PAG;E 4, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 1980, WHITBY FREE PRESS whitby Voice of the County Town Michael Ian Burgess, Publisher - Managing Editor The only Whitby newspaper independ.'ntly owned and operated by Wbitby residents for Whitby residents. Published e'.ery Wednesday "'by M.l1.Nl. Publishing and 1hotography me. P>hone' 669.61 Il Tie Free Press Building. 13 1 Brock Street North, P.O. Box 206. Whitby, Ont. Michael J. Kn.ll Commun ity Editor Marjorle A. Burgess Production Manager Karen Thompson Advertislng Manager MaIing Permit No. 480 Member of the WhItby Chember of Commerce Teachers are taxpayers too, and they want more say over budget, reader says Dear Sir: The teaching profession, whose morale is already at a low ebb with the con- stant critIcism ln the media, is now under at- tack f rom- you. (Editorial Nov. 12,80) Teachers have become scapegoats for just about every soci al and financial malaise golng, and now you blame them for wanting more humane working conditions. That 17.87 PTR certainly does not mean that the actuel classes are of that size. Classes average at above 30 in both Elementary and Secondary Schools. Teachers are supposed to give Individualized attention and help to their students. This Is very difficuit, If not Im- possible, with large classes. The logicj escapes me ln your argument that teachers do not deserve any more money because they earn more than the average wage earner anyway. What about doctors, lawyers, postal employees, plumbers and professional spor- tsmen !o name a tew? This Is simply a non- sequitur. Teachers spend four years at University, and are constantly upgrading their qualifications, mark- lng, planning and doing extra-curricular ac- tivities during their «'time-off". You also fail to point out that the Board of Education Itselt also cameïoiinder crltlcism ln the tact ft1nder's report. ("neither party was of rnuch assistance to me"). Teachers are tax- payers too and would dearly love more say ln how the budget Is spent. We could afford the new teachers necessary to reduce the PTR if the 79% of and administrative costs, bussing, and other non-essentials were reduced. <Why couldn't parents provide their children's own stationery sup- plies for examnple?) Finally 1 arn dlsgusted by the at- titude of your paper towards schools. You take Up a whole page to criticise teachers, and yet when we, at our sohool, and on repeated occasions, wish you to cover something positive and good that Is happening, you are "too busy" or there's "not enough space". 1 can only assume that you would rather have people read your opinion instead of real tacts. Is your paper un- biased enought to ac- cept challenge and cover positive educational .hap- penings in our com- munity? Let's hope so. Your truly, J. A. Bramma, Teacher, Dr. Robert Thornton P.S. EDITOR'S NOTE: This personal letter arrived at the off ice of the Free Press in an envelope marked with the logo of and belonging too, the Durham Board of Education. It is Our hope that this teacher repaid the taxpayer's for the use of their materials. it' would, also be useful to note that positive . things are happening within the education system and whenever and wherever possible it Is our edItorial pollcy to gîve coverage to these events. Çlrs. Bramma has asked this publication to report "real facts" instead of "opinion". Our editorial was based on the pubiished report of the neutral, provincially appolinted fact finder. If this Reade r wri*tes that editor is a "redneck i*gnoramus" Dear Sir, I arn very tired of your continuing attacks on teachers. Your denigrating comments are mostly tlred old cliches that any red- neck Ignoramus can re- iterate. Ploughing rny way through the 1II- structured, poorly pun- ctuated, grammatically unsound, pathetically type-set, elementary level prose of your reactionary articles Just reintorces my belief in the need for quality education...which does not corne cheaply. Yours truly, Richard Pearce 6 Muir Cres Whitby EDITOR'S NOTE: Needless to say Mr. Pearce is a teacher, and his comments are probably Indicative of the Swe're more educated and hence tar superior to the uneducated Ignoramus masses' opinion ap- parently shared by a large number of educators. Our co'mm ents ln the editorial were based on and-quotes taken from a provincially appoin- ted FACT ftInders report which is a matter of public record. In any ca'se, we ignorami ln Whitby with less than grade 9 education con- stitue about 26% of the town population, and the bulk of us Whitby ignorami, about 67%, have grade il. or less. So the rnajority of us may well be pathetlc, elementary ignorami according to you, but we earn honest livings working usually 50 weeks each year (not 8 months) and-,we're the ones who bulit the town you've chosen to move to. lncidentally we' Ignorarni attem- pting to fully com- prehend your eloquent well educated com- ments found that "red- neck" wasn't, ln our Gage Canadian Dic- tionary, but we were ln- tormed by an American triend that south of the border 'rednecks' usually reterred to people who work on oil rigs...so we looked around Whitby, and couldn't tind a single 011 rig even ln Otter Creek. ADDRESS LETTERS TO: TH-E EDITOR, THE WHITBY FREE PRESS POST OFFICE BOX NUMBER 206 WHITBY GLoSE OA~L 1 TE -jç~4ff>î1 Ws5EN M a