HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Citizens News, 1978-11-23, Page 4Page 4
Citizens News, November 23, 1978
"This is your last chance to get rid of that thing."
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French schooling
The pros and cons of bilingualism as related to
Canadian unity is a touchy subject in many circles
today. There has been pressure to make
bilingualism a mandatory requirement for some
job positions. This is seen as one way of opening the
door for a more fluid merger of the English and
French sectors of Canadian society.
If bilingualism is really all that important, why
isn't French taught as a required subject to a
greater degree in schools? A survey of Middlesex
County Secondary Schools shows that four of the
five high schools less than forty percent of the
students take French as an optional subject.
Medway is the only school over that mark with a
40.8 overall participatory percentage. Strathroy
District Collegiate Institute has 38.5 percent of the
students taking French while North Middlesex
District High School is 32.1 percent, Glencoe
District High School 30.8 percent and Lord
Dorchester Secondary School 27.8 percent.
Taking a closer look at the figures for SDCI, the
participatory level drops off dramatically from
grade 9 through to grade 13.This year in grade.9 204
of SDCI's 351 first year students are taking French.
This represents 58.1 percent of the total number of
grade 9 students. At the grade 12 level, however,
participation drops down to just 64 students or 22.8
percent of the year four enrolment and in grade 13
it falls off further to 18.5 percent of the grade 13
students.
Interpretation of the figures can be twisted to
support a variety of arguments. It is clearly evident
though, that for whatever reason, more than half of
the secondary school students are . not taking
French. They have the option and choose not to
study French.
The Middlesex County Board of Education has
been studying the extension of French into further
elementary grades. This in turn may result in
better participation at the high school level, but the
question remains is it really of any value?
Most people who have taken high school French
are lucky to remember a few fleeting French words
a couple of years out of school. They are in no way
bilingual and in fact would probably have a difficult
time putting together anything close to a complete
statement in French. Possibly during their study of
the French language they did gain a slight insight
into the French culture and that in itself may be of
some general benefit.
-If Canadian unity depends on general
bilingualism, then this country is in big trouble.
New immigrants to this country have a difficult
enough time mastering English without worrying
about also learning French before they can apply
for all jobs. The same can be said about English
speaking natives of this land.
When statesmen and educators are discussing
expanded bilingualism requirements maybe they
should also consider a greater emphasis on lear-
ning to speak and write the English language
properly.
A question of ethics
By now, most of the citizens of this area are
aware of the London Free Press's "Harry Smith"
candidacy for that city's board of education.
While at first glance it appears to be a sincere
attempt bythe Free Press topoint the inadequacies
of a city-wide election for the board, what it turned
out to be was a sick joke played on the citizens of
London.
While this newspaper agrees it doesn't make
sense to attempt to choose 12 members out of a
field of 23 candidates for a city-wide election, the
timing of the Smith candidacy was out by two
years.
It's been known for years that the incumbent in
a city board of education race has the advantage
since it takes quite a few yearsfor people's names
to be known in a city election.
The Age Dispatch
Strathroy
Such a non -candidacy would have made sense
two years ago when the switching to a ward system
was not uppermost in people's minds.
London's electorate has changed over two
yearsreferendum switching
and the fact that a refer dum on swit n
g
to the ward system was included on this year's
ballot indicated a deficiency with the present
system.
Harry Smith's candidacy 'smacks of a "We told
you so," type of attitude on behalf of the Free
Press. �
An editorial prior to the election would have
served the purpose just as well.
While the Free Press did nothing wrong in a
legal sense, the ethics of going ahead with the can-
didacy are open to debate.
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Miscellaneous
Rumblings
By
TOM CREECH
Getting
scooped
One of the advantages of being a part of the
newspaper business is the access that one has to other
members of the media community.
It's always of interest to see what's happening in
the other newspapers of the area, especially if their
coverage area overlaps with your coverage area. •
Some times you end up getting "scooped" while
on the other occasions you ended up scooping them.
A time in my life that I'll forever remember is
back a few years ago when _there were two
newspapers in Exeter.
Practically every night that I'd head for the
Times Advocate following a day of academics at
Western, the dist inctive pitter-patter of typewriters
could be heard, be it 9 p.m. or 1 a.m.
Whether it was because the staff that assumed
the positions of the current editor and co-editor were
dedicated journalists or that they just didn't know
what they were doing, one will never know, although
the current advertising manager and former editor
did say his former staff didn't have anything else
better to do with their time.
While this writer contributed little in the way of
copy to the newspaper at this time, one memorable
moment took place in June of 1976, just prior to the
amalgamation of the two papers.
At this period in time, the writer was working for
the Ausable-Bayfield Conservation Authority for the
summer and continuing his part-time activities with
the T -A.
It was a Wednesday when the official opening of
the Port Blake Conservation area, operated by the
authority was scheduled. This would be an ideal occa-
sion for the Times Advocate to "scoop" the Indepen-
dent News, as by the time the area would be opened,
their paper would have already come off the printing
press.
Since the regular staff had to get the T -A together,
this writer was given the assignment of covering the
official opening.
During the morning, the SWEEP crew was in
charge of setting things'up, while in the afternoon our
activities were limited to helping the many cars get
parked.
Finally, the time for the official opening came and
of course, Creech was a way out of position as Elgin
Thompson of Tuckersmith township raised the Cana-
dian flag to open the- conservation area.
What this writer ended up taking a picture of was
a flag pole that veryneatly covered half of Mr. Thomp-
son's face.
"Wow, we're scooping the Independent News," I
thought to myself, and raced back to Exeter with my
precious cargo.
Prior to leaving, I'd phoned one of our reporters to
be at the authority's parking lot in twenty minutes.
Five minutes after my arrival a slightly dis-
traught
reporter known only as "Fred Youngs". dash-
ed out of his slightly rusting 1971 Toyota Celica and
headed back for the T -A.
Concluding my afternoon• with the summer
employer, I arrived at the T -A to this, the highlight of
my journalistic career.
Boy was I disappointed. I'd taken about three
shots and I felt the picture which they used was the
worst one of the bunch but who was I to say what
appeared in the newspaper.
The Independent News did not make mention of
Published Each Wednesday By J.W. Eedy Publications Ltd.
Member:
Canadian Weekly Newspapers Association
Ontario Weekly Newspapers Association
SNA News Editor - Tom Creech
Second Class Mail Registration Number 1385
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