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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1988-05-11, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, MAY 11, 1988. Opinion Learning goes on outside the classroom Sometimes when adults see school students who don’t spell or do arithmetic as well as the students of yesterday (or at least as well as we remember students of yesterday doing it), there is a tendency to think that there is too much time spent on non-essentials in school these days and not enough on basics. At this time of the year many of our students are spending a lot of time out of the classroom and it’s hard to imagine them learning better lessons. If you live near any of the five area elementary schools these days you may look out your window to see classes of students scouring streets, parks and river banks, picking up litter that others have foolishly left behind. It’s part of the Pitch-In campaign all across the province. Less visible are the numberofstudentswhowill be helping to plant trees in various parks and conservation areas. Staff at the Hullett Wildlife centre, for instance, depends on students and other volunteers to help with everything from planting trees to cleaning nesting boxes for wood ducks because there just isn’t enough money to pay enough staff to do all the work that needs to be done. For students, who getrestless cooped up in classrooms when spring’s warm weather hits, these outdoor activities seem like a joyous break from their lessons. But the lessons they may learn in these expeditions may be more valuable than anything they learn in school. In many ways they are also more practical. Those hours spent cleaning up trash or planting trees may not help the student earn more money in his or her career but it’s a good investment for the rest of us. If we can convince students, even a few of them, of the stupidity of littering, teach themtorespecttheirenvironment, itcansave millions of future taxpayer’s dollars needed for clean up. People who learn respect for their environment in grade six may think twice before letting their companies pollute when they are in the business world. Students who plant trees now and see how those trees have grown in future years may learn something about the importance of looking, not just at today or tomorrow, but years down the road. And hopefully the students are also learning the value of getting involved to make things better in their community. The students are providing a vluable service now with the actual work they are doing in the community but also in the lessons they are learning for the future that will make them better citizens. They may learn that there is a different kind of math, where little actions can add up to big benefits. Turner, Peterson pay price of Meech support More than a year after the federal and provincial leaders worked out the Meech Lake deal, the public shows less interest in accepting it than w hen it was first announced. Some political leaders are paying the price for their quick support of a flawed agreement. Most conspicuous by the trouble his support for Meech Lake has brought him is federal Liberal leader John Turner who leads a party split by his support of the deal. His quick support of the agreement to win the approval of nationalist elements from his Quebec wing has lost him the support of many of his own party across the country, not just the men who have been termed the “dinosaurs” of the party, men like Pierre Trudeau, Jean Chretien and Donald Johnston. How deep the split in the Liberal party is could be seen this past weekend when the OntarioLiberal party held its first convention since winning 94 seats in last fall’s election. Despite Ontario Premier David Peterson’s support for the Meech Lake agreement and his warnings that a demand for amendments to the agreement could destroy it, Liberal party members still voted only 259 to 246 to keep the deal intact. Chances are if a vote was held among the members of any of the three major parties the same kind of split would be shown despite the unanimity among party leaders. It would reflect the fact that support among the general public has dropped by nearly half in the last year. Politicians like Mr. Turner and Mr. Peterson who supported the deal are now paying for it in loss of support. Better they should pay for it now when we can still hope the deal will be ammended than for the rest of us to pay for • it by having this misbegotten deal tie the hands of governments for years to come. Mabel’s Grill There are people who will tell you that the important decisions in town are made down at the town hall. People in the know, however know that the real debates, the real wisdom reside down at Mabel's Grill where the greatest minds in the town [if not in the country] gather for morningcoffee break, otherwise known as the Round Table Debating and Fili­ bustering Society. Since not just everyone can partake of these deliberations we will report the activities from time to time. MONDAY: “This,” said Julia Flint, “is what I’ve been waiting for. ’ ’ She plunked down a clipping from the newspaper that said that it is now technically possible for a man to be pregnant. Ward Black looked at the clipping and sniffed that this wasn’t anything new: Jean Dra­ peau proved it in 1976 with the Olympics. Julia said that she thinks there should be a new law once this technique is perfected, that half the children in each family get born from the father’s pregnancy. “It would change the way men think forever,” she said. Billie Bean said he sure wasn’t going to line up to offer to be the first guinea pig. Hank Stokes looked at Billie’s belly and sugges­ ted that it looked like he already had. Tim O’Grady said that unless they got a new law in quick covering the situation there’d be some looney doctor somewhere willing to do it and some even loonier man. (probably in Califor­ nia) who’d want to get his name in the Guiness World Book who’d go along. Lookonthebrightside, Ward told him. It’s bound to bring lots of new business for lawyers like Tim. TUESDAY: Isn’t it nice, Hank Stokes said, that we can have our very own ridiculously rich people in Canada doing sickeningly spend­ thrift things so we don’t have to feel inferior to the Americans. Who needs Dallas when you can watch the wedding in Toronto of the son of Mel and Marilyn Lastmand. Mel’s the guy who used to be “The Badboy” of furniture selling and now is that mayor of North York. Hanks said he hoped Mel made his money in the furniture business because he hated to think he made enough money as mayor to give this kind of bash. Marilyn, Mrs. Mel, wore a flowered headpiece that cost $4,000. Nobody estimated how much the rest of her clothes cost. Julia said if she’d spent that much on a headpiece there wouldn’t be any money for any other clothes. Seems they had four technicians just to work the light show at the party they threw afterward, they had a huge fountain built in the middle of the ballroom and the cake cost $5,000. Julia said it sounded like fun and she wished she’d been invited to go. Oh no you wouldn’t, Tim said. By the time you dressed to fit in and bought a gift you’d probably be in debtfortherestofyournatural life. THURSDAY: Billie Bean said he’s got the feeling he’s missing out when he hears about the construc­ tion strike in Toronto and some of the people wanting a raise of $8 an hour over two years. “I’ve had lots of jobs where I’d have been glad to Continued on page 25 [Published by North Huron Publishing Company Inc. ] Serving Brussels, Blyth, Auburn, Belgrave, Ethel, Londesborough, Walton and surrounding townships Published weekly in Brussels, Ontario P.O.Box152, P.O.Box429, Brussels, Ont. Blyth, Ont. N0G1H0 N0M1H0 887-9114 523-4792 Subscription price: $17.00; $38.00foreign. 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