Loading...
Times-Advocate, 1982-12-01, Page 4:vie r..S • . • Times -Advocate, December 1,19821 Ames 06, 4 ♦E .I dvocate Times Established 1873 Serving South Huron, North Middlesex Advocate Established 1881 & North Lambton Since 1873 Amalgamated 1924 Published by 1.W. Eedy Publications Limited LORNE EEDY Pu hlisher JIM BECKETT Advertising Manager Btl I BATTEN ROSS HAUGH Editor Assistant Editor HARRY DEVRIES Composition Manager DICK JONGKIND Business Manager Published Each Wednesday Morning at Exeter, Ontario Second Class Mail Registration Number 03U. Phone 235-1331 SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Canada $20.00 Per year: U.S.A. $55.00 C.W,N.A., O.C.N.A. CLASS 'A' and `ABC' What's your response? There's every indication, even from the politicians who normally prefer to espouse optimism, that it's go- ing to be a long, hard winter for some people due to the current economic conditions. . It is, of course, a matter of interpretation. For some it is simply a case .of having to forego that trip to the sunny south. For others it is the more serious matter of having to forego a nourishing meal or warm clothes. There won't be a great deal of sympathy extend- ed to those "unfortunates" in the former group, but by the same token, it is not enough to merely extend sym- pathy to those in the latter group. Those who face a bleak winter without sufficient food, shelter or clothing should be the recipients of more tangible displays of concern and generosity. There are stories emerging almost daily of families who are being forced to put children into foster homes because they can't afford to meet their needs. There's'a warning that many people may not have the funds to properly heat their residences and just this week there was a story from an Ontario city detailing how one family have been forced to take up residence in a school bus. Social agencies have explained the problems they face in getting enough contributions to look after those, who through no great fault of their owns, have fallen on hard times. Stated simply, they have no belts to tighten. They're eliminating necessities, not frills. There's no question about the need. There's no dif- ficulty in finding out the names of those agencieE prepared to help you share what you can With someone much less fortunate than yourself. The only question is: will you? Only one competent The Huron County Board of Education has decid- -0;by: alalrow margin, to permit only the chairman or his designate to speak to the news media on board issues. Only eight of 15 board members present were in favor of a more open policy. Any person who has ever served on or has chaired a public board realizes that an ill-informed or im- petuous board member can, indeed, create problems by speaking out on particular issues. But that is the name of the game. Publicly -elected boards are com- posed of persons who have been accorded the respon- sibility of speaking for and reporting to those who sup- ported such members at the polls. They have an obliga= tion to answer questions from the electorate about the conduct of board business. • The news media are, in full effect, 'thet ars of the electors. What reporters are told by boardrmembers is.passed along to the voters, who have every, right to know the issues on which theirrepresentativesmust make decisions. And those decisions entail a great deal of money; in fact education costs us about the same amount as all other local services combined. To officially declare that the chairman of the board or his personally -selected spokesman are the only per- sons competent is, in fact, a reflection on the in- telligence of the people's representatives. What is even more important, such tight control of board issues smacks too much of the sort of closed -door government of which Canadians are increasingly resentful. Wingham Advance -Times Keep lowering the standards One of the interesting facets of our society has been the reluctance in recent years to accept the fact that not every one can be a winner and as a result there has been a tendency to lower- the standards to the point where the non -achievers are considered achievers. In many cases the work ethic has been reduced to terms of "average" or even below. Production workers are expected only to turn out the average and there is little incentive for the above average to produce any more than the required quota. Even the education system has suc- cumbed to the same theories. In recent years there has been considerable head- way made in assistance for the slow learner, and while there can be no fault with that, there has not been any major corresponding programs to challenge those who are at the other end of the scale. A report card that came home recent- ly had an accompanying note fro the teacher that the "C" recorded in a liar- ticular subject was "good". Another teacher had used the designation of "good" for the "B" attained in another . subject. It certainly left the report rather vague as to standards, although in both cases the student appeared well satisfied that he had achieved a most acceptable standard, and there was no challenge to extend the effort in either subject. In most aspects of our society, we have set up programs to look after those who can't achieve, and while that has merit, it also looks after those who don't want to achieve. Unfortunately, the system also takes away the incentive for those who can achieve more than they do. Success is rewarded by higher taxation that is given to those who aren't successful. Where's the incentive in 'that? The question arises as to why there is so much emphasis placed on protecting the losers? The question becomes of even greater importance when there are ex- amples of costly efforts to prevent them from ending up as losers. The government, through the generous BATT'N AROUND .......with the editor use of money gleaned from those suc- cessful enough to fill the tax coffers, have bailed out several major companies in the past couple of years. In effect, they've taken funds from the successful com- petitors of those firms and their employees and in so doing have placed the successful firms in jeopardy. There are farm survival groups operating to keep financial institutes from foreclosing on losers. So the banks are forced to recoup those losses by charging them back to the successful operations and in so doing place the latter in jeopar- dy through those extra costs. As long as there is an acceptance of in- efficiency, and in some cases even a reward for it, there is less and less incen- tive for people to be succesful. There's a minor hockey houseleague operating in one city in the province where the organizers don't keep track of the score. The kids are told basically that winning is not important; playing the game for the fun and recreation is what really matters. Certainly, there must be an emphasis on the latter. But do we really do people a favor when the ultimate goal of wind-' ing is removed? Motivation experts keep pointing out that setting realistic goals . and then. striving towards them is necessary for those who wish to be successful. The key, of course, is in setting realistic goals. Not everyone can be at the top, but the majority can probably achieve higher standards. The report card, for instance, would have been more challenging and meaningful if it had noted that the mark was good, but with the added remark that a little more effort could result in a higher mark. A couple of years ago, the writer had an opportunity to see the results of how set- ting a realistic goal could result in achievement. I took over the coaching reins of a minor hockey team that had been bombed by the opposition in every outing. In the first game they were playing against a team that had earlier whipped them by eight goals. Before the game, it was decided that while it was virtually impossible to beat them (they were a superior team) the goal would be to reduce the margin to four goals, and if we did that, we'd count it as a moral victory. The kids played with renewed en- thusiasm and managed to keep the margin to three goals and were beaming with smiles when they skated off the ice with their "victory". That's perhaps the approach people should be taking in these trying economic times. It's unrealistic to see the goal as a complete and quick return to the boom times. But it is also unrealistic to see the goal as being total doom and gloom. Let's give it a "I)" and say It isn't good, but with some concerted effort can be im- proved. Establish the goals and list the rewards that go with it. But let those who' attain success benefit from the rewards to a measure that will give them incentive to attain even greater success. Chew some short items No great theme this :week, so will chew around at a few shorter items. One of the recent events that did not exactly send a surge of pride or joy or trust through me was Pierre Trudeau's ad- dresses to the nation. They were depressing, not for their content, which was as stale as yesterday's news, but for their lack of it. Where was the old wit, the charming shrug, the coy smile, the candy -floss philosophy? All missing. Nothing left but an aging and unwanted politician desperately trying to hang on. I found it deeply ironic that the man perhaps least trusted in all of Canada should be pleading with us for trust. He was barking up a hollow tree. The average Canadian has lost his old trust in govern- ment, the banks, the economists. This wide distrust has filtered down into our national being un- til we find it difficult to trust anyone outside our immediate family. And even there, you never knowwhen your wife is go- ing to open your mail or go through your pockets. Trudeau was right, of course, but I wish the idea had come from someone else. We must regain that trust in our leaders, our in- stitutions, and each other, or the way ahead is one of darkness and despair. But do you really trust the so-called skilled worker who does a job for you? Do you trust the car salesman? Do you trust the Post Office? Do you trust the Department of • Revenue, with its nifty, cold-blooded computers; its warnings, its speed in snatching your money and its tardiness in returning it, without interest? How aboutyour doctor? Your lawyer? Your den- tist? Your husband? Your wife? Your children? ti Then, - the majority of teachers was young, dedicated, keen, militant, innovative: In 1982, the group was middle-aged, conservative, perhaps just as dedicated, but tired, hanging on, a bit disillusioned. • ,..At the afternoon session, Sugar and Spice Dispensed By Smiley Do. I really trust my grandson when he sends a letter to me, through his mum, that says, I love you very, very much, and I hope you don't die for a long, long time:"? After all, it is getting close to Christmas. Do you even trust yourself? That's about as close to home, as we can get, and I certainly don't always trust myself. Enough. But answer honestly. Went to a Professional Development day for teachers recently. Sat near the back of the auditorium while an at- tractive, highly intelligent worpan who had raised seven kids and holds a high post in educational circles tried to inspire me. She did her best, but I wondered how much of it wassinking in,when I look- ed out over the heads of the teachers. The bald, white heads of the majori- ty. I couldn't help thinking of my first P.D. day, more than twenty years ago. }., went to'a seminar about gifted children. It was enlightening, and rather frightening..Many, many parents believe their children are gifted, when they are merely bright. By the time the poor lit- tle devils are put through I.Q. and dozens of other criteria, it turns out that there are darn few truly gifted children, and that teachingthem is a whole new bagame. - At least I am pleased that governments are finally going to pay some attention to the gifted child, and nurture its creativity. Therein lies.the future of the world, because these young peo- ple are analytical, critical, questioning, not content to swallow the same old flab- by ideas and concepts that society tries to stuff them with. For years, all the money has been poured into help- ing slow learners, a wor- thy and necessary cause, while the truly gifted were allowed to dull their minds, become bored or frustrated, and frequently drop out of the scene. It's a welcome turn -around, but it's been a long time coming, and the previous waste of these people has been appalling. • I can think of dozeps of kids, former studegnr , whose innate ggiftedn was so thwarted; frustrated or suppressed by the school system and a hypocritical society that they literally dropped out of both and became failures, in the eyes of the world at least. It's too late for my own children, but I hope my grandboys, and yours, and your children to come, will benefit from this latest awakening from a long sleep of our educational leaders. This column is too dang serious. Let's turn to something a little more lively. I get quite a few an let- ters, but not too often a fan -in the flesh as it were. The other day, a tiny bundle of cheer and energy dropped in: Vikki LePage of the Port Colborne weekly. She pumped up my ego smoothed my ruffled feathers, and left me feel- ing quite benign toward the world. She was brought round by a relative, Mrs. Jones, and we hada great time remembering all th Joneses I'd taught: John and Nancy Bill and Bar- bara, nice kids all. Vikki and I posed for a picture, arms around each other. Hope it turns out, and -thanks for coming around, Vikki. You made my day. Hope farmers listening Last week I ,told you about my little'aunt in a small Piper Cub. For those of you who aren't familiar with that term, that's the name of a small two-seater airplane. My friend's words as'we started down the runway were not really good. for My state of mind. I didn't bother to look down at my knuckles to see if they were white, but I know that I checked to see if my seat -belt was tight. "Lift, baby, lift!" he muttered as we roared down the runway. Atnaz- ingly enough, lift we did, and just as smoothly as the big jets do it, too. Plying about six or. seven hundred feet over Lambton County certainly gives one a different perspective. It was interesting to see the patterns of the various was the scarcity of bush land. They say that this area has only about six to pX :3 Perspectives By Syd Fletcher farms down below, just like a big patchwork quilt. November twelfth, and most of the crops were off with only a few corn fields here and there left behind. After two days of rain you could surely see which farmers had tiled their fields. What was surprising and frightening, I guess, • • seven percent of its land left in bush. I would have to say that that includes the two or three thousand acres. that snake up the provincial park land because on most farms there's precious little left. Not too many summers around here are really dry, so dry that the land cracks, and tbpn crate. again. So dry that the creeks are raw gouges in the land. So dry that the good top soil blows out in- to the lake or into the next county. • I would hope that the farmers of the area would think seriously about sav- ing their most important resource, land, by putting up wind -breaks along their property lines and along ditches. FrOm the plan you could see how the ditches had filled in, in many places. With a green area along the ditch, m ch of tiat problem would be solved and the ditches would not have to be dredged so often. I hopeall my farmer frienotit there are �tistening, . - .;: