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Section Two The Canadian Statesman, Bowmanville, March 31, 1976 5 1975 Report from Board of Education Beaver bhas ever 1ythUn you e - remodel et easy-on-t e- udgm t ce The Northumberland and Newcastle Board of Education has recently released a gen- eral statement entitled: 1975, the Seventh Year of Oper- ation. It reveals that the student population of September 30, 1975 was marginally lower than the previous year. As of that date, there was a total of 21,754 students enrolled of which 13,991 were in ele- mentary schools; 7,667 in secondary schools; and 96 in schools for trainable retarded children. Corresponding figures for 1974 show a total of 21,853 of which 14,261 students were enrolled in elementary schools; 7,515 in secondary schools; and 82 in schools for the trainable retarded. Current teaching staff num- bers 610 in the elementary level, 435.5 in the secondary level and il in schools for trainable retarded children. The report further claims that the Northumberland and Newcastle Board administers the sixteenth largest element- ary panel and the nineteenth largest secondary panel among all the county boards in the province. Registration in evening classes totalled 3,021 students, an increase of 10 per cent over the previous year. The report notes that 130 senior citizens have been participating in leisure-oriented subjects off- ered at evening classes. Summer school enrolment stood at 600 students for credit and interest courses offered in July and August. Plans to expand this program are currently under considera- tion. The report claims that the growth in the, number of referrals rendered it advis- able to establish a distinct psychological services' unit for the jurisdiction. Accord- ingly, in September, 1975 the staff was expanded to include an educational psychologist, two diagnosticians and a secretary. During the fall term, an average of 100 cases a month were attended to by the unit. The report indicates that the qualifications and experience of the teaching staff are on the rise. In 1969, 32.2 per cent of secondary teachers held specialist certification com- pared with 71.4 per cent in the current year. Within the same interval the percentage of elementary teachers holding university degrees rose from 5 to 40 per cent. At the elementary level, 50 per cent of the teachers have com- pleted at least seven years of service within the profession, with only the three per cent entering the field in Septem- ber, 1975. At the secondary level, figures show that 6.5 per cent of the staff are in their first year of teaching, while the average teaching exper- ience is eight years. As of December 31, 1975, the total staff complement, ex- cluding supply personnel and evening class instructors was 1,460, comprising 1,056 full time and part time teachers, seven senior officials, 13 co-ordinators and consultants, 128 secretaries and clerical workers, 179 custodians, 22 cafeteria employees and the remainder "designated under various classifications." Over the year 210 new staff were appointed, 159 employees re- signed, 17 retired, 90 trans- ferred and four died. Up- graded qualifications or in- creased responsibility led to 206 salary changes. The budget for the calendar year of January to December, 1975 was $27,667,243. The total assessment had increased by $5,191,410 or 4,75 per cent but the Ministry maintained its grant rates at the 1974 levels. The report states that local municipalities were, there- fore, required to raise $8,063,-, 818 which advanced their levies for educational pur- poses by an average of 9.59 mills. Outof the Mouths of Babes 6 - 8' Main Beams. . @88, Ea. = 5.28 5 - 4' Cross Tees. @ 43CEa.= 2.15 15 - 2x4' Plain White Ceiling Panels.. .@ 39 Ea. - 20.85 TOTAL COST FOR 10'x12 ROOM by E.P. Chant I would like to reply to a "Letter to the Editor" of last week concerning the mon- archy, sent in by a Mrs. W.E. Craig and foot-noted by an apparently partial editor. I am not going to correct a misunderstanding of what I said because I was understood perfectly - I do not believe that Canada should be connected to the British monarchy. What I would like to do is argue some of the points brought up by Mrs. Craig and also to comment on what I feel was a derogatory blanket statement by the editor. First, the letter. ". . . but Britain is the Motherland for a good third of Canadians, . . . (unquote); that statement quite obviously lends itself to the simple mathematical de- duction that a good two-thirds of Canadians don't consider Britain the Motherland. That's a pretty good demo- cratic majority. "What about our language, laws, and common heritage of freedom of the press, speech, worship and a lot of other less noticeable, things?" (un- quote). Canada does not have one language, but many. Your statement alienates large seg- ments of our population, especially the French. They don't share "our language" - are they justified in wanting to break from Britain because they don't, while free thinking English-speaking people shouldn't consider it because we happen to share the F-glish language? If that's case, I guess I should move to Quebec. Ironically, much of the English language is based on the French, which is based on the Latin, which is based on the Greek. I hate being affiliated with copy- cats. "Our language" is also becoming attached to Amer- ican, not British. Point in case - check your spelling of "colourful" (British) in the letter. It is spelt in the American fashion - "colorful". "Our laws" constitute a sim- ilar situation. Such a term alienates the French and the Quebec Civil Code, based on the Napoleonic Code. Also, British laws hardly developed on their own - they are taken from the Norman-French and Roman rule of Britain. Any- way, Canadian law is totally free from Britain now, except from that weakest of ties, tradition. As for "common heritage of freedom of the press, speech, worship . . .", these gifts are hardly' British in origin. Throughout history, Britain has suppressed writers who didn't fit into the moral structure of their society (Victorian times). Their cen- sorship is stringent and stifling. In words and in practice, our constitution and our Bill of Rights come froni the idealistic writings of the American Revolution (against the British monarchy - and the U.S.A. has done all right, hasn't it?). Freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and freedom of religion come from the words of the Declar- ation of Independence and the American Constitution, from the words and ideals of Thomas Jefferson, Sam Adams, and Benjamin Frank- lin, not from Britain, which, throughout her history, has opposed those who dared to oppose her social structure and only recognized the merit of their thought when a new society had come into being and-or the thinker had died. But, you may say coyly, where did the Americans get these ideals of freedom - from the British ideals, right? Yes - ideals that were never prac- ticed. Early Americans were people leaving England to seek religious freedom. They put ideals they had been promised in England (but never given) into practice and into written guarantees. I would far rather be attached to the nation who put promises into action than with the nation which made the empty promises. After bringing out all these points against your argument, Mrs. Craig, I'd like to say that I really didn't have to because your argument was irrele- vant. You brought it up in response to my point that (quote, from the letter) "To say that we have nothing in common with the British people is ridiculous." (un- quote) If you read the article over again, you will see that I never made such a point and didn't intend to. The rest of the letter goes on to say that we are not dominated by the British politically or financially. About all you have left in support of a continuing tie with the monarchy is tradi- tion. Well, men have always (and traditionally) been fight- ing wars with each other, let's not change that. Poverty has traditionally existed - let's not change that. Pollution is a strong thing - let's make it into a tradition. The, editor's note read: "Unfortunately, some of Can- ada's young people don't realize how much the British connections mean to many of us." It could have read: "Fortunately, some of Can- ada's young people are quest- ioning establishments and not believing in things because they were told to. "A conclu- sion founded on a logical companison of alternative views is worth a heck of a lot more than a stand "because it's always been that way". Tradition is a worthless com- modity and not valid in a discussion of this kind. Why should Britain, in terrible economic shape, be paying a queen $2.8 million a year (and several of her family mem- bers $70,000) for who knows what? Surely, they can get someone else to do the same things for less, if they really need to be done. Why should Canada take the Olympic deficit punch and still let a foreigner open the games? Because of tradition? Count me out. Editor's Note: Chant, you're getting in deeper and deeper. 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