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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1986-07-09, Page 19• Entertainment • Features • Religion • Family *More SECTION Bluewater Audents-re0ond to $mall. classes and individual study BY SUSAN HUNDERTMARK School on the "outside" is more like a prison than the Bluewater Secondary School, says 17 -year-old Jim (not his real name), a young offender who's in the cenz tre for theft. "I didn't have any high school.credits before I came here; I kept dropping out of school. I didn't like the teachers because they were too formal. If you've got a pro- blem here, you just talk to the teacher but outside, the teachers are, too busy," he says. Though he liked school from Grades 6 to 8, Jim says he stopped going to school at the end of Grade 9 because all his friends had stopped going to school. He'd left home at 14 and quit school at 16 because he never had enough time for parties. He had a job for awhile but he "kept forgetting to go." He was out of school .when charged with theft. "I thought I was cool at the time but now I think I was stupid," he says. Because BluewatergeCondary School is set up with correspondence courses and small classrooms where students work at their own pace, Jim finished an English credit, designed for 120 hours, in three weeks by completing three lessons every English class. He's also taken a life skillsclass which teaches how to get along with authority'. figures like parents and bosses. "The teachers have a lot more time for us here and of course, it's kind of hard to be late. English and science are my favorite courses and I like most of my teachers because they have time to talk. The teachers get to be friends because we get to know a lot about each other. They have real conversations with us," sayS Jim.. Jim will admit that his only motivation for going to school at the Bluewater Centre was getting out of his only other option— joining a work crew. But, working at his own pace has made Jim more productive. "I hated the rules at school on the out- side. And, I didn't like staying in class the whole period. Here, you can travel around before you get down to work. There are no blackboards and no detentions because you're on permanent detention," he says. Poetry is something Jim has discovered at Bluewater Secondary School. Though he didn't like poetry before, he's found himself writing a lot of it and he says he believes that the poems written by him and • his fellow residents are better than some he's read in books. "I needed something new to do. Poems give you a chance to express yourself; they're a challenge. But, I try to stay away • from the jail -type poems. There are a lot of those written in here," he says. • He plans to get as many credits as he can before he gets out in September. Then, he's ' not sure what he'll do. He might go back to i• school orget a job but he wants to "stay away from the cops." Chris, 16, says he always did pretty well at school but says the influence of friends and alcohol resulted in the charge of assault that landed him hithe Bluewater Centre. But, since' he's been going to school at the centre for the past three months; he hasn't been idle. In three months, he finished his Grade 11 credits as.well as a Grade 12 credit in English. "With the correspondence courses and the six to seven students, in a classroom, you get help immediately and you pro- gress a lot quicker. If you really want to get the work done, you can," he says. Chris says that although most people believe that people who break the laW are stupid, he's discovered that many of his classmates at Bluewater are very smart and good at their studies. He also likes the teachers at Bluewater better than those 'on the outside because they can be themselves with the smaller classrooms. "Some teachers on the outside are a•:-. holes. They order you around 'and yell at you. Working at your own pace makes it a lot better. It keeps the teachers off your back," he says adding that if teachers out- side weren't so strict, students wouldn't mind school so much. Chris has made some serious life plans while residing in the Bluewater Centre. He plans to get a summer job, get his car on the road, return to school for his Grade 12 diploma and go on to further education and become a lab technician. Since he's been at Bluewater, he says he's been working at getting his act together. Working at thd Bluewater Secondary School, the first of its ,kindfor young of- fenders, is very rewarding, says principal Shirley Weary. "I love it. After a day when one kid does something positive he's never done before, • you get the feeling you've really ac- complished something," she says. A student who's gotten lost in a classroom of 25 to 35 oftOn does much bet- ter at Bluewater where the class sizes are much smaller, she says. When he arrives, he is assessed and his last school is called to determine his level and,the topics he's covered. "In doing that, kids who never had suc- • cess before can reach a measure of gra- • cess," she says. There is nO average stay for students and many are in the centre for a short time so 'correspondent courses made up of 30 hour modules for a quarter course make the most sense or the school, she says. ° That way stnsts see the results -of their The students of Bluewater Secondary School, the first of its kind for young of- fenders, say they are motivated to learn with the school's small teacher -pupil ratio and the individually -paced cor- respondence courses. Principal Shirley Weary says the school's system aids in the successful learning of students who've never been successful in school before. English and art classes have been par- ticularly popular, with students who've often discovered poetry for the first time. think •••:r•-••••:•:•:.: nul nerous car ••• •:: Leariii • ecafl. .404. .;• Mkt wo hp POSTSCRIPT By Susan Hundertmark .......................... .................... ................... ................ . • A book of students' 'Witty and artwork has been put together and is available to community groups. WefitY says she hopes the book will he one of thvestya for the sur rounding „community to real* that kids are kids no matter where they are. The poetry and ii*VorksIlioviraoa this page are ,the work ot Bluewater students. Free speech is now subversive activity •' • ' ' "Silly, old fool" seems like a harmless enough phrase. It's on expression I've always envisioned a silly, old woman us- ' ing to describe her silly, old husband, with a smile in her eyes and affection in her voice, At worst, it's a mild reprimand to an elderly person who ought to know better than to do what he's done. But, it appears that the phrase "silly, old fool" has become a dead give-away of — subversive, dangerous, government - overthrowing, possibly even terrorist ac- ' tivity. It's become a desperate phrase us- ed by desperate people, in desperate situations. And, it contains the three • deadly words which cause presidential security advisors to quake in their boots. Just ask Maufeen Eyles. She was foolish ( and who knows, possibly menae- • ing) enough to aim such a phrase in the direction of U.S. President Ronald Reagan. and now she's paying for her crime by being barred from attending the royal wedding of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson. It seems the 54 -year-old British widow constitutes a security risk to Nancy Reagan who'll be attending the wedding as a "friend of the family." It also seems to me that using your freedom of speech in what we citizens of democracies affectionately call "the free world" can now get you labelled a subversive or at least put a cramp in your social life. Pity. But, you can't be too careful when you're Ronald Reagan or related to him. • Who knows better than Ron what madness can result from some seeming- lyharmless name-calling. Afterall, he's the one Who started calling Libyan leader Moammar Khadafy a "mad dog" and look where that led to...the next thing he knew, he was bombing the man's coun- try, killing his family members. Language is powerful. Eyles is being given the message that the mouth is mightier than the sword. Or, at least that the mouth can provoke the sword. Even, when all the mouth says is "silly, old fool." Reagan and his IiitoW;41ierVebeen4heire.- What makes it worse, of course, is that Eyles had the gall to use the dreaded phrase when commenting in a letter to the White House about her reaction to the Apr. 15 bombing of Libya. I ask you—who does the woman think she is? How dare she exercise her democratic rights in a letter to the leader of the largest, most powerful democracy in the world? Is she mad? (Ah ha! I knew there was a relationship to terrorism, somewhere! ) It's horrifying to speculate on what would come to pass if the woman were somehow granted permission to attend the wedding. You never know what such desperate people are capable of. She might go as far as wearing a t -shirt pro- claiming; "I 'called Reagan a silly, old fool." Maybe she'd hand out copies of the incriminating letter. Or, maybe (gasp!) she'd just behave herself like any other guest. (You've got to watch subversives when they get sneaky like that! ) I'm sure such tactics would paralyse the 40 members of the anti-terrorist squad who will be disguised as royal footmen at the wedding. And, they'd disarm the 2000 officers of Scotland Yard assigned to protect VIPs. You have to wonder which one of the deadly three words tipped off Reagan's security advisors to subversive activity— silly, old or •fool. Maybe it was the cumulative effect of the three. A triple whammy, so to speak. Of course, we know the word "fool" could net be strong enough on its own. Why, Mr. T says it all the time and he's a symbol •of truth, justice and the American way of life. On Mr. T's lips, "fool" sound § almost patriotic. But, Eyles is British and I seem to remember something about the War of Independence in 1776 with the Brits being the bad guys. "Fool" coming from a British woman could be perceived as threatening. • There's no getting around the fact that Reagan is old. He's older. than my grand- parents but possibly he's sensitive about that fact. It's no secret that Americans worship youth. If the word got out that Reagan is old maybe rio one would vote for him anymore. Yes, "old" could be • considered subversive. "Silly" seems too silly a word to be considered dangerous. But, maybe that's - what makes it Menacing. A serious man like the president of. the United States wants to seem anything but silly! Pieced, together with the logic of U.S. security'advisors as My guide, "sillyrold fool" becomes.a fearful phrase indeed. But, I can't help but admire the woman in a twisted sort of way. There must be a certain global status in being the person who called Reagan "a silly, Old fool." And, to be labelled a subversive fcir it, she must feel a certain gleeful and somewhat naughty power. What fun to go dolitit in history for ut- tering oath a phrase, Can easily think of • worse things to tali the man and nu sure re vocalized them In this ooltann, •'Come to think of its ft 1 haven't received My invitation to the royal wedding yet wonder if there's an eertheetioil? lama lye *rile a call, • , .;