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Aeiwiia s 2 5 address correspondence to Waterloo office : 92 King St. South, Waterloo, Ont., telephone 886â€"2830 wmmm-WoazmudJuo.w.mmm Waterioo Square. Parking on King Street gr in Waterioo Square. Open Monday to Friday 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. I know for sure that a lot of our elected officials (in Ottaâ€" wa) probably had a great old time. Trouble is, they didn‘t offer to take any of us with them. They really should have, though, cause we‘re the ones that are paying for those skiing vacations in Colorado, or those cruises in the South. Now that the New Year has finally arrived, I can again start complaining. But, before I do, I hope everyone had a good holiday season. S S s Not only that, what about all those sob stories we get regularly about vacationing in our own country and throwing some of our hardâ€"earned money the way of the Canadian tourist industry. I‘m sure that Pierre didn‘t remember that one when he went skiing at Aspen. He can always counter that he was saving taxpayers money by combining business with his pleasure (he toured a NATO defense complex somewhere in Colorado) but he could ‘have just as easily flown a little further north to Banff rather than to Aspen. But, I guess, these are just some of the luxuries that can be afforded as one of the fringe benefits of the job. Trouble is, I want to know how he got the job. Maybe I shouldn‘t be so hard on old Pierre, after all, he has had a pretty rough life, hasn‘t he? Late last year a couple of things came up that I wanted to mention, but I didn‘t want to spoil anybody‘s holidays. But, now that they‘re over, I‘ll get right into them and spoil your New Year. & _ A Montreal millionaire was named last month to head the government‘s Task Force on Canadian Unity. And you know who he voted for in Quebec‘s last election? That‘s right, the old separatist himself, Rene. _â€"I mean it‘s only fitting to choose someone who wants separatism to head an inquiry on how to keep the country together. _ _ _ & D L & e â€"He certainly must be able to talk a smooth line. At least now we can guess how he became a millionaire. I would like to respond to the letter written by Terry James in the Waterloo Chronicle on Wednesâ€" day, November 16th, 1977. After reading the letter, my first reaction was to agree with Ms. James‘ own statement that she was in fact old fashioned. Howâ€" ever, closer analysis indicated that the problem was more complex than that. Implicit in Ms. James argument is that it is posâ€" sible to separate and isolate specific functions dealâ€" ing with the growth and development of individuals and to assign the responsibility for their attainment to single persons or agencies. This may be possible if individuals were operating and functioning withâ€" in a closed system setting. However, it is generally accepted that individuals function within an open system where they are in constant interaction with their enviroment. All individuals receive inputs from a vast number of sources which they react upon and eventually internalize into their own value system. To The Editor _ To restrict such inputs to one source only (i.e. the family), not only negates the "open system concept, but also makes the assumption that such a restricâ€" ion, if possible, is actually beneficial to the matuâ€" ration and growth process of the individual. Furtherâ€" more, it assumes that the single source (the parents) can always be counted upon to assume such responâ€" sibility. Yet, all of us can think of negligent and irresponsible parentsâ€" certainly not all, but some. If we can agree that any particular issue (such as value education and health education) is important to the affective functioning of an individual, then we must realize that it is everyone‘s responsibilityâ€" the parents‘, the schools‘, and the community‘s. It canâ€" not be an eitherâ€"or situation; the pace and complexiâ€" ty of modern life suggests that a holistic approach must be taken. division of mn’-«w owner a + * m;fimym.a.m.ou. Publisher: James M. Boland Editor: John Schultheiss Advertising Manager: Wolfgang Urschel subscriptions: $10 a year in Canada. $12 a year in United States and Foreign Countries. Ms. James‘ major concern appears to be that ‘"‘everything from sex education to nutrition is beâ€" ing takep out of the home‘". Besides the implied dichotomy discussed above, learning theory has shown us that anything that is consistently reinâ€" foreed has a far greater likelihood of being learned. Any concept learned at school, whether dealing with health issues or politics, need not replace those learned at home but rather reinforce and compliment them. Parents who are involved and concerned with value education and health education do not lose influence: rather their stature and position is often enhanced. I wonder how many people are aware of the imâ€" portance of value education. Louis Raths and Sidney Simon in their book Values and Teaching suggest that there has been little more than vague underâ€" standing of the influence of values on behavior. Study and research has shown them that a number of children‘s problems exhibited at home and at school are caused from a lack of values and that the numâ€" ber of these children seem to be increasing. They put into this category those children whom teachers recognize as being very apathetic, flighty, uncertain or inconsistent, or who are drifters, overconformers, overdissenters or roleplayers. In general these children have problems deciding what is right and wrong and do not have a clear concept of what is worthy and desirable _ _ They found that when children with certain beâ€" havioral problems are given,value experiences of a particular kind those problems often ease in inâ€" tensity and/or frequency. It appears that value eduâ€" cation is especially potent for those children who suffer from value confusion. They conclude that it is doubtlessly appropriate for all children living in todays complex world. Their hypothesis is that if children are helped to use the valuing process they will behave in ways that are more positive, purâ€" poseful and enthusiatic. They have shown that their hypothesis is readily testable by anyone wishing to do so and discuss the techniques to do so in their Certainly value theory is not a panacea for all that ails children and education. It is only one method that applies critical thinking techniques to matters that are largely in the affective domain. These ideas are not new and have been used by sensitive teachers for many years even though they have called it something else. It is my opinion that value education and health education should be taught in elementary school, in high school and in college. It is unrealistic to assume that these important acatiemic subjects be left until high school where many students have already dropped outâ€" either physically or intellectually. It is also unrealistic to assume that teachers do not need training to teach these subjects. In order to be truly effective the students must be taught by qualified, interested personnel. It is in this area where changes must be made. In conclusion I would like to say good luct to Mary Oakes who is in charge of value education for the Waterloo Regional Schools In my opinion value education gives the schools an opportunity to enhance personal growth and development and therefore should be encouraged. It also gives us (parents, teachers, administrators) an opportunity to use an integrated systems approach in which input from the total enviroment is sought and utilized in the planning process. In case you are wondering what qualifications I haveâ€" 1 have a Master of Science Degree in Biolâ€" ogy and Health Education and am presently looking for employment in Health Education. Yours sincerely _ Sharon L. Nogradi :i{[@a