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rl dts rane arm EEL L A PE J " ed . RUE WIN INAYY vets yy, JA J NTC" , . TER Ba ] pana? BEE 100 GOWDETT aed A "Scugog's Community Newspaper of Choice" 6 - PORT PERRY STAR - Tuesday, February 2, 1993 atau Th P rt P St EDITORIAL BUSINESS OFFICE Fan a oO & ry a I Publisher - J. Peter Hvidsten Office vig, WY Sys Sapley # CNA tn . coounting - J 188 MARY STREET - PORT PERRY, ONTARIO - LL 1B7 Nows 84 ol - Souk Aaron Rotail Sales - Kathy Dudley, a PHONE (416) 985-7383 FAX 985-3708 =][]:Ye]N} Sports Editor - Kelly Lown Marlene Moore The Port Perry Star is authorized as second class mail by the IXIN:D) Member of the : Post Office Department, Ottawa, for cash payment of postage. ADVERTISING PRODUCTION Canadian Community Newspaper Association Second Class Mail Registration Number 0265 Advertising Manager - AnnaJackman Annabell Harrison, Ontario Community bowspaner hasoaaton Subscription Rate: | ) 9 2 Advertising Sales - Jackie McDonell Trudy Empringham Port Frubigied ve | Ontario 1Year-$32.10 6Months-$17.72 Forelgn-$90.95 Production - Pamela Hickey, BarbaraBell Robert Taylor, Barbara Lachapelle on Perry Le. : includes $2.10GST indudes $1.22GST includes $5.95GST ; ' GST included in price Editorial Comment Staying In School Port Perry High School has been se- lected as one of only four schools in southern Ontario to participate in a spe- cial pilot program aimed at reducing the dropout rate in the secondary schools. This two-year program, funded by the Ontario Secondary Schools Teachers Federation and the federal Ministry of Employment and Immigration, will be aimed at students currently in the system and not those who have already dropped out. The program, which began last fall, will be reviewed when the project is complet- ed in 1994. Organizers of PPHS's "At-risk Pro- gram" believe they were chosen to partic- ipate in the experimental project because it already had a number of innovative pro- grams in place. PPHS's program will concentrate on students who are deemed at-risk of drop- ping out of school. It will offer a number of programs to help stem the dropout rate. These include the Ambassadors, co-operative learning, 'personal develop- ment day, peer tutoring, buddy system and a school based support program. Most of these programs have been in effect at the school for quite some time and are not new to the staff or the stu- dent body. At Port Perry High School the dropout rate is less than 10 per cent. A dropout is a person who has not completed Grade 12. But for some schools i is significantly higher. Some years ago it was considered a status symbol or a sign of independence if a person dropped out of school. Today it is no longer looked upon in the same way and in fact is looked upon in the neg- ative. With today's economy potential em- ployers are looking for a more highly skilled and better educated workforce to fill the ranks. Jobs are becoming more technically complicated and demand em- ployees who have spent time in school. A high school diploma, once considered ad- equate for finding a job, is now a bare minimum as potential employees with bachelor and masters degrees swell the ranks. Although it is good that the OSSTF and federal government has initiated this pro- gram aimed at curbing the dropout rate, it is not enough. Each and every school should be given the funding and the re- sources to keep students in school longer ensuring a better educated workforce. (J (X] ONY / 0 Wh WV) il TRV 0K ok 50 MAYBE BUYING A WOUSE ON 1HE 1D WHR GROUND SHE WAS PEN Sy. \/ . [lps Pen J aA WY SoA OO Leiter to the editor Poster campaign urges Kids stay in school To the Editor: The Secretary of State for Youth has started a poster campaign encouraging students to help develop programs to en- courage their fellow students to stay in school. They want to change the fact that three out of 10 high school students drop out before graduating. I think they should talk to the bureau- crats at the Ministry of Education. The ministry has decided to do away with the basic, general, and advanced course lev- els at the secondary school level. In- stead, they will water down the curricu- lum so that academically challenged students can study alongside gifted stu- dents. The major problem is that the ad- vanced and gifted students will become bored easily with a basic curriculum. They will decide that school isn't worth it and drop out. » The Reafjernicaliy tholion d students . will flounder and I nighly doubt that a teacher will be able to find the time to slow down and help these students. These students will fall so far behind that by Christmas they will see no other alternative to dropping out. Destreaming will mean sending aca- demically challenged kids into class- Turn to Page 8 Random Jottings by J. Peter Hvidsten : y DOWN HOME COOKIN' At the invitation of secretary / treasurer Joyce Kelly, I attended the Blackstock Agriculture Society annual meeting recent- ly. This is a function we always cover, but the normal procedure is to drop by, shoot a couple of photographs and then go along our merry way. 'But this year, I decided to take Joyce up on her invitation to dinner. I'm not talking about a catered dinner with the traditional overcooked roast beef, soggy carrots and mashed potatoes. No, this was a good old-fashioned potluck supper prepared by members of the Agriculture Society. Joyce told me not to worry about bring- ing anything, 'cause there would be lots. And boy was she right! The table was crammed with food which included scalloped potatoes, sweet and sour meat balls, casseroles, vegetables, . salads, pickles and the largest variety of pies, cakes and goodies I've ever seen. I tried to control myself, but the dessert table got the best of me and I went back for seconds. Thankfully I wasn't the only one! My thanks to Joyce and the others who made my evening and enjoyable one. See you next year, I hope! SOME THINGS NEVER CHANGE My thanks to one of our readers for sharing the following article with us. It was printed in the October 28, 1887 issue of the Pickering News. The article reads as follows: | "Port Perry, according to the papers, is a bad and terribly demoralized village. The boys raid vacant buildings and steal the machinery, stand on the street corners and insult ladies and swear like troopers at each other, while the older folks raid clothes lines, steal hens, show bilious look- ing apples (stolen from their neighbors' orchards) at the fairs, drink whisky and slander their neighbors generally." Isn't strange how some things just never seem to change! L 4 From time to time we get calls from readers who have found old copies of the Port Perry Star in the bottom of cedar chests, under flooring or in the walls of old homes. Last week, a call came from Toronto where a man came across a January 1, 1913 copy of the Star in excellent condition. nfortunately we don't have any use for these old papers, so we often suggest donating them to Scugog Shores Museum Village, rather than throwing them out. The Port Perry Star along with other early publications are all recorded on microfilm and are available to the public at both the museum and the library. Bound copies of many of the old news- papers are still on file at the Star office, ut are seldom opened to prevent further damage to the already brittle pages. But our thanks to those who bring these discoveries to our attention. It would be a shame to see pages of our history destroy- ed when the local museum can store them for future generations to enjoy. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR The Port Perry Star encourages our readers to make use of the letters to the editor column to express their opinions and viewpoints on just about any subject, as we feel a lively letters column helps make us a better community newspaper. We insist, however, that all letter writers sign their name and include a phone number for verification. Sorry, no anonymous letters will be published. The Port Perry Star also reserves the right to edit with respect to libelous comments or length of letter. Lg *