Page 18, February 4, 1979 - Sunday News

mailbox _

Dear Mr. Speck:
Iam a Delta teacher living
in North Vancouver, and I
was also upset after reading
your editorial, “Teachers,
tears and laughter” which
appeared in the Sunday
News of January 21. You
seem to have joined the host
of other journalists in this
province who lead the public
movement to make teachers
the scapegoats for high taxes
and all other problems of the
public school system. °

. »

The “facts” you used to

resent your case are largely
speculation and you made
some rather shocking
generalizations. The
teachers I know and work
with take their professions
seriously, work hard, and
often long, hours, care about .
the children they teach and
the educational -results they
achieve. Like any workers,
they are concerned about

Children our
greatest asset

Dear Editor:

Let me begin by stating
what we get out of giving our
children the highest possible
standard .of education.
These children are our
resources of tomorrow, they
are our country's biggest
asset. With children well

~ educated, we can be leaders

in all fields.

Are we going to go
backwards when we should
be leaders in this field?

Right on,

Dear Mr. Speck:

Your candid column
expressing your opinions of
some of the teachers and
their powerful Federation
were so true and it’s time
someone in the media
tackled the problem.

It is outrageous that it cost
the West Vancouver School
Board $80,000 to fire a
teacher. But that is only one
_of the multiple reasons to

j> Criticize them.

QUESTION: How dot
po about consulting wath

you?

STEWART: Just
phone 201-6242 for an
appointment.

job security and income
‘keeping pace with inflation,
but as many of them are also

taxpayers and: parents, they .

share the concerns of these
groups over the cost and
quality of education.

‘

I was pleased to see you~

print in your column on
January 24, the excellent
rebuttal of your. editorial,
written by Ted Archibald.
He covered every point of
your article very com-
prehensively. the fact that
you still feel the: same way as
you did when you wrote the
column leads me to con-
clude that your article was
written on the basis of
emotion and not fact.

I ‘would like to see you
take Mr. Archibald up on his
offer to visit some schools in
North Vancouver, talk to
some teachers, students, and
parents, and then answer his

We should also be looking
towards our future — we
should be thinking of ex-
porting our technology, and
the creation of jobs. But, we
can only do this if, again, our
standards remain high.

I find it incredible that
there are groups who have it
as their only thought to save
money by taking it out of the
education coffers. This is the
Year of the Child,
proclaimed by the United
Nations and _provincially
proclaimed by Human

Speck

Keep up the good work!

M. Armstrong
North Vancouver.

Teachers need SU

arguments in your column. I
think you would find the
majority of teachers are
conscientious .and put in
more than ample time. for
the money they are_ paid.
The pressure involved in
taking care of the needs of
thirty children at once
cannot be imagined by one
who has never experienced
it.

*In this time of declining
enrollment, lack of money,
and concern about the
quality of education,

teachers need the support of -

the public to bring about the
needed changes, not con-
demnation. It is easy to sit
back and blame the teachers
for the problem,. but the
public school system needs
the co-operation of all in-
volved to improve it.

Heather Cooper
North Vancouver

Resources Minister Grace |

McCarthy.

_ Why, when so much
emphasis is being placed on
our children are
groups bent on destroying
the opportunities of
education which will make
our children intelligent,
coping adults, who should,
from this country of ours
with its potential, be
tomorrow's leaders?

Laurine Nickel
North Vancouver

.. because every
child has the
right to smile

1979
Internatione il
Yoar of

the Child

Unicef Canada @®

some.

hoe

- S§ALEOF |.

FASHION FABRICS
THE BIGGEST EVENT OF THE SEASON

continues throughout this week

We are adding these three NEW items to our already ‘‘oreat”™
fabric sale. If you have not as yet, visited any of our stores to ©
take advantage of our wonderful fabric bargains, we urge you: -

to do so now!

88cm..NOIL SILK

100% silk. For the smartest styles in dresses, suits and blouses.
Colours include natural, new green, dusty rust, grape, jade. reg.

10.50 m.

(not in Victoria) Sale .. Lee eeeeeeeaes wena
| 90cm. CREPE de CHINE

100% silk. For timeless elegance in dresses and blouses. SAVE ©
.20%. Colours include. green, camel, cream, navy, black, light

blue. reg. $20. m.

(not in Lansdowne) Sale.......... = =~.
> 155cm. STRETCH VELOUR

80% cotton, 20% polyester. Colours are: beige, camel, navy,
brown, air-force-blue. reg. $13. | .

(not in Victoria) Sale . .

The stage’

1s set.

You are invited to the finals of the
1979 Miss Teen Vancouver Pageant,

Saturday February 10 at 7 p.m.
inthe South Mall at Park Royal.
The winner will participate in
the Miss Teen Canada Pageant
televised from Toronto March 5.

pport

™

8.99 m.

15.99 m.

10.99.m

Park Royal

622 Granville
Lansdown Park
Victoria

\