By AL LEHMANN

IGNORE FOR the moment closed schools,
broken collective agreements, ballooning bud-
gel deficits in school districts, rising class
sizes, and a few other well thought-out
changes that we were assured would bring sta-
bility to public education.

There are pedagogical changes in the
works, as well.
_ Recently the Ministry of Education has cir-
culated a “discussion paper” outlining propo-
sals for changes to the graduation program in
B.C. high schools.

The aim is to modify the education system
to better prepare students for careers or post-

qi secondary study,

Mole ett

Might it not be suggested that the system is
not meant to “prepare” people (in the same
way that raw materials are assembled into
products)? Public schools should not be sim-
ple, one-way delivery vehicles for service.

We must also consider what society de-
mands and at least in part succeeds in getting
from forcing its children and youth to attend
schools and undergo education programs.

Public schools should serve as a healthy

- counterbalance to a consumer culture that
continuously conditions us to believe that we
are the most important individuals in the
world, and that provided we can part with the
cash we should have our every whim catered
to immediately.

Ministry watchwerds in the discussion paper
tend ta follow the same theme that most Lib-
eral policies have been introduced under.
“Increased flexibility” will be banner under
which changes, if adopted, will be introduced.

Below, in short summary, are some of the
main proposals.

First, students will be forced to select
“pathways” leading toward careers and/or
post-secondary training by Grade 9.

Second, there will be more recognition of
on-line (internet) learning opportunities.

Third, more locally: developed courses will
be recognized, particularly those that integrate
nicely with economic opportunities in the
region(s). ,

Fourth, the structure of government exami-
nations will be changed; government examina-
tions will in most, if not all cases, be optional.

Fifth, learning portfolios may be adopted as
major assessment tocls, evaluated not only by
teachers, but also by volunteer community
members.

Sixth, physical education will become
compulsory throughout secondary school.

Some of these proposals have merit, and
they. certainly have superficial appeal to var-
jous constituents to whom they afé meant to
appeal. Nonetheless, these ideas show some

Next school reforms may
| look better than they work

STUDENTS work on art projects at Cassie

Halli Elementary School.

deeper difficulties that ought to be addressed,

First, how many Grade 12s know with any
precision the direction their lives are going to
take, what career paths they are going to em-
bark upon? Now, shift these decisions back to
the Grade 9 level.

Do you remember the brilliant maturity and
clarity of insight you displayed in Grade 9?
How easily will students be able to change
paths later in their schooling?

Second, internet courses can be very effec-
tive. They are effective, however, only provi-
ded that they are easily accessible (who
pays?), that their content and instruction are
appropriate and suitably monitored, and that
there is sufficient meaningful contact between
teachers and students to provide proper feed-
back, assessment, and final evaluation. Who is
going to be responsible for all this’? If there is
a problem between Jennifer Student and Nir-
vana Educational Opportunities based in Oax-
aca, Mexico, who sorts it out?

Third,. localiy developed courses can be
quite useful and effective. However, there
should be some upper limit to their numbers,
and a certain number of compulsory courses
that knit future citizens together should remain
part of the graduation program.

For example, a locally developed course on
manufacturing and marketing oriented strand-
board could be a very practical course. How-
ever, such a course should not replace Social
Studies 11, with its focus on history, geogra-
phy, politics. A democracy still needs in-
formed citizens.

7 Fourth, government examinations can func-
“tion as a strong motivation for study. Remov-
ing this motivational support may not help.

Furthermore, making ex- |
aminations optional can be
interpreted as a disingen-
uous method of §
“improving” government
examination results. If the A
only students writing them §
are those headed for uni- |
versity, of course the results [Ejs20 2": eae
shoutd improve, However, Al Lehmann
this is merely a victory for
political “spin” and indicates nothing about
real achievement in the general populace.

Fifth, portfolios can be exceptionally effec-
tive learning tools. The time allocation for
evaluation of portfolios is completely unrealis-
tic.

Sixth, compulsory physical education will
have to take the place of some other course.
This could be somewhat costly for the student,
depending on what was forfeited. Having to
give up physics or a foreign language in order
to take bowling and basketball might not be
universally popular or useful.

It is hard to imagine that decisions regard-
ing these proposals have not already been
made. Still, you do have the right to make
your views known, Few would deny that there
is much room for improvement in B.C. schools.

But despite the presented intention that our
current government’s graduation proposals will
provide a streamlined smorgasbord of flexible
choices for students and help maintain fiscal
accountability, there is considerable evidence
to suggest these untested modifications are a

hasty, politically motivated, somewhat ill-con-.

sidered lurch sideways for education in B.C.
Al Lehmann teaches at Caledonia.

Fallers should resist raid on freedom

By ALLAN KENNEDY
THERE’S AN old fable that goes
somewhat like this: A large group
of house mice gathered together
to see if they could come up with
an idea that might stop the cat
from killing so many of them.

One of them finally came up
with what seemed like a gaod so-
lution — they would put a bell on
the cat.

After asking for a volunteer to
do this many times, the meeting
came to a close. No one volun-
teered and the cat still has no
bell.

Now, if you fallers think of this
scenario and turn it around, this is
what is going to happen to you if
it already hasn’t

The WCB is, I hear with the
full cooperation of your employer,
going to make it mandatory that
you wear a motion sensor location
device on the job.

Now that is telling the mice!

Your bullbucker can stay home
and keep track of you every sec-
ond of every day. You could even
be asked what you were doing
yesterday when you took your
pants down to do what you have
to do once in awhile.

Most fallers I know and knew
do this kind of work at least parti-
ally because of the freedom it
gives you to put the wood down
ihe way you think is right and
safe.

The amount of wood you fall
really doesn’t have much to do

with the amount of time you put

in.

Please don’t let anyone take
any more of your freedom from
you. Many good men like yourself
have been blackballed and have
sacrificed their own and their fa-
mily’s security and welfare to
fight for the rights and choices we
had when we were young. .

In those days it was possible to

make the price of a new Ford
pickup in 20 six and a half hour
days.

Then we somehow let our-
selves be picked apart and rail-
roaded into day wages because
the WCB deci-
ded that con-
tract fallers
were a berserk By
group of work- §
ers who ran
from tree to
tree with their
chainsaw wide §

open, full throt-

tle and their

eyes closed, "
Therefore Allan

you were Kennedy

deemed a_ ha-
zard to yourself and anyone within
20 miles of you.

This is the lie that was used to
take free enterprise from you. |
and many more like me toak a 2/3

rollback in our pay cheques over-
night.

It also raised the accident rate
because so many men who where
not fallers took on the job simply
because they had seniority and
day-wage-falling paid more.

Most of the people who are
telling you how to do your job
wouldn’t know the difference be-
tween a hemlock tree and a cac-
tus.

You are earning every cent you
can sell your time for. There will
come a day, sooner than you
might think, when all that jerking,
pulling, lifting and packing that
saw straight uphill with the snow
melting on your neck and running
down the crack of your behind and

filling your boots up, will get to:

your body. Then the only part that
still works will be, like me, your
mouth.

Allan Kennedy is a retired faller
who lives in Terrace.

Atlin region deserves better

By NICOLE LISCHEWSKI

AS A RESIDENT of Allin, B.C., I feel it ne-
cessary to respond to the unfortunate recent
decision by ministers Stan Hagen and Richard
Neufeld to re-certify the Tulsequah Chief Mine
Project.

have been actively involved in exploring
sustainable economic options in my commun-
ity and have closely followed the Tulsequah
Chief environmental assessment throughout its
bizarre and convoluted process.

" . ‘The decision to re-certify the Tulsequah
Chief Mine Project obviously had very little to
do with sustainable land use. It had everything
to do with selling our town and region to the

* mining sector.

‘4; Our MLA, Dennis MacKay, was sent to
Atlin by Hagen to announce the approval of
i the mine on Dec. 13, 2002.

: No one in attendance at that meeting could
*: have had any doubt that the Taku River Tlingit

‘ people and a great many of the non-Tlingit re-

_. sidents of Atlin viewed that decision as a pro-

«found betrayal. -

The court-ordered consultation with the
' Taku River Tlingit that Minister Hagen claims
took place was a complete mystery to the

Taku River Tlingit spokesperson and others

..who. spoke out at the meeting. = ee

'\ Ministers Hagen and Neufeld (Energy and

Mines) showed their disregard for the legal

system by approving this mine in spite of two
consecutive defeats in the provincial courts on
this issue,

B.C, has now taken this case.all the way to
the Supreme Court of Canada, and even
though the Supreme Court's ruling is still out-
standing, Ministers Hagen and Neufeld saw it
fit to re-certify the project.

MLA Dennis MacKay defended his govern-

The decision to re-certify the
Tulsequah Chief Mine Project
obviously had very little to do
with sustainable fand use. It had
everything to do with selling our
town and region to the mining
sector.

ment’s right to run roughshod over the consti-
tutionally protected rights of First Nations,
‘complaining, “What are the courts doing mak-
‘ing decisions that the politicians should be
making in the best interests?”
Decisions in the best interests of whom, I
would like to know?

The decisions of government that pander to.

big industry have repeatedly damiaged the eco-

nomic health of northern communities by crea-

ting boom-and-bust towns.

When asked what would be left for our
children’s children when the mine closes,
MacKay shrugged and said “a big hole in the
ground.”

A great legacy by the B.C. Liberals to us
indeed, oo '

We now count on the federal departments
like Environment Canada, Fisheries and
Oceans Canada, and Foreign Affairs and Inter-
national Trade to do a better job on this issue
through the ongoing federal assessment of the
project. The government of B.C, has failed us.

So many northern and isolated communities
live and die with the fortunes of the one big
industrial employer in town.

If we wish to make a permanent change for

the better in Atlin, we need to take initiative

and control of our future ourselves.

We need long-term community-based plan-
ning for-a diverse and stable sustainable econ-
omy. _ te
The decision by ministers Hagen and Neu-
feld to re-certify the Tulsequah Chief mine, as
well as MLA’ MacKay’s comments have
shown us that our communily is expendable in
their view and that we are embarking on yel
another cycle of broken government promises.
Allin and all northern communities deserve a
- bétter future.than this. 2. 0

‘Nicole Lischewski isan Atlin resident.

The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, March 26, 2003 - AS

CORRESPONDENCE FOR THE TERRACE STANDARD
a
The Mail Bag
a |

Still a small town
Dear Sir:

1 am writing in response to those who oppose the.
opening of Wal-Mart in Terrace. | am a former
resident of Terrace, and continue to travel there to.
visit family since I've been away. And if there's one:

thing [’ve noticed, whether it be then or now, is the ~

opposition of new businesses coming into town.

It was stated that stores such as Wal-Mart drown
out the competition, causing other businesses to fold
due to Wal-Mart's lower prices. God forbid: we should
have some competition in Terrace that could perhaps
pive a wake-up call to existing businesses that charge
prices that are too high. _—

Whenever I go home to visit, ['m- always:
astounded as to how expensive things are. Since
Terrace is an isolated community with no competition
nearby, these local business owners can drive their
prices up knowing residents have nowhere else to go.

I understand that from a business owner's point of
view this could be a scary thing, but on the other
hand, it can also keep them in check and make them
strive to be a better company. - ;

Terrace residents are always complaining how
stagnant things are, how shopping is so limited, etc.
And then when something new tries to ‘come into_
tawn — oh no — can't have that. We can't possibly
have anything new in our city. We're a city, but don't ,
make it bigger, don’t make it better, and don't offer
any more options to residents, (Although now people
are getting smart and ordering things online.) :

Why are people so afraid of grawth? What if it was
a local business owner trying to open a new business
similar to one that already exists? Are we only
allowed one of everything? And if you're so dead-set
in having your stat holidays off, then don’t work at
Wal-Mart. I find it frustrating how Terrace is
classified as a city, yet it has such a small town
attitude.

Sandra I. Kuhar, Calgary, Alberta

Trucks need own route

Dear Sir:

In my 2002 campaign for city council I made a
point of talking to people bringing the Keith Avenue
service road to the forefront again. I was told
numerous times by transportation ministry and
municipal officials that the road under the Sande
Overpass was a dead issue. No money.in the kitty.

Now in Feb. 2003 we have a truck roll over and
spill its logs all over the ‘overpass. So why are we
building another side walk onto the overpass? So we
can potentially kill people on both sides now?

I was told that the service road would take a back
seat. to the traffic circle project planned for the four-
way intersection by the scales. So if another truck
rolls over and actually kills someone on the over
pass, are we suddenly going to decide that the service
road is going to the top of the list? ;

The only: fatalities at the four-way stop. were
caused. by, drinking and. driving, which are, avoidable.
if people choose not to drink.and drive, The fatalities.
on the overpass were the results of accidents which
are not so easily avoided.

Let’s get Terrace realigned and ready for the future
and build the service road under the overpass.

Allan McIntyre, Terrace, B.C.

Not leaving by choice

Dear Sir:

It amazes me that while Jack Talstra and Gerry
Martin sing praises of how good the increase of the
aboriginal population has been economically for
Terrace, they insult non-aboriginal people and accuse
us of “fleeing” Terrace in search of a job.

It is sad that people have to leave Terrace in order
to seek employment but most of us take pride in
having a job and supporting our families, These
people still pay taxes to the city and still buy their
clothes and groceries in Terrace.

In an ideal world we all would have a steady
income to spend when we find ourselves unemployed
or going through tough economic times. I’m sure most
people would like to be able to buy brand name
clothes for their children and drive new SUVs and
pickups or criticize the hard working people of
Terrace who choose to take a family vacation or look
after their own family members by sending money to
Portugal or India?

In the society that we now live in it’s great to sce
that people still place family as their number one
priority, you should be commending these people for
their morals rather than judging them.

In regards to your comment about non-aboriginal
people choosing to put their money into investments,
you, Mr. Martin, and all other B.C, taxpaying citizens

-should be pleased that many of us choose to invest
"money in order to have a retirement income instead

of depending on social assistance and a depleted
Canada Pension Plan.
Christine Sass, Terrace, B.C.

Hooray for the buses

Dear Sir:
In view of recent scrutiny involving the Terrace

‘public transit system, I am one Terracite who is

grateful for the current hourly bus service,
The increased schedule instigated about two years
ago encouraged me to regularly utilize the system
and has allowed me to live without owning a car.
The service is excellent, the. drivers are
considerate and pleasant, the buses are always clean
and on schedule. The price has been a bargain,and
will conlinue to be even when it is increased. It's a
privilege to have this service available in town, and I
urge more people to support the system,
Andra McLean, Terrace, B.C.

About the Mail Bag
The Terrace Standard welcomes letters. Our
address is 3210 Clinton St, Terrace, B.C. V8G
5R2. You can fax us at 250-638-8432 or e-mail
us at newsroom @terracestandard.com. No
attachments, please. We need your name,
address and phone number for verification. Our

.. deadline is noon Friday or noon Thursday if it’s a

long weekend.

te