Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1995-05-31, Page 44-T1111 HU ON IXPO$ITOR, May 31, 11133 Your Community Newspaper Since 1860 TERRI-LYNN DALE - General Monger & Advertising Manager MARY MELLOR - Soles PAT ARMES - Office Manager DIANNE McGRATH - Subscriptions UNDA PUUMAN -Typesetter TIM CUMMING - Editor GREGOR CAMPBELL - Reporter BARB STOREY - Distribution A Burgoyne Community Newspaper Sy8SCRIPTION RATES. IOCAI 28 00 a year. in advance, plus 1 96 G S T SENKOR - 25.00 o year, in advance, plus 1 75 G S T Goderich, Stretford addresses 28 00 a year, in odvance. plus 7 28 postage plus 2.47G.$T Out -of Of -Area. 28 00 a year, in odvonce, plus 11 44 postage plus 2 76 G S T USA & Foreign 28 00 o yeor in advance. plus 576 00 postoge G S T -exempt SUBSCRIPTION RATES. Published weekly by Signol-Stor Publishing ot `00 Main St Seoforth Publication moil registration No 0696 held of Seoforth, Ontario Advertising is accepted on condition shot in the event of o typogrophicol error. the advertising spoce occupied by the erroneous item. together with a reasonable ollowonce for signoture will not • be charged. but the balance of the advertisement will be poid for at the applicable rote In the event 01 a typogrophicol error, odvertising goods or services ot o wrong price, goods or services may not be sold Advertising is merely on offer to sell and may be withdr9wn at any time The Huron Expositor is not responsible for the loss or domoge of unsolicited monuscripts, photos or other moteriols used for reproduction purposes Changes of address. orders for subscriptions and undeliv- erable copies ore to be sent to The Huron Expositor Wednesday, May 31, 1995 Editorial and Business Offices - 100 Moin Street.,Seoforth Telephone (519) 527-0240 Fox (519) 527-2858 Moiling Address - P.O. Box 69, Seoforth, Ontario, NOK 1 WO Member of the Conodion Community Newspaper Associotion Ontorio Community Newspapers Association and the Onion.) Press Council Tim's Fit By 7im Gumming In past years there has been a common refrain at election time. "I don't know who to vote for...the partia,ere all the same." Well, the people of Huron -County have no right to say that during Election '95. There are parties favouring direct democracy, parties stressing fiscal reform, parties of conservative stripes and parties of liberal stripes, parties of the establishment and parties against the establishment. We also can't forget that anyone who does not agree with the broad spectrum of political parties had the option to run themselves as an indepen- dent. So, no excuses...it is your duty to vote. Exercise your right carefully. * * * Have you filled out your organ donor card? If not, please do so now. The transplant unit of Univer- sity Hospital has the following slogan: "Don't take your organs to Heaven, Heaven knows we need them here..." Anyone who knows someone who has benefitted from the donation of an organ will realize it is the most valuable gift of all. Finally, it is not enough just to fill out your donor card...make your family aware of your wishes. Thank you. Letters to the Editor Not how I view democracy Dear Editor, After reading the writings of John Gates, Debra Scherle and Tim Cumming, I have come to the conclusion that the gun control bill, Bill C-68 is not the issue here. The issue, as 1 see it, is how the electorate views the term democracy. For those who fall into the category of the above men- tioned, they feel that an elected member of parliament should follow the party line right to the letter and therefore score points in their favor, so that when the appropriate time come they can persuade the government to provide favors to their constituency. This is all well and good providing they are the party in power at that time. But, when they are not part of the governing body the reverse takes place. For example, during the 70s with a conservative as our elected member and the Liberals in power we saw the demise of CFB Clinton and ' CFB Centralia - a great blow to the economy of our area. On the other hand we have those people that feel that the MP is their representative at the governing level, who states their views to the House of Commons, thus fulfilling the definition of democracy. How does he know the thoughts of his constituents? Simple, he gathers data on a specific topic from the letters, petitions, phone calls and conversations he has had from the conslitucnts in his riding. Then with this data he casts his vote either for or against the bill. While Bill C-68 does not affect Mr. Gates, Ms. Scherle or Mr. Cumming, they cannot understand the position taken by Mr. Steckle. Mr. Steckle has taken this position because he believes that this is how a member of parliament repre- sents the people in his riding and 1 applaud him for the stand he had taken. However, I know that there will be other issues where the position of the con- stituents will differ from my views and Mr. Steckle will have to represent them. This is the democratic process. People have said that Mr. Steckle is puuing an end to his career by taking this stand, but in the last three decades we only had one other Liberal MP and he chose to follow the party line. Maybe that is why Mr. Crawford Douglas didn't win his second term in office. We will sec in 1997 when the silent majority does speak, Mr. Gates. Murray Grigg, Clinton allineaDEMMED Crunch time for schooling costs In the late 1960s just as I was leaving high school, core curriculum and province -wide testing were eliminated and de - streaming was a catchword and all the rage in the wake of the much ballyhooed Hall -Dennis Report. Sound familiar? Now, two -and -a -half decades later, many of the perceived ills of Ontario's educational system have been more recently ad- dressed, by among other things the new and again much bal- lyhooed Royal Commission on Learning, by reverting to some of the same notions that were in vogue around the time that Hall -Dennis Report came along. The more things change the more they stay the same. We have re -invented the wheel and gone full circle. Many hours and public dollars have simply gone down the drain and been wasted in bet- ween. So forgive me if I approach all the acronyms, big words and ballyhoo. in education as a skeptic and see much of it as expensive propaganda. 1 treat the latest pronouncements and "new directions" as far less than gospel. I see nothing as written in stone. And I am not the only one who thinks education is too expensive today and labour costs are a culprit. Another bias I might as well wear on my sleeve, although heresy in some of today's circles, is: I also think kids in the 1990s are no better or worse off than we were, or my parents' generation even more so. They had a' depression and war to.contend with. Society's complications are certainly different' but no less complex. Experts across the ocean are now seriously questioning a "sacred cow" of their educational system, and ours; the generally- accepted notion that large class sizes are bad for learning. The biggest study into class sizes in Britain's history found size basically "irrelevant", having no impact on the academic progress of most pupils. It was front-page news in a recent edition of the respected London Sunday Times. "The research into 185,000 lessons in Britain's schools reveals that children who have mastered • the 'three Rs' per- form well, however big the class," the newspaper reports. The study by inspectors from the Office for Standards in Education analyzed findings from nearly 1,300 schools in Britain and found teaching quality and methods generally far more important than class size, but noted there is a case for smaller class sizes for pupils aged five to seven: "The sensible strategy is to try to keep younger classes as low as possible even if that means classes higher up are larger." A senior inspector said if children have a foundation in the basics they Ieam as well in any size class: "They need less ' spoon-feeding by teachers, don't have to be constantly ,reminded of things they should have learned, and can work better on their own." According to the London Sunday Times another 'un- published international study into mathematics by Exeter University in England reinfor- ces the findings of the school inspectors. - Math pupils in countries where classes, are large such as Germany, Poland and Hungary, did better than British students in smaller classes. So did students in Korea, Hong Kong and Japan who achieved some of the highest mathematical standards despite common class sizes of 40 or more: More than a trillion state primary students in Britain are now taught in classes of more than 30. The controversial school inspectors' report suggests "modern teaching methods, in which pupils are taught in );roups or individually rather than more traditionally as a whole class, hamper progress." "There's this absurd belief that we have to work with the unique individual characteris- tics of each child rather than accept there's a common ex- pectation that every child has to fulfil irrespective of their needs," said one senior inspec- tor, according to the British newspaper. As expected the class -size studies provoked howls of outrage from most teachers, their unions and many parents, who apparently have come to equate smaller size with quality learning as an uncontested article of faith. "Not a parent, not a teacher and not a pupil would agree with this," said the head of Britain's biggest teachers' union. The findings fly in the face of common sense, said another top teachers' union official. "The fact that class size affects teachers' workloads is ir- refutable. Teachers' unions across the ocean and here concern them- selves with the interests of teachers, as they must, not necessarily the interests of education or taxpayers. Small classes equal more teachers with jobs. The arguments and infighting are further complicated by the fact that many taxpayers are of course, also parents in 'sway of these "modern" educators who arc doing the "spoon-feeding". The debate is often more emotional than rational, com- Doented the director of London' University's institute of education: Flashback This photo of a kindergarten class at the old Seaforth Public School is, front row, Wayne Dennewles, Craig Willis, Eric Eaton, Ron Powell, Doug Rowcliffe, Roy Scoins, second row, Agnes Carter, Gene Nixon, Kathy Boshart, Jerry Regele, Karen Nicholson, Joan Bach, (unidentified), back row, Marg Reeves, (unidentified), Barb Mennel, Ellen Calder, (unidentified), Bob Govenlock and Miss McLean. The photo was graciously lent to The Huron Expositor by Joan Addison. "The evidence in support of small classes beyond the ear- liest years is highly equivocal." Where is the "truth" in the midst of all the heated emotion, posturing and inevitable politics? I don't pretend to know the answer, but as one French wag with a philosophical bent once put it: "The exact contrary of what is generally believed is often the truth." What about class sizes here in Huron County? They are negotiated by the board and the various teachers' unions, and increased slightly with the coming of the Social Contract, according to Jeanne Dionne, Human Resources Ad- ministrator for the Huron County Board of Education. ['here arc negotiated `maximum" class sizes, ran- ging from a low of 26 in junior kindergarten increasing to a high of 37 in grades seven and eight, and negotiated "maximum average" class sizes ranging from 27 in grades one through three to 34 for grades -even and eight. it is more complicated in high school where it's called pupil -period contacts but it in general, skip- ping the complicated definitions and formulas and things such as class preparation and professional development, varies between the accepted negotiated figures of.15 and 30 pupils. The time for trench- warfare may well be in hand. Now is the time to be getting rid of notions and setting real priorities educational and other- wise, in the midst of the economic belt tightening everywhere in Canada, with far worse looming on the horizon. With the extremely high cost of schooling these days as a proportion of the provincial and inynicipal budgets, this is one 'sacred cow" we all would be wise to take a much closer look at to ensure that we arc not the ones being milked. Column disgusts letter writer To the Editor, I have not read a more dis- gusting letter in a long time, to know that the writer is an editor of another newspaper snakes it so much more dis- gusting. I am referring to 'Six - Gun Paul' by Tim Cumming. (Huron Expositor, May 10). It was just 50 years ago to the week that the allied forces put a stop to one of the most detested 'panics' in the world, the Nazi Party! As a matter of fact many party members were hung from the flagpoles in front of their homes and fam- ilies and how did all this start? It started with a party that was always right, it brought in Gun Control, Gun Registration, Gun Confiscation, Bicycle Confiscation and even the skis, the Jews and anybody else who disagreed with the Party.. Must 1 now witness a reincarnation in the form of Chi-dtien, Rock itnd Tim Cumming? The Party, The Party is always right, The Party, The Party My Friend! (the Nazi Party slogan). Manfred Dierolf RR 7 Lucknow Wake up, Cumming! This isn't sports To the Editor, Wake up, Mr. Cumming - this is not about sports! This debate is about losing your freedom and privileges. This legislation is about taxing the firearm owners out of existence or scaring them into not own- ing firearms. This is about the police breaking into your house, anytime night or day, on a mere suspicion delivered by someone else. How would you like someone to tip the police about your non-existent Illegal guns and the SWAT team lands at your door? Think you could convince your neighbours afterwards that you had done no wrong? You would be up for a jail term if you didn t help them dismember your home in their search for fire- arms. These are the things they propose in this legislation, but I suppose you haven't read the fine print. From the percentages you give, it looks like they should be looking at the other causes of homicide (72 per cent in the city and 59 per cent in the country to other than firearms). If gun owners thought for a minute (or you could prove) that registration would elimin- ate or even reduce the percen- tages you quote, we would be all for it. Registration is about catching someone after the fact, not preventing it. Once you are dead, you are dead, and we all know how lenient the courts and parole system seem to be with perpetrators. Why make potential criminals out of legal gun owners who are not caus- ing any problem? Your idea of politics is exact- ly what has put this country on the brink of financial disaster. The pork barrel is a wonderful thing but you don't realize that they have been stealing your pork to fill it. You are one of the people they think that they can fool with this legislation. They have you believing that you would bo safer if your neighbour's guns were registered or removed totally. Every time you go out in your registered auto, you have a far greater chance of being killed by another registered auto than by an unregistered firearm. When it come to a leader earning respect, it is not gained by beating people up, either actually or figuratively. Mr. Chrt'tien's methods rely on fear, Mr. Cumming, not respect, to bring people into line. see Your, page five MP doesn't represent us To the Editor, (Do we have an opinion re: Paul Steckle?) Yes we do! and we have made it known where it counts, to Mr. Steckle himself, The President of the Riding Associ- ation, The Liberal Party Whip, and also to the Prime Minister, regarding the Focus poll. We would suggest that 67 letters do not represent the majority of Liberal voters. As Liberals, we voted for Steckle only because. he claimed to represent the Liberal party, not because he impressed us on a personal level. He has since proven that he docs not represent any of our beliefs, or those known as the Party Platform. We therefore feel duped and angry! Mr. Steckle should have had the integrity w run as an inde- pendent, or for the Reform Party, and not ride on the coattails of the expected Liberal landslide. We echo and applaud the views of Tim Cumming, who wrote so succinctly, (Huron Expositor, May 10) as well as the thoughtful opinions of letter writer Debra Scherle. To Harold Rces of Exeter, we say - This is Canada, please spare us the American right wing propaganda. You are scary! Yours Truly, Arlene and Charles Rogers, Bayfield