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The Citizen, 1996-11-27, Page 7BRUSSELS UPHOLSTERY For all your upholstery needs • Furniture • Auto • Machinery seats etc. Sample and estimates free of charge Brian & Sandy McKnight Mill St., Brussels 887-6056 SEARS + CATALOGUE $100 000 TNAL PRIZES "SHOPPING SPREE" You Could Win One of 10 $10,000 CATALOGUE SHOPPING SPREES TO BE CREDITED TO THEIR SEARS ACCOUNT, NO PURCHASE NECESSARY DON'T MISS OUT! What a way to pay for your Sears Christmas Shopping Offer Valid October 28 to December 31st, 1996 24-hours a day, 7 days a week or visit your local Sears Catalogue Store SEARS BRUSSELS "Located in Oldfield Pro Hardware" 440 Turnberry Street, Brussels Telephone (519) 887-9433 SHOP TOLL 1.800.267.3277 FREE THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 1996 PAGE 7. Letters HWTF president rails against Snobelen THE EDITOR, This letter is in response to the Minister of Education's latest news release on "Moving Ontario Students to the Head of the Class". Don't be fooled once again by the old Conservative litany that the "system is broken" and that John Snobelen is the white knight who has arrived on the scene to fix it all for you, the citizens of Ontario. This paternalistic mush is a bit hard to swallow. Parent, look at your child's current report card. Check out the Common Curriculum of several years' vintage, and then check out the "new", accountable "Basic Curriculum" of the Minister of Education. Why surprise, surprise! It looks to be almost identical — but the Conservatives are claiming it as their own! The Government of Ontario wants to focus your attention, as parents and taxpayers, away from the massive cuts they are proposing to fund their ill-conceived tax rebates. That's what this crass attempt at public relations is all about. On the other hand, teachers are saying "Look at the effects of this government's dismantlement of our world class system — and then ask, will cuts help to make things any better?" Parents and grandparents — do you recall the old Grade 13 tests that many of you were required to write 25 years ago? Do you also remember how teachers throughout Ontario, for many years taught out- dated curriculum and "basics" rather than creative and innovative leading-edge work, because it was their "duty" to ensure that the children could pass the tests in subjects such as Latin and Trigonometry — subjects many Grade 13 grads never used again! Do we want to return to the "good old days" of teaching curriculum entirely to the spectre of a test at year-end? Or do we want innovative teaching using new technology that gives children an edge in this competitive world of ours? Certainly, we've come a long way from those days and from the way in which testing is carried out. But we have to ask the fundamental question: "Is testing for the benefit of the children, or of the administrators?" What kinds of funds are necessary to develop instruments for testing that will remain up-to-date and will test the other skills necessary to succeed in life. Skills such as oral communication skills, co-operation, responsibility, adaptability and initiative are critical. How can we test for those? Instead of funding new testing materials we could purchase testing materials that have already been developed. Testing is big business in the States, for instance. We could simply purchase testing materials from them and then teach an Americanized curriculum to our students to make sure they can pass. This latter is of course, tongue-in-cheek — but no so far- fetched! Teachers in Ontario all assess their students constantly over long periods of time that reflect formative growth. Teachers will be the first to admit that they need to continuously improve their communication to parents about testing and assessment. But the current Minister's actions are not helping with this. For instance, the Huron County Board of Education has already developed leading-edge reporting based upon the Common Curriculum. Indeed, the report cards have been generated and modified over six times! The Huron Board is miles ahead of the Ministry in this area. And yet, the Ministry of Education and Training will insist on eventually -replacing our reporting system with a barely Continued from page 4 factors in the determination of the options. The Huron/Perth District Health Council Study Task Force released these options, following a detailed data analysis and community consultation review process, for community reaction and comment and have indicated that the final option chosen may not necessarily be one of the three being recommended at this time. Smithers stated that these options possibly will be challenged. It is very important that the residents of the towns of Seaforth and Brussels and the townships of Grey, Hibbert, Hullett, McKillop, Morris and Tuckersmith whom we serve continue to actively support our hospital and the recommendation from the Task Force that the Seaforth Community Hospital be maintained as primary hospital with piloted made-in-Toronto version. Getting back to the Minister's announcement, one could ask "What does the Minister intend by including Grade 1 in the mix? Is it appropriate to have province-wide testing at the end of Grade 1? Will every Grade 1 student be able to achieve the desired outcomes once kindergarten programs completely disappear?" The Federation of Women Teachers' Association of Ontario fears that children who will suffer the most are from different cultural, ethnic and language groups or are children with special learning needs. Junior kindergarten and kindergarten - are important socializing agents which will help overcome the odds these children have against them before Grade 1 begins. It is ludicrous that the Minister will be expecting higher standards from students in Grade 1 after pulling the rug out from under them with reduced kindergarten funding! In every country that participated in the Third International Maths and Sciences Study the important co-relation of the support role of the family to the results was stressed. It was of the utmost importance that families encourage their child's learning while reading together and providing access to resources such as books, calculators and computers. Children from poorer families acute and chronic care beds. Smithers indicated that the hospital will be hosting an information meeting in Brussels on Dec. 3, and in Seaforth on Dec. 4, to inform everyone on our changing health care delivery system, the Hospital and Related Health Services Study and the Task Force recommendations. She noted that this -is being done in preparation for the Dec. 10 meeting being hosted by the District Health Council Task Force at the Seaforth Community Centre. The purpose of the Dec. 10 meeting is for our community to provide feedback to the Task Force which will be used to determine the final option. Smithers encourages all residents to attend these important meetings and to actively participate in the discussion and debate. Bill Thibert, CEO Seaforth Community Hospital (519) 527-1650. unable to provide the necessary resources would be less likely to succeed in an education system created by the' Snobelen government. FWTAO is concerned that the loss of classroom resources that are necessary components of Continued on page 8 Hospital CEO seeks continued support Union Gas is "Going Mobile" in the North Huron area! Last year, Union Gas extended natural gas service to the North Huron area. Since then more than 350 homes and almost 80 businesses have switched to natural gas in the communities of Blyth, Brussels, Belgrave and Londesborough. When we started construction in the North Huron area last year, we opened temporary stores in Blyth and Brussels, as well as in the neighbouring communities of Wingham and Teeswater. These stores were set up to provide the residents of your community a place to get information and ask questions with regards to natural gas and the natural gas pipeline system. Since construction of the natural gas pipeline in the North Huron area has been completed and operational for some time, the number of people visiting our stores in Blyth and Brussels has slowed down considerably, and more time is being spent by our staff out visiting customers or potential customers at their homes or businesses. In order to respond to the changing needs in your community, Union Gas is changing our current stores into a new "mobile office!!" Our new mobile office will travel throughout the communities of Blyth, Brussels, Belgrave and Londesborough and provide you with the same services our other stores did. However, our new mobile office will allow us to serve you better! Instead of having to come to our office for any information or questions, we will come to you! This will make getting any information about natural gas easier and more convenient for the residents in the North Huron area. The new Union Gas mobile office will be open in your area on January 6, 1997. The current Union Gas stores located in Blyth and Brussels will be closing as of Friday, December 20, 1996. You will be able to either call our representative in the mobile office to ask any questions or set up a time to visit you, or simply wait for the office to come to your area and approach the Union Gas van with any questions or requests you may have. The new Union Gas mobile office (pictured) will be located in a white Chevrolet Lumina Van with Union Gas clearly marked on the outside. The office will be open from Monday to Friday 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., or call anytime and leave a message. The telephone number for the mobile office will be: (519) 357-6353 Or Call our London Office at: 1-800-895-7193 Union Gas would like to thank you for letting us supply your energy needs.