A6 - Sunday, May 16, 1982 - North Shore News Ge editorial page Gut sense Premier Bill Bennett has drawn the wrath of the NDP and public service unions on himself for apparently changing the rules of the restraint game he started three months ago. In his TV broadcast on that occasion Mr. Bennett indicated wage increase guidelines of between 8% and 14% for public sector employees. Now, he says, there is no 8% “floor”. Some settlements might have to be 5% or less. And the premier has also threatened to outlaw any settlements likely to cause service cutbacks or staff layoffs - which loom today in hospitals and schools as a result of the restraint program. The anger of the socialist opposition and the B.C. Government Employees Union over these latest pronouncements was entirely predictable. The job of the opposition, of course, is to oppose, regardless sometimes of facts or reason. The BCGEU has been “restrained” to 8% annually for the past three years under its current contract and is determined to catch up. The question which both of them duck is where the money is to be found for large wage settlements with no accompnaying loss of jobs. Presumably they know it can come only from the already battered B.C. tax- payers — 125,000 already unemployed themselves. It's a pity Mr. Bennett pretended he'd been misunderstood in February instead of frankly admitting that things have become worse than he foresaw then. But for many British Columbians his call to have more people working for a little less in preference to even less people working for a lot more makes better gut sense than the rhetoric of his political foes. No problem Weeping Canucks fans were busy Friday giving the Stanley Cup away to the Islanders, 48 hours ahead of today's fourth game. That's not the B.C. spirit! If the Canucks had taken fan talk seriously during much of the past season, they'd never even have had the heart to get near the final. All they have to do tonight is skate with the puck and WIN — like the 0-3 Islanders did six years ago against Pittsburgh. sunday... news Display Advortisiny ye0O5T) 986-6222 985 2131 986 1337 north shore | news 1139 Lonsdale Ave North Vancouver: B ¢ Classified Advertising Newsroom Circulation VIM 24 Publlateas beter oye. Aaouwrtato Publlohor Editon in Chtef Advan tlatogy Wea. cre Nore Wregtst i ee Hac strerct 6 at cabarets Goneoral Manage: Auministration & Porsune o! Mrs there haiti | Cotes aebati.. Late oe tae Penduee te eee thru AE the Ox thn ed Pe ee North Shore Newa | no e PO a ete Deng eres bere! eo ene me gears ae Were Oe Pes Beate TF rae MEE fem ang ge eng et Poe ee Ae abate Gat Wate scda at Cnareday bo fat fr Ct ee CS Vt pape) Meet tbo bert te. eee y Be pe oe Cr a Sr an tar Meal tesgestenticn Norritee Viste bnthee « ontonte 1062 North Shore bee Preea lid All rights -eeo ved RA ie torr Pr re ee Welt mete y 93 404 Surrday SIN’ TRIS PAPER th mee TOL ARLE Writers who gei lost in a fog By BILL BELL “I never write ‘metropolis’ for seven cents a word because I can get the same price for ‘city’! Mark Twain once confessed. The late Robert Gunning would probably agree. Gunning, famed for his knack of making magazines and newspapers more readable, invented a measurement of readability called the fog index. It is based on the number of years of schooling people need before they can under- stand the piece of writing in question. Unfortunately, North Vancouver School District trustees and in particular, trustee Crawford Kihan do not seem to agree with the author of such classics as Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer. At a recent school board meeting, Kilian a_ science fiction author and English instructor at Capilano College told the board he was currently writing a provincial social studies text- book for grade three students. His criticism was that the publishing house editors and the Ministry of Education told him he was wntng above the students’ heads at a grade five comprehension level. Kihan showed a great deal of indignation at the audacity of the editors and attacked them for lacking a “pedagogical approach.” Now, before anyone runs off to the dictionary to look up pedagogical, let me as Kilian calls it, “dummy” the definition up for you. MONEY tomorrow (Monday) evening TALKS at the Hotel Vancouver when Montreal tycoon Brian Mulromey addresses a $100 a plate fund-raising dinner for North Van Burnaby's Jory MP Chack Cook. As of Priday only about 600 of the 1 OOO preey meal tickets avatlable had been sold some moos rumored lo anonymous Loubcrals prepared toipvest a bundred bucks in order to add to Joe Clark's worries Mr Mulroney aclually witha reet sayy yO has tecently made i ceystal «bear that hes hellbent on wresting the leadeestip of the Progressive Conservative foros Me © lath Vefeated tian ve the Party whe 1y'e le acterstuags trace A lawyent bry trade te s preside at of the Lroon Ore Company arf ( anacda wind thie C)dvae Dee North) Steere anned Laster anaheos Kailway Dis other direc ten sthiges tape dade the Manik of ( nme re ¢ CUAL) L vanatead Hhasritves Minin UA ey a Noth Sbrore t agree as taeon Loastoracbeor Moniatp annet boa prbeetartacon Coe Brees tpres dene Odie Poe « Vic be gotes vane Kits Hoarlioign bus “taeda We cade acti Cb pret Cheon ryw Perdasateres ane Kilian was upset that the editors wanted him to wmte at a grade three level for grade three students. He felt it would not present an educational challenge to the students — and the rest of the board agreed. Rubbish! Kilian, as a teacher of a college course called “Selling Your Writing,” should know the number one rule of any writer is that one must write for one’s audience. Why confuse the young students with difficult words in a social studies text? That should be left up to the English teachers. The challenge of social studies is not in the understanding of complex language = con- struction, but in the under- standing of the world. Not that students in the North Vancouver system don't need intensive English instruction, graduate they do. As a from School “Three D's and two F's. Hey. thats yreat house!” District 44, I expenenced many difficulties in the usage of the English language. My English marks at Capilano College were “C's” not for adequate but for “com- passion.” As an editor of a com- munity newspaper in Sechelt, I would come under constant criticism for my misuse of the English language... “I was caught so many times dangling my modifier that I was busted for an indecent preposition.” However, having started Out writing sports stories for various dailes and weeklies, the one criticism never afforded me was my ability to write for my audience. “Try not to wnte too many three and four = syllable words, will va Bell,” was the first advice 110m my editor, “yocks won't want to read it.” The fewer big words a person uses and the shorter the sentences. the lower the sunday brunch by Noel Wright United Provinces Insurance Company Never yet clected to any legislative body M1 Mulroney billed as part of a “Distinguished Speakers Senes” is here to test the Tory waters in his bid to dispose of Mr Clark and become Canada’s ncal pame minister The Man Who Would Be King clearly has« Autzpah westem One of the numerous prominent westecrm Tones who wont be there Is Chuck's fellow North Shore MP Ron Hantington Ji stead Ron has chosen to be Kucst speaker Lomortow might at the annual mecting of the (€ aulfeald Property Owners Assen mation lon wetting a dot of beat about Mulroney Chuck lamented last week Heck Poy ace the ioney and he knows how (Oo draw acrowe Po. ther many other busts ecerth Naan ¢ ity Aldenman Steclla Jo Dean has now added Chat of producer aed sertptwriter foe this Wed woxwdays (May 1) musi al revue Remembes Phe Choad Old Daye atthe North Van ’ Veal (eotennial Theatre anmed | cnalate Con Cetve dd ayia he atebe ad tenbeaarte lor Uhre mnoats 75th bur Uhday the show ts a mult media Coty production tracing the history of the City from 1907) With a cast of 100 1 features other Polkfest groups the Sweet Adclines. slides of old Nomnth Van something called audience par among thangs and eipation " Curtain time & best of afl oad massion ts free pm and [cont criss! Bever wondered how thiss. caequtaite Humane | fagurines arc created’ Bernd Sechindhcim, talentcd one oof the CTW ETNES paraters few the Crocbel factory an Bavaria whetc they make them usin town thin week to Gemonstrate his oiofiitely shale So art You can wateh ham oat work Docsday oan Goeassic y Park Royal and yoru might just be the lucky tebbbcor geckor bore ecise an cpengrbanarl Pravead segcree Tf ipeare rane feepaxy tiien PRISE LIST. Cr 2a, fer Crete cce are Welter Oweryl Koberts of North Van fiance by Neath s BIO OO} win Last Ure Suegece | cote Taaperaethi ota They plan ts inwest any balaaec left over tr Cerin le preosits l wbbvenge Mel of whieh compris fer fog index is. J.D. Salinger’s novel, The Catcher and Rye, has an index of six, very readable for almost everyone. Even Kilian would have a hard time saying Salinger’s novel lacked a “pedagogical” interest to any reader. The Wall Street Journal says of the fog index, “people prefer to read well below their education level, and at a fog index of 13 even a Ph.D'’s eyes may start to glaze a bit. At 17 virtually the whole audience has fled.” Other examples show that Atlantic Monthly can be readily understood by a 12th grader, Harper's by a grade 11, Time by a grade 10 and Reader's Digest by a grade fine. So what good 1s a social studies text for grade three students if most of them find it too difficult to read? Stull, it is not surprising that a college instructor would think “fogging” is a good idea. According to the Bulletin for College Public Relations Association of Pennsylvania, in academic journals the fog 1s inten- tional: A researcher at the Wharton School found that academics write in incom- prehensible form because their colleagues prefer it. J. Scott Armstrong. associate professor of management journals said, “the harder the journal was to read, the higher its prestige was ranked by a sample of academics and_= graduate students.” So, Mr. Kilian, my advice is the same as I give to the CONTINUED ON PAGE A7 Palmer, the moncy whiz of North Van Distnet, who's been awarded a Semor Certificate in) Municipal Finance by the Municipal Affairs Ministry's board of examiners Second pnze in a nalonwide competion for the Jumor Forest Wardens Achievement Award has gone to Karen Tregillas of West Van who gets an engraved conservabon book and a $2000 scholarship Challenging prze for one time North Shore News editor Pat appomntment media Monk is bes thas tclations (thats por month as manager In donghand) for iC HC The brave gal was previously por fur Ihe United Way A tig hand for File Parkinson who can at long last put ber feet up and droop after tonight weeks of masterminding Ube arrangements for weekend's big thas anoual contcrence of the Assembly of B ¢ Arts © ounme tis CAE of themtioin North Van The sane favear again for lon al Red Cross lady volunteer Mesdames Margaret Chath Kay (,fimoar, Marte Hantcr and @) Foor thew dealne ated service be Newton honored the organisation aver hoag ycars And salute also Red Cotens disaster «harman frank Hampton. officintty commeaded for the OF pints of Dhood hes donated WRIGHT OG WEON. Phe poobdtem about cquality only of Course ois that we wantit with ovr sagen bors