TERRACE — ‘‘The
challenge to teachers is
to prepare young people
for an unpredictable and
uncontrollable future.”’
This theme formed the
basis for-a two-hour lec-
ture recently delivered to

the Terrace educational |

community by world-
‘famous teacher and
scientist Dr: David
Suzuki.

by Michael Kelly

Suzuki was invited to
speak here by the Ter-
race District Teachers’
Association on the sub-
ject, “Toward the Year
2000 .- the Challenge to
Education’’. Teachers
and members of the
public who attended the
talk nearly filled the
R.E.M. Lee theatre to
capacity.

Suzuki’s reputation as

“a prophet of doom was

counteracted by his ap-

proach to the subject,
which was both relaxed
and punctuated by
sharply pointed humor.
He professed himself to
be a sceptic, not a cynic,
and indicated to the au-

‘On Sunday, May 25,
the Terrace RCMP

Coroner

continued from page 2

RCMP investigation into
the accident is complete
and in the hands of the
crown counsel. The find-
ings of the investigation
will not be released until
the results of the cor-

World famous scientist and teacher Dr. David Suzuki came |

to Terrace recently to lecture on the role of educators In the
final years of the twentieth century. Suzukl’s visit was spon-
sored by the Terrace District Teachers’ Association.

dience that educators
could do well to incor-
porate scientific prin-
ciples of doubt and

proof in teaching stu-

Police report —

charged a local man with
drinking and driving.

On Friday, May 23, a
Hazelton resident was in-
volved in a motor vehicle
accident on Lakelse
Avenue and Emerson.

RCMP said the
estimated damage to the
vehicle is $5,000 and the
Hazelton resident will be
appearing in Terrace
Provincial Court on

oner’s inquiry are made
public.

Forestry reps graduate

TERRACE — The Forestry Worker Training Pro-
gram has recently graduated 19 participants from the
first cycle of the program. The second cycle began
March 1986 with 24 students currently enrolled in the
course.

This Canadian Job Strategy Program is designed
to provide forestry worker training to long-term
unemployed residents of the Terrace area. It teaches
the skills that will be needed te revitalize our forest
land. Each course of the program is six months long.

Sponsored by the Skeena Manpower Development
Committee through the Employment Development
Branch of the Federal government, the Forestry
Worker Training Program participants combine
classroom instruction, at Northwest Community
College, field practicums, and field experience. Both
theoretical and practical aspects of forest manage-
ment are covered. .

Working in co-operation with the Ministry of
Forest, International Woodworkers of America
- Local 1-71, and Westar Timber Ltd., the Forestry
Work Training Program participants acquire train-
ing in silviculture techniques, forest management,
survival first aid, plantation management,
pesticide/herbicide applications, .and fire preven-
tion/suppression techniques. The graduate of the
Forestry Worker Training Program will fill the pre-
sent void in employment and provide the forest in-
dustry with personnel skilled in the basic aspects of
forest management.

Currently the second class of Forestry Worker
Training Program are experiencing first hand the
do’s and don’ts of living in camp. They are com-
pleting the course in ‘Outdoor Camp Safety and
Survival’.

charges of drinking and
driving.

=

dents to think rationally.
“The difficulty we face
is that we are no longer
able to distinguish mean-
ingful signals from back-
ground noise,’’ he stat-
ed, referring to the

incalculable amount of

information that is con-
tinually bombarding
people living in this
society. ‘‘We live in a
world in which informa-
tion has become discon-
nected, a world no
longer integrated, but
fragmented. What we

need is not more infor-

- mation, but an attitude

which enables us to
distinguish what is
significant.”

Suzuki took some time
expanding on broader

themes in order to zero

in on the role of educa-
tion. in the future. The
large base of his lecture

‘ concerned what he term-

ed ‘five great myths of
our time’’: the fragility
of nature (‘‘nature has

i. absorbed some very hard

knocks .and been very

forgiving and resilient);
_ the need for continuous

growth (‘we fail to
understand limits’’);
scientific insight gives us
the power to control the
world around us (‘‘we

have become intoxicated .

with knowledge, with
what we think we
know’’); technology is
our servant (‘‘we have
lost control of
technology... half of the
scientists in the world
work for the military,
the other half work for
private enterprise:
research and develop-
ment are directed either
at destruction or
profits’'); and finally, we
believe that we are ra-
tional creatures (a
multitude of examples).

During the question-
and-answer session
following the lecture,
Suzuki bluntly respond-
ed to many of the ques-
tions by saying, ‘‘I really
don’t know.’’ He

Terrace Review — Wednesday, May 28,.1986 3

disclaimed that he is a
‘futurist’, and clarified
the direction of his lec-
ture by pointing out, ‘‘l
don’t have the answers,
but until we explode the
myths we can’t even
begin to ask the right
questions.”’

‘“What I see today is.a
very grim situation,’ he
said. “The notion that
the present: direction of
science and technology is
inevitable has to be ques-
tioned... we are on a
path that is suicidal. The
greatest ability of science
to move us spiritually is

its ability to describe:

nature. Progress? As the
North American natives
say, ‘To resonate with
nature’, that would be
my idea of progress.”

Educators counselled by Dr. David Suzuki

His final summary. of
the role of teachers?
‘Education now is @
method of indoctrina-
tion, part of a machine
feeding the economy.
Teachers need to confer
on children scepticism, a
demand for primary in-
formation, and the con-
fidence to make up their
own minds. Children
must see us taking action
for what we believe.”’.

Perhaps the most con-
vincing aspect of the lec-
ture was Suzuki’s consis-
tent use of ‘‘we’’, not the
royal or editorial context
of the pronoun, but an
all-inclusive use which
cast aside any excuses of
helplessness or im-
potence, centering equal
responsibility on ail.

—

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