A8 - Friday, June 1, 1984 - North Shore News

Ass glue and the 7,000-word typewriter

O SEATTLE, in spite of the sad state of the
Canadian dollar, to see the exhibition called
China: 7,000 Years of Discovery, which is

excellent.

Not that | am going ga-ga
about that country, you
understand, which is the

fashion these days. But there
are things to learn.

Most people know, | sup-
pose, that the Chinese in-
vented printing. But not
many realize that Bi Sheng’s
moveable type did the job ex-

Ef mailbox ><|

Teachers must
respect budget

Dear Editor

In response to the DeGroot
letter (May 20 News) on
cooperation, the actions of
teachers speak louder than
the words. | cannot accept
the actions of teachers who
join a rag-tag Solidarity pro-
test group and wear buttons
in classrooms to proclaim
their views to students; or
when they go on strike and
use students aS pawns in a
political struggle; or the use
of a seniority clause in a con-
tract with no reference to
competence in teaching; or
attempting to turn proposed
graduation requirements into
a political document.

On budget priorities,
DeGroot ignores my point
that North Vancouver pays a
higher percentage of the
budget on administration
costs than comparable school
districts like Victoria, The
average compensation for
934 teachers is $39,124 and
the maximum for classroom
teachers is $44,787. Increases
on the salary scale for this
year amount to $395,119.
How much more is needed
for teachers to be
‘‘contented’’ as suggested?
When I asked teacher

representatives to cooperate
with trustees by looking at
priorities for the budget, the
president refused, and stated
‘‘that’s your job’’.

My responsibility as a
trustee is to oversee the im-
plementation of a provincial
education system and to
represent the residents of
North Vancouver in pro-
viding our students with the
best education — not to be an
advocate only for teachers. |
believe that classroom
teachers do a fine job but
lately their collective actions
as an organization leave a lot
to be desired by the public. I
am more than willing to
cooperate with teachers in
planning quality education
programs for aii students,
but this must be accomplish-
ed within the present fiscal
framework of the budget. |
am confident that our
students will continue to
receive a good education and
1 look forward to meetings
with parents and teachers to
ensure that first class oppor-
tunities are provided in our
schools.

Dr. Ross Regan
School Trustee
North Vancouver

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sae ced ae Eagles y |

actly 400 years before
Gutenberg duplicated the act
in Germany.

What they didn’t invent, of
course, was a. practical
alphabet, and | spent some
time admiring a Chinese
typewriter, the operator of
which must know 7,000
characters. And even that’s
less than one séventh of the
number of characters in the
Chinese language. By _ the
time students have learned
them ail — if they ever do —

they must be ready _ for
Golden Pond.
Touring this” exhibition,

you get the feeling that there
is nothing new under the sun,
as the saying goes. Not quite
true, of course. However, the
Chinese actually had a
camshaft-operated odometer
in the Third Century A.D.,
when our ancestors were run-
ning around in blue paint.
The device was built into a
cart so that the emperor
would know how far he had
travelled.

They also had the world’s
first automatic engaging and
disengaging gear system, but
somehow failed to invent the

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COMPARE, OUR SERVICE
COMPETITIVE PRICES

AND WE DELIVER —

get this

by
Doug Collins

automobile.
2,000 YEARS AHEAD
Old China knew nothing
about the atom, thank
goodness. But it did have a
seismograph. It was a large,
bowl-shaped metal contrap-

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uon which dropped a bronze
ball into a receptacle and
showed the direction from
which a tremor came, no
matter how smalt the
disturbance.

Chinese astronomers map-
ped the sky, too, and
detected Halley’s Comet
almost a couple of thousand
years before Halley managed
it.

They also invented the
compass, and were great ex-
plorers. In the early 15th cen-
tury they got as far as the In-
dian Ocean and the East
coast of Africa. And not just
with small ships, but with
huge fleets containing
thousands of men, and
vessels that were six times the
size of Columbus’s.

These expeditions ended,
though, because the ruling
landlords and bureaucrats of
China were anti-commercial
and anti-expansionist. Com-
merce and empire, they
thought, would be a threat to
their supremacy. But for
that, we might all have been
speaking Chinese and wrest!-
ing with 7,000-word
typewriters.

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STAINS

‘‘The original and still the best’’

In spite of all these
wonders, the most intriguing
exhibit, for my money, was
in the Chinese medicine sec-
uion. It was a small packet,
the label of which read, in
English:

Ass Glue.

x * *

While we’re talking about
Seattle, which we are in a
way, a couple of notes about
their city and our city.

Downtown Vancouver is
far cleaner than downtown
Seattle, which looks as if half
the population in the U.S.
has just had a picnic there.

The service in their
restaurants beats ours by a
country mile.

Some of their taxis are as.
decrepit-looking as ours, and
we had a driver who, while
wielding a toothpick, ex-
plained at length that it took
him a long time to get the
popcorn, out of his teeth.
Fascinating subject, but not
as fascinating as ass glue.

God bless America.’ Not
only for the usual reasons,
but because you can get a
bottle of plonk in the super-
market on a Sunday.

$4.65 EACH
+H 25 EACH
$7.35 EACH

~

Cabot’s
STAINS

Wood Preservirg
MISSION BROWN

929-4111