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LETTERS In praise of independent school system 'Ir:d;ei)e;\d;ent schools may be the salvaâ€" tion of Canada‘s beleaguered public eduâ€" cation systems. _ _ _ e _ â€" There is no doubt that public education is in trouble. Parents across the country are losing confidence in the ability of public schools to educate their children. This is reflected in plummeting enrolâ€" ments and increasing drop out rates. Parents and students are looking to the independent school as an alternative. The existence of this private sector competiâ€" tion is already forcing some public schools to change their approach to education. _fFeedback _ In Toronto the George S. Henry Seconâ€" dary School, like many public schools, found itself competing with independent Dieting is a dirty word at most times, but especially during New Year resoluâ€" tion time. But you‘re thinking about it. Some are even doing it! Whether you‘ve just decided to cool it on the pop and chips or whether you‘ve cleaned your refrigerator out to make room for all those grapefruits you‘ll need for the infamous grapefruit diet, chances are we‘ve eaten enough food over the holidays to sustain us all winter. Unforâ€" tunately we can‘t last all winter. The need and urge to gobble food is much too strong. C I don‘t agree with dieting to reduce weight or tone. I‘d rather see an increase in activity accompanied with a reduction of snack foods and portions. However, I have not had the misfortune of having found it necessary to diet, at least not on a crisis basis. I can though appreciate the dilemma many must face as they pinch more than an inch or stand on the scale. There is a new diet, launched in Canada in October of 1987, marketed as The Amazing Micro Diet. This diet has swept the fat from Great Britain for the past three years with resounding success. Her Royal Highness Sarah Ferguson made a slimmer debut with the help from this diet. The diet consists of meals which are packages of dried food, similar to soup mixes. The caloric intake of three meals a day in Britain is 330 calories. An average diet is 1,200 calories a day. In Canada, however, due to governâ€" ment health regulations, the formula is manufactured containing 675 calories per day. The minimum daily requireâ€" "It helr bring the country together. It‘s a chance to party and have a good time." Warren Fenton Waterloo Kathy Hammond Fitness Forum Fitness Instructor ment in Canada, one of the highest in the world, is 900. The packages must then be mixed with skim milk to provide these calories. The key personality in the Micro Diet is Colin Rose, whose company Uniâ€"vite X:anufacturee the key lowâ€"calorie ingreâ€" ient to the diet, says the success of his diet is due to the fact that average 1,200 caloriesâ€"aâ€"day diets don‘t work fast enough. In reality, this kind of diet enables the person to lose only a pound every week to week and a half. This can not only be frustrating and discouraging, it can also be boring for the dieter, particularly the one who must lose 10 pounds or more. As well, most diets mean cutting down on foods which, though high in fat, contain the necessary proteins and vitamins our bodies need daily. This loss of nutrient leads to fatigue and slows our natural rate of burning calories to a minimum, reducing the chances of weight loss. Many doctors agree that the Micro Diet is within the realm of health safety because it does contain high levels of proteins and vitamins, twice the level recommended by the World Health Orgaâ€" nization. However, they also warn that this diet, as are all low calorie diets, is a form of fasting and should not be proâ€" longed. Several weeks on the diet should see substantial results. After that, a lifestyle change may be necessary to help maintain a healthy weight. s *The contact person for more informaâ€" tion on this diet, and where to get the food and book is: Mrs. Mary Shakespeare in Cambridge at 621â€"9861. schools for a diminishing number of students. In the words of one Board of Education member, "Students are becomâ€" ing very sophisticated consumers of eduâ€" cation and we‘re no longer the only game in town." To lure students back, the school changed its name to the George S. Henry Academy and adopted dress and behavâ€" iour codes. It also guaranteed homework and exams. The back to basics strategy succeeded so well that enrolment at the school rose to 990 this year from the 690 predicated before the academy plan went into effect. Clearly, as the George S. Henry examâ€" ple shows, the problem with the public school system is that it held a virtual monopoly in the provision of education. Like other monopolies, the result was poorer service at a higher cost. Public schools were guaranteed high enrolment "Yes. I went out to see it when I was in Oshawa. I wish I was out Barry Gallant Oshawa Do the Olympic Torch ceremonies help fuel your interest in the Olympics? no matter how effectively they educated students. The needs and wants of its consumers, namely the students and parents were ignored. High school graduâ€" ates failed literacy tests upon applying for admission to university. It is selfâ€"evident that we become what we think about most. Therefore, it stands to reason that those who are thinking about a concrete, worthwhile goal are going to reach it because that‘s what they are thinking about. And those that think about nothing become nothing. The cure for this situation was simply a little competition in the form of indepenâ€" dent schools. Parents and students began to abandon the public schools in favour of institutions which were meeting their educational needs. In response the public schools are beginning to compete to bring back lost students. These are the thousands of unemployed people who are strong and healthy and quite able to work, yet they don‘t look for work at all. In fact, they will go to great lengths and come up with all sorts of fanciful excuses to turn down work if it is offered them. The difference between what they could earn on a job and the money they collect for being unemployed is just not enough for them to make so great a sacrifice of their time and\ energy. The weeks, months and years pass in idleness. They stand around with others of their kind and talk for hours about hard times as Ciearly, the existence of independent schools is desirable and should be encourâ€" aged. They provide parents with a choice as to where they can send their children for an education and they lead to an improvement in the public school system. _ Most Vvirmportant, independent schools lead directly or indirectly to the improved q:ey watch shiny new cars roll by and wellâ€"dressed people living purposeful lives all around them. They are people without goals. They aren‘t failures because they don‘t atâ€" tempt anything. Poverty and idleness for them is a state of mind, a permanent way of life. The real tragedy is that they rear their children to this sombre, unproductive way of life. All children, in their formaâ€" tive years, emulate their parents and if there is nothing to stimulate them â€" no parental interest in school or a thirst for knowledge â€" then why stay in school? If they don‘t see a breadwinner in the family, yet money comes from someâ€" where, then why work? Even in the midst of an affluent society, I think of Bob and Doug MacKenâ€" zie and their TV special when they told Canadians to go out and support their country." "Yes, all the communities get to cperience a part of the Olympics. erience a part of the Olympics. ink of Bob and Doug MncEen' WATERLOO CHRONICLE, WEDNESDAY JANUARY 6, 1988 â€" PAGE 7 Carlos Smite Waterloo Geoffrey Fellows some young people come to believe that they are the unfortunate inheritors of a gloomy class and that they can do nothing about it. They accept their lot in life and prepare themselves to put up with it. d If some indicate a desire to rise above this bleak existence, they will be told in no uncertain terms â€" by parents who must justify their own uselessness â€" that they haven‘t got a chance.: Any wavering flame of hope may be extinguished. These youths may be told that the millions who lead busy, productive lives are different. They‘re luckier. They got_ the breaks." Their parents left them money or they know the right people. Selfâ€"justification provides all the answers and, coming from a seemingly allâ€"wise parent, they are accepted as the truth. We must find ways to reach more young people with more information of a kind that they need and can use. Our correctional institutions are filled with people who were raised to believe that they have no power over their lives. We need to help them to set goals for themselves. We need to understand that they can be reached. (Mr. Fellows operates the Human Reâ€" source Development Institute, P.O. Box 642, Cambridge, NIR 5W1, providing effectiveness training for business and industry.) The one thing that could save them and their children from the wasteland of their lives is the one thing that they will never face â€" that they know nothing of value and that if they don‘t know where they are going, they aren‘t going anywhere. education for young people which is so critical for Canada‘s future. I am currently planning a book on the role of air bombers, during World War Two, in the R.A.F., R.C.A.F., and other air forces who served under the R.A.F. bomâ€" ber command. Book on air bombers “.l_\r;};”;hecdotes, facts, or photos, from exâ€"air bombers, will be very much appreâ€" ciated, and returned. â€" All proggeds after publication to be sent to the Royal Air Force benevolent fund. R.M. Powell 38 Greenlawn Ave. Belleville, Ont. K8N 4B5 "I could use some of the heat off the torch today in this weather. I‘m looking forward to watching the Olympic Games on TV ." David Somerville National Citizens‘ Coalition Richard Lewis Waterloo