The Huron Expositor, 1979-04-19, Page 23f
} arry nc ley
The new ma hen atics .:.
t t.. .,ocher at S:CI.. sJt2
rumor had it, did not altogether folloksi (her
usual type. Collegiate teachers at Seaforth
in the days around 1912 and 13: had favored.
blue serge suits. and black bowler hats and
on all occasionsstood, very much on their
dignity.
Tile new ' 'man was said to, be very
different, Yet we were rather taken by
surprise when a rather slight young man
with a pompadour haircut and wearing
a light brown Norfolk jacket stepped
jauntily into the class morn on the opening
day of the 1913 fall term, He 'told tis that
his name was,l.F, Ross and that his Subject
was mathematics.
We were more surprised when he
jumped up .and seated himself on the front
of the teachers desk. crossed his legs and
begantalking like he had know it us for
years. ire was very much at ease and in a
few jninutc.s we all felt the sante way. We
immediately took a liking to him.
The boys liked hint evenmere after the
first drill period down in the gymnasium..
He announced that he was going to give us
a fear lesson~ ingymnastics and, also teach
us tumbling, To show that he had some
qualifieations for such work he called on us
to watch while` he did a , trick. He then'
gathered himself for a Spring. leaped' into
the air, flipped over 'back and and landed'..
on. his feet. VVc.ltad never seen the like of
. that. None of us. ever Iearncd.,how to do tt.
either, Perhaps few even .tried. •
No Volunteer
Next he told; tis that'hc was going 10 give
us a few lessons in boxing because every
man Should beable to defend lhnlisclf. Tor
show what he meant, he asked for sonieont;
to step out and assist hint. When ,`nobod
volunteered Mr. Ross: picket) the biggest.
troy. iii the class and brought him rit.
"Now, just try to. lilt me" Mr: Moss said.
The boy made; a rather gentle pass which
w as -easily° parried with the quick lilt of One
arm..
""NO. no - hit till -g Ut soma; Stealll...'MO .it
as if you really meal.. it .
l
The hot' drew back, and made a healthy.
swing. 'rhe result was, the same as.before.
With' a-quickshift of the feet and a slight
bend of. the.body .Mr. .Ross escaped
'cdnipletely. Only, quiek as a flash there
was. returned 8 light. tap to the body from
:the left hand and an easy touch tin. the jaw .
from the right.
•the message.. Iii there early, fall Mr. Ross _used le cone
,out and! play baseball with us. tis: wore a,
atteredr old. dove that had the centre cut
Out of the paint. With this giose he could
fake in otterhand, art! ball that carne his
way, And he could. fire it back. fast and
straight. When .he played ball with. us he.
Was just one of the boys.
Physical training, or drill as it used to be
e!alied. was never a subject. that Mr. Boss
took too serioush, He always. seemed to
think it Was one of those things that only
had to: be done because it, was- on the
t�intetahle. So he always tried to stork some
;un into his classes.
WC used to spend :t good deal of time
every.. period with�rate exercise that always
seemed, more like a'datlee than• a part of u
course in physical training. 11 was called
',the "reel step" real lSas "i1Ways.done with
the hands on the hips.. in. What was
technically known as the ""hips firm''
--Position, The reel was done by hopping 'up.
and down on alternate feet w ith a sort of
heel and toe motion, at the same time
bringing in a .sort of kirk and side sten„ p..Al1•
we needed was the aceom lanimur I' O`
i ltrf
lag, piper and we could' have put on tt.
performance at the 11igh1and Games.
Our classes usually ended with a Session
of what Mr. Ross. called "stationary.
riittning." This was basically the ;sante as
rt: tl'runningexcept that the legs ttt.ost.d up
and dOWO without any progress 'forward.
Qniy with us it was apt to end up t session
or "stationary. sprinting" I%'ith everyone
going at. top. Speed until Out of breath.
' Training
When spring crane Mr, Ross took over.
the training of the cadet.:cor is.. ht the days
hefore World • War .1 .military thrill was •
never taken very Seriously. (i'was rather a.
Waste' of valuable_ 011ie oral once_ sttdet
• inspection w.ts over the tr;tinine; could' b'.e.
Ibrgottcti until another year.
The cadets were armed with rifles which
we ,sways thought had, Seen settiee in the
Ashanti WarS. There also were bayonets'
which we e trri-ed•in belts around the waist'.
On inspection .day we woree', buff• colored
uniferitis that never seemed to :lit..
Mr, Ross would march''us back and forth
across• the school yard in a `variety' of
fernt,ktions. He also taught us the handling
.> 7
of our rifles and we eiloid go through our
drill with. precision. Sometimes we pre-
pared tie attack an eneniv. that was
supposed to be in hidiji in the' busb on :the
wan to Silver' "Creek.." W never cleric
We 4 in
'We got tge. cent:let' with1
tl a 'ent:►ny brit .heti our
advance never got beyond the fence.that
surrounded .the' school! grounds. For most
t>f usthe main purpose of the cadet corps
st as the annual parade down Main Street
Liar an kg. .;ream soda at 'Oscar Neils
restattraitt.
Nor.ilei Mr. Ross, take •nt lit in officers•
` very seriously'. When on Cadellitite.ititut
Day .the Major from Headquarters at
London came to make itis annual inspection
of to Corps Mr. Ross was not greatly
impresser.. Although the Major came 10
the school. in an automobile la great luxury.
in those dans). tots attired in a faultlessly
tailored: blue uniform, with lrigh boots
polished to a mirror finish,. wore .gloves.
carried tt cane and had his •moustache
waxed to treadle points Mr. Ross persisted'
in referring to hint as ”The sergeant.'" To
him allmilitary' officers were sergeants...
In Charges
In 19.11 the 'final pre -tear Cadet Cainp
was helot at Carling Heights, London, Mr,
Ross was in chart;c of the company of
eadetts from Seatorth. We had to, change
trains At Stratford and there Yy as a Yvan of
an hour or more until the train 'left for
London.
Of course, all the boys had to ntakt off
for,up town to seethe sights. When it came
time for the train to leave three of the boy's
had not returned so the train pulled' out
without_ them, To the rest of us. this was a
big joke and we laughed about it most of
the way to London.
But to Mr, toss it was a very different -"
ntat.tcr. He took his responsibility seriously
and he had' lost three of the :• company.
When he' reached London he was very,
: badly flustered. He had diftieulty to: clearly
.explain whatliad happened to the
"Sergeant". However. the 'missing' three
_invited up on the next train' so.s'tlt ended_
well. ! -
At camp each cadet .company took a
period of drill every forenoon under its own
instructor. Mr. Ross used to take us out for
training.. Btu marching around a field
under a hof .icily sun was not exactly his
idea of- the best way to spend a summer
Morning.
He would take us over to a tree that grew.
near the back of the parade ground. Here
we w"oultt sit down in the shade and rest.
Should an ,Officer come anywhere within
sight 11 was "All right Fall in and we
• will get. drilling.H �eeoes.a sergeant. `
1'lie previoifs yC85 .at ('momit) we had been,
ender Mr. Ross' predecessor. Norman
• Miller. a most meticulous _drill'ins'tructor.
He was afterwards Dr 'Norntan Miller,. for
Sketch•
of .F. oss byGeo e
, �) . R ..George
Daly from the SCI Alumni
Yearbook
marry rears heaet;'ot the'Deportment Of
Mathematics at Queen's • enive, sits.. 1•l0.
had coached. the. boys trioti.:Settforth to .'.
,acherc•tlte•t had gone Out and ez'tptured.. Elle-
Stratlieon t Shictd its the best drill tearn yn
( amp, This had • taken many hours oh
practice ;aid there w' ere ntaay drill. sessions •
1 _ t. t
in the ntternoons and esenings %, hen
interesting things .sere going on else-
w here,
Mr., Ross did not e'arc to Subleet his boys
to such ori ordeal so Seatbt'th dill not. enter
the co )petition: But he nevertheless, had
the satisfaction ofSe,eing his -boys carry oft'
a good. Share of the itidiridual .prizes in
athletic"`event~..•
A few weeks After our return from Camp.
Seaforth• field the Old Boys' Reunion and
Firemen's C'nnventir n - ,five days of t,
Befnrc: it was over war had ,broken out ,lri
Europe. And.lifc would neYer again :be the
same: gl'o'be ciyntiitrued)
Per
debates need for
10 teachers for
French program
The Perth County Board of
Education exploded in -de-
bate after the disclosure that
ten and not nine new teach-
ers were needed to imple-
ment- the new French pro
gram..
Trustee Ed Dearing of RR.
2, Staffa Said that the initial.
report on the program set
down that only nine teachers
would be required.
"The report 'said that it.
only. estimated that we would
only need nine teachers.
Why do we need a tenth?
•We're spending .a :quarter
million dollars on this pro-
gram already. What guaran-
tee do we have that with 'this.
tenth: teacher relieving
regular teachers that the
regular teachers will be
doing something worthwhile'
with their time," he said,
'Trustee Dereck Ward of
RR. 3, Listowel then pointed
rout to - the board, "The,
experts say we need 10
teachers and that's fine by
me. This year We are releas-
ing 14 teachers and if we
need.to hire up to 10 teachers
to implement this 'new
French program, that's what
We'll have to do."
Superintendent of Pro-
gram, Keith Thompson, said
that the figure of nine teach-
ers was, only an estimate.
"We said at the time that
that was not a firm .figure. It
was impossible to figure out
the exact number of, teachers
necessary.,'' he said..
Superintendent. of
Instruction G.S. Stewart in
explaining why ' a tenth
teacher might be needed said
that not all schools' have a
class rotation and that each
of the new teachers would
have, to take over a class to
give the daily French lesson.
"There is no- nice heat
number wecan-use for this,"
he said. "They ideal situ-
ation would be to install new
teachers who have French
capabilities :and let them.
swap classes back and forth
with their fellow teachers to
fill the time adequately."
The new program will see
the doubling of • the time
spent teaching French, to
Grades, 7 and 8 from 20
minutes to 40 minutes a day.
The new program will also,
see the implementing of a
half hour per,day of French
into Grade's:'5 . and 6. .
Trustee Robert McTavish
of RR 1, Stratford motioned
that! the limit be set at the
estimated nine teachers to be
hired by this was eventually
defeated.
Mr. Stewart in closing the
discussion said, "It may not
in fact, be necessary to hire
10 teachers. We won't know
fol. 'sure for a few' months
yet,"
IN SU:.:.ATIO
SPRAY ON URETHANE, FOAM
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April
26
and continuing until Saturday April 28
You will havean
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DRIVE to DUB't'1Nand, $;AVE
" }HURON EX,P . SIT I
AP II. la, 1J$
Dearing
B f E bu
explains
getup 7•Q;,
''this Es the most difficult
presentation. I've ever had
tOr .Waite to this beard," said
trustro r'-+ Dearing, chair-
man ►1• the budget commit-
tee. ars he brought ,down the
Perth County Board of,
:Education budget April 3'.
After making the present-
ation, which revealed the
nearly S25 millionbudget
7
which is 7 ,Q ,per cent higher
than last year, Dearing Os-
plained. to board trustees.
the reasons for the increase.
Trustee Dearing explained
that although the 2.5 per cent.
decline; in: enrolement had
meant • fewer provincial
grants: that certain costs are
fixed' and that inflation had:
played; its part; the biggest.
problem his committee faced
....as, the board itself.
"This committee has been
frustrated by the severe
limi tations placed on it by
the number of previous
board decisions," he said.
Dearing reported,that no -
committee member wase.
happy with the new budget
but• they supported it be-
cause, "we all. feel it was
the best we can come up with
without cutting staff., --N.
ducing transportation or
closing schools ,"
In his report Dearing citied
various examples of where
the ,board had, "Tied the:
hands." of the comrnittee
with their previous decisions
Among them were: the
salerles and supplies of both,
a French language coat*
sultant and moral value Cott,
$ultant; the hiring of 10 :.neve
Frenchteat hers in the
elementary schools to im-
pliment the new French. pro-
grant; the nurChaSer of two
new portables classrooms, for
administration, summer
school for Grades 9 and
t0,two new portable
financial assistance to:
Stratford' Central Secondary
School Centennial
Committee; expansion of the
collection in the, film library;
the short terms leave fund
for: highschool teachers and
money for short term
consultative services • in" the
etent ntary'scaools..
Concluding his report
Dealing blasted, the board
with; his, own:
reeontrnendatione for What
should be done,
"The apnroaeh lu- the
budget takenby this board'
must be clhanged.We cannot
continue to keep adding new
programs and expenditures.
to the budget without
dropping something off the
other end.We must aim for
either zero -based 'budgeting
or 'take evaluationsof every
program yearly."
Although normally against
the formationof a standing
committee Dearing favoured
the instituting of a three
member committee of
finance that could act as a
watchdog on . board
spending, m
S CONSTRUCTION
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