A6 - Friday, September 28, 1984 - North Shore News EE editorial page’ ‘Selfish’ virtue rom an unexpected quarter comes a striking illustration of the way in which *‘selfish’’ individual motives can achieve socially desirable ends. The Canadian Parents for French organization has just released a nationwide Gallup Poll it commissioned on the attitude of English-speaking Canadians to French in schools. The survey, believed the most com- prehensive opinion poll on language educa- tion ever undertaken, quizzed more than 3,100 anglophones. It found that two out of three respondents wanted their children to learn French in school to bilingual standard and 60% said they would enroll their children in French immersion programs---where French is the only language used in the early grades---if available in their communities. Over 1,000 North Shore youngsters in kindergarten to Grade 6 are currently taking such programs. The main reason given (by 44% of respondents) for this startling upsurge in anglophone acceptance of French instruction was purely economic: the better employment opportunities available to bilingual Cana- dians. The LEAST important reason (cited by less than 7%) was national unity---the policy that originally inspired the __ bilin- gualism drive. In other words, the concern of parents in these tough times simply to expand job open- ings for their children is achieving more for national unity than all the moral rantings of politicians. As in the case of free enterprise vs. socialism, healthy self-interest invariably serves the public interest more effectively than any amount of state meddling. Kicking the habit ncouraged by their local library, 5,000 residents of Farmington, Conn., recent- ly cut back their TV viewing or kicked the habit entirely for a month---using the time, instead for reading, games and conversation. Classifying addiction to the TV screen with alcohol, tobacco and drug abuse makes sense in this ultimate electronic age. Maybe all TV sets and VDT terminals should in future carry a warning label: ‘‘Danger to mental health in- creases with the amount of time spent tube- gazing.”’ TO VONCER OF MONTH ae WEST YaANOCOUVER Display Advertising 980-0511 north shore Classified Advertising 986-6222 mi ew Ss Newsroom 985-2131 Circulation 086-1337 SUNDAY - WHEREDAY-FmOAY Subscriptions 980-2707 1139 Lonsdale Ave., North Vancouver, 8.C V7M 2H4 Publisher Peter Speck Editor-in-Chief Noel Wright Associate Publisher Robert Graham Advertising Director Tim Francts Personne! Director Bern Hilhard Classified Manager Val Stephenson Circulation Director Bil McGown Production Director Chas Johasaon Photography Manager Teery Poters North Shore News, founded in t904 an an independent suburban AEWSPAPEL ANd Qualified Goder Schedule UE Pant HE Paragraph UW of the tacins Tan Act on Bubtished each Wodnesday fuday and Sunday by Noth Shore free Press Fld and distetbuled to avery door on the North Shor Second (lass Mae Regisiratan Nuenber 1085 Entire contents t 1984 North Shore Froe Press Lid All rights reserved Sulbne riphons North ond Waost Vancouver avatlabio on request $15) per year Mathng sates No casponsibility accepted for unsohosted omatenal inctudiog eranune pte and or tures which shoutd be accompanied by 4 slamped addiiesnned onveaglope Member of the B.C. Press Council hel 68,770 (average BOA DIvItiCi Wednesday totiay & Sunday) Tbe Mill, DW - enn. poole au ABs BABB eee SS Buenas > we ar SANNA SAAN AANA AANA TN SSDS How to make things worse for women... O MAKE THINGS WORSE for women you pass laws that satisfy an emotional need and you disregard facts analysis. The emotional power of the slogan ‘‘equal pay for equal work’’ is overwhelm- ing. Politicians do not dare say anything against it test they be branded reactionary, mentally deficient and unfit for office. But the facts and objécfive analysis of the matter needs to be brought out. First, and simplest, such a law would raise the income for some women. However, as we have learn- ed from laws that were designed to raise income of low paid workers, they have resulted in very high unemployment rates for teenagers and others with low and objective By HERBERT GRUBEL productivity. Most economists who have studied the matter state flatly that minimum wage legislation is not in the interests of the ma- jority of low paid workers. The paralle! with women is strict and striking. To the ex. tent’ that equal pay laws would raise wages of employed women, they must lower employment. No firm can afford to hire someone whose productivity is below the wage. The reason for this low productivity of women ts ob. vious in the case of those who return to the workforce after LETTER OF THE DAY Let's pay for a dog-catcher! Dear Editor Re. Dog Control or lack of st This letter is not intend. ed as a criticism of our Police Department or our By lt aw Enforcement Department What has finally prompted me to try and do somcthing ts an episode that happencd vey recently. | had occasion to drive away from my carport for a period of about an hour and a half when | arrived back there was a deposit of dog — (spelled DIRT) on the concrete pad of the carport What 1 assumed to be the of fending animal had upped over the acighbor’s garbage pail and was cating some of the contents (I could also sec another dog in the garbage further down the Janc) | telephoned the Police Department and for at least twenty minutes no one show ed up, the dog left and f quit keeping time. About four out of five tumes before | can mow the lawn | have the disagrecable job of shovelling up = and disposing of two to three and somctumes four piles of dog dirt One evening recently, we had visitors who arrived afier dark and the lady in advertently stepped into and tracked into our house some excrement that had been deposited on our frome sidewalk The lady was very embarrassed and | was highly incensed on having to clean her shoe and our rug Unless some reader has a a break for raising children. The average 40 year old man with a university degree will have five, 10 or 15 years more work experience than the average 40 year old woman who devoted such years to her family. Only people blinded by emotion will deny that such extra. work experience on average raises productivity. And only extreme socialist ideologues will) claim that productivity should be irrel- vant for pay. Most Cana- dians’ sense of equity dictates that it does. The issue 1s more complex with younger women. Two people with different sex but equal education will, on average, have the same pro- ductivity at the same age. For this reason, for the young equal work typically = pro- duces equal pay dogs at might or in the carly better idea, my suggesuon ts this: Ef it ts a matter of finances | will start off a fund with $50.00 and if cnough ciuzens feel strongly cnough about the matter they can res- pond by dropping me a line with their name, phone number and the amount of moncy they would be willing to contribute $5 00, $10,00, $20.00 or whatever amount. Then, «f the response warrants tt, | will go to the proper authorities at the Municipal Hall and ask them if they will match dollar for dollar or better if possible to hire a full ame dog catcher for a penod of time aman who is willing to work shifts to catch the in fact, a study using a large sample from the U.S. census has found that women who were never married earn the same on average as men of the same age and education. The difference that irks so many egalitarians is that the vast majority of women who plan to marry or are married are given less training; that they are shunted into careers that typically result in lower pay; that employees offer them less pay at any point in time to keep them from leaving. : These different experiences for women are not a con- spiracy. They are reflections of a fact that no business can afford to overlook. (Herbert Grubel is Pro- fessor of Economics at Simon Fraser University } hours of the morning when many of these dogs are let loose by inconsiderate, u responsible people who against the law turn loose their animals to foul up then neighbours’ properties. If necessary the dog. catcher could have a tranquilizing gun as I realize it is not an easy Matter to get a rope onto a dog that is determined not be be caught. My intense feelings are not directed against the dogs but against the owners who do not or will not property con trol them A.W. Brooks 1133 Esquimalt Ave. West Vancouver V7T 1K2