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" OPINION Classified Advertising: 845â€"2809 Circulation: 845â€"9742 or 845â€"9743 The Oakville Beaver, published every Sunda) Wodnn and Friday, at 467 Ian Oliver Publisher {si: 3‘5.7'::%%%25”.‘:‘ o Nene Advenlu Barrie Advance, on Guardian, Bufl‘ ington Post, Collin ood Robert Glasbey Advertising DireCtOT Connection, Etobicoke G Bran::. walown Independent/ Acton Free s Kingston This Weok. Lindsa Markham Economist and Sun. Norman Alexander Editor Souiitbbridge Trbuno, ne. Mitt iton c:..y::(» Mivceauge Nevi Geoff Hill culation Dir marketâ€"Aurora Eraâ€"Banner, North Yor rror, ille Beaver, Orillia ff Cir n ector Today, Oshawa/Whitby This Week, Pelonborough This Week, Richmond HiV Teri Casas Office Manager Thomhil/Vaughan Liberal, Scarborough Mi i material published in the Oakville B ied by copyright Tim Coles Production Manager wmwo'? i the nfi‘;’;: forbiden without the Do you think Canada‘s social programs need radical changes as outlined in a position paper by Lloyd Axworthy last week? Yes: 15 No: 6 Catholic Separate School Board, are breathing a sigh of relief and patâ€" ting themselves on the back for a job well done. They‘re elated that grade 9 students fared well in meeting or exceeding the provincial average in reading and writing tests. Educators for both the Halton Board of Education and the Halton Roman Unfortunately, the entire exercise has been fraught with problems, especialâ€" ly inconsistencies in administering the test. Apparently some school boards allowed students to take the test home and hand it in later. In any event, what do all the numbers mean? In Oakville, most grade 9 students met or exceeded the provincial average. That‘s really meaningless. What is more relevant, is how these students would stack up against their counterparts from other areas of the country. It‘s an unfortunate reality, here in Ontario, that educational guidelines and policies are generally more revolutionary in nature instead of evolutionary. This philosophy has not served students, teachers or parents very well. Once again, the problem is consistency. A grade 9 student transferring to Ontario from Quebec would find that his current math course was the same as the one he had a year earlier. Instead of making changes to the system to better it, we have been subjected to more than 30 years of ‘popâ€"education‘ that has resulted in a miasâ€" ma of academic problems. Most of them need not have happened. Anyone familiar with the ‘old‘ system knows that it had many flaws but a few things were given. When students reached high school, they had a masâ€" tery of the key verbal and mathematical learning élements. These were conâ€" trolled in a unit system that saw students progress through units as they became proficient with concepts in these units. Regardless of how many units completed in a year, by grade 8 you had to have a specified number to go on to high school. Grade 13 used to hold terror for students facing a June test that could count for up to 100 per cent of your entire year‘s work. That concept proved nothing and killing it was progressive. But here again, there was nothing to fill in the void. Instead we had volâ€" umes of touchyâ€"feely education dogma that threw out many solid concepts for supposedly new thinking. Gone was studentâ€"centred learning. Gone was the kind of classroom disciâ€" pline needed for children to concentrate, soak in and process information and actually achieve. It‘s not surprising that we never heard of Attention Deficit Disorders (ADD) in those days. Now when a group of parents get together and talk about education, chances are several will have children thus ‘identified‘. Common sense dictates that many children cannot function in the kind of frenzied classroom environment that is so common in today‘s system. While group learning might work well in some instances, too much of this leads to problems for many children who cannot function in an unstructured environâ€" ment. They don‘t have ADD, they are children and that‘s the way they are. Harness that energy and then see what can be achieved. There is also a dearth of firm curriculum guidelines in the province. This sees students transferring to different Ontario boards facing completely differâ€" ent expectations. That isn‘t acceptable. The problem is even more localized. Math teachers, for example, never know how much math their grade 9 stuâ€" dents have taken in grade 8 because those teachers are given such latitude in what they teach. Again, the resultant inconsistency illâ€"serves the students and the teachers. It‘s more than about time educators got the message. L845â€"5585 Lost messages 467 Speers Road, Oakville, Ont. L6K 3S4 845â€"3824 Fax: 845â€"3085 the nex Beaver. Callers have until 12 noon Thursday to register their vote. Results of the poll will be published in the next Friday edition of the Oakville Cast your ballot by calling 845â€"5585, box 5008 to vote. Will you be voting in the Nov. 14th municipal election? 40 years ago e saw a movie on the afternoon of Oct. 24th â€" yes on a Sunday. The film was called Foolish Wives and it was staged in Toronto‘s Royal Ontario Museum by the Umver51ty of Toronto Film Society. By special government decree, the university culturâ€" al body is permitted a regular Sunday movie showing provided the subject matter has artistic merit. As a result, the movie was 32 years old. It played to a capaciâ€" ty audience: average ageâ€" 21. Every factor of the film and the circumstances of its showing gave satisfaction. Its screening meant that the ban on Sunday movies â€" considered Victorian by many people â€" at least doesn‘t extend to insulting the intelligence of young university men and women who, one day, presumably, will fill high seats in the political, economic and cultural life of the country. It‘s pretty certain that the average adult would appreâ€" ciate a little Sabbath artistry just as s much if such movies were arranged for him? Isn‘t it time that some of Canada‘s Sunday byâ€"laws were dumped, or at least modified? â€" Excerpts from an editorial in The Oakville Record Star, Oct. 28, 1954 30 years ago Plans for the construction of a $3 million, 20,000 seat major league stadium at Drumquin Park were canâ€" celed by the Oakville Parks Board when it approved plans for a $500 softball diamond on part of the land and decided to rent the balance as cattle pasture for an annual rent of $200. The area will be leased to G. Alderson for five years at a cost of $200 per year. The area includes about 90 acres. This action apparently ends all hopes for a major league baseball stadium in the Drumquin area. Last April, the possibility of a $3â€"million stadium seating 20,000 people being constructed in this area to attract a major league team was seriously discussed. â€"From the Daily Journal Record, Oct. 23, 1964 Oakville High School students overwhelmingly favor a new flag design over either the Red Ensign or the Union Jack. Sunday movies were reserved for those with artistic bent More than 68% of the students that cast ballots in the Alook back at the events that made headliines in Oakvile. high schools flag poll favored a new design. Almost as amazing as the heavy vote in favor of the new flag is the fact that nearly half the students have no opinion on the flag issue whatsoever. More than 45% of the students did not vote in the poll. â€"From the Daily Journal Record, Oct. 23, 1964 20 years ago Halton‘s inclusion in a $17 million 15â€"year program to reclaim and recycle waste will change the region‘s attitude about garbage, says regional director of public works Bob Bailie. The announcement that Halton would be the site for one of six reclamation plants to be built by the province â€" made recently by Environment Minister William Newman â€" was greeted enthusiastically by Bailie. The announcement comes on the heels of the MacLaren Report. commissioned in 1972 by Halton county in coâ€"operation with area municipalities to chart a path on solid waste disposal in Halton over the next two decades. The report tried to leave the door open to reclamaâ€" tion as a future solution to the mounting problem of garbage pollution, explained Bailie, but at the present time the region lacks the technology and money needed for such a plant. â€"From the Oakville Journal Record, Oct. 28, 1974 10 years ago Halton Regional Chairman Pete Pomeroy‘s imparâ€" tiality on where Halton‘s next garbage dump ends up may be in question now that he‘s a candidate in the upcoming provincial election. That‘s what Burlington regional councillor Joan Little believes after Pomeroy won the Progressive Conservative nomination for the Haltonâ€"Burlington ridâ€" inc two weeks ago. _It is the pro;incial government which gives final approval to the region‘s chosen landfill site so Halton has some place to bury its garbage. Taken from the archives of the Oakville Beaver including stories from The Oakville Recordâ€"Star, The Oakville Trafalgar Journal, the Oakville Journal Record and the Oakville Beaver. â€"From the Oakville Beaver, Oct. 28, 1984