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Schools So Free Students Suffer? There has been great support during the past few years for freedom in education: Freedom basic-ally for the student to select his own subjects and progress in them at his own speed. The teacher, instead of lecturing and demanding, stays more in the background position offering guidance and advice. Now many educationists seem to be asking whether this free learning has gone too far. Students are simply leaving school without the basic, elementary skills they will need not only for work but simply to live. Many employers and university professors frequently complain that when students leave school they cannot spell or write coherently. Employers obviously do not have the time nor inclination to teach writing, so universities are finding themselves forced to give remedial programs. How can an undergraduate study any subject if he cannot put his new knowledge into understandable form? It appears that this lack of basic skills has also crept into simple arithmetic. Here again students are leaving school without knowledge of the ground rules. Apparently they are ignorant of simple addition, subtraction, multiplication and division -- what one Hamilton high school principal calls grocery-store math. At Lakehead University, Professor C. F. Kent, head of the Mathematics Department, agrees with the Hamilton principal but adds that the freshman's knowledge of ground rules has been poor for many years, although recently it has grown much worse. Professor Kent places the blame on general loosening of the education system plus a general disinterest among students for the sciences and mathematics. According to Professor Kent, secondary school teachers blame primary teachers while university faculty blame the secondary teachers. He added that many teachers criticize the department of Education program which stipulates the teaching of a combin- ation of arithmetic, algebra and geometry through all grades, rather than concentrating on one of the subjects each grade. This hints a little of buck-passing. The truth is that basic mathematics, like English is essential to daily life in Canadian society. 1 schools are not providing this knowledge then sure they should examine themselves and try to discover the reasons for their failure before more children suffer. It may be true that a generation ago schools were too rigid and strict; certainly it is wrong to have students learning everything by heart and so destroy their creativity. But possibly the pendulum has swung too far; maybe there is still need for some kind of discipline and for some learning by heart of basic rules. Stokes Questions Prices In North 1973 TORONTO -- Thunder Bay MLA Jack Stokes said in the legislature Monday no j overnment action has been aken on high northern prices, (espite repeated requests for a study. Mr. Stokes noted he had introduced a private bill last year asking for a tribunal to review living costs in the North. But the government has taken no action, he said, despite the fact that he had 3,000 signatures from people "who endorsed the concept of such a review procedure in order to come to grips with the high cost of living ... in the North." The NDP member again called for a provincial government inquiry into the high costs. He said, "Nothing has happened with regard to making representations to Ottawa for amendments to the freight rate schedules or anything that would give a little bit of relief for the excessively high cost of living and transportation costs in the North." He said that in his riding the cost of pork tenderloin jumped from 78 cents a pound in October to $1.06 in February. He charged the responsibility for the increasing costs in the North lies "somewhere between: the farmer and the retailer." Wednesday, October 25, 1972 Survey Shocks Educationists In Winnipeg not long ago a survey of city business "shocked and surprised" education offi- cials and school principals. They learned students are not, to parapharse an old commencement exercise clichee, "ready to go out and do their thing." A teacher who did the survey subtitled his report "We're not as good as we think we are," after admitting "it was a real eye-opener as to how (businessmen) consider the students we're producing." Criticism of the school system ranged from lack of communication betweeen business management, organized labor and schools to deficien cy in teaching students to have pride and carry themselves with dignity. The survey showed that many personnel off-cers do not consider schools a reliable source of reference on students' attitudes and dependability beecause "they only say good things." A majority don't bother to contact the school for information, relying more on their personnel manager's impression of applicants. Businessmen contacted said most important factors in determining if a student is hired or not are appearance and first impressions, attitude and desire or interest in the job applied for, and then educational level, communication skills and experience. They urged schools to teach students how to look for a job and to sell themselves to the interviewer. They do not do this by showing up seeking jobs attired in blue jeans, a dirty shirt and bare feet. A great many of the people surveyed said they could not care less about the student's marks in school, and the marking systems varied so much they were difficult to understand. Another criticism was that teachers are not well informed about business practices and all said they would like to visit schools to discuss business matters and job applications with teachers and students. Locally, secondary schools make it an annual practice to hold careers nights when business and professional men talk to the students on specialized subjects while technical graduates-to-be sometimes work a week or so with business firms. Perhaps it might be practical to give teachers some similar experience. A good many, we suspect, do not know what it is to hold down a job other than teaching. Private Property Damage Part Of Snowmobile Study Most of the complaints normally associated with the operation of snowmobiles were heard once again during a sitting here last week of the Ontario government's select committee enquiring into motorized snow vehicles. Observers claimed the machines were damaging the ecology, lake trout stocks were being depleted in district lakes and traffic hazards were being created, among others. Surprisingly, little was heard about trespassing on private property and this is developing into one of the most serious aspects of this comparatively new winter sport. It's the same old story in many ways. Of the thousands of snow machine owners in the area, a large percentage recognize their responsibilities and act accordingly. But there are a few who think their licence allows them to go anywhere and the amount of damage they are doing can't be overlooked. Until recent years there was a "code of the bush" which meant, among other things, that anyone in trouble could expect help from others passing by and private property could be left cached without fear of it being stolen or damaged, Reports of damage in the winter months, particularly to summer camps and other installations, indicate that this code is fast disappearing and this makes the bush much less friendly. It used to be that with the first snow most camps were more or less isolated, but the coming of the snowmobile has ended all this for these machines will go anywhere. Some camps have been so repeatedly roughed up that they have been abandoned by their owners. Owners have a responsibility of clearly marking their property to the effect that it is private, but once this is done any entry should be treated as an extremely serious offence. The select committee is hearing submissions across the province and its job is an important one because out of the recommendations will come new legislation which should clarify the picture for snowmobilers and the general public alike. One submission was to the effect that damage to the ecology was caused by a number of things and that snowmobiles shouldn't be given all the blame. This is true, but the hearing was about snow machines and if tougher laws are needed then the government must act. The number of snow vehicles will increase steadily in the future but still there should be enough open space in this part of the province to accommodate them and keep everyone else happy, too. The big problem will be enforcing the laws against those who insist on breaking them. As a police officer told the hearing, when a police car appears to be stopping to check a licence, "the snow-mobiler nips into the bush and we can't find him." The time may be near when special patrols, on the land and possibly in the air, will be necessary to keep control. Certainly, how this is to be accomplished should be of major concern to the select committee in its deliberations.