6 ~ Wednesday, May 15, 1991 - Nortn Shore News yy VIEWPOINT Life lessons ORTH VANCOUVER District 44 Schooi Board’s new Learning for Living program is a much-needed complement to the academic studies of public schools. Due to begin next fall, Learning for Liv- ing will help primary-to-Grade-12 students learn problem-solving and decision-mak- ing, respect differences in values and cultures and develop a positive self-image. The traditional school system has thus far been putting the cart before the horse. After all, if children don’t have the basic tools that enable them to understand themselves and their environment, they won't be able to make the best use of the academic skills they develop during their school days. Many people have protested that fami- lies, not schools, should teach children life values. But no family can offer the social diver- sity of a school, and it is against such a diverse backdrop that a child must test his or her own values. Children inevitably have to form their own conclusions about their own experi- ences. Families and parents should provide the love and support needed to boost a child’s confidence. The interactions in the new Learning for Living program will help students develop the social skills needed to deal with the often hard lessons of life. Spanking is an ‘act of violence’ Dear Editor: { feel compelled to respond to Edward White’s letter to the edi- tor about spanking (April 26). Of course, ‘*‘children do require discipline,’’ but please Mr. White, don't confuse discipline with punishment. Discipline is the clear framework of guidance which is essential for children to feel safe enough to explore and take the risks necessary to discover the social skills they'll need to get along in the world. Children need to know that the adults they trust can be counted on te provide those guidelines to prevent them from overstepping the boundaries of safety and propriety. Punishment (spanking, sham- ing, humiliating, etc.) serves only to modify the child’s behavior in the presence of the person threatening the punishment in order to avoid the punishment. Such methods rarely help the child to internalize the values and at- titudes that will resufe in the child behaving in an appropriate man- ner because that child can feel and see for himself that such behavior Publisher Peter Speck Display Advertising 980-0541 Distribution 986-1337 Managing Editor Timothy Renshaw Aeal Estate Advertising 985-6982 Subscriptions 986-1337 Associate Editor Noel Wright Classified Advertisina = 986-6222 Fax 985-3227 Advertising Director — Linda Stewa:t_ Newsroom 985-2131 Administration 985-2131 Comptrotier Doug Foot 1s wortnwiie. Children learn to be caring and respectful by being with people who are caring and respectful to them and to each other. Spanking is an act of violence and violence never conveys respect for the vic- tim. Spanking teaches a child that when one is frustrated or disap- proving or angry it is appropriate to strike another human being. This is not a lesson I want my chifdren to learn. Sandy Keane West Vancouver North Shore News, founded in i959 as an independent suburban newspaper and qualrted under Schedule 111, Paragraph It of the Excise Tax Act. 1s published each Wed esday, Friaay and Sunday by North Shore Free Press Utd ana distributed to every door on the North Snore Second Class Mau Registration Number 3885 Subscuptions North and West Vancouver. $26 per year. Mailing rates available an request Submissions are welcome bul we cannot accept responsibility for unsolicited matenat inctuding V7M 2H4 Tw vir § be SoOSrIN N00 He? yas ONeEe BUNDAY - WIONESDAY © FHIDAY 1139 Lonsdale Avenue. North Vancouver. BS SDA DIVISION 61,582 caverage crevlition Wednesday Friday & Sunday) Manuscripts and pictures which shauid oe accomnpamed by a stamped addressed envelope Entre contents 1991 North Shore Free Press Lid All rights reserved Hospitality test flunked on East Stl CANADIANS PRIDE themselves on being hospitable to strangers and newcomers. Last weekend one new landed immigrant — urgently consulling with his real estate agent — may have been wondering just now we earned that rep- utation. Which is why the ‘For sale’’ sign quickly reappeared on the lawn of the modest half-duplex on East Fifth which Dr. Mohamed al-Mashat bought and occupied only two weeks ago. When the neighbors learned (in a North Shore News scoop last Friday) who had moved in, all hell broke loose. As a result, the North Shore may lose an interesting and poten- tially valuable new Canadian. But the former Iraqi ambassador to the U.S. arrived with two strikes against him, Firstly, he’d done his profes- sional duty. In Washington during the six-month standoff preceding Desert Storm he’d vigorously defended Saddam Hussein’s ac- tions. Secondly, having decided it was time to change his job, he jumped the immigration lineup. After fulfilling all legal requirements, he was fast-tracked to landed im- migrant status by the Canadian embassy in Vienna. (That, in- cidentally, has led to an inter- departmental row in Ottawa because limmigration Canada wasn’t told — our embassies abroad apparently having this discretion in special cases.) In fairness fet it be said that al-Mashat did no more than all diplomats, including Canada’s, are paid to do: represent their ceuntry abroad as best they can, which means supporting in public its government. Asa lifelong public servant with a brilliant career (he was formerly ambassador to Austria, Britain MOHAMED AL-MASHAT... no reason to love Saddam. and twice to France), he had no personal reason to love his former boss. He’s a Shiite Moslem, whereas Saddam is a Sunni. As Shiites, some of his family were persecuted during Iraq’s war with mainly Shiite Iran. He himself was once arrested. In sharp contrast to Saddam, al-Mashat is also highly educated. He served as minister of higher education and 2 university presi- dent in between his diplomatic Postings. During his extended period in the U.S. he collected a criminolo- gy degree from the University of California and a doctorate in so- ciology from the University of Maryland. His American ex-wife and their two children live in the States, as does a student son by Noel HITHER AND YON his second marriage. There's a valuable upside, too, to his preferential immigration treatment. He brings to Canada and our allies a wealth of first- hand information about the Sad- dam government and its methods. And the decision of such a high- profile figure to seek a more civi- lized home at the age of 60 is an international slap in the face to the Iraqi dictator. This last fact sparked fears on East Fifth Street that he might at- tract Saddam terrorists. That risk now appears small compared with the home-grown violence com- monplace these days all over Greater Vancouver, including North Van. Given the thousands of political refugees fearing for their lives to whom we cheerfully grant asylum — let alone the contribution al- Mashat might make to his new community — it seems a pity we flunked this particular hospitality test. ese SCRATCHPAD: Gung-ho local Reformers gather tomorrow, Thursday, May 16, at 7:30 p.m. in St. David’s United Church, Taylor Way and Upper Levels, West Van, for the a.g.m. of the Reform Party’s Capilano-Howe Sound Constituency Association. Multicult and the party’s recent “*going-national’* convention in Saskatoon are on the agenda — everyone welcome, but only RP members may vote for the new board ... Like to get into the stock market cheap? For $100 — and with only 2,000 tickets being sold — you could win a $75,000 share stock portfolio of blue-chip VSE juniors in a unique fundrais- ing raffle to be drawn June 11 in support of Science World’s exhib- its capital campaign. Call Jim Peacock, 669-1065 ... And con- grats to West Van Rotary stalwarts Don Richardson and Hugh Johnston, 25-year and 13- year members respectively, who fast week each received Rotary’s highest honor — the Paul Harris Fellowship. eee WRIGHT OR WRONG: You can never save face by losing your head. SAP REET EE