CAN WE talk about our
kids’ education?

By Jacqueline A. Kirby
Contributing Writer

On a recent Tuesday morning |
found my perfectly healthy {5-
year-old son lounging in front of
the television set on what 1
thought was a school morning.

. It turned out that it was an
“assessment”? half-day. Assess-
ment? How come this is the third

” child I’ve seen through the school
syste and not come across an
assessment day before? Profes-
sional days, yes; assessment days,
no.

A telephone call to the school
confirmed his diagnosis.

Assessment days do exist (oh ye
of little faith). They are regarded
as recovery periods.

Recovery from what, you may
ask? In this case the recovery was

deemed necessary because of
parent-teacher interview evenings.
Are we really that exhausting?

After lunch my son attended
school for his one remaining class
— drama.

The next day, Wednesday, fol-
lowing a leisurely spring morning,
stroll, our pleasant and amiable
in-house representative of the
future generation presented
himself to his educators for his
first class of the day promptly at
11:30 a.m. and was dismissed at
3:10 p.m.

Thursday was a bit of a shock
to his system. He had to attend a
whole day. Friday was a profes-
sional day — no school.

How are these kids, conditioned
as they are by the existing part-
time education system, to develop
the survival skills necessary to be
effective components in the Year

: 2000 workforce?

Every day in the press 1 read
teports of action by B.C.

Safety and efficiency
much improved with
changes to parking

Dear Editor:

/ | would like to take this oppor- °

tunity to respond to the letter
“North mall access: difficult’’’ by
‘ AL Vitols which, appeared. in the
Feb. {2 edition of the North
Shore News.

“- His claim, “Automobile access
- to'stores on the north side (of the
--Park Royal shopping centre) is a
‘senseless joke,’’ ! find unfounded.
“: L have used the facilities on the
North side of the mall a number
of times since the traffic patterns
‘have been changed and I have
-found the changes to be of great
‘benefit, both in convenience and

in safety. 1 base this conclusion on:

three points. .
. Firstly, the bus stop that was

previously located a few feet from:

the intersection of Taylor Way
and Marine Drive has __ been
relocated further down ~ Marine
Drive away from the busy in-
tersection and the entrances to the
mall, =:
I found that the bus stop at its
“previous location only served to
frustrate the general public as well
as the transit drivers by making
the curb lane, which was used for
access to the mall, dangerous to
- negotiate when there were buses
stopped for passengers.

Setondly,. the number. of en-
.trances and exits for the mall has
been: reduced to two. On a
number of occasions, prior to the
_Tenovation of the north parking
lot, I witnessed a number of
near-misses from vehicles entering

or leaving the parking lot. There

were. far too many vehicles enter- .

ing/exiting the parking lot, from
far to many entrances/exits, for
access to be safe.

Finally, Mr. Vitols makes refer-
ence to his confusion when at-
tempting to leave the mall (i ex-
pect via, one of the two over-
passes) for North Vancouver.

The overpasses have not been
moved during the renovation to
the parking facilities. The west
overpass, closest to the bowling
lanes, has been unaltered, while
the cast overpass had the ap-
proach moved from the east side
to the west side of the structure.

The location of the approach is
not a mystery. Although the ramp
cannot be seen from the east side,
common sense should lead a
driver to look on the ‘other side
for access.

1 would assume that the ar-
chitect who designed the renova-
tions for the mali found it neces-
sary (o relocate the approach in
order to facilitate the expansion of
the mall on the east side of the
overpass. -,

I think that the designer(s) of
the new facilities should be com-
mended fer their improvements to
the parking facilities at Park
Royal North.

Clearly safety and efficiency has
been improved. Unfortunately Mr.
Vitols has failed to realize these
improvements.

.Graham Astbury

North Vancouver

Neighbor’s fumes harmful

‘Dear Editor: . ;
' This is an open letter to my
neighbors at the top of Moun-.
_ tain Highway.
“One of you is using a kero-
sene mixture as fuel, causing a
. foul, obnoxious smell to per-
meate a number of blocks in
_ ourarea,

‘The fumes cause
hauseousness and . headaches.
They seep into the house and,
of course, you can’t open a
window as the fumes are all
around.

‘, This cannot be either healthy
-or. legal. I have telephoned the
‘fire department and they have
investigated, but cannot find
‘ out who the culprit is. They are

still investigating as they have
received other complaints.

I have also called
engineering department
management).

Somehow, this has to te
stopped before either a very
young or old person becomes
ill from it. You know. who you
are and you should be con-
cerned for your own safety as
the furnes are so strong that, at
your house, there would be an
extreme fire hazard.

To my other neighbors, try
to find out who it is and call
the fire department at 980-
7575,

Irene Anderson
Nerth Vancouver

the
(risk

educators. Not — you could be
forgiven for thinking — because
of the 30% plus dropout rate
from our high schools. Or that so
many of our Grade 12 graduates
are barely literate and are failing
to meet potential employers’ basic
requirements.

Instead the reports talk of
shortening the school year further.

Of conflicts with education
minister Anita Hagen’s an-
nouncement of a new school cal-
endar advocating a return to the
traditional schoo! year.

They talk of the $121,000 the

"B.C. Teachers’ Federation (BCTF)
spent in the last provincial election
‘to fight in support of its political
beliefs.

They talk of the $200,000
advertising campaign mounted by
the BCTF last spring, when (told
by the political party it helped
elect that it had to perform more
effectively within its allotted
budget.

And they talk of Education
000. .
In a recent report by the Van-
couver Board of Trade, B.C.
educators are accused of “‘pursu-
ing a school system which is in-
compatible with the aims of those
who believe that international
compctitiveness should be the
guiding principle for our
schools,”’

1 must confess, I had wonderéd
who was going to tell the Germans
and Japanese that, as a result of
Education 2000, we would be
producing non-competitive par-
ticipants for the international
marketplace. And would they
please cooperate and play by the
same rules,

Chaired by Royal Bank senior
vice-president George Gaffney,
the VBT study group’s 17-page
report condemns our education
system for not producing gradu-
ates equipped with knowledge and
skills to work in the real world.

Recenily a girlfriend, worried
about her teenage daughter's poor
school performance and lack of
motivation, phoned the vice-prin-
cipal of the local high school.

A single mom, she confided to
the professional something of the
emotional challenges facing the
girl.

Next day the conversation was
repeated to her by one of her
daughter’s schoolfriends, whom
she met by chance shopping in
Edgemont Village. Following the
call, the 17-year-old
schoolfriend’s counsel had been
sought regarding my girlfricnd’s
family.

It would be easy to be angry
with this individual betrayal of
trust by an adult educator. But
what is happening in our schools,
with our kids, is too important.

_ We have a generation at stake
here. Isn’t it time to go back to
the drawing board? .

AND WHAT DOES THis LITTLE “2”

REPRESENT... ALBERT ?

EARP 4/20/92

RELATIVELY

SPEAKING...

ABouT A
“THOUSAND JoBS.

Stop holding education for ransom

Dear Editor:

Re: “‘W. Van teachers call for
class-size clause.”

I refer to the article appearing
under the above heading on Page
20 in your publication of Feb. 21.

1 can hardly believe that in this
day and age a:responsible person
representing schoolteachers can
address members of the WVTA in

such a manner.

I am reminded of a power-
drunk dictator, and cannot believe
the people of West Vancouver can
continue to accept this sort of
conduct lying down,

To read that teachers have ref-
used to: do administrative paper-
work, whatever that. may. mean,
sounds revolutionary and not
becoming of those who should set
an example of good conduct. to
their pupils. .

If this is a normal part of their
responsibilities it is downright
disgraceful.

A practical class size is depen-
dent upon the competence of the
teacher and the ability of the
teacher to maintain discipline.

If these skills are not to be
found, the teacher should be
discharged and not be used as a

‘tool to enforce smaller classes. In

my day a normal class size was 32
and well handled.

Rowley does not want to see
teachers ‘‘forcibly removed’’ or
transferred, but he should be
reminded that management must
always reserve the right to deal
with staff as necessary where per-
formance is unsatisfactory.

Without this proviso the current
reprehensible conduct and general
attitude of teachers will never im-
prove.

Rowley

talks of requiring

treatment in a way consistent with

the profession. It seems that the
respect he calls for has already
béen lost, the skills and knowledge
he refers to appear. to have

diminished, and the attitudes. of
the teachers are deplored by the
public.

To continue to hold the educa-
tion of children to ransom for
more and more for less and less
has got to stop.

This letter and a copy of the ar-
ticle will be sent to the minister
for education and I urge all con-
cerned to do the same.

- We: want dedicated teachers,
proud of what they are doing, and
happy to be not only gainfully
employed, but earning very attrac-
tive salaries with very enviable
conditions thrown in.

H.C. Barnes
West Vancouver

Captain would make great choice

Dear Editor:

i take grave exception to
Raeside’s third question in the
Career Aptitude Test for leader of
the federal Tories (Page 6 car-
toon, Feb. 28).

The position of captain of the
Titanic was an honorable one.

Applying for. the position an

hour and fifteen minutes after it -
had hit the iceberg? Now that
sounds like an excellent candidate
for the office of prime minister of
this long-suffering country.

Let’s keep things factual.

Peter Powell
North Vancouver