6- Friday, June 7, 1985 - North Shore News

Editorial Page
News Viewpoint

Council stipends

est Van council members are ‘‘un-

comfortable’ about having to vote

stipend increases for the mayor and
aldermen. They should be — though NOT
because the current pay hikes are in any way
unjustified or exorbitant.

The new rates passed by council Monday
give aldermen $8760 p.a. and the full-time
mayor $33,489 p.a. But personal remunera-
tion is only two-thirds of those amounts, the
other third being an allowance for essential
expenses in the course of their duties. With
the average disposable income for all North
Shore households currentiy nudging $40,000,
they are hardly overpaid.

Nevertheless, there is something politically
distasteful about elected officials being left
to “write their own ticket’, however modest
it may be, and West Van is now exploring
the possibility of an independent commission
to handle future raises. It’s an excellent idea
which MLAs and MPs (who also set their
own pay scales) might well copy.

The key to such a system is an equitable

long term formula instead of the present
hand-to-mouth procedure. We'd suggest in-
creases should be given at fixed intervals of
perhaps two years. They should be based on
the number of years, or perhaps the number
‘of terms, served. And they.might be partially
indexed so as to at least take note of any vi-
“volent upsurge o7 inflation. -
.. Thea everyone would know exactly where
le or she stood. There’d be no more embar-
rassment. And the City Fathers would be rid
‘of at least one unfair political albatross.

ow it’s the turn of jailbirds to invoke .

the Charter of Rights. They claim it

% -entities' them to unmonitored phone

calls, to vote in elections and to hold public

office. What's more, a government report

thinks prisoners can now win their case in the

courts. But why shouid a lifer stop at running

for prime minister? Isn't it, after all, gross

discrimination to lock him up in the slammer
_ in the first place?

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MINISTRY OF
KNOTTED STRING.

Dear Editor: -

Of ail the’ self-serving
pronouncements delivered to
us by politicians, none is
more fraudylent than the
claim that there is no rela-
tionship between class size
and the quality of education.
Over the years it has been
delivered, wihout perceptible
thought, by. a long line of

-Socred ministers of educa- -
‘tion and its most recent ad-

vocate is.Jack Davis in your
recent issue, where he pon-
tificates that there is no
definitive evidence thet the
quality of education is con-
nected to class size.

Unfortunately, the claim
is-quite false, as even a cur-
sory investigation of the
massive amounts of research
devoted to the question will
attest. On the contrary, the
evidence shows clearly what
anyone but an idiot would

sig classes

Yee

sS

Sy

ath
bbey
We

si

expect. The size of. a class
can make a profound dif-
ference in the quality of
learning which goes on
within it, but only if a par-
ticular style of teaching is
involved, Smaller classes are
essential if the aim is that of
developing a high degree of
innovative, creative and crit-
ical thinking in the student,
and of permitting a higher
degree of attention to indi-
vidual differences by the
teacher. Certainly, the larger
the class, the less consistent,
careful, and helpful marking
can be done by the teacher
on any worthwhile work by
the student.

Such research has not
been fost. on those who
operate the private schools
for the wealthy, now
flourishing in our province
as the result of handsome
increases of public funds.
They have advertised that

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FY Ba se Q

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they can provide a quality of
education because they have
class sizes of around ten

‘pupis to a teacher,

If, on the other hand, you
are not concerned about the
development of critical and
creative thought, if you are
willing to have children
drilled to follow instructions
with unthinking obedience,
to listen carefully to lectures
and to regurgitate the in-
formation they received dur-
ing a final exam, then it
clearly doesn’t matter how
many students are in a class.
I can lecture to. 500 docile
automatons just as easily as
I can to 25, and if I test their.
retention by multipe choice

exams, they can be graded -

by computer. Thus it is quite
inexpensive to teach large
classes and churn out cheer-
ful robots, but rather more
expensive to assist in the
development of responsible

citizens.

One ‘suspects that those
who. prattle about the
beauties of large classes do
so because they would prefer
not to encounter too many
youths who have been taught
to respond critically’ to
brain-numbing statements
uttered by politicians,

.. bureaucrats and employers.

- It strikes me as odd that
no one ever suggests that the ~
number of people with
whom a doctor, a lawyer or
a sales clerk has:to deal is
unrelated to the quality of
service provided. Why
teachers? I guess i know the
answer.:No one ever lost an

‘election in British Columbia

by underestimating the
animosity with which the
average citizen views educa-
tion:‘and learning.

Don Burbidge :

. North Vancouver

Don’t fear Mexico!

Dear Editor:

I am writing to you
because I feel someone has
to do something about a sit-
uation that has been getting
worse and worse.

I am amazed to see how
easily people are influenced
by what they reed or hear
from the media. Not too
fong ago your newspaper
printed a series of news
about Canadian tourists get-
ting attacked, robbed and
even killed in Mexico. There
was what appeared to be a
campaign against Mexico.

sories were dramatized and
published without enough
background information to

make people understand that
those cases were only a few
and that in most of them the
problems encountered ty
these tourists were a result of
their lack of common sense.
By placing themselves in
dangerous situations -- such
as walking at night in lonely
beaches or getting involved
with strangers, or with peo-
ple who are using alcohol or
drugs -- tourists are. asking
for trouble, One would not
even dream of doing such
things ‘‘safely"’ in one’s own
city, but when it comes to
visiting another country one
has to be much more careful
since everything is different,

including the law.

Millions of tourists who
go to Mexico every year
from Canada and all nations
come back delighted with
that country and its people.
None of their stories are ever
mentioned by the media. But
when something bad hap-
pens to someone, because it
happened in Mexico,
everybody hears about it.
Why don’t they ever men-
tion the same kind of inci-
dents when these take place
in other countries? Please
help people understand that
robberies and the like unfor-
tunately take place in every
city’ and country of the

world (including Van-
couver). Only the very naive .
or those with ulterior
motives can say that these
things only happen in Mex-
ico ... :

Those who are scared to
go to Mexico are usually the
people who have never been
there themselves. | personal-
ly love Mexico and 1
wouldn’t hesitate to visit this
wonderful country again and
again. Please print this letter
in your newspaper so that
people can read something
positive about Mexico
For once!

M. Teresa C. Allan
Vancouver