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PAGE 6 â€" WATERLOO CHRONICLE, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 22, 1994 Waterloo Town Square 75 King St. South, Suite 201 Waterloo, Ontario The next time you tune into your favorite radio station, listen for a unique new 30â€"second advertisement which lauds public educaâ€" tion in Ontario. It is part of a $104,000 advertising campaign launched recently by a coalition backing public education in Ontario and it features a "good news" message on each ad which ends with the slogan: "Pubâ€" lic education: Feel good about it." At first, you‘d think this was the kind of campaign that objectively described the public education system in this province. But wait: upon closer inspection, you‘ll see it‘s simply an inaccurate and menâ€" acing message put out by the province‘s teachers‘ unions. That‘s right. As soon as you look behind the official name of the coalition, known as the Ontario Public Education Network, you‘ll see it‘s made up of virtually every teachers‘ union that exists in Ontarmo And what they don‘t tell you is that the public education system is failing badly. Instead, they‘ve now gone on the offensive to launch an ad campaign that tries to justify what they‘re doing. And much of what they say in those same ads is wrong or, at best, misleading. Example of the myth: the ads say that Ontario‘s taxpayers get good value for their dollar because the province‘s costs are someâ€" where between those in Europe and the United States. Reality: Ontario taxpayers have the highest paid teachers of any North American state or province and the cost of education in Canada is the highest, in percentage terms, of any industrialized country in the world. (Conference Board of Canada) Another myth: Ontaric‘s students are performing very well on teststhhotherstuden,in‘xfiofld.'lhymndmrthewp, says the ad. o * Reality: This just isn‘t so. Ontaric‘s students are plop in the midâ€" dle of most tests that are administered and the Conference Board of Canada, along with a great number of other organizations, has expressed great dismay at the test results. They say we need to do far better in order to improve. Yet another myth: The ads say that public education is "accountâ€" able" in its present form because it is set up so that it‘s governed by local school board trustees to whom people can turn to whenever they want input or action. Reality: School board trustees are virtually powerless. The real decisions are made by the administrators and bureaucrats who are themselves graduates of the teachers‘ unions. Frank MacKinnon, an experienced educational professor, call this bureaucracy the most powerful in the country. These may be "feel good" ads but they‘re basically propaganda by the teachers‘ unions to make you think that things are better than they are. Even though we‘re spending a huge amount on public eduâ€" cation, our kids can‘t measure up to those in most other industrialâ€" That‘s what‘s always frightened me when I hear the horror stories coming out of the schools. It greatly concerns me when I see the illitâ€" eracy rate is high, the dropout rate is completely unacceptable and the end products â€" the students themselves â€" are nothing to write cerned, too. Studies very critical of publc education in Canada have come from the Conference Board, the Institute for Research in Pubâ€" lic Policy, the Science Council of Canada and the Economic Council of Canada. These are all respected groups which are warning us not to be lulled into a false sense of security by the teachers‘ unions and the bureaucrats who run the system. These groups, along with the busiâ€" ness community, are worried abodt how badly our kids are falling So, the next time you hear the ads, ask yourself: is public educaâ€" tion something to really feel good about? Telephone 886â€"2830 Fax. No. Myth and reality Mfeanwhile Fred Sagel Pete Cudhea (Sports Editor) From the start, I couldn‘t understand why the authorities decided to lay charges. Let‘s not forget that the alleged events go back 19 years, and in essence it was one person‘s word against another‘s. You had to wonder that, if Will Ferguson, politician, had been Will Schmidt, plain citizen, whether any charges would have been laid. And if you were really gators had to have something to show for their I didn‘t see the trial, but a friend who did said from the outset there‘d be a speedy acquittal. "There‘s just no real case to answer," he said. All of which makes the media‘s fretting about whether there‘d be an appeal a matter for much laughter, and, to some, bespoke a certain measure of malice. One final point: I‘ve always thought I had a good memory, but I‘m obviously going to have to take some sort of course. That‘s how I felt when witnésses on both sides told the court with precision what they were doing on a summer‘s day in 1973 and you couldn‘t remember what I had for lunch the day before. Dom Deserves the Best: Because of a family cirâ€" cumstance, I couldn‘t attend the retirement dinner for Kitchener Mayor Dom Cardillo. Dom is one of a kind, and I trust that at this late date he knows how I feel Wow, what a start to summer! And don‘t think I‘m going to complain about the heat. I just love the sunâ€" shine. I could sit in the sun day and night. Enough, Already: The saga of Will Ferguson seems more and more like a soap opera. Any ordinary drama would have been over with the delivery of the verdict, but the case keeps gobbling up ink and air Blow by Blow: Lennox Lewis going to get $18 milâ€" lion for fighting Riddick Bowe in November or Decemâ€" ber. It‘s great to see a Kitchener lad making money hand over fist, eh? Tooth and Rail: The drive to save Kâ€"W train serâ€" vice seems to gaining momentum, and let‘s hope it succeeds because a community isn‘t much if it doesn‘t Enough of the Ferguson case The case was weaker than a oneâ€"dollar cocktail. No, * Ir ANybriz xnows ws7 cause WHY NOJ. sPpeax now, or..." o opmomnmitstace w Waterloo Chronicle is published every Wednesday by The views of our columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of the newspaper »23â€" L (crab_ The Fairway Group Subscription rates 1 215 Fairway Rd. S., $45 yearly in Canada, Kitchener, Ont. $90 yearly outside Canada. President: Paul Winkler +GST. Some smartâ€"alecky media folk have made fun of his syntax, but most of the time I understand exactly what Dom is trying to say. And that worries the hell out of me. Splitting the Purse: Most of us profess to be antiâ€" racist, and, if you claim to be, let‘s hope that you and your group got your share of the $1.1 million in taxâ€" mmonsythnt’lhmw by Mr. Rae and For example, the Gay Asians were among 89 groups that got a chunk of the money that‘s to be used to fight racism. The group doesn‘t appear to have an office, but it got $15,000. The African Oracle Support Group Ontario and the Unemployed Professional Women Association, whatâ€" ever they are, each got $10,000. And, yes, two unions each got $20,000. I believe every dollar will go to combat racism. I also believe in Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy. Cut to the Chase: If you doubt that TV is society‘s most potent medium, you couldn‘t have watched Friâ€" day‘s night pursuit of O.J. Simpson. _ _ Incredible. Absolutely surreal. If you‘d caught it as a TV movie you‘d have called it too corny for belief and grabbed the channel selector. Not to mention the craâ€" zies yelling, "Go, Juice!" Too bad for him he couldn‘t make it to Canada. He‘d have been nfe&ummwofmrf' ingâ€"out until he was an old, old man. Very, very old conductor is never going to sit in the lap of the engiâ€" have chooâ€"choos chugging through:~ * Besides, I‘ve always preferred travelling by train. It‘s roomier; it‘s more relaxzed; and you know that the uce mt'leyr Sandy Baird