SCHOOL TRUSTEE CHARGES:

‘Senior governments have turned
their backs on education needs’

Ninety percent of the problems
of education are financial, but
the senior governments have
turned their backs on education,
This was the charge made by
Vancouver School Trustee James
MacFarlan, speaking to citizens
from the Hastings East area at
600 Campbell Ave., Mondaynight,

MacFarlan said, “The Provin-
cial government’s _ financial
formula for education is that
they pay 50 percent of the ‘basic
program’ for education, in actual
fact, because ofthe mill rate sys-
tem, Vancouver citizens pay
nearly 70 percent and Victoria
pays 30 percent, whereas in
smaller communities, where
Social Credit gets its votes, the
percentage situation is re-
versed,”

The Vancouver school trustee
said that in this age of automa-
tion and technology the very new-
est and most modern of teaching
aids, such as TV, tape record-

uries but necessities if we are
to equip our students for meeting
the modern world, But in keep-
ing with the educational policy
at Victoria, such’ things are few
and far between,

“It is not good enough that
700 applicants for Vancouver City
College this year were turned
away at the doors because they
couldn’t cram in any more! Nor
is it good enough, that in outly-
ing areas of B.C, nearly 300
people are teaching without the
basic two year University qual-
ification, but on letters of per-
mission signed personally by Ed-
ucation Minister Peterson be-
cause the Government doesn’t see
fit to encourage teacher training
by offering bursaries or for that
matter making education free,”
MacFarlan said.

“Nor is it good enough that
Peterson holds two major port-

MacFarlan also attacked the
use of IQ tests as being dis-
criminatory to economically and
culturally deprived children. He
said, “It is a fact that the aver-
age difference between the East
and West of Vancouver is as high
as 10 percent,

He also stated that the stream-
ing of students into the Second-
ary grades was criminal as it
places them into dead end jobs,
as well as having a certain stig-
ma attached to them. “How futile
to train for two years on how to
be a waitress, or dishwasher, or
for a job that will be automated
in five years, There are more
begin streamed into occupation-
al courses on the East side of
Vancouver than the West.”

child, excepting the retarded,
is capable of learning the basic
academic subjects and graduat-
ing from grade 12, although each
will learn at his own speed,
Classes shoyld be set up to ac-
commodate students who learn at
differing rates,”

MacFarlan said the East End
has its own peculiar problems,
centred around the economic, cul-
tural and recreational deprivation
of its working class; that it is
not good enough to build low rent-
al housing without libraries, study
rooms, playgrounds, and recrea-
tional facilities,

“All of these things are not
‘frills’ but are essentials for a
well baan
well balanced, enthusiastic child.
How can they develop themselves
and their studies if they do not
have the books to use?”

MacFarlan stated, “It is about

TRUSTEE MacFARLAN
up at the polls on elec Be
and put in labor and inde?
candidates who would hs ect
them, and not continue this ol
NPA’ers who have TU” ag
for the last 30 years+ f melt
added that the other eig! cod!
bers of the Vancouvel | og
Board, all NPA endorses id
the West side of Cambie
MacFarlan told the FT
planning a series of ™ Ne
with citizens group |
ratepayers and Tenants ublic is
zations to involve the wot
the fight to have CU” onda

: ent's
ers and projectors, are not lux- folios, education and labor.” MacFarlan stated that every. time the East End voters turned first on the govern™ ee

McKnight calls
for new college

cost formula

Port Alberni Alderman George
McKnight this week called on the
Provincial government “to aban-
don attempts to build colleges
with half the cost borne by the
homeowners and to adopt a new
financing formula based on the
cost being met out of the general
revenue of the province,”

This action came in a press
statement following the vote on
Vancouver Island which saw a
number of centres turning down
the proposition.

“I further call on the B.C, gov-
ernment to begin to move in the
direction of removing the total
cost of all levels of education
from homeowners, and to levy
a tax upon the utilization, re-
moval or export of all natural
resources,” said McKnight,

LABOR SCENE:

Unions back Vietnam protest

A letter from the “October
21st Co-ordinating Committee”
on the urgency of wide national
and international solidarity with
the October 21st “March on
Washington” to end the war in
Vietnam met with unanimous ap-
proval of Vancouver Labor Coun-
cil delegates Tuesday.

The letter urged the election of
local union delegates to
strengthen union representation
in the Vietnam peace effort. Some
delegates emphasized that when
such letters were approved by the
VLC in future that copies, with
the decision taken, be forwarded
to all VLC union affiliates so
that the issue could come directly
to the attention of local union
members, While all such mat-

Paper ban protested

Cont'd from pg. 1

“When asked by a local radio
station what he objected to in
Georgia Straight, Campbell re-
plied: ‘Everything, it’s filthy,’
Campbell is entitled to his
views, like the rest of us, but
he’s no authority on morals,

“There’s no uenying that
Georgia Straight makes fre-
quent use of these four letter
words that many of us don’t
care to see in print, But let’s
be honest about it. These words
are used by school kids just
as they are used in so-called
polite society. You can walk
down Granville Street and in
half an hour pick up a dozen

Peace Council
backs bomb halt

The B.C, Peace Council last
week wired External Affairs
Minister Paul Martin express-
ing support for his appeal to
the United States to stop the
bombing of Vietnam. The wire
said: “We are convinced this
would be a significant step
to opening negotiations for
permanent peace.”

October 6, 1967—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 12.

pocket books, mostly Ameri-
can, at our ‘respectable’ book-
stores that rely for their pop-
ular appeal on just such words
and the actions associated with
them.

“Georgia Straight in almost
every issue speaks out against
the war in Vietnam. To Camp-
bell this is ‘filthy’, he’s made
it clear more than once that
he’s all for this war.”

Rankin said that, “Campbell
and his friends would like to
blame Georgia Straight be-
cause some of our kids seem
to have gone off the track, The
fact is, though, that young people
are today in revolt against the
hypocritical values set up by
their elders, On Sunday they go
to church and piously repeat
‘Thou Shalt Not Kill.’ The rest
of the week they shout ‘Kill
the Viet Cong’ because its good
for business,

“Georgia Straight is not the
cause of some of the problems
facing our young people, It is
the symptom of these troubles
. - » In tackling the paper the
way he did, Mayor Campbell
flipped his lid and only dem-
onstrated his own ineptitude,”

ters are incorporated in VLC
minutes, “many local unions
never read those minutes,” stated
a delegate, consequently union
members are unaware of such
decisions.

Urging full support to the Oc-
tober 21st solidarity action, a
Postal Workers’ delegate de-
clared, “The grave problem of the
housing crisis we have just been
discussing has its roots in the
Vietnam war. Our lack of hous-
ing is because a lot of our money
and other resources are going
into the Vietnam war to help the
U.S. rather than help Canadians
to build homes.” VLC applause
indicated that the Postal Work-
ers representative had touched
a sensitive chord.

During thé closing session of
last week’s IWA Western Regior
Annual Convention, the repre-
sentatives of 32,000 lumberwork-
ers resolved, “That this Con-
vention demand that the Federal
Government take immediate
steps to stop the wholesale
slaughter of civilians in Viet-

nam, by negotiating an end to
the war.”

Under a special privilege mo-
tion the IWA Convention also ap-
proved a wire to be forwarded to
External Affairs Minister Martin
demanding the immediate ces-
sation of U.S. bombing.

* * Xx

In addition to the federal hous-
ing crisis, taxation atall govern-
ment levels came in for some
sharp condemnation at this
week’s session of the Vancou-
ver and District Labor Coun-
cil,

Together with VLC Metro
Committee chairman Frank Ken-
nedy (Longshoremen), VLC dele-
gates voiced unanimous agree-
ment with City Alderman Harry
Rankin on his recommendations
for revision of municipal tax-
ation, and invited Alderman
Rankin to address the next ses-
sion of the VLC to further elab-
orate his taxation proposals,

A telegram from the B.C, Fed-

LABOR BILLBOARD. The B.C. Federation of Labor campaign against injunctions

eration of Labor t0 a b wt
was read and appr ie ster
delegates, outlining rigtt gal?
up campaign in the ** |, di
court injunctions 1?
putes.’ wie
ine
Aside from ant af
bumper stickers; Pore st
vertising, etc., He rept
itiating a special SHEN gyi
tion comple
proval, all evel
urged to gather Frit gstt
October 13 at VEC RE if
to launch a signatur® Be
all shopping center> 5 0
petition will ures ed at op
B.C. labor 1awS * init

fi
inating the ©x-P87 srgsit!
menace to collecti
x ** ff
pe
gout
After rejectio? d or8 %
Interior lumber OP© jon
resume” 400
IWA offer to me

tract negotiations, bet wo oH
more Interior the j
began walking O° vay af oot
waiting for the
negotiating 4” , strik
mittee okays !

Saeed i
+ being {50 col
re

the public with billboards such as the one above seen on the Georgia Vide G Legibok
rying labor's message to the public. ee