A6 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, March 12, 2003 The Mail Bag Four-day week found appalling Dear Sir: As a parent of three and instructor at our college [ am appalled by the decision of the school district ta de- crease the school week to four days. I spent most of my working life in educational institu- tions and have come. to know. that learning requires time and concentration. Especially children who are only cap- able of a limited number of hours per day (or shall we call it between “sleeping cycles" required by the brain) to experience productive learning:” ee To simply compress the curriculum from a five-day into a four-day week would mean an increase in 25 per cent of required learning time per day. This simply will never achieve the same learning outcome as in the past. What are our children meant to do on the day “off’? ‘Lam disturbed to hear the suggestion by ‘school board ‘chair Peter King that this provides an inexpensive solu- tion for babysitting time by high school students on the off-day helping parents with younger school children's day care problems. Is that a proper replacement of aca- demic learning thal prepares our children for the profes- sional world ahead of them? 1 also would like to -remind the decision makers that we in our rural district are in competition with the urban south of the province, the rest of the country and at a larger scale, with the rest of the world, Competiliveness will certainly decline for our stu- dents if this reduction in quality learning time is put into effect. The success of an industrialized country is very much linked to the performance of its educational sys- tem and the work habits of the people within it. Creating a significant section of society (students and teachers) to have such a reduction in learning/work per- formance can't be considered a move toward competiti- veness. ; It is a very different scenario for a shift worker in a plant such as Alcan to work 12 hour days in a less than five-day compressed week, As a former student shift worker, I know the advantages of this arrangement in in- dustrial labour very well. This schedule though does not apply to learners at the age of 6-18, or for that matter any student. It does not matter what the small financial benefits of this move are. In the long-run this will harm all of us up here. | am very annoyed to see how this province is willing to spend hundreds of millions of dollars for a couple of weeks for the 2010 Olympics and does not provide the basic needs to send our kids to a normal five-day school week, Dr, John Krisinger, Terrace, B.C. Use small buses Dear Sir: Would it not make more sense to use smaller buses for the bus routes that have only a few people getting on, rather than the big buses. which carry only a few people? wa can Mee Ao Sahat Cuiting back hurts the few people who use the buses because they need that service. Using smaller buses or even vans will take away some of the cost and keep the service going. Laurel Rosebush, Terrace, B.C, t ae the a proud sponsor of CORRTAVIEE ah STOPPERS Terrace Crime Stoppers are asking for help to investigate an attempt to break & enter a business in Terrace, B.C. On March 6th, 2003 at approximately 11:30 p.m., a broken glass door was noted at the Trans Canada Credit office on the 4500 block of Lakelse Avenue, The tower pane was smashed out and it is believed entry was gained. The door led to a stairwell which had a focked door further up, which was not breached. Terrace Crimestoppers wants your information, not your name. Any information Is valuable and may lead to the arrest and conviction of the offenders. Crime Stoppers offers a cash reward of up lo $1,000.00 for Information taading to an arrast and chargas baling loid against an Individual In this or other unsolved crime. If you have any Information call Crime Stoppars at 625-TIPS that's 635-8477, Callers will not be required to revaal thelr Identity nor testify In court. Crima Stoppers does not subscribe ta call display. Call 635-TIPS ve INSURANCE are! Home & Tenant SERVics Commercial # Liability * Jet Boats ““S Mobile Homes ¢ Travel Roy — VENIENT DRIVE-THRS www. keenleyside.com Giviroallan ~ (ane Reenleyside fc 1 ~890,335-6088 “ 250-635-5232 Fax: 250-635-3288 4635 Greig Avenue, Terrace, 3,C. (Next To SAAN) . i Elvis lives in the northwest Dear Sir: It is heartwarming (no pun inten- ded) to find out that the northwest is to be known as “The Heartlands.” Ac- cording to the dictionary the heartlands are urban areas with high concentra- tion of people holding considerable po- litical power. Sounds like us, right? While cutting other ministries’ funds by 20-30 per cent the premier has increased his own budget by six ‘million dollars. You would think that he could afford to assign one of his spin doctors to check the dictionary for the meaning of catch phrases such as ‘heartlanda’. before starting the snow job on the population. , It also makes me feel warm and fuzzy to be allowed to contribute taxes from my pension to Vancouver’s new convention center, The $490 million is just our down payment, Since conven- tion centers are frequented by big busi- ness, every dime they spend is tax de- ductible. We, the taxpayers, will be paying directly in perpetuity. — Tt is also reassuring that the Premier and our MLA promise‘us that the 2010 Olympics will turn our fortune around — in seven years? The $2 billion for a two, week party for professional and semiprofessional athletes according to these esteemed leaders will be terrific for the Heartlands residents. That’s us, remember. They obviously support the trickle down theory, if you feed the horse more oats, the sparrow’s lives will im- prove. If you are feeling good about the heartland thing beware: Elvis’s estate lawyers may take action against us. John Jensen, Terrace, B.C. Ties ee ee) aren SPS Be —_ — — wrrrrmmrr TTT [ Recaeaee C | Reeaeed eeee OL B ROYAL LEPAGE Royal LePage Terrace congratulates VANCE HADLEY on obtaining the National Royal LePage “President's Gold Award” for February 2003. All Reattors at Royal LePage contribute to the RLP Shelter foundation, (250) 635-2404 #102-4644 Lazelle Avenue, aa | | ROYAL LEPAGE eel er wawtoralepige.ca Ennil: rovallepageterrace @telus.net 8k ODM eescceeerseet MM eee eee Re Chef Boyardee Pasta :2535 All Varieties, 425g card price 89 e Bounty Paper Towels 6 Rolls .... Christie Premium Plus Crackers -. Salted or Unsalted, 900g 7262-1 card price . 3°? card price Coke or Sprite Regular or Diet, Selected Varieties, 2 Litres 75320 Plus deposit, envira levies where applicable. card price for 5 ” SO MUCH “Y% Oe IN STORE _ Prices effective from Wednesday ta Saturday, March 12 to 15, 2003,