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Uncertified teachers not unqualified Home Newspaper ot Halton Hills Established A Division of Canadian Newspapers Company Limited Guelph Street Georgetown 3Z6 Ontario DAVID A Publisher and General Manager BRIAN Editor Phone 8772201 DAN TAYLOR Advertising Manager HERALD Wednesday August STEP up Sometime in the next few weeks you may be surprised by the sudden appearance of a police cruiser with its lights flashing directing you to pull over You may feel angry at receiving that ticket for doing just 10 kilometres over the speed limit or for not wearing your seatbelt but its a necessary albeit unpopular move Halton Regional Police statistics show that 13 people have been killed on the Regions roads so far this year That compares with just six fatalities on Haltons roads at this time last year The only bright light in those statistics is that fatalities attributed to alcohol consumption are down 12 per cent to 38 per cent But police say speeding is a big factor in the increase in traffic deaths Most of the people killed on Haltons roads were involved in accidents where the speed limits were set at 80 kilometres an hour The polices success at keeping traffic deaths involving alcohol down is being undermined by speeders So Halton Regional Police will be enforcing the new STEP program The acronym stands for Safety Traffic Enforcement Pro gram and it means no one will be let off with minor traffic violations during the next two months The program should help to remind motorists that sum mer isnt a time to tear around the streets of Halton mindless of anything in their path The STEP program will likely serve as a pointed reminder of what can happen if you forget even the minor rules of the road No shots Editors Notebook Brian MacLeod Herald Editor I cant help but be disappointed in some of the comments made by our Member of Parliament Garth Turner in his column this week See page 11 Shortly after announ cing his town hall meetings Mr Turner goes on to say Ill tell you sometimes its frustrating as hell being a politician In my former life I was a newspaperman and a critic and that was easy Taking shots is nothing compared with receiving them Garth doesnt speak for those of us who are still in journalism As a business columnist for the Toronto Sun Mr Turner certainly took full advantage of his position to take shots at the government Now suddenly after a few short months in power we rarely see that maverick who was known for mar ching up the steps of government offices bearing petitions Sudden ly Mr Turner seems to have seen the light and that such criticism were a wee bit harsh Balderdash Good journalists do not take shots You can offer criticisms and opinions hut they are a far cry from taking shots just for the sake of criticisms And as a critic of the government for so long Mr Turner must have had his eyes closed if he wasnt aware of the type of life a politician faces Its really a demanding life and you have to develop a thick skin Something like the life of a good journalist Weve seen that most of you dont want to foot the bill for a package of new cable television channels including Yought Televi sion a channel an all- weather station a religious station and an allnews channel But as television viewers Canadians sure havent turned their back on cable Over 63 million households in Canada are hooked up to cable television a Statistics Canada report shows And Pay TV chan nels such as movies and sports stations enter the homes of more than million Canadians br inging in an extra million on top of the million cable system operators earned in 1967 the latest year for which Statistics Canada has data There are over cable systems in operation in Canada and there are still over a million households within reach of cable systems but are hook up to cable Queens Park Derek Nelson Thornton Service The recent over the presence of 2500 uncertified teachers in the Ontario educational system has its ironic side It would be nice if as much fuss was made over what is being taught as over who is teaching Thats particularly true since there isnt the slightest evidence that uncertified teachers are any better or worse than those with of ficial teacher certificates Frankly it was strictly shabby journalism that headlined that these uncertified teachers were unqualified A certificate hardly determines whether one person is better than another at imparting information and more importantly values to their students Who after all gave Socrates or Jesus Christ a diploma In fact far more worrisome than the kind of paper certificates teachers carry is the kind of values they impart to their captive au diences Some will do so by example the values are caught not taught theory of how we decide on what qualities and principles of life are important But these qualities and prin ciples or values can also be im plicit in everything taught or undertaken at school Thats why it is useful to note what the education ministry con siders the foundation of values education in Ontario The follow ing examples are taken from the Values Influences and Peers cur riculum guide for teachers Honestly tolerance compassion and justice head the list of societal values while personal values seem to centre around the concept of respect for self for life for the en vironment and for others What might be called traditional values are totally absent from the guide These include honor duty patriotism service excellence heroism obedience humility love and fear of God Instead we get peace pa tience sensitivity and co operation There is a iiotsosubtie message here Take a value the ministry ap proves of like compassion and compare it to charity which isnt mentioned Compassion is an abstract concept a passive reac tion to events around one simply feeling It requires no action Charity is personal doing something for someone literally personally participating Such actionoriented values arent much in evidence in ministry thinking Except for courtesy for in stance personal habits like cleanliness neatness punctuality civility and politeness are missing these are all attributes that might fall under the heading of good man ners or standards something schools used to insist upon Warren Clarnette writing in the Australian magazine 1PA Review about values education Down Under said it in words that could apply to Ontario just as well Todays educational values reflect and reinforce the vision of a society in which personal fulfil ment including the capacity for happiness is paramount This is to be achieved in a socie ty which enjoys the maximum degree of community harmony while becoming increasingly diverse in both ethnic composition and moral and ethical standards Clarnette then adds the kicker Toleration of diverse beliefs sug gests breadth and humanity of spirits it may also mask the in ability to affirm that some beliefs are right and others wrong He could be right For example while the Ontario curriculum guide lists honesty a desirable value it also suggests the child who lies may be avoiding something covering up something or deliberately escap ing into a contrived world Such a child requires support and en couragement so that his or her feelings of selfconfidence may be strengthened Meanwhile the media worry about uncertified teachers OVERNIGHT GIARAN1EEB TO THE RIGHT ADDRESS THE GUrWtlEH GUARANTEED RIGHT ADDRESS THE FIRST HIE FOR Nor GOOD LUCK Is Mulroney out of touch Ottawa Stewart MacLeod Thomson Newt Service It would be c mforting to think that Prime Minister Brian knows exactly what hes talking about so far as the mood of Canada is concerned But there are some compelling reasons to ques tion his conclusions And those reasons can be found by simply talking to people Its very difficult to travel anywhere in Canada these days without getting a clear impression that the tolerance level among English- Canadians toward Quebec has dropped dramatically Liberal Leader John Turner one of the few political leaders to com ment on the situation says he is deeply concerned by the growing antagonism The opinion polls tell us that 27 per cent of English- Canadians and 36 per cent of FrenchCanadians would like to see Quebec become an indepen dent country the highest support for separatism since the question was first asked years ago MPs who return from their con stituencies say their conversations with voters support these findings And from Dalton Camp who recently stepped down as special adviser to the federal cabinet to return to columnwriting we get this assessment There is a palpable and growing fatalism among many Canadians heretofore willing supporters of all federal initiatives including bil- ingualism which were designed to reassure Quebec in the interests of national unity Some feel today their trust has been betrayed Others are simply saying to hell with it DOESNT AGREE But despite what appears to be overwhelming evidence in support of these views there is one power ful voice of dissent from the prime minister of Canada The heart beat of the nation is strong says Mr Mulroney its vigorous and its resolved to even greater unity He goes on to describe the mood of the country as healthy and serene As a matter of fact if the prime minister sees even the smallest cloud on the horizon he chooses to ignore it Even for so meone known for the odd bout of overstatement and rhetoric he is unusually upbeat about the state of the country It would be nice to think the prime minister of the country knows whereof he speaks when he says the mood is so strong I am not concerned about it in the slightest The fact that the CBC recently devoted its Sunday radio program CrossCanada Checkup to the question of whether the country will survive is proof of that And a majority of those who phoned in to the program were not optimistic There can be no question that Quebecs use of the notwithstan ding clause to ban the use of English on outdoor signs has af fected our national thinking So has the Meech Lake accord which would give Quebec constitutional authority to promote its distinct society Columnist Gretta Chambers writes in the Montreal Gazette that the touchstone of discontent now seems to be the recognition of Quebec as a distinct society A resentment has grown up against Quebec for wanting to be recognized as different It is as though that difference would of itself harm Canadian federalism Looking across Canada she wrote that from coast to coast the consensus was that Canadians were In a sour mood