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A 6 - The Oakville Beaver, W e d n e sd a y N o v e m b e r 7, 2001 Ian Oliver Publisher Neil Oliver Associate Publisher Norman Alexander Editor Kelly Montague, Ach'ertising Director Steve Crozier Circulation Director Ten Casas Office Manager Mark Dills Production Manager Riziero \fertolli Director ofPhotography T h e O akville B eaver Metroland Printing, Publishing & Distributing Ltd., includes: Ajax/Pickering News Advertiser, Alliston Herald'Courier, Arthur Enterprise News. Barrie Advance. Barry's Bay This Week. Bolton Enterprise, Brampton Guardian, Burlington Post. Burlington Shopping News. City Parent. CoKngwood/Wasaga Connection. East Vbrk Minor. Erin Advocate/Country Routes. Etobicoke Guardian. Flamborough Post, Georgetown Independent/Acton Free Press. Hamston Review. Huronia Business Times. Kingston This Week. Lindsay This Week. Markham Ecnomist & Sun. Midland/Penetanguishine Minor. Milton Canadian Champion. Milton Shopping News. Mississauga Business Tmes. Mississauga News. 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L6K 3S4 (905) 845-3824 Fax: 337-5567 Classified Advertising: 845-2809 Circulation: 845-9742 f*CNA IRONTE TH E BUTTERFLY C ^u 4 ' /fa n / O N T A R I O o a k v ille g a lle rie s | T h e O a k v ille . M ilto n a n d D is tr ic t Editorials System foils special needs students You really have to feel sympathy for parents such as Sandie Garside. Her fiveyear-old daughter Emmalyn has only been in the public school system for two months and already it has failed her. When Emmalyn was a toddler, she had fluid in her ear which led to her current speech impairment. In preschool, Emmalyn was in a speech and language pro gram funded by Halton Region. When she started Kindergarten at Oakwood Public School this semester her mother expected a similar type program would continue through the Halton District School Board. Wrong. Two months into the school year, she's still waiting for Emmalyn to qualify, never mind start programming. She has heard about year-long waits. The board is struggling with coming up with a new way to deliver special needs education. They are trying to reduce the number of internal staff, while part nering with community agencies like the Halton Children's Aid Society (CAS) to provide social workers -- stretching board dollars. The sad truth is the new system will not likely benefit children like Emmalyn Garside. It is not designed to improve service, but reduce board costs. It is not nec essarily their fault, there is only so much money to go around. Over the past few years, school boards across Ontario have been struggling to stretch their dollars further as the provincial government has turned its back on public education. And this was during a booming economy. As a result, the needs of the most vulnerable students, such Emmalyn Garside were overlooked. Their special needs were too much of an expense to bear. Now that we are facing a recession and the provincial government is predict ing tough times ahead, it is unlikely funding for special needs education will be able to meet the needs of students like Emmalyn. Unfortunately the provincial government has spent more time arguing with teachers unions in the past, rather than focusing on the students. As the parents of Emmalyn Garside are discovering, they are the real losers in the battle between the province and the teachers. SK S u b u rb a n N e w s p a p e rs o f A m e r ic a 0 Children's Choir ^ REAL ESTATE BOARD L etters to th e Editor The Oakville Beaver welcomes your comments. All letters must be typed, signed and include the writer's address and phone number. Send to: Letters to the Editor, The Oakville Beaver 467 Speers Rd., Oakville, Ont. L6K 3S4 Teaching methods behind poor test results The results of the latest tests of Ontario Grades 3 and 6 are in. Now listen for the next couple of weeks while the excuses pour out. "It's a result of under-funding by the Tories." Oh? In 1992, three years before the PCs were elected, Ontario was the third highest cost per pupil education system in the world. That hasn't changed a whole lot since. "Classes are too big." Studies of this subject through the years across the world have detected no statistically reliable relationship between class size and academic performance of students. When I taught, I didn't like large classes either; they're a whole lot of extra work. But all my classes, large or small, got statistically similar results. "The standards are too high." By whose lights? When we occa sionally note that teachers them selves have difficulty with spelling and grammar when they write, we get uneasy. How low should the bar go, and who is to say that? "Where are the parents in all this?" The parents are at home or at work, optimistically (or naively) believing that their kids are being educated. Parental input (reading to kids, etc.), while essential, is a support function, not a primary educator's role. "We have a lot of ESL (or ADD, or EMH, or dyslexic, or score 99% in stiff international competi tions. And among the ADD (Attention Deficient Disorder) children, how many are being doped with Ritalin, when their real problem is not ADD but DT (Dis Teachia)? "Johnny will learn to read when he is ready." Ah, yes. Isn't it sad that over a quarter of Canadian adults apparently never did become ready and are func tionally illiterate? Dear Mother Nature wires up kids' brains at a furious rate, and unhappily if cer tain wires (e.g.* reading) are not used at certain times, she throws them away. A large US study once posed the question to thousands of educa tors: Why are the scores of high school graduates dropping so steadily? Among the dozens of reasons given, not one suggested that teaching methods might be part of the problem. Yet teaching methods are the problem, most particularly the disastrous "whole language" fiasco that substitutes guessing and pictography for read ing. The education system needs to take a fresh look at its instructional methods. Faculties of Education must begin teaching teachers how to teach, so that the innumerable dedicated among them can see real improvement in their results. And so that society can regain its confi dence that our children are being educated in our expensive schools. Frank Gue Chair, Education Committee, Taxpayers Coalition Halton Inc. Letter of the Week Teenagers need Youth Centre approved Now that the Famous Players Theatre in Oakville Town Centre has closed its doors, there is no place left in the core Oakville area for teens to get together in groups of more than three and hang out without being suspiciously eyed by worried adults. That is why it is so important that Town Council approve the opening of a Youth Centre at the newly pro posed site on Cross Avenue. (Oakville Beaver, Oct. 26,01) Since 1995, each time a site came up for consideration, local resident groups lobbied hard to strike it down. My plea to everybody concerned: give youths a chance! As the mother of a 16-year-old boy. I see their predica ment. They meet at the library (also a great place to skate board) and they get chased away "for insurance reasons." Then, they might move on to Town Square. Before long, the group of 5 - 10 tall, lanky kids make other patrons in the surrounding cafes feel uneasy. So, they are asked to leave. Being pushed around enough, they end up going to hidden parkettes that provide privacy to do what you can't do in public: drink and smoke. I find the leftover beer cans on my Sunday morning jogs. A place for teens that is centrally located is in every body's interest: the kids can easily reach it by public trans portation. Being able to go there without depending on a ride is a big plus. That and giving input into the programs offered fosters responsibility and independence. For us parents, it is good to know that our teens have a place to hang out that is free from drugs and alcohol. Residents of Oakville, what would you rather have: a bush party in the parkette behind your house complete with drinks and dope or a youth centre in your area where lots of teens come together under the supervision of Parks and Rec staff. I am so keen on the idea: I'd be willing to donate a couch! Birgit Brand W h e r e w a s s u p p o r t fo r U N IC E F o n H a llo w e e n ? Bingo hall sm oking ban w ould hurt charities Ed. note: The following letter was sent to Oakville Mayor Ann Mulvale -- a copy was also filed with The Oakville Beaver. I refer to a letter to you from Mr. Paul Fleiszer concerning the pro posed smoke-free by-law for Oakville. I am currently a non-smoker, although I did smoke before. People like me are frequently the most avid, when it comes to non smoking. While I am always will ing to explain to smokers the rea sons they should stop smoking, I am not as avid as many. I co-ordinate bingo for three dif ferent charities and am often found at the local bingo hall. The smoke in the hall does not please me, however, since the hall owner has said he will arrange the hall on a 50/50 basis to keep nonsmokers free of smoke, I find it dif ficult to agree with Mr. Fleiszer. He states: "The notion that a ban on smoking leads to economic loss has consistently been refuted by independent, scientific study." I have yet to see one such study, and we have seen bingo halls closed. Recently, the York Region council rewrote its no-smoking by-law when it became apparent that local bingo halls were losing substantial business. As far as "catching up to Oakville's neighbouring municipal ities," I can find none of our neigh bouring municipalities which have adopted a total smoke-free environ ment for bingo halls. I believe that no municipality would be acting responsibly in enacting a smoke-free by-law for bingo halls, unless the municipali ties of the province could persuade provincial authorities to enact a bill which would call for such action to be province-wide on a given date. Otherwise, the areas which allow bingo halls to operate on a 50/50 basis or some similar manner will continue to ensure that their local charities obtain profits, while in those areas with smoke-free by laws, the charities will be forced to reduce their activities considerably. Don G. MacDonald M ocking of Black insult to British people I read in the news that the Liberals apparently mocked Conrad Black at their weekly cau cus meeting. They laughed and joked and made fun of his peerage finery by noting that it was Halloween and by saying he was decked out in woman's dress. The disparaging remarks, not only about Lord Black, but also about the ancient English ceremo ny itself is a gross insult to the British people and their expatri ates in Canada. It would not be funny if these remarks were made about the Sikhs, Moslems and Native People's customs and dress for those customs. The Liberals have an aversion to the people who pioneered, developed and financed this coun try. It has been noticed that Political Correctness does not apply to the British and this has now been proved by the asinine behaviour o f grown men who could not abstain from showing their prejudices. Liberals - Arrogance is thy name. Bettv A. Hansford b y steve nease DIPN'T TELLED HER YET. What is wrong with society today ? On Halloween, out of all the children who knocked at my door, just one carried a UNICEF box. I just don't understand this lack of concern. Approximately a week ago I phoned our local school to ask if the children would be bringing around UNICEF boxes when they did their "trick or treating". I was informed that only if a child had a permission form signed by a parent, could he/she take a box. I requested that the school staff please make a concerted effort to encourage the children to get involved with this humanitarian ges ture, but if my experience last night was anything to go by, either the school didn't give the message or the kids didn't get it. Perhaps the forms never got to the parents or, if they did. maybe the parents, for whatever reason, didn't sign them. Some parents will say it is not safe for children to carry boxes, but if they, themselves, were to accompany their children, even from a distance, there should be no problem. In some areas of Toronto, maybe, but Oakville? If children were taught more about the needs of others, particu larly in the poorer countries, perhaps at least some might take more responsibility themselves. After all, all they have to do is to carry a little cardboard box around with them, it's not as if they are asked to put themselves out one iota. I sincerely hope that other commu nities are more generous and eating than the citizens of Oakville one of the most affluent societies in Canada. If we can't afford to give a few pennies, I wonder who on earth can? Ann Rogers