6- The Oakville Beaver Weekend, Saturday October 21, 2006 www.oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver 467 Speers Rd., Oakville Ont. L6K 3S4 (905) 845-3824 Fax: 337-5567 Classified Advertising: 845-3824, ext. 224 Circulation: 845-9742 The Oakville Beaver is a member of the Ontario Press Council. The council is located at 80 Gould St., Suite 206, Toronto, Ont., M5B 2M7. Phone (416) 340-1981. Advertising is accepted on the condition that, in the event of a typographical error, that portion of advertising space occupied by the erroneous item, together with a reasonable allowance for signature, will not be charged for, but the balance of the advertisement will be paid for at the applicable rate. The publisher reserves the right to categorize advertisements or decline. Editorial and advertising content of the Oakville Beaver is protected by copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited. Commentary NEIL OLIVER Publisher TERI CASAS Business Manager JILL DAVIS Editor in Chief MANUEL GARCIA Production Manager DANIEL BAIRD Advertising Director RIZIERO VERTOLLI Photography Director CHARLENE HALL Director of Distribution ROD JERRED Managing Editor WEBSITE oakvillebeaver.com THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS A DIVISION OF METROLAND MEDIA GROUP WEST GROUP PUBLISHER IAN OLIVER Metroland Printing, Publishing & Distributing Ltd., includes: Ajax/Pickering News Advertiser, Alliston Herald/Courier, Arthur Enterprise News, Barrie Advance, Caledon Enterprise, Brampton Guardian, Burlington Post, Burlington Shopping News, City Parent, Collingwood/Wasaga Connection, East York Mirror, Erin Advocate/Country Routes, Etobicoke Guardian, Flamborough Review, Georgetown Independent/Acton Free Press, Harriston Review, Huronia Business Times, Lindsay This Week, Markham Economist & Sun, Midland/Penetanguishine Mirror, Milton Canadian Champion, Milton Shopping News, Mississauga Business Times, Mississauga News, Napanee Guide, Newmarket/Aurora Era-Banner, Northumberland News, North York Mirror, Oakville Beaver, Oakville Shopping News, Oldtimers Hockey News, Orillia Today, Oshawa/Whitby/Clarington Port Perry This Week, Owen Sound Tribune, Palmerston Observer, Peterborough This Week, Picton County Guide, Richmond Hill/Thornhill/Vaughan Liberal, Scarborough Mirror, Stouffville/Uxbridge Tribune, Forever Young, City of York Guardian Letters to the Editor Juniper's homework column prompts flurry of response The following is a sample of the letters that Oakville Beaver columnist Andy Juniper received about his column on homework that appeared Oct. 14. I had to laugh when my principal handed me your article this morning. As an experienced Grade 8 teacher I am having difficulty with the "new math"...then I go home in the evenings and try to teach my 10 year old the "new math". In our board we use Nelson Math -- but it is the same "new math". I am surprised to read about the amount of homework your child has. You need to take a look at the following article and give a copy to your child's teacher: Macleans, Sept. 11, 2006 issue: Back to School Special, Homework Is Killing Kids. Your article now sits on our staffroom table, we are chuckling and sweating right alongside you! JULIE SKJOLD-PETTERSEN GRADE 8 TEACHER ··· Thank you so much for your humorous and very true article that was published in the Oakville Beaver. I agree whole heartedly and cannot tolerate that amount of homework that children, including my own, are sent home from school. I really appreciated your calculation as to how long their "work week" really is, without even adding in extra-curricular activities such as music or sports to help round out children even more and give them opportunities that schools cannot provide. I was wondering if you could reference the articles that you mentioned that cite the lack of evidence that homework is beneficial for achievement or improvement of study habits before high school. I am gathering my ammunition and will approach trustee-elects about the issue as well as teachers. I think it will only be an uprising of parents advocating for their children that will change the status quo of homework. I appreciate that you have kept your humour about the issue and I look forward to future articles that bring awareness to those with younger children that will be in for a shock when even their kindergarten-aged children bring home homework! LORI HARRIS ··· My husband is a retired high school principal and I am now a homemaker who has a degree in foods and nutrition. We have two children ages 11 and 13. Let me tell you about our homework situation. Our son has an IEP (Individual Education Program) for a communication disability (oops, are we allowed to say disability anymore?). He has a tutor for math twice a week at $50 a shot. Then our daughter also has a math tutor at the same price. We cannot help them in their math studies even though we are educators and educated ourselves. We feel that there is far too much homework for children these days and that the information that teachers are trying to teach is way over the children's heads. It certainly is over our heads even though we taught for 36 and a half years and are fairly well educated. Our children are doing the same as your daughter is -- like trying to squeeze a shower in before lights out at night. Your column really hit home with us today. Thanks for making us feel that we are not alone. WILLIAM AND KATHLEEN MACDONALD RECOGNIZED FOR EXCELLENCE BY: Ontario Community Newspapers Association Canadian Community Newspapers Association Suburban Newspapers of America THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR: United Way of Oakville TV AUCTION Bizarre University: offering assorted degrees in happiness I 'm thinking about going to university, and not for the keggers (as the cynical might assume) so much as the courses. My thought process was jump-started and my desire kindled when I read that Xiamen University in the southeastern Chinese city of Xiamen is not only offering golf lessons as part of its eclectic curriculum, but is making them a required class. Imagine: a university credit for luxuriating on the links! And what is XU's logic? According to a sports professor at the university: "The aim is to help students find good jobs. Many Chinese business deals are clinched on golf courses." It makes perfect sense to me. It's also part of a universal trend wherein universities are offering students a wider range of subjects in non-traditional credit courses. While this trend has been greeted with open arms by most students, it has been treated with disdain by most critics who think the trend is "dumbing down" higher education, and killing the so-called "classic curriculum." Critics in the U.S., where oddball course options are proliferating, have called the trend everything from trashy and trivial to shocking and shameful. Meanwhile, across the pond, one irate critic in jolly England recently called the course options offered at British universities "downright barmy". Downright barmy? How dare he insult those toiling toward vocational credits in belly dancing, David Beckham studies, the creation of stage puppets and Chinese dragons, and, my personal favourite, ghost hunting in Coventry. Ghost Hunting 101; part of a Masters program Andy Juniper in parapsychology. Who ya gonna call? Ghostbusters! You've heard of "bird courses?" University College Falmouth's BA in marine and natural history photography affords students an opportunity to swim with the sharks off the Cornish coast. For three years. Then there's Lincoln University's new degree in golf studies (LU's apparently determined not to let the Chinese get the upper hand, or the lower handicap). Oh, and if golf doesn't put a smile on your face, University of East London offers a degree in happiness. Things are just as wild and woolly in the United States. Even some of the so-called "elite" universities are offering courses that, at first blush, seem rather incongruous. Iowa, for instance, is offering up Elvis ("Thank you, thank you very much") in its "Elvis as Anthology" course. A Brown University course delves into Dylan (Bob, that is) and another examines The Beatles. DePaul students can study "Rock Journalism". Indiana University has "Star Trek and Religion." And the University of Wisconsin has a course that has my name written all over it: "Daytime Serials Family and Social Roles". If this course is what I think it is, I believe I could get a credit for watching The Young & The Restless. And one for golfing. And another for listening to Abbey Road, which I do all the time anyway. My word, I'm already three credits closer to my degree. Alas, while all of the above may sound boffo beyond belief, one wet blanket, er, critic notes that inclusion of these course is resulting in the exclusion of more "serious subjects", while another scolds: "(These courses) are typical of classroom endeavors that seek to debase, rather than elevate, the intellectual capacities of students." Maybe these critics should study The Beatles. Maybe they should just Let it Be. Andy Juniper can be visited at his Web site, www.strangledeggs.com, or contacted at ajuniper@strangledeggs.com.