HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Citizens News, 1981-03-19, Page 4Page 4
Qtismns Plows March 19, 1961
"Air budget should show people it doesn't pay to be poor!"
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Intimidation not conducive
After discussing the issue for several months, set-
ting up a special committee, and studying other
methods in use, the Sault Ste. Marie board of educa-
tion voted overwhelmingly to keep the strap in its
schools.
Perhaps; had the board spent the two months on
determining the need for any method of
punishment -enforced discipline, rather than which
method to use, the results would have been
different.
Teaching method and curriculum reform is a
much more important issue.
As it stands now, bright young minds are channel-
ed into cramped rooms where information, often
faulty, is forced on them for about six hours a day.
The natural instinct to play, to explore and question
their envitonment, is suppressed - with beatings if
necessary.
This maybe indulging in reductio ad absurdum,
but the point remains: misbehaviour is often
majifestations of disinterest, or a lack of a
teacher's attention and assistance.
Outdated teaching methods and overcrowded
classrooms should not be the excuse for the in-
creased or continuing use of strapping.
The schools will continue to have discipline
problems until teaching methods and curriculum
can capture the interests and needs of every child,
no matter what his learning level or ability.
Use of the strap may induce a child not to do less
than required, but it does not encourage him to do
more than is required.
An atmosphere of intimidation is not conducive to
learning.
Economics control wages
While the economy continues to be the major
issue in the current Ontario election campaign, the
conditions being discussed are certainly not solely
related to this province.
Canada's Finance Minister Allan MacEachern
probably put his finger on the problem when he said
in a Montreal speech that Canadians must learn
that wage increases should be determined by
economic growth.
However, just the opposite is true. Most
Canadians continue to demand wage increases
while their productivity is declining.
Canadians do not have a divine right to con-
tinued real income gains, MacEachern explained.
Our rising expectations or sense of entitlement has
served only to fuel the inflation that we have come
to know so well. We are entitled to only what we can
produce.
He should have added that government spen-
ding and government -assisted social programs can
not continue to increase if there isn't a correspon-
ding economic growth.
U.S. President Ronald Reagan has already
taken steps designed to boost the economy there by
cutting back in those two areas and Canada and all
its provincial and municipal governments will have
to follow the example if they are realistically con-
sidering the current economic conditions.
While employment in the private sector
declines, it is being increased in the public sector in
this country and that has a disastrous effect on the
national product and in turn, the economy.
Before asking Canadians to "bite the bullet",
governments must show they are prepared to lead
and not merely follow in that regard.
•
ltifiseellaneous
Rambling
By
MARK HOUGH
Well, the federal government has gone and done it,
they told us that we have been ripped -off at the gas
pumps.
I, for one, am glad they told us. I mean I could
have gone through life paying 31 cents a litre and not
known I was being had.
How could the boys in Ottawa think that we would
believe them for a minute, just because gas has been
going up every year. I don't know. There is just the
point, that there never seems to be any shortage at the
gas stations that I go to.
Then there was the full page ad in Thursday's
Globe and Mail from ESSO, assuring us that the
allegations would not stand up to an impartial inquiry.
I mean, if it's m the Globe, it has to be true. If you
believed any of this, I have a bridge in Brooklyn that
you might be interested in.
The federal government is insulting our in-
telligence when they come out and tell us the oil com-
panies have been taking us for a ride. We have known
that for quite some time.
The oil companies tell us that they have to keep up-
ping theprice so that they can explore more, so that in
the future we will have the oil we need. They keep tell-
ing us ,that they put most of their money back into ex-
ploration. Then how come, for the last few years, they
have been recording profits that surpass the previous
year's record-setting pace? If they are upping most of
their money back into research and development, I
would hate to see the figures of the profit without that.
The oil companies also insult our intelligence. The
full page ad is a prime example. They think that if they
buy space in a large publication, that we will think that
what is printed is true.
For those of you who did not see the ad here is
what it looked like. About four inches from the top of
the page it says, in inch -high letters, Rip-off...?
Nonsense. Then there is two inches of white space and
the picture of the oil company chairman trying to look
very sincere. Then another two inches of white space
and then a very convincing three paragraphs that the
oil companies have not ripped -off the Canadian public
and that the oil company takes pride in the trust that
we have in them.
They do not use any figures or facts to prove to us
that they did not take us, they just assume that their
word is good enough. Besides offending me, it makes
me wonder how they can hope to persuade me that
they are right, when they are using up money so that
they can prove it. Who do you think is going to pay•for
these ads; us of, course. The companies are going to
have to make up that lost revenue some how. Why not
at the pumps?
The federal government is just as insulting to our in-
telligence as the oil companies. They could have
brought this report out a long time ago, but did not un-
til Alberta starts to put the squeeze on. It is trying to
shift the blame on someone else. I am not saying that
Alberta is not to blame for this, but the federal govern-
ment should also take their share of the fault. This tac-
tic by the government it meant to alienate Alberta
from the rest of the country, because it is the oil com-
panies in Alberta that are screaming about the federal
oil policy.
All this is going to be is a large waiting game by
the federal government and theoil companies, with us
caught in between.
I personally think that if the oil companies want to
pull out of Canada, let them. They have no place to go.
They will have to give a bigger share of their oil profits
to any European country that.they go to and they sure
as hell are not going to get any assistance from the
Arab countries when it comes to drilling. They must
want to keep the oil they are pumping or they would
not be crying so loudly.
Plea_.lu
PublMMd Each Wednesday By J.W. !body PublleatI ns Lid.
Member:
Canadian Weekly Newspep rs Assecietien
OMarie Weekly Newspapers Association
News Editors - Mark Hough and Rob Chesior
Edmond Clam Mail Riglstration Number 1385
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