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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2003-03-26, Page 5THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 26, 2003. PAGE 5. Other Views Mr. Sobran understates the case /h California schools, Chief Crazy Horse is called either Chief Sitting Dude or Chief Mentally Impaired Horse because the word ‘crazy’ might offend those who are out of their minds. - Joe Queenan Mister Queenan exaggerates - but not much. It’s a wee bit scary, what’s going on in the schools these days. Or rather, what’s coming out of them. Consider the following statements: “Hitler’s instrumentality of terror was the Gazpacho.” “The mother of Jesus was Mary, who was different from other women because of her immaculate contraption.” A couple of outtakes from a Mike Bullard monologue? No, those are actual answers offered by American high school students on final exams. And wipe that Canuck holier-than-thou smirk off your mug — our kids don’t appear to be much brighter this side of the border. A recent survey showed that a huge chunk of Canadian high school students didn’t know the date of Confederation; failed to find Iqaluit on a map and couldn’t name Canada’s first prime minister. Learnin’ the Three R’s ain’t what it used to be. And if you think this is just another Old Fart “Why-in-my-day- young-feller..” rant - try your luck on this question: 1: Draw a map of Canada, and mark on it and name (a) Provinces and capitals (b) Montreal, Fort William, Vancouver (c) A transcontinental railway Progressive Conservatives misuse TV Ontario’s Progressive Conservatives have long manipulated television to rescue themselves in elections - it usually has been as easy as flicking a switch. Premier Ernie Eves must have felt he would perform as smoothly when, approaching an election and down in the polls, he chose to avoid calling back the legislature and instead deliver his Budget with its election promises via television and deprive the opposition parties of their traditional forum to criticize. The premier’s tactic has backfired with protests from many, including Tories, that a budget on television shuts out the people’s representatives and it may wind up among the great election misjudgments of all time. But the Tories would have believed- they could use television to lift themselves out of a hole because they have done it before. One example was in the 1975 election, when debates on television between party leaders in campaigns were becoming expected and the leaders were Tory Premier William Davis, Liberal Robert Nixon and New Democrat Stephen Lewis. Most television stations favoured having a series of debates in which the three would appear together, so voters could compare them directly offering and defending their positions on the same issues. Voters also would be able to compare even if they could watch only one debate. But Davis, shrewd enough to last 14 years as premier, was a bland and uninspiring speaker. Nixon, often called the best premier Ontario never had, was at the time the most experienced, having led in two previous elections. He was plain-spoken, but generally able to give as good as he got. Lewis was among the most accomplished debaters in the legislature’s history and now heads the United Nations’ fight against AIDS Arthur Black (d) One river flowing north, one west and one east. Didn’t fare too well? Too bad. You just flunked the first question of a geography exam given to Lower School students in Wellington County, Ontario. Back in 1927. But perhaps zoology is more your line. Try this one: 1. (a) Describe the codling moth, or the tent caterpillar, or the cabbage butterfly, under the following headings: (i) Egg-laying habits of the adult insect. (ii) Feeding habits of the larva (iii) Methods employed to keep the insects in check. (b) Describe the feeding habits of either the honey bee or the grasshopper. That’s taken from the examination paper Lower School students in Ontario faced back in June of 1923 - and it was a gimme. The next six questions were tougher. Think it was just those brainy Ontarian kids who got questions like that? Check out these posers: (1) Translate into German: My brother has had money. (2) State the causes, important incidents and consequences of the Peloponnesian War. Eric Dowd From Queen’s Park in Africa and turns up the calibre of discussion several notches every time he speaks on that issue. Davis worried he would have to defend himself against the two opposition leaders attacking him at the same time and found a sympathizer in John Bassett, a powerful figure in the Tory party who at the time ran CFTO, the biggest privately-owned TV station. He earlier ran the ultra-Tory Toronto Telegram and twice ran for Parliament as a Tory and failed. Out of the blue Davis announced Bassett had suggested a format in which each leader would face one of the other leaders in turn in three separate debates, which all TV stations could carry, and he had accepted it. The other stations still argued for the three leaders to appear at the same time, but Davis maintained that having accepted Bassett’s format, he could not as a man of honour go back on his word. So with help from a friendly TV station Davis avoided having to argue against two dangerous opposition leaders simultaneously and obtained only a minority government, but might even have lost power if he had to face both at the same time. Final Thought A problem is a chance for you to do your best.- Duke Ellington If you’re like me, you posted a large and fragrant goose-egg on those questions. That means that you and I would have flunked out of high school, had we the bad luck to be students in Alberta....almost a hundred years ago. Those questions were taken from high school exam papers compiled by the Alberta Department of Education between the years 1906 and 1910. But here we are in 2002, our classrooms awash with shiny computers, lightning-speed calculators and instant access to the world wide web. Our educational standards are infinitely more sophisticated and refined, right? Stands to reason our students are too, does it not? Tell it to the Ontario Ministry of Education. A spokesman for the Ministry has just announced plans to introduce a ‘special, remedial course’ for graduat­ ing students. Officials fear that without the new course, upwards of 60,000 Ontario students won’t get their high school diplomas. Why? Because they are functionally illiterate. They can’t pass a fundamental Grade 10 literacy exam. When the test was administered for the first time last year, more than half the students in the non-university stream flunked. An American writer by the name of Joseph Sobran recently wrote: “In one century we went from teaching Latin and Greek in high school to offering remedial English in college.” Mister Sobran understates the case. Davis was unable to dodge appearing on television with the other leaders in the 1977 election in a format in which they merely answered journalists’ questions and had little opportunity to exchange words and he again fell short of winnmg a majority. In the 1981 election Davis felt he would be much better off without a leaders’ televised debate of any sort, but said he would participate in one provided all networks produced the program jointly, which seemed a reasonable condition. But Bassett popped up again declaring he would not co-produce a debate with rival Global TV and Davis, always a man of his word, stuck to his position he would not appear unless all networks participated. On such a flimsy pretext no TV debate was held and Davis won back his majority. Bassett, who died in 1998, was awarded the Order of Ontario, the province’s highest honour, for services to communications, although he used his TV station to help the Tories win two elections. Eves is not doing as well in using television to help his party and perhaps he should have obtained advice from his companion, Isabel Bassett, who was John’s wife. Letter________ THE EDITOR, Congratulations to the organizers and volunteers of Ethel’s first SnowFest. Job well done! Looking at the pictures in The Citizen and The Banner it looks like a fun day. Hats off to you all! Also to all the volunteers and coaches of baseball ;n the summer events. Also congratulations to Andrea Hruska for her column on People around Ethel. Former Ethel Resident, Grace Smith. Bonnie Gropp The short of it A senseless story Tragedy, no matter where it happens, gives us heroes and villains, victims and witnesses. What is different about a smalltown tragedy, however, is that the players in the story are usually familiar. Last week, the community of Brussels was saddened by the death of a man in a house fire. John was well-known in the community. And while over the years there are those who questioned a few of the calls he made behind the plate at a local ballgame, there has never been any question about his love of family and his hometown. He was the guy always ready with a smile and a greeting when you met him hanging out with his aunt at the variety or squiring his tiny daughter to a community event. As people who watched him grow up we hurt for the loss of a good person. As people who know his family we grieve for them and try to imagine their pain, fearful that we may some day understand it all too well. They and their son are the victims, we the helpless witnesses. But there is another group of people deserving of our compassion and admiration in this story. As the fire siren cut through the early morning hours of March 18, members of the Brussels Fire Department knew only too well the story that was unfolding and what its likely conclusion would be. They are our heroes. The men who volunteer for a local fire department are regular guys. They are plumbers, electricians and farmers. They are not segregated from the victims by the sheer density of population as with an urban centre. Police, city firefighters, doctors, nurses and emergency personnel see tragedy every day. It is part of the job. Volunteer firefighters however, face it on an entirely different level. They don’t face life and death every day, but they know eacn and eve’y time that siren wails the potential is there. And what is worse is that it’s likely they are acquainted with the person involved, maybe even spent the past weekend in their company, or chatted with them outside the post office that afternoon. It is sad enough to see a life lost, but when that life is one you Know well it gives another meaning to heroism. And then in the story we have the villains. These are the gossip mongers, the titillators, the accusers. In a tragic story there is a need for people to find a way to understand, to make sense of the senseless. Unfortunately, a handful get so carried away in the compiling of information that fact and fiction become confused and by the time they pass it along a good portion of it would have been better left unsaid. Worse still, and fortunately their numbers are few, are the ones who, are spiteful. These people for unimaginable reasons share views as gospel, bitter twists and conjectures that do no earthly good to anyone. Where there is no blame they try to place it, where there is no reason they try to name it. The real story in this case is simple. It is about the loss of a man who was loved by and loved many. It is about the men who gave their best, more than most of us could have, to save him. It is about a family and community who can only try to make sense of it all.