Zurich Citizens News, 1976-10-20, Page 15Jack Riddell
On October 6, Ontario's
Education Minister announced
changes in the Province's
educational system. The Liberal
Party had for some time made no
secret of the fact that we intended
to unveil our education policy at a
fund-raising dinner to be held on
that date, and the Minister was
certainly aware of our intentions.
From statements made by our
Party's representatives in recent
months, as well as during —
and prior to — the last election
campaign, he must also have had
a clear idea of what our "New
Directions for Education" would
be. Obviously, then, neither the
timing of his announcement, nor
the direction of his changes can
be looked upon as coincidental.
Calling a hasty press con-
ference, the Minister outlined the
changes or "refinements" which
had been decided upon — mainly
that more solid "core" subjects,
such as English, Mathematics,
Canadian history or geography,
will be required subjects for
Citizens News, October 20, 1976 -Page 15
Changes in educational
students entering Grades IX and
X at the beginning of the 1977-78
school year.
While we welcome the
Government's refinements, we
regret that there is still no
guarantee that firm guidelines
will be established to ensure that
students throughout Ontario will
be given comparable instruction,
and assessed on similar
achievement valuation stan-
dards.
Ontario's educational system is
financially supported by the
taxpayers in the belief that a
literate, skilled and articulate
population is vital for the well-
being of this Province. Our
schools have a vital role to play in
helping and encouraging our
young people to become
productive members of society,
informed citizens, able to meet
the challenge of today's com-
petitive world.
Under the existing educational
system in this Province, as
Liberal Leader Stuart Smith has
pointed out, "pupils are placed in
an environment where the degree
of free choice is excessive for
their level of maturity and in-
consistent with the real world,
creating unrealistic ex-
pectations."
We believe that standards must
have a place in our educational
system, at every level, as they do
in the public service and private
enterprise, where individuals are
evaluated against specific per-
formance criteria. Province -wide
educational standards would
provide a yardstick against
which pupils, parents, teachers
and administrators could
measure accomplishment.
Our Party has long advocated a
required core curriculum, and
our recommendation is that at
least one-half of the instructional
time ( and most prescribed
homework) in the Primary and
Junior Divisions of our schools
should encompass English
readingcomprehension (Francais
in francophone schools); formal
communication skills such as
precision in spelling, grammar,
punctuation and spoken
language; second language and
culture (as trained teachers
become available); arithmetic
computation, measurement and
associated problem solving;
basic Canadian studies; fitness
and health education.
Students who have progressed
to the Intermediate Division
(Grades 7 to 10) should have
obtained a basic grounding in
language and arithmetic.
Therefore, the core curriculum
could be extended, with the basic
skills serving as a foundation.
The core in this division should be
composed of five major areas:
Reading and Composition;
Mathematics; Science; Social
Science (inlcuding Canadian
studies); Second Language and
Culture.
One of the fundamental
shortcomings of the present
educational system is the almost
total lack of curriculum structure
in secondary schools. The open
credit method places intolerable
burdens of choice on young pupils
and their parents. There is
widespread recognition that
pupils cannot adequately choose
well-balanced programs of study,
that parents and teachers
currently have insufficient
knowledge of pupils' attainment
and interests to offer meaninful
guidance.
We have, in "New Directions
for Education" recommended
the establishment of a fourth or
Senior Division, to begin at Grade
XI. Pupils at this level should
have already attained a
significant common background
in basic knowledge, and a wide
exposure to numerous subjects.
Therefore, this Division would
appear to be the appropriate
environment in which to in-
troduce a basically optional or
elective program of study.
In our view, province -wide
examinations, based on
minimum standards of at-
tainment in core courses, would
provide anecessary degree of
accountability. These
examinations would be taken by
pupils at the end of the final year
of each Division (after teachers
have submitted final grades for
that year). In this way, the
examinations would be
diagnostic - not counted in course
grades - and would provide
province -wide evidence which
would permit pupils and parents
to gain an improved perspective
of development of scholastic
abilities, and more realistic
expectations about the future.
The examinations would also,
enable teachers to evaluate
teaching methods and grading
criteria, and administrators to,
determine strengths and
weaknesses in the schools under
their jurisdiction.
Such examinations would also
be useful in determining
eligibility for entry to colleges
and universities. At present, a
major difficulty facing ad-
missions officers in institutions of
higher learning is the great
disparity in grading practices
and course content in the
Province's secondary schools.
Commenting on our education
policy, a recent "Toronto Star"
editorial maintained that "the
return of province -wide
examinations at the end of high
school is emphatically necessary
to correct the loss of recognizable
standards in high schools. There
is so much variation now that
university admission offices
don't know whether a student's
high school graduation standing
means anything in terms of his
readiness to tackle college work.
This also accounts in part for
the fact that students who can't
read or write poperly are
showing up in universities."
1191 BE NI SIN a
When an elephant walks, he
sets his hind feet down in the
track left by his front feet!
ts to help you make
the most .fyo
Co
Community centres are the heart of the social,
cultural and recreational life of many places in
Ontario.
They have been built by people in the community
who have contributed their money and their
labour and they are one place that everyone can
share equally.
Unfortunately, not all these centres were built to
the same construction standards. Modern
engineering studies have shown that some of them
contain dangerous flaws which must be corrected
immediately.
Happily, Ontario is able to help municipalities to
do this with extra money from both the Community
Recreation Centres Act and Wintario. In most
cases, the people in the community need to raise
only 25 per cent themselves.
Because we know some arenas are too old or too
costly to fix up, we are also ready to work out a plan
to help municipalities to build new ones.
If you would like to Sow how Ontario can help
to fix up your community centre or build a new one,
write to:
Community Centres,
Ministry of Culture and Recreation,
Queen's Park, Toronto, Ontario, M7A 2R9.
Ministry of Culture and
Recreation
Robert Welch,
Minister
William Davis,
Premier
Province of Ontario