Times Advocate, 1999-09-22, Page 8a
!fir
Wednesday. September 22, 1999
Remember when...
On June 30 to Jply 2, 2000,
District High School will cele-
brate its 50th Anniversary. The
Exeter Times Advocate would
like to join in the celebrations
by sharing articles or pictures
which have appeared over the
years.
South Huron
HI HIGHLIGHTS
1965 to 1970
A smashingsuccess!
By Ann Creech
Our Centennial Day was great! All the teachers
and about three-quarters of the students were
in costume.
It was quite amusing to walk down the hall
before classes began and view the various cos-
tumes. Many people went to a great deal of
trouble to make the day a success.
The girls were lovely in their long gowns. The
boys looked quite debonair in their spats, top
hats, cut -away coats and grey vests.
The first prize for the best -dressed teachers
went to Mrs. M. Farrow and Mr. S. Timms.
Second prize was awarded to Mrs. Allingham
and Mr. McAuley.
The award for the best -dressed couple on the
staff went to Mr. and Mrs. C. Wilson.
The award for the best humourous costume
went to Mrs. Janes and Mr. Bogart.
The best -costumed office staff were Mr. J.
Wooden and Miss D. Swartz.
The winners in Grade 9, chosen by Miss
Swartz and Mr. Wooden, were Marlene Overholt
and Richard -Shelby.
Mrs. Janes and Mr. Bogart chose Peggy Pryde
and Richard Shoebottom as the best -dressed in
Grade 10.
In Grade 11, Mr. and Mrs. Wilson judged Ruth
Ann King and Ron Grasda'Al to be the best.
Mrs. Allingham and . Mr. McAuley. selected
Sheila Keller and Vic Fulcher as the best -
dressed couple in Grade 12.
, In Grade 13.Mrs. Farrow and Mr. Timms
chose Cassie Desjardine and Paul Mason as the
best -dressed
Judged to be the Best -Costumed in the school
Were Ruth Ann King and Vic Fulcher.
Congratulations to all of our winners
Variety Night is approaching. It will be held
May 5 and 6, however, there are some changes
which have been made in the. programme.
An Open House will be held from 7:30 to 8:10.
The classrooms will also be open after the pro-
gramme is concluded. Variety Night . will coin
mence at about 8:15. Admission will . be 50e for
adults and 25e for students.
The programme will consist of a variety of
dances; a Grade 12 play entitled "The Man Who
Married a Dumb Wife"; The T -A Choristers; The
Washington Squares; and about two historical
.skits.
Unfortunately, due to the lack of time, there
wilt be no puppet show.
The finals of the Posture Queen Contest will be
held Friday, May 5.
Grade 13 students begin exams today. English
is the first exam. These exams are termed
Confidential Tests. Students will receive only
their marks, not the corrected paper. Good luck
to all involved!
Grade 12, five-year Arts and Science students
will write an English composition exam tomor-
row morning. This exam is sent out from the
Department of Education. The only methods of
studying for this exam is to review your word
studies and learn the meanings of several words
unfamiliar to you.
See you next week!
Sports related Information or photos needed
for book -Dates - 1838 to 1950
Contact Ron Bogart 235-0847 (home)
or 235-0314 (work)
FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE SHDHS
"ALL -YEARS REUNION" CONTACT
KENDRA ARTHUR 235-4006 (H) OR 235-4587 (W)
OR PAT Rows 236-7167
1
Opinion&F�ruin
A step tovvards the
protection of health
and
weII-being
Dear Editor:
The fears of growing numbers of Ontario residents
regarding the influx of unregulated intensive agricul-
tural industries into our province have been made
clear. Dr. Murray McQuigge, Medical Officer for Bruce -
Grey -Owen Sound, recently alerted Bruce County
Council to the fact that studies in Huron County show
"downstream pollution by antibiotic-resistant bacteria"
which can "spread into the inured to farm family and
from there into the community". Manure from Huron
County intensive farms, presently housing some
400,000 hogs in total, is suspected by many to be a
source of such bacteria, due to the high usage of
antibiotic drugs for this .
This data is very real and ,very scary and should be
very disturbing to those who now have- this informa-
tion. A report by the CBC's, 5th Estate (1998, Ref.
#37150); reported on the Manitoba situation, with
respect to the intensive livestock (hogs) industry and
graphically illustrates the trauma, the pollution and
the ignorance that surrounds this issue. (Yes; more
scary data.)
As we come to. the close of the 90's, a period refer-
enced as the decade of environmental awareness, I
certainly mon. where our Ministry of Agriculture
has been. If in fact, the Province is in an agricultural
recession, as this ministry su:: eats, are highly concen-
trated (intensive) livestock (pigs, cattle, poultry) indus-
tries their solution? This ministry must be aware of the
devastating track record that follows these methods in
Europe and the U.S.A., yet would still choose to enact
legislation that considers such enterprises as "`a nor-
mal farm practise". I do. not understand the rationale
that would permit such an extensive mutation of family
farming as we once knew it, without forst equipping the
Province and its agricultural comet uties with effec-
tive laws to regulate corporate farming. Their failure
to do so,' emphasizes the requirement of local
Municipalities . and Coup. to conduct -environmental
assessments otr their lands, that will determine how
many animal units our land bases can sustain: It can
be done and should be done to demonstrate responsi-
ble land stewardship by our leaders.
Do the owners of these mega barns really have. the
land base to safely absorb the manure produced? The
highly concentrated nature of these facilities is at the
heart of the problem.. Environmental studiesare an
obvious and Imperative step towards the protection of
the health and well-being of all people concerned. Calk
or write your local or provincial representative
expressing your concerns. t is. your right to be
unformed.
._� ' fF� KATHY McCARxn
Citizens Actively Representing
Environmental Security
Welfareor learnfare,
the choice is -ours
Our politicians bemoan the fact there are has one mil-
lion, t?o . hundred thousand poor children in our midst
but have little in the way of solutions to alleviate the
problem. No, tax cuts do not help the poor who are
unemployed or are drawing welfare; surprise, they are
not gainfully employed and thus do not pay income
tax. The majority of Canada's poor are women and
their children, 84% of the 537,000 single parent
families were headed by women. This equates to
451,000 households with an average of two. chili.
dren per home and we arrive at a staggering one
million children who live with poverty and all of it's
consequences.. "Poor youth" are almost three tunes
more likely to drop out of school. In 1991 more
than 38,000 young women under the age of 20
became pregnant and 24,000 carried their babies
to term.
The present day solution for the single mother is
Mother's Allowance. The provincial government
provides social assistance for the mother and child until
the child reaches the age of eighteen, the only require-
ment being the child is registered for school. The mother
usually drops out of school in the second month of her
pregnancy and applies for assistance, there is no
requirement for her to attend school or find employ-
ment. In my 30 plus years of counselling thousands of
teens, only one young man and his fatnir kept the child.
Being born poor guarantees bbadequate food, housing,
Principal's Message
A great deal of discussion has occurred in
the media over the last few months about the
'literate learner". Saturday Night magazine
covered the whole issue of adult literacy
across Canada in a feature article last month
and certainly the major survey of university
students attending Huron College at s ti e
University of Western Ontario receiv
great deal of press. The whole dialogn r;
been opened up about what is meant wiuun
we say that someone is literate, what stan-
dards we ought to use to mea-
sure student literacy and whose
standards are the right ones to
use anyway.
As we approach the arrival of
the new millenium we know
that more people than ever
before in the history of our ci ►•-
lizatiQn will 6e employed
"knowledge work" to earn their DEB
livings. Therefore, both collecHOMUTH
-
tively and individually, students PRINOPALS
from our school system must
have more sophisticated literacy► skills than *-
previous generations of students. This, in
turn, requires more time spent talking about
and developing ways to teach effectively for
the development of literate learners.
At a recent meeting' of the subject depart-
ment heads at our school, I talked about the
literate learner having four essential charac-
teristics: The ability to reason with' indepenr
dente, consistency and: aboutincreasingly
complex ideas: The ability to communicate
ideas and information with independence,
clarity, precision and confidence: The ability
to organize ideas and information with inde-
pendence, log and for a variety of purposes,
The ability to apply language conventions
competently.
Literacy is a continual focus far learning
from Grade 1 to OAC. However, for many
reasons, Students often find one or more of
thesb abilities difficult to demonstrate. At
South Huron: teachers are being encouraged
to engage students regularly in conversations
about literaer--what it looks like /and soundS'
like ----what strengths and weaknesses-. you.,
have as a student when it comes to Titer,
and how we, as teachers,. help students move
along the continue. of'iteraey each week,
each month and: eachyear.
That sort of conversation requires some
time for reflection} onthe part of the student:
This *eternal present" we all seem to live : in:
in _1999 provides precious little time for
reflection by any of ua. In this life of 24-7°, as.
the web talk goes, if we persist at conversa-
tion only and not take time for refleetlu n
would suggest we're working .again + the
development of a society of truly' ,rate
learners at the very time that we need .em
most.
schooling and health care in our affluent communities.
The children inherit these chains and _sadly the circle
grows into crime, disillusionment and poor self esteem,
The "graduates," the children of the poor, often end up
in general level and vocational programs in our school
system. I was director of student services of a Junior
Vocational school and sadly I found that most of the stu-
dents were poor and the vast majority came
from single -parent female -run homes. Being
poor wasn't a requirement to getin but the
well-to-do families did not seem to: have slow
children. Perception does wonders when pro-
moting students to high school, the rich and
middle class on one side and the poor across
the tracks.
I have a solation to the dilemma of the cycle
of poverty in our society. The State of
Wisconsin in the U.S. has established a pro-
gram called "LEARNFARE". A young mother
who wishes to draw welfare must attend
school to be eligible for benefits. Attendance is
closely monitored by the departments of education and
social assistance. Skipped classes means a loss of
income on next month's cheque. Single mothers gradu-
ate high school and are prepared for employment. The
grads gain self respect and are positive role models fly
their children. In Canada we spend hundreds of millions
of dollars to no avail. In 30 years of teaching I found that
the rich. got richer and the poor had children.
"Most men look at things as they are and ask Why. I
dream of things that never were and ask Why Not?"
LEONARD
LJESSER
COUNSELLOR