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The Times Advocate, 2008-11-19, Page 44 Times -Advocate Wednesday, November 19, 2008 CGNA f Editorial Opinion °crust° n = IIMZEM TIMES -ADVOCATE PUBLICATION MAIL REGISTRATION NUMBER 07511 We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada, through the Publications Assistance Program (PAP), toward our mailing costs. Canada CO Zift etroland Media Group Ltd. Deb Lord — Manager Scott Nixon — Editor CNA 2007 BLUE RIBBON The Times -Advocate is owned by Metroland Media Group Ltd. 424 Main Street South, P.O. Box 850 Exeter, Ontario NOM 1S6 • 519-235-1331 Doug Rowe - General Manager, Southwestern Ontario Division EDITORIAL Usborne's future at stake After last week s Accommodation Review Committee (ARC) meeting on the future of Usborne Central School, one thing is clear the numbers don t look good for those who hope the school stays open. School boards, including the Avon Maitland District School Board, find themselves dealing with the reality of declining enrolment and tight budgets. Funded on a per pupil basis, the local board has too many pupil spaces for the number of stu- dents it has. And projections show enrolment continuing to decline. At only 55.5 per cent capacity with 128 students, the board has decided to investigate the future of Usborne Central. An information meeting was held for the ARC in October, fol- lowed by the committee s first meeting last week. The com- mittee has future public meetings scheduled for Dec. 10, Jan. 14 and Feb. 25. At the end of the meetings the ARC will make recommendations to the school board about the future of Us - borne. Those recommendations could include a number of options, one of which is closure. The board trustees will then make a decision on the school s future in June. Obviously closing the school would be a blow to the area. Schools are a gathering place for the community and are a source of pride for those associated with them. Losing a school is like losing a piece of history. The closure of a school is emotional for the students, the par- ents and the teachers. Former McCurdy Public school coun- cil chairperson Karen Windsor, who went through a tough closure process at that school eight years ago, effectively ex- plained last week to the committee what the experience is like. She said McCurdy s closure was traumatic for some of the stu- dents and warned about such a situation occurring again. But the board is looking at the raw numbers, and they aren t in Usborne s favour the school is only half full and projec- tions show enrolment to further decline. Those who want to keep the school open have to come up with ideas and scenar- ios that make the school financially viable for the board. One idea has been making Usborne a JK to Grade 3 school by mov- ing all the students in that age group in Exeter to Usborne; the older children would all go to Exeter Public to create a Grade 4 to 8 school. But does that create more students? Won t there still be empty spaces somewhere? Those wanting to keep the school open need to continue lob- bying to save the school and they and the ARC need to present scenarios that show how the board can keep the school open and make it financially feasible. If they can t, the future for Usborne doesn t look so good. And that s a shame. Mixed martial arts: the new boxing I know now that parents are prone to worry that they worry over things that are probably never going to happen, and things that seem to defy logic when we are young. When I was in elementary school, for example, it was fine that I dreamt of a career as a profes- sional athlete, so long as it was in a sport other than football or boxing. More than once, I got the impression that pu- gilism even a vague interest in pugilism, or anything else that could cause concussions or a cauliflower ear was not kosher. I understand this now: no one wants their kid to end up brain damaged or deformed. At the time, it struck me as something slightly irrational and in the few moments before I was able to amuse myself with other things lamentable. I am glad I got to my 20s before the heyday of mixed martial arts (MMA), a sport to which I was introduced last January. There is nothing as brutal and violent and stupid as MMA. And there is perhaps nothing more entertaining. For the uninitiated (a group to which I still largely be- long), MMA is an amalgam of the most violent sports on earth. It is part boxing, part wrestling, and partly composed (as you will have guessed by now) of martial arts like jujitsu. Fighters are allowed to punch, kick, grapple with and tackle one another. They can slam each other to the floor of the ring in which they fight, and they can bend body parts in ways that are unnatural. (A popular way of securing victory is bending an op- ponent s arm backward until he can no longer bear it and concedes defeat.) There was a time when the most -watched sport on pay- per-view was boxing. Boxing is now somewhat dull a game for folks who grew up before Quentin Tarantino films and video games like Grand Theft Auto. In the 1960s, it was sufficient to watch men punch each other repeatedly with padded gloves. Today s fight fans are too desensitized to find this entertaining. To a degree, this is a sad comment on the age in which we live perhaps a sign that our blood- lust has reached a level that is slightly perverse. Then again, ancient civilizations sought en- tertainment in things far worse. (We have yet to see something on film as disgusting as a lion de- vouring someone in the Roman Colosseum.) In any event, it is almost impossible to watch MMA and not be grossed out to some degree. It is also difficult to watch MMA without being enter- tained. There is a good deal of comedic value in watching men hug each other for long periods of time, then try to kick each other in the head. I am still a neophyte when it comes to watching this sport, and I will never be a hardcore fan. I would not sug- gest it be watched by anyone younger than 18. But I would be lying if I said it lacked appeal. Perhaps I say this because I grew up in the 1990s and early 2000s, when media was far more graphic than the decades be- fore. Or perhaps I am part of something that has been true of hominid males for quite some time: we enjoy watching people bludgeon one another. Our parents are devoted to protecting us from this. We spend much of our time seeking it out. BEN FORR EST About the Times -Advocate Address & Office Hours Time -Advocate, 424 Main Street South, P.O. Box 850, Exeter, Ontario NOM 1S6. 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Deadline: Friday @ 2:00 p.m. Website: www.southhuron.com E-mail Us TA e-mail addresses consist of the person's first initial and last name followed by @southhuron.com. For example, Deb Lord's e-mail address is dlord@southhuron.com Our general e-mail address is ads@southhuron.com. The Times -Advocate Team MANAGER Deb Lord ext. 103 ADVERTISING Deborah Schillemore ext. 112 CUSTOMER SERVICE Jennifer Skonieczny ext. 101 COMPOSITION Nikki Cyr ext. 101 Kelly Gackstetter ext. 102 EDITOR Scott Nixon ext. 105 REPORTERS Pat Bolen ext. 113 Ben Forrest ext. 114 ACCOUNTING STAFF Anita McDonald ext. 104 Ruth Slaght ext. 106 Marg Pertschy ext. 108 Heather Clarke ext. 111