HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1976-05-26, Page 11Under NewMantigempnl .
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THE BRUSSELS POST, MAY 26, 1976'. if
Sugar and Spice
by Bill Smiley •
That sinking feeling The Corn Crop
needs Spraying This is a time of year when a lot of school
teachers get a sinking. feeling.
All year they have been laboring in the
fairly barren vineyards of their students,
sustained by, the, knowledge that there is
still time to produce a green shoot or two,
and maybe even enough grapes to make"
some kind of brew.
Suddenly, there are only 16 teaching
days left, and there is the dreadful
realization that, they have exhausted all
their skills, and that it had about as much
effect on Susie and Joe as would a bucket
of water poured over a seal. It just doesn't
stick.
Thus, when they should be looking
forward with anticipation to end of term
and summer vacation, many teachers find
themselves instead in a veritable Slough of
Despond.
It is the students' perennial belief .in
miracles that puts the teachers onto
anti-depressant pills about now.
Aside from school work, adolescents are
not dumb. They are quite aware that
education these days is a sociological
jungle from which they have a far' better
chance of emerging unscathed than do
those poor devils who try to teach them.
They know that in our enlightened
society, "failure" is a dirty word, and that
everyone from the Minister of Education,
through the school board, down to their
classroom teacher, will doYack flips trying
to avoid pinning, such a label, on them.
Many students know perfectly well that
they can goof around most of the year, play
truant, miss assignments, be late with
essays, and nothing very terrible will
happen to them. • In fact, if they go
around looking serious and sincere for the
last few weeks, and do a little work, there's
every chance that they will scrape or
scramble through, only to repeat the whole
process the next year.
Born and raised in a society where it is
no shame to accept charity, because it's
now dignified as welfare, where unemploy-
ment insurance is 'a cosy cushion against'
adversity, where their aged parents will be
looked after by the state, where the work
ethic is scorned, where the semi-literate
hockey player or pop star is not only
idolized but rich, the kids-are not going to
get their shirts in a knot over something as
apparently irrelevant as doing well at
school.
And let's not blame them too much.
Let's take a look at the world we're passing
on to them. It's a world strangli ng-
drowning in its own poisons, created by the
greed of past generations. The kids see the
greed and the poisoning going right on.
Small wonder they are a little cynical about
some of the virtues such as unselfishness
and the golden rule.
It's a world in which the rip-off is
admired, on the whole. They see unions
ripping off management, management
ripping off the consumer, everybody trying
to rip off the government. So why not rip
off the school system? It's the biggest
WALTON INN
Formerly Crossroads
sucker of all.
It's a world in which the media pander to
the bizarre 'and violent. The hijacker, the
terrorist 'are overnight sensations. Is it
naive to suggest that these are responsible,
to some extent, for the bomb warnings,
and the incredible vandalism in our
schools?
It's a world of drugs. The old man has
his drinks every night and gets smashed on
the weekend. the old lady has 18 different
kinds of pills. Why not run away from
reality by emulating them.
It's a world in which the daily papers are
full of examples of corruption in high
places. A senator here, a president there,
has helped himself. So what's wrong with
cheating, as long as you aren't caught?
It's a world in which the best and bravest
are often bullied by the brutal and
belligerent. So why not give the teachers a
hard time? "They can't do nothin' to ya,
nayhow, 'cept senja home. So what Write
a note and sign your old man's name."
Not a very pretty. picture? You're right,
gentle reader. But this is not an indictment
of students. It's a cry of shame for the
society we're handing on to them.
Let's restore "failure" to our
vocabulary. Let's restore "excellence",
another word that's been dropped. Let's
,show• the kids that apathy is ugly, that
reason is superior to violence, that love and
sex are not synonymous, that compassion
arid courage far outweigh cruelty and
cowardice. •
I'm sorry for 'them, and what we have
shown them.' But I don't despair. Let's
show them it's a beautiful world, and that
they are beautiful and that'they are needed
to make it more beautiful. Then watch
them go.
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