "The schools, however, object to outside interests ab- sorbing student tithe, le it not better to have this matter under the control of peeple who ,know how to do it,. and who can re• gulate its operation , .? Probably to other safety prob. hem today has as many pros and cons as this one or is More in need of a Solomon to find the solution" — Ron Kenyon iii imperial Oil IteOieW, Q, flow can I defied hey danger Of raveling at the edges when nit. rolling some ifictitii) tape?' A. if,an "le" is cut lightly with a razor blade on both sides Of the toll, this will Sever any string Stuck together along the edges and you'll haVe 00 raveling, Ealby Won't Sleep? Usq Your Phone A crying baby no longer holds up mother's housework in Den- mark. She solves the problem by picking up the telephone, dialling 0024 and putting the receiver into the baby .cradie. In a few minutes the baby la soothed to sleep by a lullaby, Tiny tots are catered for with lullabies and fairy tales by dial- ling 0024, theatre and cinema pro- grammes in English are obtained by dialling 4425, while you can get the same in German on 0026 and the same in French on 0027, If a housewife dries up on ideas for meals she can ring 0033 to get some original suggestions for the daily menu. Other ideas the Danish PMG has up his sleeve are the latest market prices over the telephone and a new service to inform would-be customers of certain products, Newspaper advertisements will simply refer to the special tele- phone number where information can be obtained, France, too, is modernizing her - telephone system. It's claimed that ninesecotids be saved 'on each call by means of a new electronic system to be installed soon at. all the main French tele- phone exchanges. Dials will be replaced by push-buttons, Arnither revolutionary idea As to replace the present jangling ring with a "much more soothing noise" over a loudspeaker, !Ole luxuries of today are the essentials of tomorrow. that is what a rising standard of living , Means, Says Anxiety Useful To Life • -levee anxiety in its .001 is. necessary and useful to SOY*. Pr.. P4 Z. dgell, Assistant.. Professor of .,Psychiatry at McGill, LiniversitY, • Writing in .Healtb. MagazinA.• the offiCial publication of 0,0 Health League of Canada, moll said free anxiety is natural outcome of the bility of living tissue,. It pro' IrelgeS action which, in turn, re,, lieves the anxiety and thus bo- • comes .a kind of emotional. escape • valve, "Vie anxiety occurs. in the period of delay between the stimulus and the action and is accompanied by physical changes which put the. organism into a state. of readiness for action," However, warned Dr, Edgele "lit the anxiety that results itk too intense it constitutes a strese against which the body has to muster emergency defence mechanisms," Stress• can results 14 a psychosomatic disorder. Dr, Edgell said the distinction, between mild and stimulating anxiety, and intense, disrupting stressful anxiety, is an individual; problem for every person, He said, the best remedies are physieat action, conversation and thought as. well as the maintenance of. general good health, SATELLITE 'VOLUNTEERS ADAPT QUICKLY A unique experiment has` shown that man can adapt to conditions similar to those On e whirling satellite hundreds oil miles above the earth, The experiment was perform- ed by Dr. Ashton Graybiel • director of the U.S. Naval School of Aviation at Pensacola, Flori- da, and was reported• to the Health League of Canada in release from the American Medi- cal Association. ,• The report said four volunteers, at a time were locked inside a circular room 15 feet in dia- meter and 7 feet high while the room was rotated at a constant speed. In six separate experi- inents during two days the room was rotated at velocities rang- ing from 1,71 to 10 revolutions per minute. Dr. Graybiel said. the speeds were chosen to sample the range which might he used. In orbiting some satellite vehie eles, During the experiment the volunteers were called on to perform certain • tests. The rest of the time they spent eating, sleeping, reading and listening to a radio, All • of the subjects except one reported cert ain unpleasant symptoms such as nausea, visual Illusions and other discomforts,. The only man . not affected had lost the function of the sensory organs of the inner ears,. Dr. Graybiel said, "the degree and rapidity with which symna toms deceased or disappeared astonished both the experimen- ters and the subjects," Automate The Ilippire! Notwithstanding the time-hon- ored cry of "Kill the umpire!' actuarial records on the arbiters of baseball probably are no more unfavorable than on most other occupations. An engineer for a New York State corporation, however, believes that some of the uncertainties which beset an ,umpire's career could be cleared up if the man in the blue seat were given the last wend not only vocally but electronically, The inventor proposes a bat- tery of television cameras, one above the plate and one on either side (for right or left-handed bat- ters) to determine whether the pitcher!s throw passes through the strike zone on its way to the catcher's init. Another battery of cameras would focus on the vari- ous bases to help establish whether the ball arrived before or behind the runner, of whether a tag was •Made or missed. Some such innovations have been debated ere now, Perhaps they are oil the way. Some of the game's more colorful argu- ments may be missed if the, um- pire can merely invite an irate manager to leek 'at a playback df the tape. But if baseball is to be, as the announcers say, "a oefammeicorfowaih: tie hees,s,e it may not un- • reasonably go oh d be a game PENCIL TS 'If you want kill your Matadi ent h rifeat 16e, do it yeitea" Mitie e!: