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I 2 Th#! Canadian Statesman, Bowman ville. May 13, 1961 Section Two Editorial Comment Life is So Confusing Here it is, early Tuesday morning and we're trying to get some ideas for editorials on paper before the staff arrives and the normal interruptions to deep thought processes begin. To aid in that search for a sparkling thought or two, we've gone through a few recent editions of newspapers from other centres, large and small, to see what their editors and reporters are discussing in their columns. The situation in Ireland where { 'ailed members of the IRA seem tent on following Bobby Sands' example had a high priority in some, but that really doesn't seem to be an issue here. Certainly, local citizens are interested, but Ireland is a long distance away and we find it difficult to see any immediate solution in sight. The tragic part of the affair is that the young people are the ones most often in the thick of the battling. They are learning to kill and getting killed, building up more and more hatred that is ruining the country. Surely, something can be done to bring peace, but there's no sign of it yet. Closer to home, another senseless killing has taken place with an unemployed 23-year-old man being charged with shooting a jeweller while attempting a robbery. The tragedy was reported with pictures, but what we find disturbing is that these killings are becoming almost routine occurrences, along with assaults and rapes. And they are happening almost every day in and around Metro, with a few taking place outside that area as well. Surely, we are not reaching the stage of social disruption when killings of human beings are accepted as statistics by those not directly involved. But, the major discussions this week involve the release of a report suggesting that Grade 13 should be abolished in secondary schools as unnecessary and costly. Those students who spent an extra year at school to earn their honor graduation status must be wondering if they wasted their time. Ontario apparently is the only And that's about all for this week. Things are quiet around the Town of Newcastle council chambers, now their budget deliberations have been concluded and the new rates have been set. Even at Durham region it is comparatively quiet, although with the outside workers on strike, there may be some problems if a water main breaks or something goes wrong at the regional disposal and water plants being manned by management personnel. So far, things have been operating fortunately without any disruption, but how long that will continue is difficult to predict. Have a good weekend holiday and drive carefully. Education with Terry Hawkins The Serp report, which is an intense look at Ontario secondary school education, has been released. Without a doubt, it is the most comprehensive investigation of high school education ever put forth in Ontario. It makes a number of recommendations which people from all walks of life are being given two months to respond to. After that, the final report will be issued, and then the Minister of Education will act on those recommendations deemed to be most useful and appropriate. The report contains a number of interesting ideas. It recommends that grade 13, as such, should be eliminated. I heartily agree with this recommendation. After all, if every other province in Canada can educate their children in four years of high school, why can't Ontario? Most certainly it can. There are also recommendations concerning credits, and the number needed for graduation. Likewise, there will be lust one graduation diploma from high school. message that people are concerned about discipline in the schools. It acknowledges that many of the problems that cause discipline problems in schools have nothing to do with schools. The lowering of the drinking age, the availability of drugs, family breakdowns, and a difficult economy are not factors created by the school; however, the schools have, for years now, had to deal with the presence of these concerns. Nonetheless, the committee recommends that discipline in the schools be tightened up. This is good, and with everyone pulling together can be done. However, I have a big concern about the methods which might be used. If it is just a tougher set of rules and a rougher set of consequences, you n't i don't get better discipline: you get disaster. There is ample research which shows that, if you make the rules and consequences too tough, you in fact get much poorer discipline. The discipline methods of thirty or so years ago worked with Another item which frequently appears in the report is discipline. Clearly, the committee received the the people of thirty years ago - they don't work with the people of f today. Ask any manager," policeman, or educator and most will tell you it's a lot different today. Stye (Eanabian Statesman 623-3303 Durham County's Great Family Journal Established 127 years ago In 1854 Also Incorporating TheBowmanvIlle News The Newcastle Independent The Orono News Second class mall registration number 1561 Produced every Wednesday by THE JAMES PUBLISHING COMPANY LIMITED 82-66 King St. W., Bowmanvllle, Ontario L1C 3K9 L JOHN M. JAMES Editor -- Publisher RICHARD A. JAMES Assistant Publisher GEO. P. MORRIS Business Mgr. BRIAN PURDY Advertising Mgr. DONALD BISHOP Plant Mgr. All layouts and composition ol advertisements produced by the employees ol The Canadien Statesman, Tho Newcastle Independent end The James Publishing Company Limited are protected by copyright mid must not be reproduced without written permission ol the publishers. $10.00 a year --6 months $5.50 strictly In odvoncc foreign --$21.00 a year Although every precaution will be taken to avoid error, The Canadian Statesman accepts advertising In Its columns on the understanding that It will not be liable for any error In the advertisement published hereunder unless a proof ol such advertisement Is requested In writing by the advertiser and returned to The Canadian Statesman business office duly signed by the advertiser and with such error or corrections plainly noted In writing thereon, and In that case If any error so noted Is not corrected by The Canadian Statesman Its liability shall not exceed such a portion ol the entire cost ol such advertisement as the space occupied by the noted error bears to the whole space occupied by such advertisement, rr; province that still retains Grade 13 and it looks now as though it might be abolished. Dr. Terry Hawkins has some comments in his column and agrees with the report's findings. There are other recommendations in the report that haven't received too much publicity, but are important. All secondary schools should establish clear codes of student behavior regarding absenteeism, drug abuse and alcoholism; morals and values should become part of the curriculum in every subject taught in high school and schools should step up programs that prepare students for jobs after graduation. Submissions on the report from school boards, teachers and the public should be sent to the government by June of this year. Then the government will go to work on it. It does look as though there will be some major changes coming, for better or worse. Another major topic in the news is the ever recurring debate over the highest interest rates in our history. The federal parties are back at work after the Easter holidays so we can expect to hear much more about that in the days ahead. Oddly enough, in spite of the fact that mortgages are hitting the roof with the interest payments, developers appear eager to get working on new subdivisions and we had a report from one real estate firm here that business is booming. Amazing. mr- -■ ÈS& ■ S.- • ■ if. < * f * • **, l V ■ . • •> i ■ v *• ' - Yb'*V V v • Unusual Nesting Place Photo by D. Boyd SUGAR and SPICE Us Oldies Once again, I must confront that spectre that looms before quite a few old guys like me. To retire and live guys on beans and dog food, or to step once more into the breach, dear friends, and not become an old dog, licking its wounds and less savor able parts, waiting for the filial stiffening into extinction. Well, that was a fairly literary first paragraph, anyway, with a reference to a spectre, Henry V, and old dogs, perhaps loved, but increasingly useless', and ready for a shot through the head. I could get the last-named, at times, from my wife, if we kept a gun in the house. That's one reason we don't. Another is that I decided, some years ago, after shooting a black squirrel while thinking it was a black bear, that I wasn't cut out to be a hunter and bring home the game, unless it happened to be chess, or dominoes, or Scrabble. Secondly, I am not an old dog, though I would love to be. I always wanted to be a devilish old dog, twitching my moustaches at the ladies, pouring a sherry for a fascinating widow in a suave flat overlooking Kensington Gardens at the age of 82, sipping an aperitif in the great square in decaying Venice when I was 88. 'Twas was not to be. I am just a youngish old dog, to whom no widow under the age of 59 (her version) would give a second look. Unless she were really broke. In the third case, I am not young King Hal of Tudor times, looking for breaches to go into once more. I have been in too many breaches (note to proof-reader; that is not britches) already. The next breach I leap into will be the last one; that hole in the ground. And in the fourth place, I ain't afraid of no spectres. That's what Scrooge said, and you know what happened to him. This retirement gig is not that simple. First of all, that inflation has you by the short and curly. All my friends who are retired cry: "Don't do it!," as though I were a 17-year- old about to take my first drink or something even more sinful, according to the society in which we grew up. They claim that they can eat steak only once a week, that they haven't even the money for one of Freddy Laker's trips to England in the off season, that they're going to have to sell their fine middle-class homes and move into some fine middle- class apartment where they don't even have any lawn to cut or snow to shovel. It's a horrible prospect. Most of these old friends are in a pitiable state. They have decaying discs, heart problems, high blood pressure, the gout, the crud, or some other debilitating nightmare. Yet they're all in their early sixties. My father-in-law, 89, would call them "boys". Well, I don't think I'll be one of the boys, at least not for another year. I am a mere sixty year old. I am as sound in wind and limb as a man of thirty. Forty years ago. I limp a bit with the gout. But that is merely a sign of good living, and I limp rather proudly. I scarcely need glasses, except to tie my tie, or hit an ash-tray. I can't hear much of what the students say, but my lip- reading is excellent, and I don't want to hear what they say, anyway. They've been giving the wrong answer for years. I have a partial plate, but I lithp through it only when we have hamburger in the cafeteria and it gets a bit clogged -- no more than three or four days a week. All in all, a fine specimen of homo mithancropus, whatever that means. I wouldn't want to translate it, because some 89-year-old Latin teacher (we don't teach Latin any more) would jump on me and tell me I was either a depressed ape or a melancholy man. That I don't need. I feel like either, at given times. But then my conscience assails me. I think of all those young fellows of 40 or 45 whom I am keeping out of a department head's job, and I pretty nearly break down. Until I recall the fact that their wives are working, they have just bought a new van or boat, and they are making more money than I. Then I decide to stay another year, and I break up, chuckling at the grinding of teeth, the silent curses in the night, the visions of their child having to work during his/her summer vacation to make it through college. "Why doesn't the old nit quit? He can't teach anymore. His department is the worst run in the province. He has no idea how to organize his budget. He doesn't know what a budget is. He's not sure whether it's fall term or spring term. And what is really maddening, he doesn't care." And they're right, or partially so. Well, I've decided. I'll stay until at least Christmas. I'll quit then, suddenly, and leave somebody else to sort out the mess. And some mëss. I have keys to locks that don't work. I have filing-cases full of material taught in 1914, that have never been opened, because the keys are lost. And if my wife doesn't stop spending money on decorating. I'll re-run this column in '88. Why doesn't Trudeau solve it by appointing me to the Senate? You can, however, have discipline today. But it is harder to obtain it. People won't stand for angry, vengeful type discipline where they are told what to do and that's that! People, young and old, will respond to reasonable rules, reasonably enforced. We need rules, and they have to be followed, but when someone breaks one, the consequence must be justly and compassionately administered. Students must suffer the consequences of their actions, just like anyone else. That's firm and fair discipline. But we must constantly be on guard that schools never, ever, return to the fierce, dictatorial discipline that probably hurt more people than it helped. Kendal, Ont. April 30 Dear Mr. James: This clipping was sent to me by a Los Angeles teacher and written by a California teacher teacher I am sure you'll agree corporal punishment has a place in tne lower grades of • our schools. Sincerely Mrs. A. Cathcart Swatting child is more real Hospital Praised April 29,1981 Bowmanville Dear Sir: Some letters in this space are so long and involved that I don't feel like reading the column at all. If I'm not alone in this aspect, then I'll enjoy many of the town's people reading my letter. It concerns how lucky we are to have such excellent health care as we have. Recently, Bowmanvillc's Memorial Memorial Hospital operated without fault when my knee required surgery, and my person needed some soothing. I had the choice to go to a larger hospital, but my instincts were right when I chose our local facilities. The residents of Bowmanville should not take for granted the services of our hospital. ' There is a whole world of difference when comparing a hospital to any other institution. Caring for and giving service to people is a 24 hour, 7 day week affair. It requires people to function, and people who are happy with their work. Bowmanville Memorial Hospital has the touch - the 'human touch.' Sincerely, John Clancy Regarding your survey (1-9-77) showing support for corporal punishment in the schools: The one fact of educational l life which was not mentioned in your article is that "alternative" methods of discipline (which boil down to telephoning parents when they can be reached) are simply ineffective -- theÿ don't work! Why? Because swatting the bottom of a child who is misbehaving misbehaving now is much more real to him than the threat of telling his parents later. It is very easy to say a problem doesn't exist if you don't hove to deal with it or choose to ignore it, Hence the attitude of many administrators administrators (and some teachers) who claim no change has occurred in the conduct of their students, students, and that, therefore, corporal punishment is not needed. This attitude is to be expected, unfortunately, as administrators typically mouth the position of the board of education which currently currently allows only parental contact as the last -resort of discipline, after all other efforts have failed. However, corporal punishment punishment is very much needed, for both immediate correction and future deterrent, because not only are disrespect and downright rudeness running rampant in our schools, but profanity and physical assaults on teachers have become facts of life (though rarely publicized). The strong teachers who are holding the Tine, and who have always done so, are putting out five times the effort for half the results they used to f ;et -- in both behavior and earning. Of course standards are going to lower! How long will an Intelligent person continue to beat his head against the brick wall of administrative insensitivity, indifference, lack of support and no action? continually deteriorating) situation. All teachers, administrators* and parents--all of us--must; support and demand this; move to reinstate corporal- punishment at once if we are; to salvage even a small part of- what once was a fine educa-) tional system. , j -- Chris Wennerholm* Canoga Park) Dear Sir: April 24,1981) On behalf of the Ontario; Lottery Corporation, I would* like to express our sincere! thanks to the people of; Newcastle for their warm welcome welcome and tremendous: cooperation during the recent- Wintario draw show on April'. 23rd. While I know there were many people involved in the', organization, may I congratulate congratulate the Bowmanville Jaycees. and Jaycettes for their excep-; tional efforts. We are losing our best people. Fine students are leaving leaving the district, as are disgusted disgusted teachers and frustrated administrators who are no longer willing to remain in a I hope it will not be too long before the Wintario draw show returns to your community, Yours very truly, D. Norman Morris General Manager "ft