| Care, atienti

Eugene Kaellis
Contributing Writer

CLEVER Hans, a
famous performing
horse, could allegedly
do arithmetic, invari-
ably tapping out cor-

_rect answers to voiced
questions.

He was indeed clever, but
not in arithmetic. .
As soon as the problem
_ was stated, audience members
leaned forward slightly to
watch Hans’ foreleg, his signal -
to begin tapping. As he
approached the correct answer,
"| the audience | made slight head

correct answer.

WV grant f

“A: West ‘Vancouver organization was
_among two that received funding
from the Ministry of the Attorney

General to help keep communities

The Sea to Sky Community Services Society.

“in West: Vancouver used “the: 2,360 grant it .

received to host a five-day peer-helper-training
program ‘to. teach 11-"to:13-year-olds social

‘ention’ are two-key components in crime ‘pre-
“Attorney, General. “Andrew. Petter
believe the work-of this group, and

niversity’ of; British Columbia -has’ received ~

$1,500 to help prev t violence i in communi-.

movements, imperceptible to
most observers, but not to
Hans, who stopped, giving the

If Hans were blindfolded,

he lost his “arithmetic ability.”

Experimenters were given
highly inbred rats. Half were
told their rats had been select-
ed for outstanding intelligence
and were then asked to teach
the rats to run through a
maze.

The praised rats, essentially
the same genetically as their
competitors, did appreciably
better, Careful observation
revealed that they were treated
better, handled more frequent-
ly and more gently.

If Hans and the rats were
able to pick up such subtle sig-
nals, what about school chil-
dren noticing how teachers
react to them and what judge-
ments they are making?

ir society

ties. The department hosted a Learning to
Love conference that addressed violence and
victimization.

In addition, the department is conducting
follow-up activities, including a newsletter, that
will help people work together to find solu-
tions to problems that contribute to crime in
their neighbourhoods. ;

“Government is’ committed to helping
communities . develop _ violence- “prevention

“strategies that meet their unique needs,” Petter

said. “Projects like this one offer localized solu-

_tions to an issue that affects everyone.”

The Ministry of Attorney General’s safe

communities grants program aims. to help.
. Police, businesses and communities. develop _
- and implement local public’ safery and. crime

prevention programis. ©... : ‘
Grants of up to $5,000 are available to rec:
ognized public organizations such as non-prof-

it organizations, school districts, local govern-.
ments and police departments.

{ ir work,
s «Digital Eauipmen for Leasing

1225 East Keith: Road
-Nowth Vr nel

New Yorks’s Spanish
Harlem is not a nice neighbor-
hood. Located in one of
America’s wealthiest, most
sophisticated cities, its infant
and maternal mortality rates
approach those of Bangladesh,
and average male life expectan-
cy is shorter. The streets are
crime and drug-ridden, pover-
ty and squalor abound in its
many tenements.

A teacher in one of the
junior high schools had a
tough job teaching English to
children, most of whom,
although American citizens,
were Puerto Rican and spoke
Spanish as their native lan-
guage.

The teacher was a chess

Sunday, October 22, 2000 - Morth Shore News - 29.

enthusiast and, in spite of his
colleagues’ skepticism, decided
to start a chess club.
Surprisingly, chiidren came,
enduring the jeers of some of
their friends. As they Jearned
the rules and strategies, they
started participating in compe-
titions and, to the surprise of
many and the delight of some,
began winning. As their new
sense of achievement carried
over into their classroom, their

grades and language improved.

They did well in a nationat
competition and even jour-
neyed to Russia to participate
in an international tournament
where they won one match
and drew in another.

Not a bad performance in

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on enhance performance

what could be called the chess
capital of the world.

The lesson — from Clever
Hans, from the rats, and from
the Royal Knights, as the chess
group called itself — is evi-
dent. The only question is:
when will it start appearing in
the daily practices of our
schools and so-iety?

openroad

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