Page 12A a (G5) SAFEWAY t The Castlegar Sun Wednesday, January 27, 1993 SAFEWAY BRANDS SALE SUPER BOWL SUNDAY Jan. 31, 1993 New. Assorted 2 Litre bottle plus deposit POTATO CHIPS Ruffels or Doritos Tortilla Chips. 220-240 g PRAWN TRAY From our Seafood Dept. Approx 40 Prowris. GENERIC PIZZA 9 Inch Hawaiian, Pepperoni or Deluxe. 300 g MEDIUM SALSA or Mild, Hot. Town House. 100 % Whole Wheat. Stonehedge Farms. 570 g loaf. West @Coast In the Piece -99/ 100g ee SA an ce PROFILE ALL PURPOSE FLOUR Cones 10 kg. bag. us 1 Over limit one $ aR GROUND Regular Quality. Approx. 9 8 10 Ib. pkg. Limit 1. 2.16/ kg 6.57/ kg NECTARINES Fresh. 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Quantity rights reserved Is the Year 2000 program making the grade? i Story and photo by Arthur Joyce that as our lives become increasingly centered around technology, employers frequently report that high school graduates are incapable of properly filling out simple application forms. According to a recent Maclean's magazine article on educa- tion, an international survey of educational standards placed Canadian students ninth out of fifteen countries, and many believe there has been a steady decline in academic standards over the past three decades. In response to this concern and an alarming high school dropout rate in B.C. of about 35 per cent, the ‘Sullivan Commission on Education in 1987 assessed these and d ible solutions. The response by B, C.'s Ministry of Education has been the Year 2000 program, a learner-centered policy currently being phased in at the kinder- garten and primary grade level O-« of the greatest paradoxes of our modem society is Even report cards aren't what they used to be. Letter grades have been replaced by written evaluations based on anecdotal observations by the teacher, including input and goal setting by the student, teacher and parents. “What does a ‘C’ grade mean,” says Castlegar School District Assistant Superintendent L: achlan Farrell, “That the student is average? | What does average mean? Can_he write a sentence? A story?” The theory is that letter grades do not accurately reflect the individual student's Progress and in the past have tended to create unfair comparisons with other students “There's still competition, it's just that competition isn't the be-all and end-all the way it used to be,” says Jean Cusworth, N@son School District's Director of Instruction and Curriculum. At present, high school students are still marked according to the old system. child loose in the kitchen to fill up on pop and candy and skip nutritional foods. A more apt analogy, according to Cusworth, is that children are presented with a prepared educational ‘menu’ from which they m choose. Teachers can then determine the student's weak areaS and work on these through increased one- on-one attention and extra assignments. “We are not going to allow kids to not-do-Math simply because they don’t like it,” says Farrell Carol Conkin, vice principal of Nelson's Gordon Sargent Ele- mentary, stresses the new method is not the free-for-all approach tried in the 60s. “I've been teaching 30 years and already this is a vast improvement,” she says, “kids are genuinely excited about coming to school.” If there's a failure with the implementation of the Year 2000 it seems to be a lack of school-parent communication, although it is désigned to solicit more The philosophy behind the policy is that all children learn at different rates and should be allowed to direct their own development. Nelson School District Assistant Superinten- dent Alec Dergousoff empha- sizes that this does not mean a wholesale abandonment of for- mer teachiifg methods “It used-to be the focus was ‘I believe that in ten years from now we'll have people coming out of the school system who are productive workers, more tolerant of others, and more aware. input. “We probably haven't spent enough time with parents explaining how things work,” says Castlegar Primary ara pal John Eggleton. And, families where both pareate work, they may simply be too tired to attend PTA meetings and open houses after a full day of work. — JOHN EGGLETON Castlegar Primary Principal on content,” he says “but now the idea is not to label the child grade three, grade four and so on, but to help kids learn how to learn, at the same time using the good things that were always in the system.” Changes seem to have been made smoothly at thé primary (kindergarten to grade three) level, and the target date for transit to thee inte rmedi- ate (grades four to 10) and graduate (grades 11 and 12) levels is the 1994-95 school year. The old picturé most of us have of neat rows of children sitting quietly at their desks receiving information dispensed by a teach er is no longer relevant. Now, children of various ages gather in groups to learn such skills as problem solving, creative thinking and group action. The standardized textbooks for each grade are also a thing of the past—now, teachers compile an in-class library of books and students choose which book interests them most on each subject “It's made my job more interesting,” says Castlegar Primary teacher Barbara Archibald, “you have many more options in the materials and the way you teach.” “The biggest single challenge we have is at the high school level,” says Farrell, “it feeds radical restructuring.” Still, the Year 2000 method is controversial with many parents, who are skeptical of its ability to provide their children with the fundamental skills they require to survive in 2 a competitive world. “In our society you still need to measure up,” says Nelson par. ent Lynn Turner, mother of four. “We feel the kids ‘ma ay have trouble working at a job where they are required to do things at set times.” She adds that while the open classroom situation works for some, one of her sons came out of it requiring extra tutoring in reading and writing. Another concem is the potential ga ap between progress in various subjects “It seems to be working fine at the elementary level,” says Nelson parent Patti Burns, “but I'm worried“about what happens when you have a kid who's at grade 12 level English but grade 10-level Math.” Similar concerns have been echoed across the country by par ents who feel the child-directed learning approach is like letting a Educators stress that they are simply responding to societal changes that have made the for- mer educational structure obsolete. Among these changes is the increasing economic pressure on the family, forcing teachers to take on what has traditionally been the parental role of instilling basic values. Added to this is the greater sophistication of skills required of job applicants by employers—the days of being able to drop out of school ‘and go to work on the greenchain are gone forever. Also gone is the single occupation career from high school graduation to retirement ‘Kids will need flexibility, they may have to have four or five different careers in their lifetime,” * says Farrell. “We're trying to equip them for this reality The hope is that the Year 2000 will teach the flexibility and creative problem solving in group situations that companies will demand of employees “I believe ten years from now we'll have people coming out of the school system who are productive workers, more tolerant of others, and more aware,” says Eggleton Lh.