Dear Mr. Speck:

; ;
- lam a Grade. 7 teacher at .

- Irwin Park Elementary. in
- West ‘Vancouver and am
writing in reply to your
column -of January 21,
Teachers, Tears and Laugh-
‘ter. .

While esa it 1 must

admit to having experienced
more laughter, . than - tears
reiyour concept’ of teachers
and*the teaching profession..
Let me tell you about myself
since you consider teachers
like me as being ‘‘under-
worked and overpaid..’’

‘This is my fourth. year of |

teaching after ten years of
university education and
three degrees, B.A., B.ED.*
M.ED. 1 am _ proud of the fact

Dear Editor:

Your report on a recent
-‘meeting to discuss the
proposed Coye Cliff School

was generally fair, but -may-

“have left .a somewhat
mistaken impression in the
minds of your readers. First,
far more than 75 people

_attended the meeting; my
estimate was 150. Second,
not all were residents of the
area to be served by the
proposed new school.

Both sides in the debate,

in my. opinion, fell into a
‘numbers trap,’ and
sounded like quarrelling
accountants; only one

‘tently ' because: of ©

Concerned

that there is very little that 1°

am unable to teach compe-

‘training and past experience.
I receive $1660 per month—

probably about the same as a
_ local columnist whom I’ve

read recently, but with the
difference that 1 have invest-

. ed in at least six more yeats

of university education’ than
he.

I tend to be impatient and

sometimes insensitive, but I

‘am a good teacher, I leave
home for school at 7: 15a. m.,

traveling from.Richmond and
atte at. school for an early _
morning praciice at 8:10.a.m.
I teach Math, some English -
and Physical Education
during the day. Incidentally,
during my summer holidays
I'm learning French.

. ‘speaker, late i in the. evening,
“faised the -cruicial issue — ’

the best interests of the
children. Many of those
present were members of the
' Citizens
Association; they were well
organized, articulate, and
breathtakingly rude to those

who did not agree with
them. Residents speaking in |

favor of the new school were

interrupted, insulted, and
shouted down. |
Some local residents

.warned of traffic hazards —

-around the new Cove Cliff

site, but their criticism
seemed insincere; the most

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...Stoneground Multigrain Bread -
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unbleached whole _ wheat,

; mates,

_who
..convenienced by a school on

buckwheat,

kt: lunch, ° "While many

_peopie enjoy a one hour
both ...lunch ‘break, I eat .my bag

lunch in ‘the. gym
supervising - a very’
‘intramural program. .
after 3 Dp: m. I am either
‘coaching ~ ‘a .school . team,
preparing for the next day or
attending a workshop. -

while
active
Fhen

“” Treach home by about 6

p-m. But my job doesn’t end
there. I have a terrific wife
and three terrific children
but I have to admit that most
of my thinking time during
the evenings “at home is

spent “on ' my ~ students cat

school and not” on my
immediate family—how to

“help someone in my class.

relate better with his class-
how to resolve a

- * vocal’ critics were » those who.

‘live adjacent to the site, and
Stand .to be in-

the now-empty site. -

Burrard View School is
universally admitted to be an
inadequate — facility; the
question is whether to invest

' almost a million dollars to

prolong its”

usefulness for
decade or so, or to invest a
little more than a million
dollars for :a school that
should serve the community
well ‘into the 21st century.
Such a new school will have

doubtful

_ to be built eventually; it’s not

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another |

negative attitude in another?
student or how to help
someone else remember how
to use a lowest common.

‘denominator as a first step

in subtracting fractions. Such

output is emotionally as well --
as physically and mentally

demanding.

To say that I love. these
kids is trite, but true. In
some cases J am the only one
they have. How does this
affect school budgets? Well,
if Ihave 25-30 kids in front of
me ‘I can get involved’ with

_most of them, but if there are
40 in’ my class, I lose a ~
number of them not just in

math problems but in life
problems—I can’t read them
concerning what’s bothering
them or in what ways they.
need encouraging.

likely to be cheaper ‘in 1990
than it would be now. I
doubt that our children will
thank us if'we first send them
to Burrard View and then
stick them with the bill for
that inevitable new school.

Crawford Kilian
North Vancouver

not things or statistics and

catile in corrals or numbers
on a page just to appease a
new y teacher/ student ratio.

I have very little seniority
in West

Page 35, March 28, 1979 - North Shore News

These kids are PEOPLE |

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who loses? Sure I do, but the
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spoken about in this letter. —

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