HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1962-04-19, Page 11p
.SECOND SECTION
r
i.i5,th tear No, 1,6
10,1
IP'
. GODERICH, ONTARIO,, + THURSDAY, APRIL 19, 1962
ING 1
IN EDUCATI
CHARGES U.W.O. HEAD
1
There is "something, somewhere, lacking" in ,educa-
tion in Canada today, charged '1)r; G. E. Hall, presi
dent of the University of Western Ontario, ,who was
guest speaker at the first Education Night of the
Goderich Lions Club on Thursday evening, at liar-
bourlite Inu.
Amongst reasons sugsted for this situation in
the provocative and. analytical address. of Dr. Hall'
were ''young people's apparent loss.' of incentive",
their "desire for security" and their "profoundly
unadventurous parents."
* >r: * * *
The Address
The context of the address of
Dr. Hall is as follows:
I am going to ask a few ques-
tion.,. Why is there 'such a
shortage_ of medical students,
and particularly of pod ones,
in our- universities today? Why
is there -such a critical shortage
of dentists in ' Canada today?
Why was there such a shortage
of teachers—especially in the
sciences and mathematics—just
a few years ago? Why are there
too few nurses .and why were
there, within the last decade, too
few. engineers?
There are some very specific
answers 'to' some of these clues-
, _til `is; there are partial answers
for others. There 'are underly-
ing fundamental concepts which
have not been given the atten-
tion which" they. warrant. Let
us look at some of these.
Too of ten we think and some-
times vigorously proclaim that
it is the decision of our political
leaders and to ,a much lesser
extent the voice of the. voters
(of. us) which "shapes our sq-
ciety. 1 don't think so. Prim-
arily, I think, the decisions are
• made -:in our own minds, -:each
day, by hundreds of thousands
of people right `across our coun-
try. These decisions, these in-
dividual decisions, create an at-
titude. The attitudes grow, a
trend of thinking develops, con-
cepts are established and the
total society either through sub-
sequent legislation Or by gen-
eral acceptance of a point of
view changes—for better or for
worse. _.
And of great importance in
shaping the destiny or at least
—the .directiceLof_any society is
-the -freedom of choice - as to
what one will do in life. Many`
societies deny this freedom. In
many societies the ' individual's
role was fairly well established
at' birth. On the' other hand in
some:, societies today the occup-
ation or the profession of the
individual is determined virtu-
ally by the state. But in Can-
ada and in the United. States at
least, the extent of choice is al-
most unlimited, the opportun-
ities almost boundless. Our
young people within the limits
of their ability', can make their
own choice as towhat-they wish
to do.. •
r It has. been charged many
times that our young people are
more concerned with security
than with opportunity; that am-
bition and- drive have been re-
placed by lethargy, and that
-:indiVidualis; n -- and= - ruggedness:.
have given way to conformity
and softness. These allegations
are worthy of very careful ex-
_
amination—many of. them can
"be proven—but at the same time
we;: weld of necessity have to
examine the influence of the
parents relative to<, these At-
titudes. Perhaps the criticisms
are being directed at the wrong -
target.
What about the so-called
change in the attitude of many
of- our young people and their
apparent loan b f "incentive ‘ or
their reluctance to tackle' the
"risk" 'jobs, or thea tough or
long courses in universities?
And this in the face of great
opportunities and certainly a
known scarcity of qualified peo-
ple for': a.biadt every type of" ac-
tivity. • It would appear that
many of the under graduates
have ptit security and stability
ahead of everything—they 'think
in..teems _of high,...salaiies, pen
sion plans, holiday arrange-
ments, job security. They will
work, and T have to generalize,
for those 'things --but far too
many of 'them Will net ' look
twice at the jobs wit
ture, the undertake
may fail, the position
squire dedication or t
younger generation has been
heavily .belabored for this at-
titude. But anyone who cannot
see in it the fine hand of par-
ents has not talked to many°
fathers and' mothers of college-
age children. It is • an under-
statement to _say that they are
not adventurous for their child-
ren; "They are," he said,. t'pro-
foundly and incurably unadven-
terous. And understandably so.
They do not want their children
to suffer. They hope somehow
they can save them all the
foolish ,mistakes, all the blind
alleys, -all the regrets land all
re, h -°character--
ized their own lives. Faced -with
decisions for their children, they
favor the conventional over the
unconventional; the easy :over
the difficult, the secure over the
risky."
This, one might say, is not
new; nor is it .an unexpected
reaction. But as we sit here
this evening let us not forget
that today with - our incomes
and higher standard of living
we can do far, more 'about .it—
as parents—than our parents
or grandparents could—or per-
haps would do even .if they
could.
Mr. Gardner adds this:
"Though parents , have always
favored stability, security and
the treading of old paths for
their children, they have never
had sufficient command of the
exigencies of 'life to insure that
outcome. Today ... they can
go veryfar in creating the
stable and, secure environment
which theyArish for.their young-
ster. Having done so, they
think , they can 'wirrd him up
like an eight-day clock, and set
him ticking in his beneficient
environment, confident that he.
will whirr along until he runs
down,"
' ' Throughout the history, of
Canada are emblazoned the
names of adventurous souls, dor`
ing people, people who sought
new horizons, people who made
great sacrifices, people who en-
joyed competition and revelled
in 'its excitement, people. -who
believed in themselves, people
who preferred opportunity to
° o * *
adven-
which
ch re -
e jobs
which are rough and risky. And
these same' attitudes are.very.
often entrenched in _the ..minds
of the students before they drr
,rive at university,.
rfn tiventiirous 'pttwents
These attitudes were admir-
ably analyzed by Mr. Gardner in
'4 a Carnegie Corporation Report
a few years ago. Ile said, "The,'
-
AN ANALOGY
�i
A football. player is made to 're=
aline, by the coach that it takes
hard work and long hours_to
reach the stage of excellence.
Can the "academic coaches" —
the teachers .-- get students to
realize the same things are re-
quired for success in the game
of education?
security, people who were - not
afraid to make mistakes..
I -don't think that anyone can
say that fundamentally Cah-
adian young people have chang=
ed. No one dare, say that they
are not as brave, ,or as capable
or' as 'loyal as .their parents
were. That things have chang-
ed, that- society has changed, is
true. • And we as parents have
changedalso in our; desire or
ability to evoke the'best .qual-
ities .in our children.`. We have
at the same time adopted the
attitudes . of beneficient security
even unto ourselves. Aiid this
is sad! . •
Seek Security
There can, beriittle doubt that
many of the attitudes of the
young people today are engend-
ered by the concern of the par-
ents for their children's secur-
ity •
I want to, go one step further
in this vague type of address
and dealwith yet another phase
of parent attitude. It concerns
interests and values.
I know a father who has two
boys—they are in their teens
now. 'I can remember when the
younger one got his first new
pair of skates—=the hand -downs
from the older brother were' no
longer good enough for him,
he father, each year, =builf
rink for the boys, flooding it
'night after. night, that the two
boys would have the opportun-
ity of ' skating and becoming
good hockey players. .Sticks,
pads, sweaters, pants, real' hoc-
key gloves nothing' was too
good for them. Evening after
evening he practised with them.
Evening after evening, and
sometimes early in . the morn-
ing as the boys, made their re-
spective grade teams he watch -
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ed them practise, helped them
again- on their own rink.
Come spring, the baseball
gloves were out. time, time,
and more time was spent by
father with. the • boys. Then
football had its turn. Footballs,.
cleated shoes,.. helmets—at age
eight. And golf must find its
way in there, tee.
But did that father, I ask,
spend ten minutes with either
boy in a library, or reading to-
gether,
ogether, or helping with home-
work problems, or getting to
know the • boys' interests or
abilities? No! When marks
werelow whose fault was it?
Either • the teacher's or the
boys'! Where are those boys
now?., The nineteen y..ear - old
never having-- completed even
grade twelve, has had -three jobs
in six months and was fired
from each one of them; the
`younger at fourteen' finally
reached grade six. And it is
interesting to note that neither
of them is good'enough to -play°
goo • compe 1 ive hockey; or
baseball, or football. Values!
Ladies and gentlemen! Values!
There are about 263,000 stud-.
ents attending' the secondary
schools of this Province. Of
this number, some 139,000, are
males. In- those schools there
are approximately 400 football
teams and of them 200 or more
are of senior high school calibre.
This means that one out of 14
finale high school students
capable, of making 'one high'
school football team
Take this from another point
of view. There, are approxim-
ately 12,000 male students at
the Grade VIII level. Assum-
ing that 50 per cent of the
senior football players are in
Grade XIII we can see that ap-
proximately one out . of five
Grade. XIII students makes the
senior football team, (assuming,
of course, that the girls don't
play foptball).
No one can deny that the
level of performance' of most of
the senior high school .teams
is anything but good—on a rel-
ative basis to be sure. No one
can _deny, that „the competition
for places on the teams is great
—and at times,. in certain
schools, is very great. 'No one
can deny either that many who
try to make' the team and do
not measure up to the coach's
or the team's standards are
dropped. And no one can den
that even after having made -the
team the individual's perform-
ance must be maintained or
"out he gees."
'Football, Teams
Let us take this one step
further. There are, in the four
senior eastern universities with
senior intercollegiate football,
teams—McGill, Queen's, Toronto
and Western—some 27,305 stud-
ents. There are 130 er so stud-
ents who are "good enough" to,
make the four senior football'
teams—one in over 200! And
I am fairly sure that there are
no€-=-eiiot}gT3-=s€fidents==iri•�-��hose�'
universities who could make the
teams but who are not playing
to change these figures in' any
significant way.
. At university level the - com-
petition for- places on the team
is greater, naturally, than at
secondary school - levet -The
demands made on the student's
time are 'greater. The process
of elimination is faster and
much more 'decisive. The stand-
ards ,of proficiency are higher.
The calibre of the game is sup -
St. John Appeala
Falls Short of
Necessary Goal
Citizens ' and industries of
Goderich 'have donated a totaf'
of $914.25 to .the appeal for
funds for the Goderich St. John
Ambulance Brigade. This money
IS to provide the, ambulance,
dressings, stretchers, blankets;
ishr€eetants d-spplint -four-.tl
',work of the brigade. The Ap-
peal Committee hasexpressed
itself as being extremely grate-
ful for the response. It.is point-
ed otit, however, that the sum
falls short of the budget for
1962. •
The men in picture all give
their services, time and skill
gratis to ensure that Goderich
people receive first aid in case
of accident. Any ' person or in-
dustry desiring instruction :in
,
First Aid or Home Nursing are
asked to ' contact the -secretary
of the organization, ' Lt. Col.
G: F. Clingan, 38 St. Patrick
street.
erior. Therefano room :for the
mediocre player on' a university
football team. There is very
fortheplay-
er.
average -
p y
er. Excellence is demanded
and even if not attained it is
certainly strived for.
This whole situation, from.
junior high school to , university,
in the realm of football is un-
derstood. It is appreciated. It
isaccepted. Shouts of "take
him out" may come., froiif the
crowd if a player's performance
is below par.' And even a proud
parent can swallow his ambition
to see his son in the role of a
football hero ifthe boy is too
small,' or too slow, or even just
not good _,enough - to make the
team'. -assuming an incentive to
try.
It has been said that life is a
game. ,And since formal 'educa-
tion and the fruits of that educa-
tion are parts of life, thenit
may be argued 'that education,
too,. is a game.
And as a . "game"—albeit a
serious one -it too has rules; it
too has. coaches, it • too . ha
Members of the Goderich Number 370 Brigade, St. John Am-
bulance are seen above, standing left to right: Privates Elgin
McNeil, Paul Moss, Glen Lodge; - Garten Jacques; Chas. Breek:
ow, Harold Hirst; Geo. Chrysler, John Hesselwood, Wm: West-
lake _Gerry Doherty. Seated; Private Don .Stemp, Sgt. David
Harman, Div. Supt. John Wilson, Div. Officer John Cory, Cpl. Mel
Bell: Thee are the men who, in 1961, gave 758 hours of their
time, free of charge, to voluntary services . for the benefit
of Goderich.
standards, and it too makes its
demands.
The analogy between football
and ' higher education is • not
irrelevant.
There are, as I - mentioned,
263.00 i " s indents in the second-
ary schools of this, province.
this number, 25 per . cent or
65,750 have better than average
intellectual `capacity — possess-
ing an LQ: of 110 or more. If
on an academic basis, we as-
sume that having an I.Q. of 110
or more is the equivalent in
intellectual ability tothe ath-
letic ability to make the junior
and then the senior high school
football teams, then 65,750 sec-
ondary school students should
be on.. the "academic teams."
And all of them (all within that
25 per cent group) .should be
capable of reaching Grade XIII
and then have been successful
in their Grade XIII final exam-
inations on the first attempt.
e ' ' as hav-
ing
This could be consid red
ing made the 'first team. But
such, unfortunately, not the
Case. '
We know, from the Atkinson
Study, that the 25 per cent of
the student body at secondary
school level who possess an IQ.
of more than 110 should be cap=
able, on an intellectual basis,
of 'obtaining better than second
classlionors in them Grade XIII.
exaiiiinations. , But there are
two very sad and disturbing
facts: Firstly, only 21 per cent
of those in that upper quartile
of, ability actually perform at
an acceptable level and, second-
ly, only 15 per cent of those' in
that - upper quartile graduate
from Grade XIII. '
Above ,Average
Right from 'Grade IX this
group of above average students
can be determined. They are,
in effect, on the Grade IX aca-
demic football team. They. have,
intellectually, what it takes. But
of that group, that is the top
quarter .group; less than half
complete their' Grade XIII sec-
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there are drop -outs to the ex-
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potential members of the, senior
academic team at Grade 'XIII had
gone. Why?
a good- football "coach; -a
any ;level,. was told that 25%
of any group of students were
potential members of his senior
team, what ,would he, do? If he
saw a" 13 -year-old boy in some
back lot tossing passes, . even
though inaccurate and wobbly
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but showing co-ordination, or a their 'latent abilities; he makes
14 -year-old lad in a. make-up
scrimmage showing a semblance
of becoming • a lineman, or a
kid l' oofing an over -sized foot-
ball. with ,native ability, does
I'M walk past like -the Levite on
the road, to "Jericho? Not on
your life.
He • takes hold of such kids,
instills in them the desire to
learn; he spends time with
them, making them develop.
them realize that it takes hard
work and long hours to reach
the stage of excellence; . he
works with them, encouraging
them' and chastising. them,. He
Is demanding of their- time, of
their energies.. As ,they de-
velop he becomes more demand-
ing of their time: He expects'
mor and he gets more. He . .
too, gives more. Those that
(continued on page 14) -
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- ?roe' par#ci:ag
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Heating Association- of Onta'rio. • Bruce is the only one
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Come in or phone M. to .have us -inspect your home for
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PROCLAMATION
ekorne.
TO GODERICH AND
NG CANADA WEE
The Town of Goderich is happy to extend an `official
welcome to the many hundreds. of young hockey players
visiting here during 'the13th annual Young Canada Week,
commencing April 20th.
We trust they will benefit from their experiences here
in good''sportsmanship"in many-ways—as 0iti22`nrof the4titure; •
and that Goderich will .hold a place in their hearts 'as the
.scene of this widely known boys' hockey tournament.
. _._y.TO the.citisens.of Goderich, who .so_generously provide...P'
overnight accommodation for many boys, and to all mem-
bers of the Goderich Lions who helped the cause, along with
numnrans other citizens, the Town of Goderich e►resses
its :appreths' ion., •
maitikerisarkilittseassavalimmaimisiorgs
MAYOR E. .C. IF,IHE'R.
"Town o,