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RA, WT. a { hd Vr at VEE ht a st nndiot iis x LN Af A Sl ito tei -__ te pe 25s 0 al ne ------ Editorial Comments Remember When..? > 50 YEARS AGO Thursday, May 21, 1925 Votes, please Something has to be done to pump some enthusiasm and responsibility into that menace of democracy - "public apathy as reflected in the poor voter turn-out. A Silver Medal was held in the Town Hall under the auspices of the Women's Christian Tem- perence Union. The contest was in both music and elo- cution. In music Helen Willard, Helen. Clark and Dorothy Davey competed. Contest The winner was Helen Wil- lard. In elocution Dorothea Nasmith, Helen Vickery, Marjorie Real and Beverley Smallman competed. The winner was Marjorie Real. The Young Peoples League of the United Church held their annual election of officers for the coming year. President Grant McMillan; Second, Eric. Nasmith was top with 652 marks, maxi- mum was 750. In Junior Second, Roswell Wakeford Ist Vice - Helen Lucas; 2nd Vice - Mrs. E. Jackson; 3rd Vice - Elmer_Mitchell; 4th Vice - Louise Carnegie; Sec- retary - Mabel Somerville. Port Perry Public School results of the Third Sessional Exams Third Class, the top student was Esther Turner with 841 marks. Maximum marks were 900. In Senior a possible 700. : 25 YEARS AGO Thursday, May 18, 1950 The 15th Annual Open day was held in Port Perry Pub- lic School.- Mr: R. H. Corn- C$ was top with 510 marks out of While most of us agree that something should be done, few have the courage or ideas, to do anything about it. sa . When less than half the students voted for their slate of officers on Student's Council at Port Perry High School last week, the election was called again. The remedy may not bring a student body to enlightenment, but at least the mechanics of the thing went as it should the second time around. And before any of us adults start all that blarney about today's young people, try to remember if you voted in the last municipal elections. If you did, how many of your friends did. Regional identity If you're still waiting for some political break - through that will eliminate world-wide strife, conflict and antagonism between East and West, Black and White and all the other conflicting groups today, a look at our own government setup may well serve as a reminder of how futile these hopes actually are. Everybody these days seems to want to withdraw from the Region of Durham. Too costly, not enough benefits, etc., etc. The problem, of course, is one of identity. We consider Oshawans not as people of our community, but as adversaries. At Regional Council, you might even get the impression that everyone is everyone else's adversary. A lot of people have expressed their doubts about the ability of regional government to work. That should be restated. The question is: Do we have the leadership to make it work. There's a big difference. Canadian racism What? Racial discrimination in Canada? Alot of Canadians who have been rather smug about a basic difference between a Canadian and an American and our inherent altruism, are finding racial discrimination in their own backyard. Racism has reared its ugly head in Toronto during the past few months and there are hints of it elsewhere in Canada. It is perhaps more important to face the fact that we are all capable of prejudice, rather than making idle philosophies and heaping the blame on others. ish, principal, welcomed everyone. The musical pro- gramme was under the _ direction of Mrs. Elsie Dob- son with the assistance of Mrs. E. Jackson. There were selections from all grades. The Port Perry Lions Club celebrated their Twelfth Annual Charter night. In the absence of the President Mr. Jim Crane, Jack Helm ably took the chair. The speaker 4 for the evening was the Rev. Mr. Mellow, who was intro- duced by Dr. Dymond. At the Ontario County Achievement day held at the United Church, Uxbridge. the following from Port Perry received certificates for having completed two units, Yvonne Milner, Jean Samells, Mrs. Don Gerrow, # and Kay Prentice of Port Perry. Miss Jean Werry, R.N. of Blackstock, has accepted a position at Kirkland Lake. 15 YEARS AGO Thursday, May 19, 1960 At the Wednesday night banquet for the Lady Bowl- ers, the Frank Hastings trophy was won by Gloria Hastings with a high average of 204. High Triple in the first section was won by Dorothy Freeman, and the second section by Merle St. _ John, third section by Louise Carnegie. The executive for next year will be President, Mary McGregor; Secretary Jean Goode; Treasurer Myrtle Prentice. Mr. James Doupe has star- ted to build his new store in Prince Albert. & Mr. Tom Donnelly is erect- ing a building on his property at Manchester and in the near future it will be a well-stocked grocery store. (continued on page 9) Bill Smiley Tough time for teachers This week 1 had the chore of sorting through a huge pile of applications for a job on our high school staff teaching English. One job and about 80 applications. That's the way things are these days in the teaching game. It's a cruel world for young people trying to break into the profession. Armed with their pieces of paper on which it says right there in print that they are now qualified teachers, they sally forth to put into practice their high ideals, their warm personalities, their love for young people, and the results of four or five years of university slugging. And what do they find? A vast indiffer- ence. Nobody wants them. Principals want people with experience. But how do you get experience if you can't get a job? It's an old story in the world of free enterprise, but it's still a sad one for those caught in the vicious circle. I's exactly like another facet of the: system of which we are so proud: banking. If you're broke and need money, a bank won't loan it to you. If you're rich and don't need money, you have to beat off the hankers with a stick. I couldn't help thinking, as I sat toying with people's lives, of the vast change that has taken place since 1 began teaching, about 15 years ago. Those were the days when the great post-war baby boom was hitting the high schools. Principals were raiding industry for technical teachers, business for commercial teachers. If you had a university degree, it was a- - much as your life was worth to walk past a school. A lasso would snake out, you'd find yourself getting a~hot sales pitch in a principal's office, and next thing you knew you were standing in front of 35 kids with your mouth hanging open. = Anyone who was not obviously drunk or noticeably retarded had a pretty fair chance of winding up in teaching. One daily newspaper ran pages and pages of teacher-wanted advertisements each spring, and school boards spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on advertising. I remember one spring when I could have taken my pick of 28 jobs as an English department head, by picking up the phone. Those were fat times for the young graduating teachers, too. = Armed with nothing more than a puny B.A, they could pretty well pick and choose where they wanted to work and live. [Fach spring there was an event which came to be known rather cynically as "the cattle market'. School boards from all over the province would take over a big hotel in the city. Potential teachers would flock in by the thousands. teeth. Of course, the pay 'wasn't much then, about $4,000 to start, but that was worth more than twice as much as it is now. When I was hired, I wrote a letter applying for the only English teaching JoR left in the provincé.™ The principal was on the phone the minute he got my letter. He couldn't believe that I had an honor degree Apparently I was the only person left in Canada with such a degree in English. who wasn't teaching. Just two years later, I had a department headship forced on me. I didn't particularly want it. Ryerson Institute wanted me to go there and teach journalism. The president of Waterloo University wanted me to go there and handle public relations and teach some onglish. If T were fired tomorrow, with my honors degree and 15 years experience, I'd be lucky to get a job in Nooknik, teaching English as a Second Language to Eskimo kids. I checked with five of my colleagues in the English department, who entered teaching It was a seller's market. The student teacher walked the halls, checked the signs on doors. If he deigned to knock, he was snatched through the door by a principal, had coffee or something strong- er forced on him, generally given the glad hand and usually assured a job, even if "he" happened to be a bald female with green during those halcyon years. Three of the five were hired by phone, sight unseen. Now, we sort through a vast sheaf of applications. Here's guy whith a B.A. M.A. and Ph. D. in English. Discard him. Overeducated, no experience. Here's one with an honor degree, excellent recommen- dations, just out of teacher's college. Discard her. No experience. And when we narrow it down to six or eight, they have to show up for a gruelling interview (gruelling for me 100) and may have driven 300 miles for it, and drive home with nothing to show for it but a hearty "Thank you for coming." The whole thing makes me sick. There's a great waste of talented young teachers, many of whom, in disgust, go into some other way of making a living. There's a whole slew of old teachers still in harness, who are hanging on because archaic regulations make them hang on until they are too old and sick and stupid and tired to be of any use to anyone, merely to draw their pensions. Surely ina country with our resources, and in an age when the computer can make accurate projections, we can do better than use this outmoded system of supply and demand, which may be all right for the cattle market, but all wrong for human beings. The Argyle Syndicate Ltd.