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The Citizen, 1996-10-30, Page 16Honoured These two local teachers were honoured at the annual Huron Women Teachers Federation banquet in Brussels on Thursday, Oct. 24. Among the recipients of 25 year pins were Marg Whitmore, left, a teacher at Grey Central Public School and Helen Crocker, principal of Walton Public School. The veterans The Huron Women Teachers Federation presented 35-year distinguished service awards to, back row, from left: Shirley Carter, Sharon . Millard, Carol LeBeau. Front: Glenda Walter, Emily Cousins, Marie Tieman. Absent were: Olive Eaton and Carolyn Hunter-Duvar. The banquet was held at the Brussels, Morris and Grey Community Centre on Thursday, Oct. 24. For the Finest in Residential Building & Renovations Dealer in Pella and Strassburger Windows and Doors BUILDERS SINCE 1956 H. TEN PAS CONSTRUCTION LTD. BRUSSELS, ONT. 887-6408. PAGE 16. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 30, 1996 Huron Women Teacher's Association Organization honours years of service, contribution On Thursday, Oct. 24 at the Brussels Community Centre, the Huron Women Teachers' Associa- tion welcomed three new teachers into the profession and honoured many members for their service contributions. Flora Keillor, provincial second vice-president of the Federation of Women Teachers' Associations of Ontario performed the induction ceremony. Seventeen teachers have also been recognized by the Association for mentoring students from a faculty of education in their capacities as Associate Teachers of the Faculty. Thirteen female teachers earned their twenty-five year pins, and, for the first time in several years eight teachers, who retired last spring were given framed Distinguished Service Certificates in recognition of 35 or more years of teaching. Crystal Whyte is a new teacher at Brussels Public School. Laura Scott of Walton and Judy Mathers of East Wawanosh received certificates to recognize their contributions to new teacher education as associate teachers. Helen Crocker of Walton Public School and Marg Whitmore of Grey Central received 25 year pins to recognize the many years they have dedicated to teaching. And Emily Cousins and Glenda Walter were honoured for 35 or more years of distinguished service. The speaker was Dr. Jean Hewitt, a teacher, educational leader and researcher. Dr. Hewitt has studied education systems around the world and she emphasized the importance of protecting the excellence of the Ontario education system. She pointed out that it is part of the Canadian psyche to undervalue things. But, she said, Canadians are incredibly fortunate. For four out of the last five years the United Nations has ranked Canada as having the highest quality of life of any country in the world, and in that one year when we ranked number two it was because of problems dealing with the recognition of the native population. The country is number one in the world with respect to its resource base. Natural resources, excluding water, put it in the, top three, but with water Canada is far and away the richest resource base in the world. Studies have shown, says Dr. Hewitt, that Canada ranks number one in productivity. The output of every man, woman and child has a value in the. economic community of over $5,000 per year. Compare this to Germany at $4,800 and the USA at $1,800. "And don't" said Dr. Hewitt, "think that our productivity doesn't have something to do with our education system, and also with our excellent health and social service system. Don't think that the recent CAW settlement didn't have something to do with productivity." Dr. Hewitt claimed that four cities were considered in a recent Swiss study to be among the top 10 cities in the world to do business. The U.S.'s Boston, the highest ranking American city, rated only number 30. Canada was the only world country with more than one city in the top 10. Again, Dr. Hewitt cited the education system, and the health and social safety net as being contributing factors. Canada has won more Nobel prizes than any other country. Its medical pioneers are in the forefront of medical technology. Toronto, among the top 10 cities in the Geneva study based upon safety, the education of the work force, the quality of life and the access to the tools needed to do a job, was also rated by the UN as the most ethnically diverse city on the planet. Dr. Hewitt cited this a's creating enormous advantages for Canada which is also the number one country in ethnic diversity. Canadians, she said, have a constantly growing gene pool. Immigration brings vigour and energy to a society and keeps a country strong. Often the most hard-working people in a society tend to be those who have the spirit and initiative to immigrate from that country. This also creates other enormous opportunities for Canada. Right now the most rapidly growing part of the world is Asia. Its economies are growing at 60 - 70 per cent, while the rest of the world is limping along at one to two per cent. Asia already holds 45 per cent of the world's financial resources. But they have huge demands for resource knowledge, for infrastructure management, for educational knowledge which Canadians can provide them. Unlike other countries in the global market, Canadians now have a trade surplus with Taiwan, for the first time ever. Why? Because Asian immigrants are now selling knowledge and materials back to their countries of origin! Many needy schools in US When comparing education systems Dr. Hewitt stated that some of the poorest and most needy schools in the world are in the United States where tax bases shift and schools work independently. She warned that independent/ charter or voucher schools which are advocated by present provincial government could potentially destroy the most equitable school system in the world. "We have the most equitable education system. No matter where you go in Ontario you will find schools with teachers 'at a similar level of training, similar facilities and similar levels of curriculum. This is not true of most countries with which we are compared on international testing. International testing compares apple and oranges and we must tell the public this. We are not failing in comparison with Switzerland, Korea and Taiwan." Some countries educate and test only the highest one-third of the population so our system, which retains students with learning disabilities and special needs for a much longer time, cannot be fairly compared with their testing. Dr. Hewitt said that in Alberta experimental charter schools are like "privatized cocoons or islands where kids don't have to live with immigrants or "riff-raff". She shudders at the special interest groups which set up elitist, like- minded systems and eliminate having to deal with social and special education concerns. She warns that such a system will fuel class warfare in the future. In an aside Dr. Hewitt remarked on the privatization of jails in Canada. In the U.S. where prison systems have been privatized, there are five times as many prisoners within the system than in any other prison system in the world! Certainly, the business-like way in which these are being run is a reflection of the fact that prisons don't make money if they rehabilitate too well! Canadian education boasts the highest rate of retention than any other country. More 15 to 18 year olds than any other country are in school, and in large urban Canadian centres we retain 90 per cent to 95 per cent of the student until they get their graduation diploma. This point is very important as many of the other countries in the world arc scrambling to keep their students in school to prepare them for the information age and to guarantee their place in world markets, she said. Dr. Hewitt also mentioned that in England, 40 to 50 per cent of crime is committed by dropouts between the ages of 16 to 20. In Canada, most children in this age group, which is the most likely age for violence, are in school. Canada has the highest number of kids of school age, in school of any country in the world. Our education system is the highest in inclusivity. Special students in most countries would not even be in school, and while we are struggling with problems related to budget cuts and special students, other countries are looking for ways to include more of their children in their educational systems. Dr. Hewitt claims that there are two diverging roads which the educational system in Ontario can take; one path leading to the elitist, privatized school system creating future class warfare, and another path where schools transform themselves away from the factory model and the agricultural year into centres of learning for all ages with flexible days, flexible calendars and flexible buildings. Hewitt stressed the importance of strong leadership in the process. The process of transformation/ reformation should not include dismantlement but should occur through "fluid, feminine principles of cooperation and collaboration" and should be guided by educators. She concluded with a quote by Eisenhower, "The problems we have today cannot be solved by the same ways of thinking that created them...." Dr. Hewitt encouraged all the teachers present — even those who do not make their views known publicly — to do so. "Even if you write a letter' she said, "you need to do something to make others aware."