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1 # 2 'Rie Canadian Statesman, Bowman ville, May 20, 1981 Section Two [ Editorial Comment Savings Can Be Costly The school board's experiment in "two tier" transportation seems to indicate that there are a few loose cogs in our educational machinery. "Two tier" busing sounds like something pertaining to the double- decker buses of England, but it's no such thing. It is a scheme in which school buses can pick up secondary school students on an early route and then return to pick up elementary pupils on a later trip. Since the same buses move both secondary and elementary students, some dollars can be saved. This system was tried at Courtice Secondary School during the current school year and the verdict was that the scheme has some cost benefits. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that it does and it doesn't. Approximately $76,000, give or take a few hundred, were saved by this system in the past school year. But it is not the local taxpayer who reaps these gains. You see, when the board saves this money, the grants provided by the Province of Ontario for transportation purposes decline. This absurd piece of information was revealed last week at a meeting of the Northumberland and Newcastle Board of Education in Campbellford. It appeared as though the Northumberland and Newcastle Board of Education can't afford to save money under these conditions. In fact, if you tally up the savings at Courtice against the reduced grants to the entire school system, you'll discover that the bioard actually lost about $68 per day on this deal. This led several trustees to complain that the reduced costs benefit the Province of Ontario, but not the local board or the local ratepayer. We should point out that this circumstance is not the fault of the local school system, its staff or its trustees. After all, they didn't invent the policy which created the problem. The culprit is the Province of Ontario. And the next step should be towards doing something which will remedy the problem. In this regard, there are really only two or three key issues to decide. First of all, we should ask whether or not the two-tier school bus system will really save funds. The answer to that question appears to be in the affirmative. Next, we should ask whether or not the early classroom hours are acceptable to students, parents and staff. This is probably the only drawback to the two-tier busing system and it is certainly the most controversial part of the issue. The next step is to get the Province of Ontario to change its grant structure so that boards of education can attempt a double tier system without being penalized. In fact, some financial reward should be given to boards which use this method. We add that the board of education does intend to look more closely at this possibility. And that's a good idea. Saving money, after all, should not be such an expensive proposition. ■v- 1 Education with W 'd§ ! Terry Hawkins A sixteen-year or older student who skips school fits into the same category as a thirty-year-old man who runs away from home and his mother. In a sense, it really can't happen that way. A thirty-year-old man is so obviously allowed, indeed, expected to leave the nest that to run away is silly. In the case of a sixteen-year or older student skipping school, the relationship is the same, but not as obvious. A sixteen-year-old is entitled to quit school. That's no secret. Every high school student in the world knows that fact. It's as well known as the fact that, in Ontario, you have to be sixteen to get your "365". Thus, the contradiction, is that, if a sixteen-year-old student can quit school, why would one need to skip? It's like the thirty-year-old running away from home. The problem , of course, is that, while the sixteen-year-old doesn't want to go to his classes, he really doesn't want to quit school, either. He or she enjoys living in that "in between world" where one can select all the nice things and never have to accept any of the unpleasant things. Quitting school means having problems with mom and dad who usually won't go along with the idea and have enough influence to "make it stick". The other problem is that the student must find a job, and that takes away a lot of the fun because employers won't tolerate nonsense, lateness, or poor work habits. The student who doesn't want to stay in school because he doesn't like to work gets an awful shock when he quits and gets a job ! How do you stop the sixteen-year- old or older group from skipping? Well, first of all, there are fewer skippers as they get older. Seniof students are in school because they realize that their future depends upon it. However, for those who do skip, the solution lies in two methods. The first is to examine why the person is skipping. What problems is that individual facing? One uses a counselling process of encouragement, extra help and a sorting out of what is the cause of the problem. Possibly the courses are at too difficult a level and skipping is an escape from failure. Possibly the individual has lost a friend. All kinds of things affect a, person's performance. The counselling process, which usually involves the parents, often works. The second process that can be used when there is no apparent reason for the skipping or the individual refuses to try to solve any problem that is causing skipping is the confrontation process. In straightforward language it's a "put up or shut up" technique. If a student won't attend classes, if a student won't do his or her school work and all help has been to no avail, then that sixteen-year-old student should be asked to leave school. What that means is that that sixteen-year-old student is being forced to accept the responsibilities that most sixteen-year-olds have already accepted. The game of a student skipping and the school hunting for him, and the game of the parents thinking their son or daughter is in school when they have gone elsewhere, suddenly ends: and so does the skipping because, when the decision is really placed upon a sixteen-year-old skipping student to either be in school or leave, they face a decision they never had to face up to before. f 1 1 " " Œlje (iïanabian Statesman Durhem Counlv'e Qrsat Femllv Journal Established 127 years ago In 1854 Alio Incorporating The Bowmanvllie News The Newcastle Independent The Orono News Second class mall registration number 1561 Produced every Wednesday by THE JAMES PUBLISHING COMPANY LIMITED 62-66 King St. W., Bowmanvllie, Ontario L1C 3KB JOHN M. JAMES ' RICHARD A. JAMES Editor -- Publisher Assistant Publisher GEO. P. MORRIS BRIAN PURDY DONALD BISHOP Business Mgr. Advertising Mgr. Plant Mgr. All layouts and composlllon of advertisements produced by the employees of The Canadian Statesman, The Newcastle Independent and The James Publishing Company Limited are prelected by copyright and must not be reproduced without written permission of the publishers. $10,'00 a year -- 6 months$5,50 foreign -- $21,00a yenr strictly In advance 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 of 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 of the entire cost of such advertisement as the space occupied by the noted error bears to the whole space occupied by such advertisement. ■--■---------- 623-3303 \ Bowmanville Beach By Don Howarih SUGAR and SPICE God Bless I spent the entire weekend talking to these people, feeding them, and driving them to a ferry, half an hour away, where they could embark and spread the faith on an Indian reservation. > They can talk like gurus, sleep like a bomb, and eat like horses. My son arrived on a Thursday night, and had me so befuddled by astrology and the words of the prophet, that I slank off to bed about mid-night got up early so I wouldn't have to face him again. That afternoon, a friend, Margaret, arrived from the city, at 80 miles an hour, on her motor-bike. They left for the island. At 7:30 that night, Lise arrived, 22, bright as a whip, endearing, giving up a weekend with exams approaching, to take part in the teaching mission. Fed and slept her at our place, delivered her to the ferry next day. Saturday, son Hugh and Margaret arrived back and took off for the city, back to work. Sunday morning I went to pick up Lise at the ferry and saw her off on the bus, ready to resume her studies for a M.A. in Statistics, of all things. • O.K. An old Jewish guy can stand that. But Monday, I got a letter, courtesy of the Collingwood weekly, that reinforced my decision to fight back. It was from William J. McCormich Esq., Chetwynd, Chetwynd Drive, Rosemont, Pennsylvania. It was the damnedest thing (pardon the expression in a religious column) that I have ever seen. On the outside of the envelope was his address, and mine, thus: Honorable Bill Smiley, (Teacher & Columnist). Down in the righthand corner was a fat green label stating: Preferential: Do Not Delay, Label 110, 19-72. On the back of the envelope was this: Dear letter, go upon your way Over mountain, plain or sea. God bless all who speed your flight To where I wish you to be. And bless all those beneath the roof Where I would bid you rest; But bless even more the one to whom This letter is addressed. Inside were the following: a letter from the Speaker's Office, House of Commons, London, England, thanking Mr. McCormick for his copy of an address given at Haverford, Penn.; a letter from Buckingham Palàce thanking him for the copy of the "Holy Name" and an accompanying letter (the Palace letter had a grammar error) ; a one- inch by six-inch card, in green, blue and red, announcing 'God Bless You'; and a twelve-thousand word copy of the address by Wm. J. McCormick to the Holy Name Society of Rosemont, Penn. It was all a bit too much. Somewhere in his speech, Wm. J. had a number of aphorisms about brevity being the soul of wit. As you may have noticed, I don't preach much in this space. That is, I don't preach religion. In the first place, I am not learned enough in the scriptures, whatever scriptures happen to turn you on. By the way, excuse the use of a capital "S" for scriptures. It merely means writings. It's not that I don't have a friendly chat with God once in a while. I do, and I'm sure he enjoys it, though he never talks back. In that respect, he is about two hundred per cent more amiable to talk to than my wife. In the second place (see above), I am not pure enough or good enough to preach to others, though, by George, there are quite a few of you sinners out there who need a little touch of hellfire to frighten you. And in the third place, it's none of my business; If you want to bang your head on the ground in the general direction of the East, do a Holy Roll on the floor, speak in tongues, lie on a bed of nails, or slurp wine and eat dry biscuits at Christmas and Easter, that's your roblem. I am basically a Jew at eart. If you believe that you are going to join the Great Spirit or some other form of It, Her, Him, after you conk out, and meet all your loved ones again, and float around on that big Sugar Candy mountain in the sky, and not ever work again, bless you, and good luck. (Who, in his right, or even celestial mind, would want to see all his/her loved ones again? There'd be some right hair-pulling if some of my old girl-friends and my wife got together for a Sunday brunch at one - those fly-ins in the sky; and I sure as heaven don't want to meet my children, nor my brothers and sisters, after I croak. Wouldn't mind seeing the grandboys for about seven minutes.) So. Generally I mind my own business about other people's beliefs. But this past week has made me strike back, in desperation. First of all, I got caught in a welter of Ba-ha-i's. My wife, son and daughter are adherents of this comparatively new faith. Its beliefs you can't fight with. They're the best of the older religions. Their purpose is to spread unity, the one-ness of ; man, in our world. To battle that would be, like condemning Motherhood. They have no wild or bizarre ceremonies. They have simple meetings, variously called Feasts, Fasts, Deepenings. They harm nobody, except old guys like me who ; are dragooned into driving people to : such events. : Then he took off for another ten : thousand words. Enough religion. : I'm going to look up a rabbi : tomorrow. : ¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥ Christ Is King ¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥ Much has been said in the last few years about the quality quality of education in Ontario with the brunt of the criticism levied against the public school system. Some of the criticism has been deserved but much of it has been unfair. The task facing the public education system is one that is virtually impossible to fulfil. To expect the Ministry of Education, principals and teachers to fulfil their mandates mandates to teach and meet the vast variety of needs and expectations of the diversified cultures and values represented represented in any one community is decidedly unjust, unfair, if not impossible. The extent of the frustration with the public school system is evident in the number of independent schools that have opened in the last ten years. Independent Independent schools in Ontario have increased from 270 schools in 1970 to 400 schools with over 65,000 students in 1980, This increase has come about largely because of growing discontent. Is Knox Christian School the product of growing frustration with the public- school system? The answer is a resounding, "Nol" Knox Christian School was established 24 years ago when criticism against the public educational system was virtually unheard of. The parents who support Knox Christian (elementary) School and established this institution a quarter of a century ago knew it was (and is) impossible impossible to educate children if curriculum and direction of education must cater to a variety of philosophic views and value systems. It stands to reason that if the needs of many are to be met, and none are to be offended, an educational educational system must cater to the lowest common denominator. denominator. That such a system must then abandon the notion that there are universal value systems and universal truths that apply to all mankind mankind despite ethnic background background and religion, is self- evident. The notion that there is a God is repulsive to some. The notion that there is no God is repulsive to others. That there is a universal moral law that governs one's personal relationships In matters of business, justice, and morality morality is by many considered to be nonsense and others to be self-evident. To establish an educational system that teaches all but offends none is simply impossible, Any attempt to do so must result in relativism, secular humanism, and even nihilism, A close analysis of any public school system will reveal that one or more of these philosophies philosophies is predominant. The schools that were the focus of Christian Education Weed were established by arents who confess that the upreme God of the Bible governs the world that He created. They believe and confess confess a universal moral law that governs the teaching of mathematics, science, language arts, fine arts, and the personal relationships of people. They also confess and believe that sin entered the world but that all creation has been redeemed by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ who still governs the world today, The marks of His supremacy are evident in every aspect of His creation, This may sound "churchy" and "pie-in-the-sky" to many who are reading this article, But God's governing power over His creation was so beautifully demonstrated by by Columbia space mission, 'nie minute computer calculations calculations were possible because God's creation is so reliable. Man's ingenuity would get him nowhere if the creation order would fluctuate, if the position of the planets, the behavior behavior of friction, the pull of gravity were unpredictable. Similar examples can be cited in other areas of study and research and also in the area of personal morality. If God's laws are not obeyed and creation creation order disregarded, man's inventiveness and his attempts attempts to build a society will never bring about a positive result. All one must do is consider the present moral decay, environmental problems problems and energy crises and one sees evidence for disobedient disobedient responses to and disregard disregard for the order of God's creation. u is evident that the Christian Schodls are not for everyone simply because everyone is not a Christian, It is for children of Christian parents only that Knox Christian (elementary) School was established. As Canadian citizens we do not say that this is a better way but a different way to educate our children, As Christian parents we say this is the only way to teach a child the values and the philosophies that will make the difference in a young Christian's life. Rest assured that the public schools in this area are doing a superb job of educating children according to the prescribed philosophies of government education, The Christian schools do not boast of exceptionally high academic achievements nor that their students adhere to the highest levels of Christian morality. The students here are like other students. Some learn with little difficulty; others find studying a chore, Some have responded positively positively to their parents' and teachers' instruction and correction correction and others have not. As a school, as teachers, and parents we recognize that our children are first of all God's children, work with their strengths and weaknesses and teach them that they have a purpose for being here ~ to learn about God and His creation, creation, and become equipped with the knowledge and tools necessary to serve Him in whatever occupation or responsibility God has given them. They hear this message at home, at church, and at school, The values taught in all three places complement each other. Only in such an environment can children develop sound judgement and a sense of purpose, As casual visitors you may not notice a resounding difference difference between Christian schools and public schools but a fundamental difference does exist. That difference is Jesus Christ and biblically-directed learning. Look for Him in the foundations of your school system, On whose foundation is your child's education built? Mr. J. W. VanManen, principal Knox Christian School, Bowmanville In Editor's Mail To the Editor: May 10th, 1981 On behalf of the Piyah Chapter of Hadassah-Wizo, Oshawa, I would like tn a- your paper for its co-operation in publicizing our recent Art Auction. Our Art Auction was most successful, and was very well attended, an indication that good media coverage is important in making local events known to the general community, I would like to thank your stuff who were most helpful. Sincerely, Mrs. A, Schwarz, Publicity Chairperson,