Boycott closes schools @ Continued from page 3 agree that teachers who walked out, booked sick or encouraged “ students to do so should be “severely reprimanded”; some “suggested that the _ teachers booking off sick should have one day’s pay suspended. Not one of the trustees, it seemed, was willing to consider any of the questions at issue. The trustees have resorted to the tale that Scarborough rate- payers would refuse to accept a lesser tax cut than proposed in order to maintain existing levels. In a poll conducted by teachers and students in the area around Stephen Leacock High School in Scarborough, results showed that 3,432 res- idents would support a tax cut’ of $5 — permitting retention of existing teaching staffs—against only 145 who voted for the $20 tax cut promised by the prov- incial government. Teachers have promised to begin polling other areas of Scarborough, especially within the riding of Thomas Wells, provincial education minister, and the target of the teachers’ protests. In the wake of these walk- outs and other protest actions, H. A. Scott, Scarborough’s superintendent of instruction, has ordered the principals of all 15 borough collegiate institutes to forbid their teachers from discussing the budget or prov- incial education ceilings with pupils in class time. & * * The Tribune talked briefly to “a teacher about working condi- tions and government ceilings. Although not employed by the Scarborough board, many of the problems that she faces are sim- ilar te those now being protest- ed by other Metro teachers. “Of course the cutbacks are affecting courses here,” she answered to one of my ques- tions. “First, we have the gra- dual erosion of our staff. Two years ago we had 84; now we have 80, and we’re starting next September with three fewer bodies, although enrollment is steady. Soviet-FRG accord @ Continued from page 3 time,” one of the West German participants said. The Economic agreement en- visages, not a classical “buy and sell” formula, but a partnership and extensive economic cooper- ation, setting up industrial com- plexes of mutual advantage,. co- operation in equipment produc- tion, exchange of patents, licen- ses, “know-how” and the devel- opment of new technology. The Cultural agreement pro- vides for the development of ex- changes in the field of culture, science and education. It will promote cooperation between government organizations, aca- demies, higher educational es- tablishments,. schools and_ re- search institutes. It will encour- age reciprocal trips of students, scientists, artists, architects, writers: and journalists. An impressive manifestation in honor of Mr. Brezhnev was held in Bonn when 50,000 peo- ple arrived in the capital on the Rhine from all parts of the country to demonstrate their support for Soviet policies of peace. Bonn has never experi- enced anything like it. The gen- eral opinion of the observers here is that the visit was dyna- mic in nature, constructive and productive. “It’s not that many teachers are being fired or laid off. It’s just that through gradual ero- sion (retirings; movings, etc.), and nobody being hired in their places, staff size is decreasing.” The question was _ posed: “How will this affect classes?” “One thing,” she said, “was that from a program of studies we had set up for next year, a minimum of 12 to 18 classes will be drop- ped. First and second year Spanish.are going. That means that someone who took first year Spanish at the school last~ year won’t be able to continue. Two Classes in One “We have the head of our German department,” she con- tinued, “who will be saddled with a class of 37 students, who will be taught in two streams. You ‘see, they will have to be divided into two parts, as some of them have some knowledge of the language, their families being German speaking. Others are taking it for the first-time. So in effect what he is doing in the same class time is teaching two different courses. And he can’t hite another German spe- cialist—no money. , “There’s one geography class,” she said, “that has two students sitting on the window sill if everyone is present. Where the large classes occur are in the basic academic subjects—espe- cially English, history, mathe- matics. You can’t do it with typing or shop. Everybody needs a machine. Short of Texts “T teach typing. And-one of the problems we face is that supplies seem to be declining recently. I am always at a loss for typing texts, trying to keep up with the demand. I tried to order 10 more copies of one book, and 12 of another. I was told that this would not be agreed to until all the other schools in the area had taken inventory of their stock to see if any surplus books were avail- able.” She was asked about other areas of teaching concern. “Of course, there is the whole area of problems relating to class The Municipal Committee of the Toronto Labor Council sub- mitted a report at last week’s council meeting which called on the Provincial cabinet to estab- lish a rental Review Board. The recommended Board should have the power to deal with comp- laints of excessive rents, and power to control and order roll- backs. ; Jim Buller, vice-president of the Typographical Union and Chairman of the Municipal Com- mittee, presented the report and pointed out that “There are no legislative controls regulating the amount of rents charged to tenants by appartment owners. The only government authority empowered to enact rent control legislation is Queen’s Park, and they will do nothing unless there is a massive outcry against the powerful apartment developers , and speculators _ profiteering from a serious housing shortage in the Metro area. Only deter- mined action by ratepayers’ as- sociations, trade unions and ten- ants’ organizations can force the Davis government to take ap- propriate steps to protect the tenants.” PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, MAY 25, 1973—PAGE 10 EP Sse EN Or aS Men VE OSA- digi Noe NIQIMaAeg WAVEIOCT VHDAS size,’ she said. “First, with a larger class you have to spend more of your time on maintain- ing discipline, and less time on any direct relationship with the %& students. All teachers in my school have six classes a day, some seven. The average class size is 30 pupils. This adds up to 180, with whom one should be familiar, with his or her work, etc. And if the class size goes up to 35, then there’s over 200—every day. Can’t ‘Know Students “Many parents think only in terms of primary schools, where a teacher deals with 28-35 pu- pils a day. But we have almost 200. “With this number of stu- dents you have very little time to know them individually, to look up their files, to meet with other teachers regarding their work in other subjects, etc. “And, you know, kids at that: age, even the best of students, have emotional problems, where they’re ‘down’. A student real- ly needs someone sometimes to give him a little time and tell him that. he’s a human being. That is important. And what can you do in just 40 minutes with -a class of 35? What does that add up to? And even if you try every two weeks to leave some time aside? Still not enough. Teachers Submerged “An important by-product,” she said, “is that teachers are being forced into the well. They don’t have the time to deal with the problems that their stu- dents have. So when a student comes to them with something, they answer ‘Go to ‘the office’. All their human instincts are -Slowly being submerged. They don’t react humanly to the prob- lems of the student. anymore. And it’s going to get worse. “With all the threat and rumor,” she concluded, “about layoffs and tougher working conditions, with a number of administrators trying to prove that they’re good boys, and tow -the line, there’s a very unheal- thy atmosphere among teachers in and around Toronto. It will have to be changed.” In order to achieve such ac- tion the report noted: ‘Members of the city and borough councils can help the tenants organize, and the trade union movement can assist in this task as well.” The committee report also urged the OFL to press the gov- ernment of Ontario for legisla- tion to control professional land speculators. ‘Land speculation must be halted,” the report said, because ‘‘the tremendous _in- crease in the cost of residential housing, particularly single fa- mily dwellings has been astrono- mical in the past few years. Bungalows that sold for $17,000 in the 1960’s are now selling for more than $40,000. “The average working family cannot afford to purchase a house today. Housing purchase costs could be stabilized if the matter of land speculation were brought under strict Provincial government control . . . Govern- ment action on land speculation is long overdue.” The delegates, at the end of a © lively debate, adopted the report and the recommendations un- animously. ere SS TORONTO—Georges Labelle, a professor at Quebec Univer- sity who has recently returned from Vietnam where he _ in- vestigated the plight of the political prisoners, spoke to the Toronto: Labor Council _ last week. +? Professor Labelle went to Vietnam under the auspices of the Canadian Committee to Free South Vietnamese Political Pri- soners from Detention, Torture and Death. He, like many others who went to Vietnam to inves- tigate the situation with the political prisoners, encountered immediate difficulties when try- ing to get a visa. The South Vietnamese government bureau- cracy does all that it can do to impede visitors despite promis- es made by President Thieu. Thieu in US.A. When Thieu was in ‘he Unit- ed States, he was interviewed on the television program, Face the Nation. During the inter- view, Thieu was asked by a cor- respondent if he would be. wil- ling to allow journalists into the South Vietnamese. prisons, and he answered, “Yes, any journalist or concerned person can see the prisons. You can see them if you want to.” Just to make sure he was hearing correctly the journalist asked the question again and received the same answer. _ — -.But that was .on television, and in Vietnam the situation was different. Labelle told the delegates of the council how he was refused access to the pri- sons while he was there and of the intrigue involved in trying to interview people who had been in the prisons. Neutrals Jailed “Most of the people held in the prisons in Vietnam,” Lab- elle told his listeners, “are peo- ple who were neutral in the con- flict. Because of their neutral- ity, the government of South Vietnam refuses to recognize them as political prisoners and has classified them as common criminals. And because they are classified now as common crim- inals the government refuses to deal with them according to the signed Accords.” “There are at least~57,000 po- litical prisoners in South Viet- ‘keep silent about the po ne ee 3 a 3 ec! 4 is x nam,” Mr. Labelle said. “Many of them have been tortured, 4” as far as we can ascertain all oF y them are imprisoned in squallo Many of the reclassified priso™ ers are trade unionists whos only ‘crime’ was to meet Wi others and try to conduct union business. They too are cons dered’ neutralists and they ne been imprisoned for what woul otherwise be a democratlé right.” Canada’s Role The speaker also noted also dealt with Canada’s role # the International Commission On Control and Supervision. ian my opinion that the Canadial — . cs cannot delegation on the IC iil ; 0! prisoners any longer Wit! being suspect of complicity.” se After a short question 4” answer period and at the cl? fi of Labelle’s address, Don Mon” gomery, president of the Toy to Labor Council suggested a the council ask the CLC to 4 s mand that action be ae by the Canadian. governiny (through the ICCS) to stop a Vietnamese government’s dete tion of political prisoners, esp cially trade unionists. Call to oppose — French A-tests The executive council of Canadian Labor Congress, ‘ ase announced plans for affilialy unions to undertake eco re protest against the proposed ae clear tests in the South Pa¢ He The executive statement $ scribed the proposed testa “modern barbarism and 3 Ol threat to the unborn. . - the ald MacDonald, president of uid CLC, said that the action W° go beyond a boycott of F goods and includes a cal Canadian government to additional action to f het France to the realization be: responsibilities to all human” ings on earth, and to seek cellation of these senseless and their disastrous conseq¥ ces to humanity.” ‘prin’ tests ee Anderson in the Wall Street Journs! “Benson, do you realize what it would cost us to ive a raise f° everybody who deserves.more money oe a 2 es Fes) that : the International Red Cross oe done practically nothing for 3 prisoners and has, to date, f fused to visit the prisons. a. 4 | nomic measures against France 4§ | ;