. , .• • • Today's grads brighter says retiring superintendent Lloyd Jones has no qualms about today's gradu- -- after a degree from Queen's University and one ates. He believes they're a brighter lot than in year in teachers' college -- in a high school in years gone by. Chesterville, Ont. He taught history, Latin "and With 35 years experience in teaching, curricu- everything else you can imagine, including a full lum development and administra- tion, the superintendent of educa- tion bases his opinions on facts. "The quality of today's gradu- ates is considerably higher than I've ever seen. And that's because the demand on students is greater. You just have to be better to get into university," Jones said. Today's curriculum, he noted, is far more demanding than in the past "in the amount of complexity of thought and the kind of informa- tion you must have at your disposal to even participate in the learning process". The curriculum has changed from factual information-giving to an emphasis on skills and what a student can actually do. Jones also takes exception to comments about today's drop-out rate. "When I first started teaching, Lloyd Jones the drop-out rate was 70 per cent. Now it's about 20 per cent in Hastings County. It shows how society has changed -- there are no jobs for dropouts to go to -- and how schools have adjusted to meet stu- dents' needs." Jones' first teaching assignment came in 1957 range of sports". His first year was "truly an ex- cellent learning experience"; from there he went to Collingwood, taught and got married, and came to Quinte Secondary School as his- tory teacher in 1959. He went to Centennial when it opened in 1957 as history depart- ment head and, in 1974, came to the Education Centre as curricu- lum co-ordinator and head of cur- riculum services. He became a superintendent seven years ago. In the process, Jones completed his Master's degree and doctoral degree from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education in Toronto. Teaching, though, was what Jones liked doing best in his career. "You learn as much as someone learns from you in teaching. I get a lot of satisfaction from seeing peo- ple learn something and become skillful and then succeed. Your job as teacher was to give them experiences to make them succeed." Jones doesn't plan on ending his educational ties. He's planning a visit of schools in China next fall and someday wants to get involved in educa- tional research. . - ' <