Loading...
Zurich Citizens News, 1978-06-08, Page 11Teachers should look after books Continued from front page about everyone in society makes comments during a day that could be considered blaphemous. He saki most of us try to avoid using them in our speech but habit or reflex prevents that. He said the use of the words is "Habit" not a "deliberate attempt to dishonor God." He pointed out that the children in the schools know those words exist adding that it is far better for the children to learn about "life language and sex" in a controlled environment rather than in a drug store or out on the street. "You trust your doctors and your ministers you'd BLUEBIRD LANDSCAPING COMPANY Professional design layout men 6 years experience Professional design layout men 6 experience Limestone Walls Water Fountains Flagstone Patios Flower Tree Shrub Beds Designed to please customer Sodding maintenance done on request. 243-2090 Pt. Franks better trust your teachers," he warned. Peggy Rivers told the board she represented a group of people in the Goderich area "concerned. with the quality of education ,offered" and who feel it is worthwhile to "spend time showing support for our educational system, for the board that administers it and for the teachers involved in it." Y Rivers said the Goderich group did not favor banning the books and also was unhappy with the methods used by the group proposing their banning. She said decisions made by councils in the county supporting the ban were based on quotations "arbitrarily selected from the books by a person or "persons." She added that the motions by the councils were sent to county secondary schools without prior consultation with the board of education, "an act we consider a gross infringement on the rights and responsibilities of the board." Rivers said the methods used in selecting ob- jectionable material from the books made it obvious that no "intelligent and logical evaluation of the literary merit and worth of the books can be made without a complete evaluation of them." She said the three books were widely acclaimed by scholars to be of superior literary merit and to deprive students of Huron the right to study them would be to "isolate them in a vacuum devoid of any realistic connection with con - temporary society." She said the claim that the books and the teachers using them were attempting to turn our youth into "vulgar, filthy, ungodly individuals is absurd." Rivers said the books have been used in the county system for more than ten years and only in senior grades by students old enough to vote, sit on juries and sign contracts. She said their use had no adverse affect to date adding that surely a person old enough to decide if someone is guilty of a criminal offence is old enough to read any book they choose. Rivers said that a person reading a "book is not necessarily influenced by the idealogy of it.She e said someone reading Mein Kampf does not automatically become a Nazi and someone reading the biography of John Diefenbaker does not necessarily become a Progressive Conservative. Rivers told the board that the "notoriety Huron County has received by even raising the issue is not something we should be proud of." She said the image the county is receiving on a national level as a result of the issue is leaving "false impressions from which we will be years recovering." She said the groups presenting their support of the materials were not ad- vocating their mandatory use but was protecting the right of selection by secondary school teachers. She said the move to ban the books indicated the people of Huron felt better qualified to judge course content than the professional teachers they employ. Paul, Ross told the. board he reresented a group of people from the Clinton area that opposed the proposed banning of the books. Ross told the board that he didn't feel the material in the books was obscene but that the method used to make them appear obscene was "to my mind obscene." "They used a simple children's arithmetic method that says the whole is equal to the sum of the parts," he said. "they've taken parts of the novels and said that these equal the 'total and that is an ob- scenity." Ross said that the teachers in countythe shouldleft be with the decisions they are trained to make. He said You are cordially invited to attend a Retirement Tea for REV. & MRS. A.C. BLACK WELL to be held SUN. JUNE 11 2 - 5 P.M. ZURICH COMMUNITY CENTRE St. Peters Lutheran Church Zurich, Ont. Citizens News, June 8, 1978 Page 11 they have the expertise to decide if material isfit for use in county classrooms and are trained and hired to make those decisions. A public meeting on the issue of the book banning will be held in Clinton June 13 at the high school. Authors Pierre Berton and June Callwood are expected to attend. SALE:: 3 -YEAR WARRANTY Li • ,•'•:l 1y'rY:G:}:ti:�11 ii:fti tY;:j!::::ti!;iYt:: 'i:!;:tiVV%., „{n�A�••. SAVE NOW! This Is The Time To Buy . . . • Year End 1978 Stock Clearance • Price Reductions for Valuable Savings • Sales Tax Reduction CHOOSE FROM A GOOD SELECTION OF CONSOLE & PORTABLE MODELS FURNITURE & APPLIANCES Main Street ZURICH. 236.4075. 4111111111111111 Home Cooki ng? We're The Best! NOW OPEN TOWNS AND COUNTRY HE=TaFF DINER MEET TONY BEDARD MARLENE BEDARD CINDY O'BRIEN PAM O'BRIEN LINDA DENOMME Tony and Marlene Bedard are proud to announce the grand opening of the Towne and Country Diner. You've savoured their delicious chicken and hamburgers and french fries, now try some of their delicious home cooking. 99 OpeningSpecials Breakfast of bacon and eggs from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. weekdays and from 10 a.m. Saturday and Sunday. Other breakfast items available are: Toasted Western Bacon and Eggs Sausage and Eggs Toast and Jam A special price on our home cooked meal served from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. weekdays a STOP IN AND HAVE A FREE COFFEE DURING THE WEEK OF JUNE 12.14 Come for a quick snack, or a hearty meal. Enjoy our home style cooking for breakfast, lunch and dinner! Open late! rtIMINIIIIMMNIENIONINIIMMINIMINNINEMEIMMIIMEMBEEMEM OUR TAKE-OUT OPEN Mon. thru Thurs. 7 a.m. - 12 midnight Fri. & Sat. 10 a.m. - 1 a.m. Sunday 10 a.m. - 12 midnight PHONE 236-4923 J