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The Lucknow Sentinel, 1977-04-27, Page 15Madill Mirror FOR OUT OF THIS WOW . FtESU -TS WEDNESDAY, APRIL 27, 1977 THE LUCKNOW SENTINEL, LUCKNOW, ONTARIO PAGE FIFTEEN Teacher Interview The French Revolution was a momentous event in the history of the world. It proposed a society whose foundations were based on liberty, freedom, and brother- hood. The Revolution itself, had many courses, one of them was the era- Of the Enlightenment. Several writers including Rous- seau, Voltaire and Montesquier wrote eloquently of constitutions, and responsible governments where the general will or the majority of the people were rep- resented in an elected assembly and whose individual rights and freedoms were recognized. People, especially young people responded to the enlightened writers. However, France was ruled by a small minority and an absolute king. They feared liberty and freedom as did all the other monarchs of Europe. Hence Voltaire, Rousseau and Mon- tesquier were censored. We live in a society which sup- posedly provides its members with liberty, and freedom. How- ever recently the old subject of censorship has been raised. A group of people in Huron County hope to bann several books, from high school libraries, Some of the books "up for censorship" in- clude several of John Steinbeck's books, "The Grapes of Wrath" and "Of Mice and Men", Margaret Laurence's "The Di- viners", and Salinger's "Catcher In The. Rye". I have read these books. And I take exception to the censorship proposal. Throughout history, censorship has existed. It has existed pri- marily because the power of someone is being threatened. Censorship is mainly a s tactic used to combat fear. The French monarchs feared they were losing their power; hence they imposed censorship. More recently, Indira Ghandi feared the loss of her power in India, and she used censorship. In most cases, the banning of .anything tends to be a rather selfish ges- ture; it supposedly is done for the common good of others, but it tends to preach to others "what is good" for them. I find it appalling that a group of people outside of my community, whom I don't even know are going to tell me what is best for me to read, or not read, as the case may be. There are several very funda- mental questions involving censorship. Where does it stop? If one of Steinbeck's books must be banned, why not all of them? What determines or justifies call- ing a book pornographic? One paragraph? Two pages? If a Nobel Peace Prize winning author, such as Steinbeck is to be banned, who next? A woman in Toronto recently asked that ``The Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens be censored. Surely most parents can see that not only is censorship unjust, it picks and chooses to the point of being ridiculous. The person requesting censor- ship of the aforementioned books made a mistake. "The Diviners" is not taught in any high schools in Huron. It is an option; you may, if you so desire read it; no one makes you. Furthermore, Steinbeck's work is taught to senior students beginning at grade 12. I find it hardly rea- sonable that many senior stu- dents are going to be shocked or startled by the material found in any of these books. This man may find it unfortunate to know that most students will not go out of their way to read pornography. Any pornographic references in "The Diviners" are found to- wards the end' of the book. Very few people will read 300 pages just to arrive at four or five pages of lurid love scenes. I have' passed through 13 years of education. I have learned to read. I think I 'have also learned to judge a book by more than the words used in it.' After all, a book is not only words; a book is the translation of the author's thoughts and experiences to give you a very personal view of some facet of the world. Surely in ban- ning any of these books, the censors ignore the literary quality of the work. Look at the spirtual symbolism used so effec- tively by Steinbeck. Margaret Laurence creates a character in "The Diviners" who -not only is realistic, but gives us a true vision into Canadian society. Surely you can't ignore how ef- fectively Salinger uses emotions in "Catcher In the Rye". On April 25th, the Huron Board of Education is holding a public meeting which will deal with the censorship issue. Anyone who is ' concerned or. interested should attend. Undoubtedly your thoughts and opinions may be of some value to the Board. "Free communication of thoughts and opinions is' ane of the most precious rights of man," We have no justification for tampering with it. Marilyn Congram Fitness If you're interested in being physically fit, you'll be glad to know you're not alone. The noon- hour Fitness Cltib of F. E. Madill is concerned too! This club consists of about ten or twenty girls and fen;iale teach- ers who get together on both lunch hours to do about fifteen minutes of exercise daily. This club is conducted on a very in- formal basis, with the activities and attendance left to the discre- tion of the members. Some of the sessions are spent doing yogo, some f011owing the 10BX exercise program, some doing aerobics, and some exercising to 'music. Now that the nice weather is here, it is rumoured that you might even see these people out running around the track! This club is just anew idea, and it seems to be working out well. Its for fun and fitness, and at- tendance is voluntary. Maybe next year there will be an even larger attendance! —Mary Eadie 12B The effective 7eaking winner Mary Luanne Clare of 9B is one if the most successful yoiing ora- ,ors at our school in recent years. Phis fact is, even more significant when we realize that she is still only in grade 9. We wish her con- .inued success in the' art of effec- ,ive public ,speakingin ttle years ihead. Her achievements this year are is follows: Firstly, she won the junior secondary contest spon- iored by the Wingham Branch of the Royal Canadian Legion late in. February, and then went on to win ,the zone final in Clinton and placed second in the District, C Competition at Milverton. Secondly, she won the Lions Club speaking competition as the best female speaker at Lucknow in March,. advancing to the Re- gion competition 'at Howick. She placed firSt at this contest, and went on to win the Lions District 'A finals held at Palmerston. She is now waiting to represent Dis- trict A at the Eastern Canada fi- nals to be held in Peterborough. She' will be competing there against district, finalists from across Ontario, Quebec' and La- brador. These are indeed fine accom- plishments. We extend congratu- lations from students and staff at F. E. Madill S. S., and wish her well in the up-cOming Lions fi- nals. Print sale Tuesday and Wednesday of this week the Art Students of F. E. Madill were busy with the annual print sale. The sale was conduct- ed at noon hour and. in activity period. The Purpose of this sale is to help finance the students' field trip. The grade eleven students took care of the actual selling of the prints. Anyone who wanted their tee-shirt or pennant printed could ' pick from many different prints which the students had designed themselves. One student explained a little about the technique to me. "First, the students draw their picture. A plate is then taken and the picture is placed on it.' The plate is then put in 'a nitric acid solution. An ink mixture is then made. ,and' spread on the plate. Paper for the print is soaked and dried on the press. The print is then •placed on the press and rolled through. After all this the prints are dried, mounted and finished." This all sounds very compli- cated to me; however, the Art students certainly know what they are doing, So far sales are going fairly well and Mrs. Wilson, the teacher, hopes that the money will he helpful, for the trip. —Cheryl Haldenby 12C The advent of the hockey play- off season means that Mr. Mc- Lennan will soon be seen ped- dling Kinsmen tickets on the final Stanley Cup game in the vicinity of room 200. He jokingly mentions to his students that buying a tic- ket could mean a couple of extra marks, but everyone knows he is just kidding. Nevertheless, he sells a lot of tickets. Mr. Murray McLennan has lived in Wingham most of his life. He attended public school in Mor- ris Township and high school in Wingham. He received his BSc at the University of Waterloo and after taking a summer course, came back to Wingham to teach. This is Mr. McLennan's tenth year as a math teacher in Wing- ham . During thi s time he eniWel coaching the senior football team for two years and the juniors for three. One of his biggest thrills came when the junior Mustangs won the Huron-Perth chimpion- ship four years ago. As a teacher, Mr. McLennan is fairly easy to get along with. On a one to one basis he comes across as a very sincere person. He is Chocolate Baia Drive The annual chocolate bar drive is upon us again. Starting with the kick off assembly, the cam- paign will continue for a couple of weeks. Three 7 pound chocolate bars and 3 record albums were given away at the kickoff assem- bly. Throughout the campaign, each person selling 6 bars will be given a ticket. From these tickets a draw will be held each day at noon for a calculator or digital alarm, clock (on alternating days). Grand prizes for the per- sons selling the most bars are really appealing. First prize is a steoro system ; second prize is a clock radio; third prize is an in- staniatic camera. The chocolate bar campaign is run each year by the student council. Profits from the drive go into the student council budget. and since the council represents each and every student, everyone who participates in the annual chocolate bar drive is really making money in his own inter- est. So think chocolate!. Data Field Trip On Wednesday, April 13, the Data Processing 341 and 351 classes left the front of the school at 9:15 a.m. headed towards Lon- don. Our destination was Alt- house College of ,Education.' When we arrived at the college a computer operator gave us the instructions on how to operate the computer. We finally got to see the com- puter Opt had worked with our programs from the beginning of the school year. Several couples of students were picked to run the computer for an hour and run through the computer the other students' pro- grams. While these students worked in the computer room, the others worked on their pro- grams and put the information on cards which are read into the computer. The computer pro- cesses the cards and prints out the required information on a sheet of paper. We worked for several hours in the college and left in time to ,re- turn back to Madill for the buses. Since computers are becoming more influential in our lives, we The Bees Spring has arrived at last. Easter has passed and there are less than 39 days left of the school year 1976-1977. In the next month various activities will be 'occur- ring. The month of May at F. E. Madill reminds me of a beehive. All the teachers have planned tests, projects or field trips in this month and the students, like the worker bees, are running around "with their heads cut off", trying to get by or break even. In the next month and a half, the school calendar 'lists the fol- loWing: grade 8 night, open holise, chocolate ha r riri athIp- tic banquet, track-and-field day, field trips, the fOrmal or prom, 11,,_ senior badminton tournament, and to top it off . . final exams. TheSe are only the activities that I know about. There are probably numerous other activities sched- uled for the forthcdming school days that I know nothing about. Meanwhile. students have other responsibilities this time of y6r besideS school activities. Parents are very demanding at this time of year. It seems there are al- ways jobs to be done. The lawn has to be rakect rose bushes cut, storm windows removed and eventually spring cleaning comes into the picture. Can you imagine the jobs a young roan could find to do around the home when I found this many? Besides responsibilities at home the student is also in a pe- culiar mood during spring. I heard the medical term for this illness is "Spring Fever". It is not a'serious ailment but it has very adverse effects on some. It can make you feel giddy, light-head- ed. full of love for the world and joy for mankind. All these pressures put On a student in April, May and June would appear to make a 'student depressed but amazingly enough, this is the happiest' time ,of the school year. —Mary Anne Alton Co-editor Join the Canadian minority group. The Fit. Cr=17 4 1011 PORTICIP0171017 Hine... In \ our heart kuu feel that Data Processing is a very worthwhile and informative course, —Joanne Wood —Patty Brenzil an eclitcwila greatly annoyed when he sees students with ability not using it. Mr. McLennan is also upset by people who tend to think of teen- agers as all being the same and then put them down as a group. He feels that when teenagers are met on an individual basis most of them are nice, conscientious kids. Mr. McLennan has just built a new home in Wingham. He enjoys reading and watching hockey and ".football on television. He is an ac- tive Kinsmen and was president of the Wingham club last year. —Eleanor Johnstone