Lin
Page B6

The Castlegar Sun

Wedriesday, August 2, 1995

Will the ‘classroom of tomorrow’ measure Up
to the one-room schoolhouse of yesterday?

‘The best school is a log with a
g00d teacher at one end and an
interested student at the other’

Mark Twain

At the beginning of July, Ron
Norman wrote a story on the
classroom of the future, the near-
future, the tomorrow-future, in
which there. will be no tables, no
desks, no pens, pencils or note-
books, no.chalkboards, erasers,
nor evep walls. Technologies
including interactive video, com-
puters and an integrated system of
electronically connected devices
between isolated students and their
school or college are the norm.

As a vehicle for our already
deper: and fr:

ished, much maligned one-room
school of my childhood, and the
childhoods of a surprising num-
ber of other long-toothed citizens.
The particulars of the edifices
vary with what part of the conti-
nent one was raised in — north,
south, east or west —- but the gen-
eral picture is the same. My one~
room school was at Bamet, a tough
mill town on the Burrard Inlet, a
dozen miles out of Vancouver.
Because the Barnet mill was one
of the largest in the Empire, the
school was probably a bit fancier
than many of its rural fellows — a
tall, grey building built into the hill
above the Barnet Highway and
looking the Inlet. The lower

society, this vision of the future
did not impress me and I tumed
in memory 180 degrees to its
very opposite, the almost van-

The summer heat h

floor had numerous luxuries,

lud a large, d-b
furnace instead of the usual heater,
and indoor sollots

In front of the school stood a
huge pile or cordwood and the
school vegetable garden. T don't
remember any flowers. Beside it,
on the left, was the brown-shin-

OVER MY

SHOULDER

CHARTERS

gled teacherage, Below it, and on
the right, was the general store,
gas station and confectionery.

A broad flight of steps led up
to the front veranda and the main
floor of the school. Double doors
opened into the long dark hall

with two doors at the end-sone to
the washroom, the other out to
the sloping clay hillside which
was our playground.

Two doors on the left of the
hallway led into the single class-
room with its tall windows on the
left, blackboards front and right,
high ceiling, oiled wood floor,
and desks on runners in rows,
with aisles in between. The desks
— brown, varnished wood top
with a hole for the ink well, gutter
for pens and pencils, a shelf for
books underneath, fancy black
painted iron sides, and a shelf
seat which stood up when its
occupant got to his feet. They
were graded in size — smallest
for grade one on the left; largest
for grade 8 on the right. The
teacher's desk and chair — pale
oak and plain — sat at front left.

Submitted by: Rankin McGougan of New Life Assembly

as a unique ability to compel us to

join the annual migration to the sandy shores of any
shady spot by a lake or a river that we can find. It has
been my experience that many if not most people are

more than willing to lend a helping hand to anyone who

finds themselves in trouble during these excursions to

their aquatic attempts to beat the heat. But not everyone

is so prone to extend

that helping hand!

In an article entitled “Am I my brother’s Keeper”
James Hewett recounts an incident told by Gary Inrig,

that horrified me. It si
very interesting case

ems that a number of years ago a
came before the courts in

Massachusetts. It concerned a man who had been
walking on a boat dock when he inadvertently tripped
over a rope laying on the dock. He fell into the cold

depths of that particular Massachusetts bay. He came up

splutting and yelling

obviously in trouble His friends, who were too far away

for help and then sank again,

to be of any help, watched in horror as they saw their

friend struggling for his life. Only a few yards away
there was a young man sprawled out on his deck chair,
soaking up the sun. On hearing the desperate cries for

help from the drowing man this young man who was an

Pastor John Wiuff

| Castlegar, BC, V1N 2X5 » Church 365-5300

10:30 a.m.

DAILY VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL
(hug. 21-25, 1995 Phone to Pre-registor (385-5300)

Faithfully serving Castlegar for over 30 years.
‘A Church built on LOVE-ACCEPTANCE-FORGIVENESS

(Btth., M.Div.)

Worship Service

SUMMER
SERVICES
9:30 am

Phone: 365-2271
ALL WELCOME

Calvary Ba:

365-3430 -
809 Merry Creek Rd. Castlegar

ptist Church

excellent swimmer merely turned his head to observe as
the man floundered in the water, sank, came up
spluttering in total panic and then sank and disappeared

forever.

The family of the drowned man was so upset by what
they called a “display of callous indifference” that they
sued the sunbathet. They lost the case in court! The
court reluctantly ruled that the man on the dock had no
legal responsibility whatever to try and save the other

man’s life.

Now! I don’t know where our current Canadian Law
would stand on such and issue. But I do know, that if
we approach life on the basis that we will hold
tenaciously and selfishly to our so called “rights” and
“personal agendas” while someone else drowns or dies
or is hurt or abused or neglected or in need then we
have just joined the ranks of those who would shake
their fist in the face of God and scream “Am I my

brothers keeper”.

Aren't you glad that God didn’t take that approach
towards us but rather gave His only Son that we
wouldn’t/have to drown but could be rescued from the
death grip of our own eternal peril.

ST. PETER
LUTHERAN

WORSHIP TIME
9:00
VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL
- 25+ 9:30 - 11:30
713 - 4th St, Castlegar

Rev. V. Tech * 604-354-1527
ALL WELCOME!

RCeereem.
GRACE PRESBYTERIAN
2605 Columbia Ave.
SUNDAY WORSHIP -
11:30 am
Need a ride to church?
Call 365-2438
Rev. Murray Garvin
1-226-7540 * 365-2438

. CASTLEGAR
UNITED CHURCH
2224 - 6th Ave., Castlegar

AUG. 21

Church

Ph. 365-8337
Minister: The Rev. Ann Pollock

am

A Bible Based,

CASTLEGAR

FULL

A small collection of books
between book ends, a heavy glass
inkwell, straight pens with stec!
nibs and a bronze, black handled
hand bell were its only furniture
Register and strap lay in the shal
low front drawer, class supplies
in the deeper side drawers.

A yard-long wooden black-
board ruler, a wooden blackboard
protractor, and a wooden black-
board compass hung on the wall
beside the blackboard.

Above the blackboard on care-
fully ruled lines, were meticu-
lously written examples of the
alphabet in handwritten letters,
capitals and lower case, of the
McLean method on handwriting
— checked regularly. by its origi-
nator and dedicated proponent

At the back of the room was a
cloak-room where coats, gum-
boasts OVETMhoes, hats, scarves
and lunchbuckets were stored. A
picture of King George and
Queen Mary, together with anoth-
er of the Union Jack, occupied
the space above the blackboards
and a chalk-rail and piece of
chalk occupied the space below.

Our textbooks, purchased by
our parents and passed down
from oldest to youngest in the
family or families, were ruggedly
constructed, terse in content, and
generous in practice material. The
long enduring Canadian Readers
were the best of them all.

They were graded from two to
seven, and within their smooth,
olive colored covers there were
selections of prose and poetry
from the best of literature across
the ages. They were also
unabashedly moral in tone, patri-
otically Canadian and tri-
umphantly ‘incorrect’, but they
set a standard for, and apprecia-
tion of literature which has lasted
a lifetime, so that I can still turn
to them with pleasure.

There was much emphasis on
memorization, drills, and com-
mand of information, deplored in
certain circles today, but it did
provide an invaluable basis for
the discipline of learning and
scholarship in later times.

My father brought me to the
school where we were met by the
teacher, a Mr. McKenna, an
ancient and balding Scot. Shy and
frightened, | refused to occupy the
front left desk and got a few licks
of a ruler for my pains, and sat for-

lornly as my father left. I was also

« my father's expense, my
first text, ‘Sun Bonnet Babies’
author unremembered.

Memories Of this time, untilled
over the years, are dim, but I do
remember a slate (for a brief
time), large thick-leaded pencils,
paper mats, with flat needles for
weaving, and being gathered at
the board by the teacher for
lessons in arithmetic and reading,
drills on multiplication tables,
and a sharp rap with ruler or strap
for failure to respond correctly.
Other students, in the various
grades did ‘seabwork'.

One progressed from grade to

ade as one mastered different
levels of skills and knowledge,
while pupils were expected to
help.one another, they picked up
as well, further information from
the lessons given at the board. If
one failed to reach the required
standard one did not pass. One
such larger ‘lumpen’ spent three
years in grade four — a warped
kind of honor in a large family of
ne’er-do-wells, one or the other
of whose number was always in
jail, on charges of petty theft or
sadism, and whose two older sis-
ters regularly serviced the sailors
in the deep-sea ships coming in to
Barnet Mill for lumber. These
things were accepted as a part of
a highly diverse population — a
microcosm of the larger outside
society.

Alas, despite many, hours of
association with the McLean
Writing Manuals, endlessly prac-
ticing the ‘correct’ stokes and cir-
cles, I never did master the
McLean Method of penmanship
In consequence, my handwriting
has been an endless source of
derisive comment for several
generations of my students and
fellows. Of such small things is
reputation made.

The old Barnet one-room
school is gone now, together with
the tearage, the general store and
the gas station, and I have
searched in vain for even a trace
of their former existence. It had
its faults and its limitations, as
did they all; and not all of the
memories are good, but it, and its
many others, demanded a total
commitment and it served that
commitment for a very long time.
I wonder if the new model will do
as well.

“Submited

Did you know that arthritis
four million

of all ages — and disables
600,000? There is good news,
though: People with arthritis
can gain power over their dis-
ease — and you can help.

Through “ASMP” — the
Arthritis Self-Management Pro-
gram — people learn to man-
age their arthritis and reduce
the pain, fatigue, and depres-
sion associated with it. They
identify arthritis-related prob-
Jeths in their own lives, explore
solutions, and set meaningful

Arthritis Society seeks
volunteer leaders for
education on program

goals to improve their quality
of life.

This program has volunteer
openings now, A free training
workshop is being offered in
Castlegar on Sept. 8, 9, and 10.

You dio not need page or

an ASMP ‘leader a Lage an
interest in helping people with
arthritis learn to manage their
disease,

“In ASMP, you really to get
more than you give” says vol-
unteer Joyce Lam.

To become an ASMP leader,
call the Arthritis Society’s B.C.
and Yukon Division at 1-800-
667-2847.

Commercial fae & Bindery]
High Volume Copying
Graphic Design & Typesetting
1-800-932-1414

511 Front Street, Nelson

Complete Body & Paint Facilities
Auto Glass Replacement
Towing
2316 - 6th Ave., Castlegar

365-5114

’
Wednesday, August 2, 1995

The Castlegar Sun

Page B7*

Change may be costly, but no change is deadly

“This moment is forever, it is
also a vapor, I know what seems
unbearable — now will pass. I will
endure,” Maryanne Radmacher-
Hershey in her book A// / Can Be.

Life is full of change, some by
choice, some definitely not cho
sen. Some we think we have cho-
sen and realize later we were
coerced, manipulated, even
forced into change.

In all of us there are moments
of regrets, bitter regrets of why
did I do that, why didn’t I do dif-
ferent? Why did I put up with
abuse for so many years, why

didn’t I take a chance and_reach
out to life as it passed me by?
Change, regrets, why’s, tears and

cheers make up life
There have been times when

Canada World Youth
helps make Castlegar
home for Indian visitors

we know we did have courage
and did make good changes in
our lives. I remember driving off
to college at age 45 singing all
the wa ‘I (finally) did it my
way”. It was a whole new unchar-
tered world and it was wonderful.
It prepared me a little for Univer-
sity which was a total shock to
my narrow perspective of life

I know a different me graduat-
ed from there. I was not the timid,
narrow minded, smug person I
was when I first entered. Oh, yes.
We need change.

It takes courage to change,

(S

Sometimes we have no choice,
we are pushed out of the comfor-
able nest, home, marriage, job,
and we are forced to change
Some sit for years and cry and
say “I cannot do this”

1 would challenge these people
with these words; it's not that
they cannot do it, it’s just that
they will not do it. Big difference

How many times have I said in
this past two years, “God, I don’t
want to do this, don't make me do
this, let me go back.to the old
way.” My choice was to stay
stuck, to rebel like a two year old

Value and quality ()/7/5

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throwing a tantrum or to get up
and keep rebuilding my life!

1 found out I could do it, with
the help of God and good friends.

Change takes courage. I like how
Maryanne Radmacher-Hershey puts
it in her beautiful book A// / Can Be.
“Courage doesn't always roar.
Sometimes courage ig the quiet
voice at the end of the ‘ing, ‘I
will try again tomorrow’

Change takes faith. Faith in
one’s self. I believe we all have
resources within ourselves that
we have barely tapped.

All of the 12-step programs

begin with faith in a higheg-
power, Faith in somcone outsidé
of ourselves. But not necessarily
another person, for then we give
our power away to someone else
Our lives become dependent on’
that person to meet our needs. If
they leave us we are helpless. In
essence, we become “dependent”
on them for our survival. I don’t
believe that is the best plan. '

Yes, change is costly, but no
change is deadly! Do something
different this week. Remember the’
words of Earnie Larson, “/f noth
ing changes, nothing changes!”

aa bisa BO
{ BardXQ [BarBQ\ ‘i
t rans

Kas BONUS
i) AIR MILES

T-BONE
STEAK

(Or Wing Steak. Frozen

Regular or Thick Cut

SUPER PACK. UMIT OF 1
8.77

POTATO varieties
UMIT OF 2

200 g Box e

Kraft

BARBECUE
SAUCES
Assorted vanehes

thes

MIRACLE
WHIP

Kroft
Solad Dressing

le —
‘SUN PHOTO / Tamara Terry

Let them eat cake: Canada World Youth project leader
Chris Cordoni welcomes Castlegar’s Indian visitors with
refreshments at a recent reception held in their honor at
Kinnaird Hall. Project participants will be performing
local community service over the coming weeks.

TAMARA TERRY
‘Sun Correspondent

officials at the reception were
wager Mike O'Connor and

It’s all about educational expe-
riences and cultural discoveries.

That's why 14 youth, seven
from India and seven from across
Canada, are making Cas*legar
their home for the next eleven
weeks.

This experience is being made
possible through Canada World
Youth, a non-profit organization
that gives selected Canadian
youth from the ages of 17 to 21a
chance to participate in educa-
tional experiences between Cana-
da and countries in Africa, Asia,
the Caribbean and Latin America.

In this case, the seven Canadi-
ans — three females and four
males — involved in the
exchange will be going off to a
community in India to spend time
with their Indian counterparts.
Likewise, seven Indian travellers
have come to Canada to spend
time in a Canadian community
with a host of new faces.

That's where Castlegar comes
into play. The Indian youth
arrived in town July 23, and were
officially welcomed into the com-
munity at a reception held three

y West MP Jim Gouk,
wie greeted the new visitors
along with Canada World Youth
project leaders Chris Cordoni and
Lt.-Col. Ashok Gautam.

All of the participants in the

h spoke at the
expressing their gratitude to the
community and the program for
hosting them in the “beautiful
Kootenay area.”

“We're a strong and confident
team,” said Roy Monahan, a 19-
year-old participant representative.

“We're all thankful for this
opportunity to learn outside of a
classroom setting.”

The Indian youth will be in the
area until Oct. 10. During their
stay, they will be taking in the
cultures of the area and their
homestay families, as well as
assisting in contracted work
placements in various local com-
munity organizations.

Our Indian visitors and their
Canadian counterparts are cur-
rently assisting in the construc-
tion of the new Pass Creek Park
soccer field, one of the facilities
scheduled for use during the 1996
Trail/Castlegar B.C. Summer
Games

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GOSPEL FELLOWSHIP

1801 Connors Rd. ey

I can help with all your advertising
needs. Remember - it's easier to
work with someone you know.

days later. Among the notable Prices. effective August 3, 1995 at all participating Sofeway

stores. We reserve the right to limit sales to retail quantities
While stocks last

We redeem all major food
chain competitor coupons’.

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ore serving shons only raphael aber oarer Somme teams may not be available ot all stores. Advernsed prices do no
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YOUR VISA CARD, ONE MORE WAY TO PA

Spirit Filled,
Family Church

IN a

HALE cEOWStne
2329 6th Ave., Castlegar ¢ 365-58.

FORD SAPE
se 800-961-0202
rail, B, cm
SERVICE = PART Ss

Tale)

= : Peta uality Care-Where the Quality Continues

S, A
smears WATCH FAITH ALIVE ON SHAW CABLE 10 a
Affiliated with Canadian Fellowship of Churches &

Sheest

Wy,
& }dar Sun

485 Columbia Ave.,
Castiog: Castlegar
Gis