Volume 79 Issue No.25

Long school days:
Not a waste of time

As the end of the school year quickly approaches and the
days before exams become fewer and fewer, one has to ask
oneself that common question: “What did I leam in school
this year?”

Of course we Can start with the basics: math, socials,
English and science. But there is more to school than just
what we learn in class. How many times have you found
yourself sitting in a classroom muttering, ‘““When will I ever
use this? Do I really need to know how to use a quadratic
equation? How will that ever help me along the road of life?”’

The most valuable lessons we learn in life are leamed at
school. These lessons are not taught in a class that we sign up
for or are part of our compulsory credits. Whether we want to
or not we leam these lessons.

I’m talking about the lessons of life. How to get along with
other people, how to be self motivated.and independent. We
learn how to speak up when we do not like the way
something is going. We leam how to deal with stress and be
assertive. Most of all we lear the importance of being on
time and taking responsibility.

From our first year in school we are taught the number one
kindergarten lesson: always share. The first day of kindergar-
ten everyone brings crayons, puts them in a big box and from
that day on crayons are public property — our first major
lesson in life!

The other important thing we are taught in kindergarten is
how to deal with other people, such as working in the
“classroom store,” playing with the wooden building blocks
and taking tums picking the story for story time.

As we move on through our elementary school years
manners are the big lesson taught. The distinction between
“can” and “may” will always stick in my mind. I will never
again ask “Can I Please Go To The Bathroom?” The word
for our elementary years is “MAY.”

As we enter middle school and high school the lessons we
are taught will always be remembered. With growing
independence so comes self motivation and self esteem.

It is virtually impossible to survive high school without a
little bit of self motivation. As exams grow closer we learn
how to handle stress, or rather how to avoid it after we see a
few good stress cases! We learn, through day-to-day
integration, how to deal with other people and develop an
understanding of other races and beliefs.

To those who are graduating this year, good luck. I hope
what you have leamed in high school will stick with you
forever. Remember all those valuable lessons, you will never
know when you may need them.

To those who are future high school students or unde-
rgrads, school is not the waste of time you may think it is.
Stick it through the rough times and remember — school is
just preparing us for the big world.

The things we are really taught in school do not come from
a textbook. They come from the interaction with other
students, the day-to-day routine and the responsibility of
growing up. Many people will argue that school will not
teach us to deal with the real world, but what really will?

The only way to experience life is to take it one day at a
time, be flexibie and be prepared for what comes along.

Originally published in the just-released issue of Contact,
the Parkland Secondary student newspaper produced by
the Journalism 12 class, the above guest editorial was
written by Grade 12 student and issue editor Cathy Hanan.

TheReview

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TheReview

Serving The Saanich Peninsula
Since 1912
9726 Ist Street
Sidney, B.C V8L 3C9
or RO. Box 2070
Sidney, B.C V8L 3S5
Second Class Mail Registration #0128
Published every Wednesday

656-1151
Publisher: Vic Swan Editor: Glenn Werkman
AN ISLAND PUBLISHERS NEWSPAPER

_ VERIFIED:
CIRCULAT:ON

Man vs. woman

Editor: :
Universities, work shops, and
training schools are filled with
women learning to be engineers,
mechanics and plumbers.

Some are training for the mili-
tary and police forces — jobs that
were once exclusively the domain
of men.

Because of this reversal of world
order and the ignoring of the laws
of Yahweh (our Maker), man is no
longer considered to be the bread-
winner and protector of the weaker
sex. But there is a price being paid
for this.

Women are bewildered and fear-
ful of the violence and abuse
occurring in their homes and in
the streets. Could it be that men
are striking back in the only way
they know how for the loss of their
self-esteem and masculinity?

Women have the potential to
mold our world to be peaceful and
law-abiding, but they are not exer-
cising that power today. The old
adage that “The hand that rocks
the cradle, rules the world,” and,
“Behind every successful man is a
woman’? — no longer applies.
What a great pity.

Gladys E. Barrett

Guelph, Ontario

What wasn’t said
is NDP’s policy

Editor:

I read with interest the account
of a speech by NDP candidate
Elsie McMurphy (Change chan-
nels, The Review, May 29).

Tt was not so much what former
BCIF president McMurphy did
say, but more important is what
she didn’t say regarding the gov-
ernments approach to education
funding.

Between taxation years 1986/
87-1989/90 as any homeowner
will attest, the school tax portion
of property tax bills soared to
unprecedented heights. Ministry
figures show that supplementary
spending increased province-wide
from $66 million in 1986/87 to
some $238 million in 1989/90, a
260 per cent increase.

Massive tax hikes were in part
because the government reduced
funding to school districts, but ina
much larger part because of school

trustees’ inability to negotiate
responsible contracts with teach-
ers. Salaries and benefits account
for 85-90 plus per cent of all
school board budgets.

In a response to the protests
from both school boards demand-
ing block funding plus maintain-
ing unrestricted powers of taxation
and homeowners demanding tax
relief and accountability, the gov-
ernment accommodated both
sides.

Block funding was introduced
and school boards maintained the
powers of taxation providing they
first seek voter approval by way of
referendum, hence accountability.

The basic homeowner grant was
increased from $380 - $430 plus a
supplemental homeowner grant of
25 per cent, now 50 per cent,
lessened the tax burden. Many
homeowners believe the govern-
ment should totally remove all
costs for education from the backs
of property owners.

What McMurphy didn’t say,
which has been confirmed by both
NDP finance critic Glen Clark and
education critic Anita Hagen, is
that if elected, an NDP govern-
ment will allow school boards
unrestricted and unlimited access
to homeowners pocketbooks by
removing the referendum require-
ment leaving homeowners once
again at the mercy of unaccounta-
ble free-spending school boards.

Joe Boulter
Victoria

Water quality in
coastal areas

Editor:

The B.C. Shellfish Growers’
Association wishes to inform the
public that they are opposed to any
delays in the implementation of
prevention and clean up measures
of pollution from any source in
B.C. and neighboring States. We
have much in common with the
recreational public users of our
coastal waters.

The culture of shellfish is likely
one of the most environmentally
responsible and sustainable indus-
tries in B.C. today.

There are oyster beds in the
province that have been in contin-
uous production for over 40 years
with no discernible effects on the

surrounding ecosystem, and no
reduction in their production vol-
ume.

Based on the sustainable nature
of the industry we expect that we
will be able to provide employ-
ment and a food source for many
years to come, barring the spread
of pollution. Thus it is with fru-
stration that we witness the rapid
reduction of growing areas in B.C
due to pollution.

Shellfish, such as clams, oysters, °
mussels and scallops’ are filter”
feeders, accumulating pollutants
such as sewage and toxins such as
dioxins by filtering contaminated
organic matter from the water

It would seem that the public
needs are aligned with those of the
shellfish growers: water quality in
B.C. that sustains safe consump- —
tion of shellfish. We urge other
groups and individuals to join us
in our efforts to enlighten those in
power as to what B.C stands to
lose through continued abuse of
water quality.

Roberts Stevenson

vice president

B.C. Shellfish Growers’ Asso-
ciation

Parksville

Enough roundabouis
with our government

Editor:

Let’s get some of the informa-
tion from your issue of June 12 -
Straight in our minds.

The Sidney Town council now
wants a quick study and action to
improve the intersection of Beacon
Avenue and the Pat Bay highway.
The mayor perceives that there are
problems of safety and congestion
which may have something to do
with the difficulty of making left
turns. This is the same mayor and
council who campaigned recently
on a platform of “no interchange
or fly-over at that intersection.”

Following years of pressure in
many directions and untold public
expenditure, the beautiful Port of
Sidney Marina is in operation and
is proposing to expand.

Now the town wants to put in
some floats at the old Beacon
Avenue government wharf. The
reasoning is obscure but no doubt
it is intended to foster competition.

The sewage plant 1s over capac-
ity and further development

Continued on Page A8

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