Strictly personal

by Bob Hunter

Think about it, Mark!

FORMER West

Vancouver

school board

chairman Mark Sager has stepped into the lion’s

den

y head a comm

iSSiOn aimed at

cutting school costs across B.C.

The debate is bound to be
bitter. passionate and long
drawn-out. The question of
education, after all, ad-
dressés itself to the very core

of -what and “of “a “society “rte country.

we're going to be living in a
few years down the road.

public enemies have so far
only tended to obscure the
issues. Finance Minister
Hugh Curtis claims B.C.
“teachers are the highest paid

warned that even as it is —
without being cut back any

further — our educational.

system is failing to deliver
the skilled people our
economy requires.

Often eneugh, industry is
having to reach outside the
province to find the highly

specialized kind of workers ©

Not so, says the BCTF.
They're second to Ontario

At_a_time when more
young people than ever are
trying to improve their skills
in the face of massive
unemployment, Education
Minister Bill Vander Zalm
wants to chop the flab from
the teaching establishment.

The question is, how much
flab is there? Is the ad-
ministration top-heavy? Are
there too many non-teaching
teachers? What about all the
area counsellors, co-
ordinators, psychologists,
superintendents, supervisors
and consultants? Are they
necessary?

The commission which
Mr. Sager heads has a
chance to dig mto the reality
behind the furious rhetoric
being. zapped back and forth
between Vander Zalm and
the B.C. Teachers.

The figures that have been
used by Victoria to justify its
targeting of teachers as

and

higher pay scales of the
Yukon and the Northwest
Territories.

Who are we to believe?
Curtis says the number of
pupils per teacher has
declined from 22 in 1971 to
17 in 1981, a 23 per cent
reduction. The teachers
reply that the figure is a red
herring, since the ratio is
calculated by including
librarians, special in-
structors, counsellors and
even principals, who do not
have classrooms.

The real figure, they say.
is more like at least 23
students for every teacher.

At the same time, B.C.’s
colleges and vocational
institutes are experiencing a
crunch as jobless youngsters
pound.on the doors.

Educators such as Joseph
Katz, professor emeritus of
education at UBC, have

~ em wh o. supply. fasts —

~~ made in Canada

nty

Here are 5 reasons to bounce back

in 'B3 with rebound oxercisa. .

| Burns almost double the calories used
« running or swiraming tor maximum

“weightloss.

Exercises every cell in your body for
~mevimum strength dullding:- .

he

“Removes up to 85% of the stress

‘on weight bearing joints

_cWe guarantee the bost produdte

“atthe best price.
We have a complete

sotection of rebounders, tapes,

records, books, etc,

CANADA'S LARGEST
SELECTION QF REBOUNDERS
AND TRAMPOLINES

~“Trecessary if "we ~ are 10

~ technology wortd of today,

the education budget, not
chopping. We should be
offering the highest quality
training we can possibly
provide. When the world
economy does finally turn,
we would have a large pool
of people with sophisticated
skills, capable of main-
taining our edge.

As it is, the roofs have
begun to leak on the
decaying hulk of our
educational system. We are

ing-a@ generation. fr is ~
utterly false economics to
slash education.

That’s like lobotomizing
ourselves.

Over to you, Mr. Sager.

With Love

for your

VALENTINE:
FLOWERS

SEYCOVE. ove. florists

Dollar Shopping Centre

929-4822

World-wide Delivery
Open Sun. Feb 13th

y

maintain any kimd of a
competitive edge in the high

let alone tomorrow.

It has never been as true
as it is now — we either
educate or we stagnate. In
the dynamic Asian
economies, education has
been seen for a long time as
the key to economic success.

In Canada, possibly
because of our cultural
perspective of ourselves as
hewers of wood and drawers
of natural gas, we seem
almost absent-minded when
it comes to thinking about
our role as a trading nation
in the remainder of this
century and into the next.

What we should be doing
right now, while there are so
many young people out of
work and willing to put in
time and effort to improve
their education, their skills,
their training, is to take
advantage of the situation.

We should be expanding

1388 Main St.
North Van
980-4118

Beginners & Ad

MONDAY
TUESDAY
WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY
FRIDAY
SATURDAY
SUNDAY

9:30AM
9:30AM
9:30AM
9:30AM
9:30AM
9:30AM
9:30AM

S

Ron Zalko Fitnes
This is a balangé

12:00AM
12:00
12:00A§
12:00AM
12:00AM
10:30AM
10:30AM

‘is proud to introdud
exercise, die& control and lifestyle

onth progra
E ICAL SUPE
mnuous Ass

RON ZALKO FITNESS AFFAIR PROGRAM
& FACILITIES INCLUDE:

* Consistent Professional Instruction

¢ Wide Selection of Convenient Class Times

¢ Unique Quality Program.

® Modem Aerobic Noor (108 02) Cushion & 40 Of carpe t)
> w Surddtatng Sonnd Syste

© Full Changing I ac tities

* Lots of Parking

GET THE REAL WORKOUT’
730 Marine Dr., N.V . 986-3487

e Sore sche ty cine Ed