Ra PAY Y SRLS NES TIE et $id { : ¢ ns, SHR \ CORE » TRANS A X , SYOSRLIAUTAR FRAT RE ABS J RD AEN RUA RE 3 ne 1 ARERR CESARE DARD SLT ABSTRACT AR TODO ERE RU MEDS LAMY SO Xt "MON CHERI! WE WERE MADE FOR EACH OTHER!" Editorial Viewpoint Parents Role In High School The article below is contributed by G. C. Gray, Chairman Public Relations of the Ontario Federa- tion of Home and School Associations. Education in the elementary schools has not changed too radically in the past generation, whereas develop- ments in secondary education have been explosive in the past decade or so. Many parents who have been out of high school for upwards of 15 years, have little or no conception of what goes on inside a modern high school. What therefore is the effect of parental ignorance of the new methods, new courses, new emphasis, new oppor- tunities, new problems in high school today? Should the parents leave the direction the child takes in high school completely up to the school system? How many students are being put into unsuitable streams, or left in wrong channels when they could easily have been re-directed, because parents did not realize the situation or know the remedies? How many times have we seen a promising student dulled to mediocrity, and then dropping out of school, disheartened when fuller understanding on the part of his parents might have sus- tained him through the period of discouragement? Many of our young people would go into life better educated, better--qualified, if parents knew of the avail- ability of bursaries and other financial aids to students, some of which are never awarded because of lack of ap- plications. How many gifted youngsters are in jobs without challenge or reward when they might have been teachers or engineers if their parents had known that interest-free loans were available for the asking to fin- ance a university education for any academically quali- fied student? These questions underline the reasons why the Ont- ario Federation of Home & Schools is anxious to see more Home & School Associations established in secondary schools. The basic aims are the same in elementary and secondary Home & School Associations: to work for the good of children -- the direction of effort, and the needs are different. In high school associations the dominant need is to educate the parents so that they have a better under- standing of all the ways they can support the education system to ensure that their children and others, get the most out of opportunities available in today's secondary schools. | Remember When? 50 YEARS AGO Wed. October 14th, 1914 Port Perry is asked to vote for the Hydro- Electric Railway (Radial) from Toronto to Port Perry and Extensions. The Gov- ernment finances the under- taking for 10 years. Voting date October 19th. Extension to be made northward through the Township of Reach just as soon as the engineers are con- vinced that such extension can be built and operated profit- ably. During the first ten years the Government will build and operate the road, giving ample time for it to become an as- sured success. No sinking fund will be started, and no charges will be made against the muni- cipalities during the ten years. (Ed. Note : Watch for voting results in next week's issue). * * * 25 YEARS AGO wed., October 12th, 1939 "Fire Protection fo the Farm and Home." Canada has lost $36,000.000 through fires dur- ing the past 10 years. George D. Aird dies after brief illnes on Friday, Sept. 2, 1939. Mr. Aird was recognized : as a clever auditor and after teaching local schools forsseven years he became Assessor for the Village of Port Perry for nearly 10 years. Port Perry -- Mr. and Mrs. Geo. R. Davey spent the week- end near Coldwater with Mr. and Mrs. J. C. Dunlop. * * * 10 YEARS AGO Thufs, October 14, 1954 Ford Company Workers on strike at Detroit. Despite the pleas of the Mayor of Windsor and the Labour Relations Board headed by Mr. Daley, the work- ers at Ford's have gone on strike. Hn RCE and Spice - 8y BILL SMILEY | Sugar BIRTHDAY WITH A BANG Not long ago, I attended a banquet at which John Fisher, the guest speaker, was extolling Canada's centennial year, which is just around a couple of extremely sharp corners. Mr. Fisher is an eloquent speaker, a consummate orator. A few years ago, when he was blazing across the country de- livering fiery, poetic speeches about this land of ours (at about $100 a whack), he was given the title "Mr. Canada". Unfortunately, he ran out of service clubs and things. Now he works for the government, The talent is still there. The golden tongue still wags with passion and brilliance, still throbs with sincerity and hope. But the audiences have changed. They used to listen with - open mouths, shining eyes, as Mr. Fisher told them what a great country they lived in. They used to float homeward after the banquet, on the purple carpet he had spun. And even the job of fixing the furnace, putting the milk bottle out on the ice-covered porch, and climbing in with a hair-in-curlers, face-in-grease mate didn't dispell the vision. Now, however, his audiences listen with that careful apathy, that controlled wariness with which the honest, dour Canadians always listen to anybody connected with the government. Such as the Minister of Finance explaining in jolly fashion why . taxes are good for us. Ait this banquet I mentioned, John Fisher was trying to drum up enthusiasm for "Centennial Projects", with which he is connected. I watched the listeners. In the midst of his high- est flights, they sat as though carved of stone, with the ex- ception of two or three who had that faraway, wistful look of people who have to go to the bathroom. Admitting that there were some municipalities whose idea of a hot centennial project was to decorate the town clerk's office, or put an extra cell in the jail, Mr. Fisher assured that there were many others with bold, imaginative schemes for libraries, art centres, museums and other worthy and lasting monuments. Which brings to my thesis, patient and gentle reader. What has your municipality planned as its centennial project? Don't forget now. The government puts up two bucks for every dollar the municipality will spend. Never mind where the government gets the two bucks. That's beside the point. If it works as it should, Canada will have a 3,000-mile ribbon of opera houses in which nobody sings, theatres which nobody attends, swimming pools that Hayfork Centre can't afford to operate, libraries with no books in them, and museums full of junk out of people's attics and cellars, but never full -of people. Is that what Canadians want, to celebrate the éantinary of an event that nobody understands, except a few history teachers? Fie on us! Why don't we show a little real imagination, throw a party that will resound throughout the world, then forget the whole thing. There's nothing very thrilling about being 100 years old, anyway. ; Let's see. Instead of piddling around with thousands' of grants to municipalities, he government, for one year, could double pensions to the old, the veterans and the widows, treble the baby bonus, and declare a twelve-month holiday from in- come taxes. That would put the population in the right frame of mind for the celebration. Employers could forego all profits for a year and. grant an extra two weeks vacation with pay. Municipalities could set aside a special fund for beer and dancing in the streets. Every day in the year could be Leap Year, as far as spin- sters go. And some of them would go far. Teenagers could all be locked in special compounds for a year, fed well, and re- leased on New Year's day, 1968. All babies born during centennial year would be guaran- teed a free university education. Divorce, for one year only, would follow the Moslem pattern, in which the husband merely says, three times, "I divorce thee." During the twelve-month, anyone who mentioned the word "flag" would be impaled and then roasted over a slow flame during the evening fireworks display. Anyone who breathed "national anthem" would be given a one-way ticket to Moosonee. There would be national holidays every Monday, Wednes- day and Fridays, with week-ends as usual. For one year, children would be seen and not heard. The possibilities are limitless. These are just a few sug- gestions. Send yours along. Let's forget those erumby pro- jects and have a hundredth birthday party we'll never forget. --Toronto Telegram News Service REE eer Link Port Perry Star Co. Lid. Serving Port Perry, Brooklin and Surrounding Areas P. HVIDSTEN, Publisher WM. T. HARRISON Editor Member of the Canadian Weekly Newspaper Assoc Member of the Ontario Weekly Newspaper Agson, Published every Thursday by The Port Perry Star. Co. Ltd, Port Perry, Ontario. a Authorized as second class mail by the Post Office' Department, Ottawa, and for payment of postage in cash. Subscription Rates: In Canada $2.60 per yr. Elsewhere, $8,00 per yr. Single Copy 7¢