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pd _----- Suen t gh Ya Badd. BS de adh bad TEL) meas. TTT a a te a : > - PORT PERRY STAR -- Tuesday, May 31, 1988 -- 5 EE But " HER! ' Viewpoint If you're about my age and you went to grade 13 in Ontario, you'll know right away what the word "departmental" means. | always think of that word about this time of year, and 'm not afraid to admit that | still go into a cold sweat and a bad case of the shakes whenever | hear that word departmental. Grade 13 departmentals damn near killed me a few times. They were the exams set by the Educa- tion Ministry for all grade 13 students in the prov- ince. | think they did away with them some time about 1968. : But | can remember fellow students back in the "good old days" actually getting physically ill at the thought of having to write the departmentals. And it was about this time of year, too, the first week of so in June. The departmentals were so im- portant for anyone hoping to get accepted in a uni- versity. but not great. But grade 13 was something else, especially those departmentals. Like a lot of sltu- dents in those "bad old days" | did grade 13 over two years, getting reasonable marks in all but one Subjéck German. hat was my downfall. German, like French and Latin, was a double credit subject divided if memory serves correctly into something called Comp and Authors. Even after two kicks at the German cat, | never did a passing grade on the departmental in that subject, but finally got the credit by taking a course | wasn't a great student in high school. Not bad, by John B. McClelland Writing departmentals early in June could ruin the start of your summer. | remember well going into the examination room and seeing the large sealed envelope on the teacher's desk. It was not to be opened until exactly 9:00 AM, and that same ritual was taking place in high schools across the province at exactly the same time. The contents of the departmentals were closely uarded secrets. At about 8:59, the teacher would reak open the large envelope and start distribut- ing the exams to the students, putting each one face down on the desk. At the stroke of nine sharp, we were instructed to turn over the exam and com- mence. | would always take a few minutes to read through the exam, and to this day | can recall that sinking feeling on looking at the German exam, knowing that | was licked before | even tried to an- swer a question. My knowledge of the vocabulary was excellent. What killed me were all those sticky little grammati- cal points. Ironically, a few years later while travelling in Germany, | found the language quite easy to pick up, and actually developed a fair degree of fluency. | used to think it funny that | could carry on a conversation in German quite nicely, but couldn't pass the damn Ontario departmental. The departmentals, | suppose, were the fairest way to test grade 13 students. They were standard for everybody. And there were no marks. for being Mr. Nice Guy in class all year long. Your entire year, and entrance into university, rested on a three-hour exam that was set and marked in Toronto. Once the trauma of the exams was over, stu- dents had another few weeks of nail-biting as they waited for the grades to be mailed back. About mid- July, you could see them hanging around the post office looking for the envelope. | knew some students who were afraid to open the envelope and look at their marks. Students these days I'm sure do as much sweating and nail biting over final exams as those of 20 years ago. : But anyone who ever lived through the era of the grade 13 departmentals may get a little nervous just thinking about them, even today. | know | do. DOWNTOWN Anyone who does some or all of the grocery shopping at the Port Perry IGA store knows that over the past few months, a large expansion has been taking place. The work is finally done, and after being closed completely for a few days to put the finishing touch- es on, the store re-opens for customers this week. | don't know just how much all that work cost, but it has to be considerable. Frankly, the fact that Jim Grieve and his partners decided to invest so heavily in a major expansion of an existing store is a good thing for downtown Port Perry. They obvious- ly have confidence in Queen Street, and that is a very positive sign, a boost for the entire downtown core. J As far as I'm concerned, Queen Street is one of the most attractive, vibrant and interesting main drags anywhere. at night school. Yesterday's [\ 5 k we | 70 YEARS AGO Thursday, May 30, 1918 Congratulations to Mr. Chalmers Weir who passed his Third Year Examinations in Political Science with second class honours being fourth in his class. Messrs. A. Malyon and Wm. Avery, Raglan, have purchas- ed Ford cars from local dealer Archer, of Port Perry. The auction sale of household furniture of Mr. Geo. Stone and Dr. Robert Archer has been postponed to Friday, May 31. Rev. Joseph Philp and Mrs. Philp, of Hamilton, are spen- ding their holidays on Union Avenue with Mr. and Mrs. Wm. J. Henders. 45 YEARS AGO Thursday, May 27, 1943 The following members of the Port Perry Yacht Club were elected as officers: Commodore - Beverley Kent; Vice Com- modore - Gordon MacMaster; Sec'y. - Treasurer - Dorothy Balfour. Capt. M.B. Dymond, M.D., of Camp Borden spent the weekend at his home in Port Perry. Congratulations are in order for Lola Gerrow, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. M.A. Gerrow, who passed her examinations and is now a Dental Nursey, 35 YEARS AGO . Thursday, May 28, 1953 Mrs. E.A. Hodgson has been appointed to the position of ac- countant for the Community Memorial Hospital. "A picture of Queen Elizabeth II will be presented to Port Perry High School by Simpson Sears on the occasion of the cor- onation. It will be presented by the local Order Office Manager, Mrs. D. Barron. 30 YEARS AGO Thursday, May 29, 1958 The Port Perry Community Club last week approved final steps for the construction of a $43,000.00 Curling Arena for this community. A new cement sidewalk leading to the front of the Communi- ty Memorial Hospital. On Saturday, Mr. Dave Harrison struck a fire hydrant when he swerved to miss a dog and lost control of the car. Damage was estimated at $150.00. 20 YEARS AGO Thursday, May 30, 1968 Inspecting Officer, Capt. Patrick, Eastern Ontario District, ton, accompanied by Sergeant Preston, conducted the an- nual inspection of the Port Perry High School Cadet Corps. He (From page 12) Letters Township inside staff may strike! To The Editor: The support staff at the Municipal Office, Township of Scugog, would like to make the taxpayers aware of the fact that union negotiations between the Township of Scugog and the inside workers have broken down. An at- tempt at conciliation left us at a standstill. As a result, a strike" may be forthcoming. The 1988 Budget recently pass- Annoyed reader says editorial short-sighted To The Editor: This is with reference to your editorial comment in the May 25th edition regarding a disagreement between councillors, Graham and Hall over land use. I am perplexed and annoyed that your paper, whom a few weeks ago wrote a most commen- dable editorial critical of the new increases in taxation, has now the temerity and short-sightedness to support Councillor Hall's asser- tion that 'Oak Meadows' or it's ilk should be approved. The majority of Council, in democratic fashion, voted to re- ject the Oak Meadows proposal. As one who is greatly alarmed over steadily-increasing taxation I laud Mr. Graham and Council for their decision. Surely, think- ing, fiscally-responsible people will realize that such projects will require municipally-financed ser- vices such as schools or school buses, fire protection, road maintenance, etc., etc., the cost of which is borne by the entire township, not simply the developer or the residents of the new development themselves. Ob- viously it is, or should be more cost efficient to service a popula- tion growing within or diregtly ad- jacent to, an already established and serviced community, i.e. Port Perry, than to duplicate services due to time and distance demographics. With regard to the 'probable abandonment of amateur developers" I feel you are far too naive. With to-day's access to in- formation via computers, fax machines, etc., the would-be en- trepreneur can contact virtually ed, approved substantial wage in- creases for management ranging from $5,000.00 to $6,000.00 per: year. We have asked for wage in- creases which would bring our salaries more in line with other municipalities in Durham Region. We do not believe our requests are unjustified. We are aware of the fact that a strike will pose some inconve- nience for you, but we ask that you understand the position we have taken. Signed; Inside Workers Of The Township of Scugog Ken Middleton, Dale Broome, Muriel Crawford, Lona Williams, Diane Knutson, Ian Williams, Sharon Gray, Kim Coates, Bev Goslin, Marilyn Cochrane, Hilary Gibson. to the editor. Letters to the Editor ... our policy It has always been the policy of this newpspaper to encourage our readers to make use of the letters to the editor column. Our readers have a right to freely express their opinions and view- points on just about any subject, and we feel that a lively letters column helps make a better community newspaper. We insist, however, that a letter writer sign his or her name. On rare occasions, we will agree to with-hold publication of a letter writer's name, if we feel there are very good reasons to do so. Under no circumstances will this paper print an anonymous letter While we enjoy receiving letters from our readers, we must con- | tinue to insist on knowing the identity of the writer. er ET a I --_ -- ----