A4 - Sunday, September 9, 1984 - North Shore News strictly personal by Bob Hunter School is a disaster zone UR EDUCATION SYSTEM, one hardly need say, 1s a disaster zone. And I don’t think it would improve much regardless of what party was in power in Victoria. Given the state of the economy, the knee-jerk reflex of pouring more millions and billions into a system that can best be described as an ox cart in an age of Concordes is no solu- tion at all. We all know the ideal is sul Plato's academy — but the fact 1s, in a mass age, our schools are getting further removed from the ideal all the tume. Not only are the students herded through, proded by exams, they are also inevitably reduced to the lowest common denominator. It is refreshing therefore to hear al least one teacher, SFU education professor Maurice Cubbons, talking openly about the need tor a certain amount of deregula- tron in our schools. Gibbons sees the current education system, aided and pushed along by technology, moving in a free enterprise direction. Gibbons points out that the present method just slows education down. In my cynical moments 1 suspect that most of what passes for education is just an excuse for a teacher to get work and the kids to be entertained. The system isn’t fair. Come on. If you happen to be living out in the bush, you simply because there’s no room for them, what with slashed budgets and all. Obviously, the costs of providing education have risen astronomically and there’s no boundless cor- nucopia of public funds to draw from. But the solution, really, is to open the doors and let the students out. The technology already ex- ists to allow the bulk of education to take place at home. Videotapes and TV sets, satellites and pocket ce .. most of what passes for education is just an excuse for a teacher to get work and the kids to be entertained.’’ are penalized, that’s for sure. If your parents happen to be poor, you are generally out of luck, period After high school even the semblance of equal oppor. tunity vanishes. The student hits a real bottleneck The number of universities and colleges in B.C. are pathetically few compared to the demand and so kids are turned away not because they aren't capable or willing, but WATERFRONT 50-foot fall kills worker AN UNIDENTIFED employee of the Saskat- chewan Wheat Pool died in hospital Thursday evening after falling SO feet at the North Van. couver terminal. According to Cpl Garry Foua of the Port) € anada Police, the man’s next of kin have been notified, but his name will not be released un ub the pole investigation ip to the industrial accident has ended All that as the tell hKrvowr is that man while working Suspect NORTH VANCOUVER ROMP have charged a 2% vear old White Rock man with theft $200 aficr a Suspect attempted to hitch hike away from the scene of the attempted theft of a tcle Vision over called to the Sears Marine Polwe were areca of rive onathet Pbussday afternoon afler employees of that store watohed a man ccmoase a JO ime Color television fron at the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool Thursday afternoon and that he died as the result of the injuries he several hours hospital here Ports sutfered later oan Canada Police, which investigates all deaths on the waterfront, says the death was an industrial acct dent the store According to the cmplovees the man had hid den the televiston in shrub bery near Marine Drive and was hitch hiking When police arrived, the suspect fed hic was taken into custody after a short foot chase and alter treaty teovsened trecherg underneath a truck atboa Mat tae [Drive and bell Avenue warchouse tcat PARTICIPACTION calculators, telephones, modems and_ recording machines, data banks, two- way coaxial cables, fibre op- tics, cassettes. These are the conponents of decentralized Computer- Aided Instruction (CAT) which has already been pro- ven to be very effective in American high schools and colleges where it has been tried. ; Best of all, it holds out the hope of restor+ng egalitarianism to an educa- tional system that is rapidly devolving back into an almost pre-industrial elitism. If you happen to have a kid trying (o get into one of our bursting-at-the-seams higher education factories, you'll know what | mean. The system has 10 be loosened up, allowing more at-home instruction to take place, giving credits on the basis of final achievement rather than brownie points for attendance. Why shouldn't teachers be permitted to freelance? Why can’t companies offer better courses? Why can’t the in- dividual student shop around for the best bargain in trigonometric instruction? According to futurist Ar- thur C. Clarke, education is about to undergo a revolu- tion unequalled since Gutenberg’s movable type. He predicts the portable elec- tronic library will be on the market within the next decade. And at that juncture there is no longer any point preten- ding that telecommunications hasn't rendered the _ old- fashioned classroom totally obsolete. But why wait? The time to star] chipping the hardened shet! of modern teaching open is mnght now. It is a clumsy, cruel and ar- bitrary system at best. At worst, it is a probable cause of brain damage. For both teachers and students alike. Dr. Myron MacDonald ...wishes to announce the relocation of his office to: #104-2419 Bellevue Ave. West Vancouver New patients welcome appointments 922-3221 Mon Fri Ga pool winterizing seminar Protect your Pool against Winter Damage an Teeny °° into winterizing. ATTEND OUR POOL WINTERIZING PROCEDURES SEMINAR You and your neighbours are Cordially tavited to attend our You wilt leacn now prepare your pool invesiment for the cooler winter months how to avoid Costly speing (lean ups and eaqpensive spring hepart bills (ome lo Gur pool wintenzing Seminar soa you can sapling ght ito a greal summer next year Date: Time: Please «all for reservations hemited seating 986-3318 1225 Welch St N Van oO to Droperrty 13 Sept. 7:00 pm ‘-to-school Drivers face heavy traffic NORTH SHORE drivers and commuters who make their way to the city are fin- ding the roads a little more clogged with traffic than they are used to. ; The combination of back- traffic and = the continuing dispute that has kept the buses off the roads for 12 weeks, has lead to heavy traffic in most areas of the Lower Mainland, with the resulting wear and tear on driver’s patience. Rush hour line-ups at both the Second Narrows and Lions Gute bridges are reported to be. longer than ever in the past and the time it takes to get to work in downtown office buildings ts reported to take anywhere from 15 minutes to half an hour longer than is normal. Police in North Vancouver report there has been a par- ticular problem this week with the Upper Levels Highway near the Seymour River crossing because of the number of students regis- tering at Capilano College. Because there are no buses, students are relying heavily on private cars, with the resulting demand for parking in the area and traf- fic line-ups that, at times, are backed up on to the Up- per Levels. The problems are expected to continue for at least a lit- tle while as efforts to end the showdown between the Metro Transit Operating. Company and the Canadian Independent Transit Union continue, with littl or no progress reported to deadline for today’s issue. FAT? 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