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Letter in the Editor On October 6, ontario's Education Minister announced changes in the Province's educa- tional system. The Liberal Party had for some time made no secret of the fact that we in- tended to unveil our education policy at a fund- raising dinner to be held on that date, and the Minister was certainly aware of our intentions. Watotloo Chum-d. omen It located on 2nd floor ot W-lcvloo seam . on.“ Fm: Emu we no man mum. - the Longhom Mums"! (dummy ammo m can! shop) or trom the Home: - has.“ the T D Bank take the olovalov to the To the editor: On behalf of Caen chap- ter [ODE I would like to express our sincere grati- tude to you For the help you gave us in advertising the Mr. Dressup show. From statements made by our party's rep- resentatives in recent months, .as well as during - and prior to - the last election campaign, he must also have had a clear idea. of what our "New Directions for Education" would be. Obviously, then, neither the timing of his an- nouncement, nor the direction of his changes can be looked upon as coincidental. 2nd floor and you are there Calling a hasty press conference, the Minis- ter outlined the changes or "refinements'rwhich has been decided upon - mainly that more solid "core" subjects, such as English, Mathematics, Canadian history or geography, will be required subjects for students entering Grades IX and X at the beginning of the 1977/78 school year. While we welcome the Government's refine- ments, we regret that there is still no guaran- tee that firm guidelines will be established to ensure that students throughout Ontario will be given comparable instruction, and assessed on similar achievement valuation standards. A number of parents had expressed distress over the phasing out of the pilot programme in primary French education. This programme existed in six schools in the county, four of those schools being in Waterloo. Therefore, it was with some trepidation that I went to a meeting in Cedarbrae School in Lakeshore Village last Wednesday evening. Or. Pierre Dube' had organized the meeting and, despite a conflict wit an open house, sev- enty or more people assembled to discuss pos- sible alternatives. liclllezltiun Waterloo chronicle Ontario'; educational system is financially supported by the taxpayers in the belief that a literate, skilled and articulate population is This past year has been one of considerable strain for public school board trustees because of the difficult decisions we made in the set- ting of the budget. There have been some up- set responses to the cut-backs. Page 4 . Wanna? Chronicle, Wedrtesdavprtottr?h 1976 After a thorough introduction by Dr. Dubé the meeting was opened to questions and sug- gestions from the floor. Some detailed ques- tions were asked of Mr. Schlueter, the Board's Finance Officer and of Mr. Townshend, the Superintendent of Planning and Development. Many . persons made practical suggestions Ltiberat Party Line Because -ot the publicity published every WM)! by Funny Press. a dmsm ot ktteltenerWaterboo Record Ltd, . owner 225 Funny Rd S _ kiteteqterAhtt address mrrrespomhhce to Waterloo ounce Waterloo Square Waterloo, Ont _ telephone ass-use Publashec “mes M Botand Editor Mary Stupart subscriptions: 810a year In Canada. tlt a year m United States and Foreign Countries we received. the event was a complete sell-out and an unqualified success. Thank you again for your support. Sincerely, Mrs. Audrey Detmer. Waterloo. established MM vital for the well-being of this province. Our schools have a vital role to play in helping and encouraging our young people to become productive members of society, informed citizens, able to meet the challenge of today’s competitive world. Under the existing educational system in this province, as Liberal Leader Stuart Smith has pointed out, "pupils are placed in an en, vironment where the degree Aff free choice is excessive for their level of maturity and in- consistent with the real world, creating un- realistic expectations. v, We believe that standards must have a place in our educational system, at every level, as they do in the public service and private enterprise, where individuals are evaluated against specific performance criteria. Province- wide educational standards would provide a yardstick against which pupils, parents, teach- ers and administrators could measure ac- complishment. Our party has long advocated a required core curriculum, and our recommendation is that at least one-half of the instructional time (and most prescribed homework) in the primary and junior divisions of our schools should en- compass English reading comprehension (Fran- cais in francophone schools); formal communi- cation skills such as precision in spelling, grammar, punctuation and spoken language; which require further investigation. Toward the end of the meeting. four persons were nominated or volunteered to sit on a steering committee. All three of the trustees from Waterloo at- tended that meeting as did a number of admin- istrators. We were impressed by the positive thrust of the meeting. In fact, it was a distinct treat to be involved with a community group which organized itself in a spirit of understand- ing and cooperation with the Board! Dr. Dube' has organized a second meeting to take place in Centennial School on Amos Avenue. It will convene at 7:30 pm, Monday November 1. An invitation is extended to all interested persons in Waterloo and especially to parents of students in Empire and Centen- nialSchools. The purpose of that meeting will be to dis- cuss some possible alternatives and to'find four persons from those communities to serve on the steering committee. A willingness to work hard is essential because of the complex- (Connnued on 0390 5) By Lynne Woolstencroft Trustee, Waterloo County Board of Education l, l I © l " " n dE as: Q = r" Q) n h Bl bi i _ ’45 l .422“ Cl/ii second language and culture (as trained teachers become available); arithmetic com- putation, measurement and associated problem solving; basic Canadian studies; fitness and health education. Students who have progressed to the Inter- mediate Division (Grades 7 to 10) should have obtained a basic grounding in language and arithmetic. Therefore, the core curriculum could be extended, with the. basic skills serving as a foundation. The core in this division should be composed of five major areas: Reading and Composition; Mathematics; Science; Social Science (including Canadian studies); Second Language and Culture. One of the fundamental shortcomings of the present educational system is the almost total lack of curriculum structure in secondary schools. The open credit method places in- tolerable burdens of choice on young pupils and their parents. There is widespread recog- nition that pupils cannot adequately choose well-balanced programs of study, that par- ents and teachers currently have insufficient knowledge of pupils' attainment and interests to offer meaningful guidance. We have, in "New Directions for Education", recommended the establishment of a fourth or Senior Division, to begin at Grade XI. Pupils at this level should have already attained a significant common background in basic know- ledge, and a wide exposure to numerous sub- jects. Therefore, this Division would appear, to be the appropriate environment in which to in- troduce a basically optional or elective pro- gram of study. In our view, province-wide examinations, base'd on minimum standards of attainment in core courses, would provide a necessary de- gree of accountability. These examinations would be taken by pupils at the end of the final year of each Division (after teachers have submitted final grades for that year). In this way, the examinations would be diag- nostic - not counted in course grades - and would provide province-wide evidence which would permit pupils and parents to gain an improved perspective of development of scholastic abilities, and more realistic ex- pectations about the future. The examinations would also enable teachers to evaluate teaching methods and grading criteria, and administra- tors to determine strengths and weaknesses in the schools under their jurisdiction. Such examinations would also be useful in determining eligibility for entry to colleges and universities. At present, a major difficulty facing admissions officers in institutions of higher learning is the great disparity in grad- (Continued on page 5) . By Ed Good M.P.P. (Waterloo North) sGrsimitriWs