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district high school system outlined continued from previous page further increases led to the building of additions in 1955 1959 and 1964 the school enrolment in sep tember 1953 tihe last year in the- stone school was 134 in sep tember 1966 we estimate that the figure will be about 435 there was a steady annual in crease up to this year when we experienced a levelling off it is anticipated however that there will do further increases as the overall population of the whole district increases at present the facilities in the school are adequate even with the addition of one extra class in september 1966 we should be able to absorb the anticipat ed increase for two or three years but xvim likely require more rooms after that time however a sharp rise in popula tion could force earlier building it has been the policy of the acton district high school board to attract and retain good qualified teachers so that the sludentts of the school may benefit from the best instruc tion possible since the school is adjacent to the metropolitan toronto area there is constant competition with the schools ol the latter in hiring teachcis it is necessary therefore to maintain a salary schedule and working condi lions that are competitive progressive mops in these directions have been taken over the past several years and the acton bouxl is how in a favorable position teachers have recently gone on record with the submission that working conditions at the school and the attitude ol the board toward education are among the best in the province at present the staff ol the high school numbers 24 although the average ol year ol evpei i- ence is not high the calibre ol the individuals and their overall effectiveness i- improving fiom year to year the caretaking staff consists ol three fulltime carotakers who keep the building and the school property in excellent con dition they are rudolph spiel- vogel ken mckinnon and norm robertson because of the size of the stu dent body the program of the school is limited the following programs are being taught at hie present time fiveyear arts and science fouryear arts and science fouryear business and commercial special commercial l grade 12 the fiveyear program in arts rid science makes provision for pils of good general ability i desire no proceed to grade a to secure the further ed- fcon leading to the secon- school honor graduation pa or b to qualify for on to a university eachers college or to her studies for which sful completion of de 13 is required program in arts designed to pro- glanced secondary v based on stan- kculum and ach- ose pupils pos- tieral ability r interests it n one of the not plan to tbut wish to eral educa- pr the sec tion di- cognize f their jrades year their gore kem lion employment in commerce and industry special commercial course designed to fit the graduate for office employment is an inten sive oneyear vocational course based upon an adequate general education pupils who hav com pleted satisfactorily grade ii or 12 of any approved fiveyear pro gram or grade 12 of a fouryear program are eligible for adv mission to this course in september 1965 a class in driver instruction was estab lished in the school a total ot 147 schools in ontario are notv offering the course and 60 more are expected to start offering courses in september 1966 a memorandum from the de partment of education and the department of transport em phasizes that all courses 4n driver instruction must be held outside regular school hours and must not reduce or inter fere with the time allotted to the regular subjects in the school curriculum students who wish to have courses not offerud in their home school technical or voca tional courses may- take such courses at neighboring schools the board will pay for tuition but not for transportation about 40 students from this dis trict are now attending george town or guelph in order that the effectiveness of instruction be increased and that more effective use be made ot school time the sixdav cycle wih be introduced in september 1966 this is a sched ule which repeats itself every six schopj days it was designed originally to overcome a num ber of problems which have bothered secondary school ad ministrators and it appears to have been successful in the schools that have already adopt ed it education research with the advent of computers educators have more statistics available on various aspects or education than they can apply or interpret the department of education has taken giant steps to keep abreast of grow ing problems they have been able to do this by making full use of research techniques and findings decisions based on scientific researches in education are not necessarily beyond reproach however these decisions should be altered or supplanted only alter contrary information has been obtained from more ob jective or more extensive re searches the corollary is that lay people teachers and board members should keep an open mind about new lindings and new methods changes are not suggested at department levels unless they have been scientific ally proved to have merit educational problems a problem which is felt here in acton and in other schools is an apathetic attitude toward studies we find all too olten that capable students fail to achieve their potential for fear ol having an accusing finger pointed at them by some of their more vocal and indolent classmates too many are satisfied just to scrape by with a minimum of ef fort and reproach anyorte who does a conscientious johu to say that this attitude is dangerous is gross understatement because it teaches students to develop habits of laziness which culmin ate in failure as a result of a survey of our graduates for the past 10 years xve discovered that no student passed grade 13 in one year xvho had less than a 66 per cent average in either of grade 11 or 12 similarly no student ever obtained a grade 13 diploma in one year xvho had less than 75 per cent in grade 9 these facts point out that no one regardless of his ability has been able in a short time to develop good work habits even if such a person is able to de velop a healthy attitude toward studies his inadequate know ledge of previous xvork makes success close to impossible re sults show that those students xvho learn to work hard early in secondary school are able to continue successfully such stu dents furthermore do not ex emplify a declining average throughout their high school xvork we refuse lo allow students xvho are obviously not xvorking to remain in school in most cases parents have been entire ly cooperative in such instances and xve have been able to affect a satisfactory change in atti tude although the reorganized program entices more people tt stay in school longer it defin itely does not permit students to attend school xvithout xvork- ing it is essential that secondary schooling instill in students those attributes xv h i c h xvill mould them into good citizens successful employees or employ ers inspiring and judicious par ents if this is to be realized educators must insist upon con sciemious attitudes and accept able social behavior on the part of the students there is no patented method of leading each human being to personal success hoxvever wa intend to do the best possible with the equipment and person nel xvhich xve have at our dispos al we require the cooperation and support of everyone if we are to inspire ihe young people ot today to become the progres sive freethinking capable ad ults of tomorrow the hallmark of tyjawi uuamum cemetery enlarged a nexv cemetery area of seven acres has just been added to fairview cemetery acton also has the roman catholic dublin cemetery near toxvn and the historic pioneer cemetery each year the graves in all three cemeteries are decorated on decoration day beardmore co limited tanners since 1844