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6,Orono Weeklv Times, Wednesday, December 12, 1984 SOL WAY Innocence. A srnail boy kicking a soccer bail aiong the sidewalk. Dribbling his way to school. Another boy putting the toe of his sneaKers uirough the fine skin of ice on a puddle. In- nocence. Cat ice. But only a boy tapping it, like a cat, then breaking it. Curiosity. Let the Russians send MIG fightcrs to Nicaragua or let the Arnericans make hcadflines by Larry Sol1way saying the Russians are sen- ding MIGS. There is stili a skin of ice on a puddle, and a boy. Soon enough the boy will learn to be "cool". Soon enough he will not want f0 be seen rnarvclling at a frozen puddle. Soon enough he will be jadcd, and one puddle will be the sarne as another, and one winter wilI follow another. And it will be more irnportant to grow up and face the real world. There is still innocence, and there is stili curiosity, and there is, rnost of ail, stili wonder and awc at a simple puddle frozen--the first, frozen puddle of the scason. Do you, bing as old as I arn, worn with the passage of the years and jadcd by the pass- ing of the seasons, stili rernember the day when the first crisp arorna of frost carne, or the first warrn rain on budding trees. That little boy who walkcd along John Street in Whitby could have been anywhcre. The big city or the little town. Thanks that he was walking, and not plasticized into those big yellow creatures that take the fun out of going to school. The point? 1 thought you'd neyer ask. The point is that unless we take the time to look at these kids we trundle off to the factory every day. we'll miss it ail. Did I say "factory?" I meant school. Is there a d if ference? Alright - -the point of ail this poctry: The "Crisis in Education", as seen by parents by some hard-nosed teachers, and by politicians runninig scarcd IHA TS OFF T ... VALUE XMAS SALE 6bu.- L inuri'sTeIeohnnes ttdA -qQ. S29-9C fromn a Scared Society, is here and it is now. The crisis is about what education is al about. The Ontario CGovernment has donc a complete about- face on their earlier resolve (see Hali-Dennis) to make education less structured, more creative, more relevant to the needs of the student, both the practical needs and the needs of the humnan spirit. It failed. It failed because there were teachers who wanted'it to fail. It failed because there were schools too interested in style and function and flot in substance and meaning. It failed because parents, too many of us, perceived the school was becoming part of a "per- missive" society and that we were ail going to hell in a lun- chbucket. Added to that was the carping frorn critics that we were turning out un- disciplined, functionally il- literate, unmotivated students with littie or no sense of the work ethic. Learning cornes to those who want it. It cornes FROM those who want to share it and give it. t starts with the innocent who arrives believ- ing it is a place to learn and to enjoy learning. Sometirnes it works out. But sornetines, and more than somnetimes, the innocence disappears under a barrage of rules and regulations, discipline and structured "core" tudies. Disappears when teachers say parents have abidcated their res-ponsibilities, wýhen those teachers (as good teachers always have) should address thcmnsclves to the "whole child", frorn his questioning spirit to his dlean fingernails to his learning to read an<t learning to like to read. ' I don't know if there s hope. As long as we are sur- rounded by parents who de- mand a rindless rcturn to what they call "basics"; as long as education is to "train" industrial and com- mercial cannon fodder and as long as we have teachers like. ..you want to hear a story? Neyer rind--II tell it anyway. In May we (at the Marigold) rnounted a stunn- ing performance of a very funny, very thoughtful, very provoking play called "Mass Appeal." A group of teachers carne. When it was time to leave the dining room to go upstairs to the theatre, one table stayed seated, beer glasses hoisted,. laughter abounding. 1 asked "Aren't you going up to sec the play" Answer: "I'm fot into plays."- And she went back to her friends. Fair cnough. A matter of choice. Alrnost ail of thern ,wcnt. But four did not--lcd by sorneone who rnight juist bc the teacher that little boy breaking theice on the pud- dle will have to face. Or rnaybe one youron child will'face. ' Maybe shie's right to choose as she did. Mlaybe she shouldn't be a teacher. ;t probably still hasn't occuirred to ber to wonider. FEED 1THE BIRDS by Arlin Hackmnan - A"l-»,OrM W -(l 4-' If youbae' set up a backyard bird feeder, tbere's still tirne. A simple feeder made out of a piece of plywood (12" x 24"-) with a 1" railingl around may be at- tacbied to a window ledge. With any luick, you'll have sonie Evening Grosbeaks corne righit up to your win- dow, if you stock the feeder with suniflower seeds. Make sure yout have an am- ple stock of suntflowver secds on hand. One large flock of grosbiecks will consumne hun- dreds of pounds of sceds over the course of a winter -- at considerable expense to the delighted birdwatchcr. Evening Grosbeaks arc about the size of a starling, and have an cxtrernely large, conical whitish bill. The male is largcly duli yllow, with black and white wîngs. The fernale is silvery-gray, but witb just enough of the yellow and black to be recognizable. Their caîl is a rinng.- finch-like chirp "cleer" or "clec--ip"., People wonder why the birds are called "Evcning" grosbeaks because thcy seemn to be more active in the mor- ning than toward evening. ,When they werc named, they had been beard to sing only in the evening. Forrnerly, this was primari- ly a western species, but in re- cent times it bias rapidly push- ed i ts br e e djig ra ng e eastwvard. In Ontario it w,ýas first knownr to nest atl ake of tbe Woods in 1920), first in the Muskoka district in 1927 and first in Algonguin Park in 1932. h niow br ecds east to Cape Breton lslanid, Nova Scotia. Other birds you mnight ex- pect at a window feeder -- particularly if the feed mix- ture contains a higb percen- tage of sunflower seeds -- are BlJack capped chickadees, bluejays, Whitc-brcastcd nuthatches, cardinals and purple finches. If the feeder contains a suet rack, Downy woodpeckers should visit if rcgularly. Arnong Ontario winter birds, there arc several species that prefer to fced on the ground. Thus, the sceds spilled by the sloppy feeding habits of other birds at the feeder arc utilîzed by these ground feeders, such as slate colourcd juncos, tree spa- rows, rnourning doves, and even pheasants. Several feeders are always better than one., Large birds may dominate a single feeder s0 that sorne intcresting species may leave your area in search of food. 0f course, if you get into bird fecding in a big way, bave your credit card ready. u il u il u TELEPHONE (416) 983-5301, P.O. BOX 209, ORONO, ONTARIO LOB iMO PRINTING AND PUBLISHING Roy C. Forrester j