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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Times Advocate, 2006-10-18, Page 66 Times -Advocate Wednesday, October 18, 2006 Opinion Forum News Seniors' perspective Continued from page 5 you didn't want to splurge, you could spend your nickel on enough stamps to mail one letter and two postcards. You could buy a new Chevy Coupe for $600, but who could afford one because gas was 11 cents a gallon. In my day: "grass" was mowed, "coke" was a cold drink, "pot" was something your mother cooked in and "rock music" was your grandmother's lullaby. "Aids" were helpers in the Principal's office, "chip" meant a piece of wood, and "software" wasn't even a word. And we Principal's message EXETER — This week we are mailing out to par- ents the first report of the year on student progress. This Interim Report will not contain marks, but should give parents a quick snapshot of how well their children are doing in school, as well as an indication of any areas of concern teachers may have. This report will be followed up by the first parent - teacher interview night Oct. 25. Parents will be asked to have their sons or daughters arrange interview times with the teachers they need to see. Interviews will be held in the cafeteria and small gym this year, from 3:30 to 5 p.m. and 6:30 to 8 p.m. Parents unable to attend Oct. 25 are encour- aged to arrange alternate interview times with the teachers they wish to see. We will also be holding a book fair Oct. 25 and 26 in the school library. The book fair will be open during the parent -teacher inter- views and will provide an excellent opportunity for some early Christmas shopping. We encourage you to drop in and have a look at what is available this year. As you may know, the Avon Maitland District School Board has "the develop- ment of positive citizenship qualities in our stu- dents" as one of its goals. As part of our efforts to meet this goal, the board has developed a character education program called "Cultivating Character" to encourage the development and growth of 10 positive character attributes in our students. These positive character traits were identified through a series of public meetings held last year. In the South Huron region, we decided to focus on one attribute each month, starting with "Respect" in September and moving on to "Responsibility" in October. While we want to encourage the growth of all 10 attributes throughout the year, we felt it would be helpful to focus on one trait in particular each month of the school year. We feel that respect and responsibility are fundamental to the develop- ment of the other attributes and therefore decided to focus on these two first. However, one thing I firmly believe is that charac- ter education is more than just a task of the schools: it can only be successful if it is reinforced by the rest of the community, including parents and family, community coaches and youth group lead- ers, business people and the community at large. It is our hope that everyone will encourage our young people to adopt these positive character traits and that everyone will model these same characteris- tics. If we don't, and our young people get mixed messages about the importance of positive citizen- ship, then our efforts at character education will not be successful. It will be a challenge. At the risk of just sounding old, I would like to point out that young people today are not the same as they were 20 or 30 years ago, but that should come as no surprise. After all, society is not the same as it was 20 or 30 years ago either, and I suspect that we adults don't behave quite the same way as our predecessors either. The influences on our young people are many and varied, and they have tools for acquiring and shar- ing information that were mere pipe dreams when I was their age. But despite everything they see and hear on the Internet or in movies, television shows and video games, the people in their lives are still the greatest influences in shaping their character. They need us to set the positive examples, to rein- force the message and to correct them when they make mistakes. This is perhaps our most important responsibility to them, as important as seeing they are fed, clothed and healthy. If we all do our part, the task of "cultivating their character" will be much easier to achieve. JEFF REABURN PRINCIPAL'S MESSAGE were the last generation to actually believe that a lady needed a husband to have a baby. No wonder people call us "old and confused" and say there is a generation gap... And how old do you think I am? I bet you have this old man in mind...you are in for a shock! Read on to see - pretty scary if you think about it and pretty sad at the same time. This man would be only 59 years old. My Life is now calm: By following simple advice heard on the Dr. Phil show, you too can find inner peace. Dr. Phil pro- claimed, "The way to achieve inner peace is to finish all the things you've started and never finished." So, I looked around my house to see all the things I started and hadn't finished, and before leaving the house this morning, I finished off a bottle of Merlot, a bottle of White Zinfandel, a bottle of Bailey's Irish Cream, a bottle of Kahlua, a package of Oreos, the remainder of my old Prozac prescription, the rest of the cheesecake, some Doritos and a box of Chocolates. You have no idea how freaking well I feel. Contributed by Karen Stanlake Please don't talk about a farmer with your mouth full, because didn't you all have a bountiful Thanksgiving dinner? Please consider where your food came from! TA is looking great Thank you to everyone on doing a great job with the Times -Advocate - Looks really good witht he new for- mat! I receive a lot of positive comments about our C.W.L. write-up. Thank you from all of us to all of you. WENDY MEIDINGER, Exeter Attack unjustified When I started reading the letter to the editor in last week's paper about the placement of a political sign, I thought, "how petty." But as I continued reading, I began to get angry. How can a political sign on the lawn of a homeowner "quite clearly" say the !-_ `%1 homeowner supports that candidate? To me, it only says that homeowner has agreed to display the sign for that can- didate...period. Assuming that's how the household is going to vote is just that...an assumption. There is always room on our front lawn for the signs of candidates in our riding as long as they're not expecting something in return. After all, there are no guarantees. As for getting permission...maybe George Robertson didn't have to ask permission because of where the sign was placed. Unless George was seen placing the sign, there's always the possibility it was stolen from somewhere else and that's why permission wasn't requested. It's sounding more to me like "The Political Sign Dilemma" is really a coverup for a disgruntled taxpay- er taking his frustrations out on a candidate he has no intentions of voting for. After all, that's why we call this a democracy, isn't it? But if the placement of the sign was so upsetting, it makes more sense to me to contact the candidate and ask them to remove it. Using such a trivial event to attack someone publicly is in itself trivial. I'm an Exeter resident and taxpayer, too. Am I happy with everything council has done in the past? Absolutely not. Will I be happy with everything coun- cil does in the future? Probably not. But does that justify such an attack? There is more than just one member on council and it takes more than one vote to make a decision. If one is to fault, should the blame not be shared by them all? I personally believe a positive approach works much better and I'm going to focus on doing my homework to find the candidate who, in my opinion, is best suited for the job. Most of the people who run in municipal elec- tions do so for the betterment of the community. I think we should thank them for having the courage to step forward. Letters to the Editor JO -ANN MIDDLETON, Exeter Panther Profile EXETER — Hey there, happy Wednesday. I sincerely hope today is the best day of your life, that would be awesome. Maybe someone, some- where will do something completely extraordinary today. I would like that, and I would like to know that on that day, people read my article; not very many, but a few. Thanks for reading, readers! All right down to brass tacks; now, where did I put my planner? It's essential in all facets of my life, includ- ing and not limited to writing this article. Got it! For you kids at home, organization is key to a functional and productive lifestyle. Enough stalling, let's start with university presentations. Trent will be visiting our school Thursday at 9 a.m., and Brescia will be visiting Oct. 25 at 12:45 p.m. Also, Ridgetown College will be visiting Oct. 24 at 9 a.m. Attention, volleyballers! You have, what I like to call a "tourney" (also known as a "tournament") on Friday at St. Clair in Sarnia. Next Wednesday all you mentors of peers have a seminar in Bayfield in the afternoon; this is your training course so you should probably go. You just can't be a mentor without the proper training. Oct. 25 is also `Parents' Night,' where parents can come in to the school and meet their child's teach- ers. This can be scary for some students; not per- sonally, my parents don't embarrass me that much. Actually I probably embarrass them more, so this can be an equally scary night for parents. Again I digress, the point is, if you are a parent and would like to meet the people educating your son and/or daughter then have your child book a time with the teachers you want to meet and then come out, at the predetermined time, to the small gym and/or cafeteria. The event will rim from 3:30 until 5 p.m. and 6:30 to 8 p.m. The book fair will also be set up that day and will be open all day and night. In other news, the Interim Report Cards will be mailed home on Thursday; not to worry no actual marks are included in these. Random Fact of the Week: If you yelled for over eight and a half years, you would have produced enough sound energy to heat one cup of coffee. Coming events: Oct. 19 — Trent University Presentation at 9 a.m. — Semester 1 Interim Report Cards are mailed home. Oct. 20 — Sr. Boys Volleyball tournament in Sarnia Oct. 24 — Ridgetown College Presentation at 9 a.m. Oct. 25 — Peer Mentors training seminar in Bayfield. — Parents Night 3:30-5 p.m., 6:30-8 p.m. in the cafeteria and small gym. CRAIG SKOCH PANTHE FILE INSKI R PRO - Painted pumpkins Farmer's Market — The 25th annual Grand Bend Thanksgiving Farmer's Market was last week- end. Several vendors were down- town selling baked pies, crafts and pumpkins includingArkona area resident Sarah Nethercott who was selling pumpkins she painted. Nethercott has been painting pumpkins for about 15 years. (photo/Nina Van Lieshout)