CHISHOLM EDUCATIONAL CENTRE 440 INGLEHART ST. OAKVILLE N 844â€"3240 j Tutorial Remedial Programs High School Credit Courses Educational Vocational Assessments Day, Evening Summer Schedules for Children, Adolescents and Adults Mythtakes No Rhyme or Reading Take 5 Read is part of a program sponsored by Frontier College in Toronto, the Oakville Beaver and corporate citizens concerned about the literacy of our young people. Over the next few months, the Beaver will publish stories by Canadian authors that can be read in 5 minutes. We urge all parents to sit down with their children and read these articles as they appear. For after the wonders worked by those sages We were like animals who‘d found keys to their cages; Soaring like birds On wings made of words (Maybe suing the zookeeper for backdated wages?) Once we resembled gorillas locked up in a zo0; Clever, but limited in the things they can do. Yet by learning to read, Not just to play and to feed, Apes could easily soon rent the house next to you. Monkeys can learn things with some ingenuity, But they can‘t stockpile knowledge â€" there‘s no contiâ€" nuity â€" Thus each baby ape Never knows if a grape Is a toy or a food or some mere incongruity. Taught us to use them, explained what they were worth; The treasures passed on, Wise thoughts or a song â€" So time wouldn‘t begin again with every new birth. Language is labels for feelings and things â€" Like the pleasure of toys or a blackfly‘s sting â€" But without it who‘d know Where to stay, where to go? What to eat? What to wear? Or even what songs to So those wise men from India brought words to the What each person learns must be handed on down, Since a jungle won‘t turn itself into a town. _ If nothing had names, There wouldn‘t even be games â€" Because ‘to play‘ is a verb and ‘baseball‘ a noun. Thus no thought was preserved, no experience saved, What a man learned died when he did, shared the same grave. Yet civilization, And building a nation, Take more than the dreams daubed on walls of a cave. So a raindrop, a flame, Not one had a name â€" Not colors, not feelings, not wild thundering herds. Our ancestors lived like the beasts or birds; Nature gave all she had freely â€" but she didn‘t have In India, once, lived the greatest of sages, And those days were the lightest not darkest of ages, For wisdom they brought, And language they taught â€" Though it wasn‘t yet written in books or on pages. ALORE "THE FRIENDLY STORE* We carry over 50 brands of software, hardware Hopedale Mall 847â€"7331 (Offer valld to Oakville Beaver Shop Locally card Nolders) any cash Purchase 5% off River in the Desert: Modern Travels in Ancient Egypt started as a travel piece for Toronto Life in December 1988. Roberts was bewitched with Egypt. About the Author A National Magazine Awardâ€"winning writer, Paul William Roberts, has written for many magazines and newspaâ€" pers, including The Toronto Star, Saturday Night, Harper‘s, Vogue, and Toronto Life. He has also won awards for his work as a writâ€" er/producer in televiâ€" sion. Ever the intrepid traveler, Roberts snuck into Iraq durâ€" ing Desert Storm and wrote up his experience for Saturday Night. The resulting article won a National Magazine Award. He has also won the Canadian Authors Award for "Climate Control" â€" a short story published in Toronto Life magazine. He earned an ACTRA Award for his work on CITYâ€"TV‘s "Enterprise" program, and a Montreaux Golden Rose Award for his work "I Am A Hotel" â€" a fullâ€"length video featuring Leonard Cohen. Random House of Canada will publish his first novel â€" Palace of Fears â€" next year. He is, currently, at work on another novel, as well as a book about the years he spent living in India, tentatively titled Empire of the Soul. And did those wise men of old just waste their time Teaching the ridiculous how to become sublime? By not reading books For the moment a child starts refusing to read It‘s like locking in jail someone only just freed; Bang! â€" the cage door shuts â€" No ifs ands or buts â€" No harvest will come from the unwatered seed. Thus each time you‘d rather have tantrums or rages Then struggle to understand lines on those pages, I think you will find That the gift of your mind Is a present more pleasant than the darkest of ages. The trouble those sages took so long ago To make sure we now know the things we now know, Makes each word we learn Like money we earn Banked in our brains with interest to make a mind Offer valld to Oakvilie Beaver "Shop Locally" card holders Not Inconjunction with Other Specials Toys, Games Elephants Educational Fun For All Ages 511 Maple Grove Dr. Unit #23 Maple Grove Village Thomas . !7 The Tank Engine \ Friends "Imagine," sang John Lennon: we don‘t do that now; Most leaders have the vision of a grazing cow; None of them read, Their faces they feed, But the spirit starves and rots, a dead golden bough. Books play in a theatre the size of infinity; Their cast goes from quarks to the Holy Trinity. Hologram or Imax! It‘s all anticlimax After bookstores found just in your immediate viciniâ€" You let down the past, put the future at stake When you scorn what was mankind‘s luckiest break; A tool for thinking That prevents us sinking Back to dark ages dark riders are ever eager to make. Books took us from caves, set us free to explore Made us master of earth and still offer us more. But as reading declines Our culture unwinds Because words were its cause and words are its core Words equal thinking; the great smasher of chains â€" You can still chat with Plato or John Maynard Kaynes And when firstâ€"hand history Is not such a mystery You‘ll assume half the nation must do without brains. Books switch off when you do, they move at your pace, They‘re interactive. They spend hours stating their case. "‘Two minutes â€" no more!" A voice tells the studio floor, Then an ‘expert‘ videos sects the entire human race... The TV hawks lies ‘Improved‘ soap or French fries And three minutes on ‘Russia‘ is baldly absurd. Democracy itself hangs on the printed word: You vote from reason, not thyming rumors you‘ve Television is much like these paintings in caves; Air holds even less than writing on wild sea waves. TV cannot teach much Since it‘s only in touch With what sells, what is news, and those vacuous raves In India, once, lived the greatest of sages, And those days were the lightest not darkest of ages, For wisdom they brought With the language they taught â€" And their thoughtâ€"fires still burn in books and on pages. You fish without hooks â€" Which is fine if you don‘t want a catch on your line 10% OFF ALL BOOKS 25% OFF BESTSELLERS WHY PAY REGULAR PRICE FOR YOUR BOOK! SHOP CROWN BOOKS. Oakville Town Centre II 200 North Service Rd. W. (905) 84.9â€"3850 est Serrers @ Best P