Saturday, January 30, 1993

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Mary Ann Fullerton Circulation Manager

Burt Camp

OurWiEWS

Adrian RAESIDE

When crime pays...?

K, let’s see if we have this Ore — a 27-year-old man admits to breaking into five Castlegar businesses but he won’t be charged with any of these crimes?

Sounds strange?

You bet is does and the Castlegar RCMP isn’t exactly providing us with a sound explanation how an alleged criminal can walk into our community, violate our businesses and face no punishment.

Sure, the same fellow is currently facing a number of charges in the Lower Mainland for other crimes, but does that give the Castlegar RCMP all the comfort it needs to close the file on five break-ins?

Just because this alleged criminal “will get a lengthy jail term anyways,” doesn’t mean the crimes didn’t happen. Or does it?

Perhaps there is something about the criminal justice system the general public doesn’t understand. If there is, please tell us... perhaps we, too, will get the urge to break into a few buildings, knowing that it is safe to do so.

Let’s face it, these five crimes — for reasons unexplained by our local police — are being ignored. For all intent and purpose, they never happened.

With that understood, how can the Castlegar RCMP expect citizens to help in its never-ending battle against crime when it has clearly demonstrated that it’s OK to look the other way?

Sorry, it just doesn’t make sense.

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PAN Df) A

Year 2000 has parents pondering

Where’s our education system headed? Good question. Unfortunately, no one really knows.

Not the teachers.

Not the principals.

Not the school district administrators.

Not the school boards.

Not the © provincial education ministry.

And especially not parents.

Education in B.C. is undergoing a major

Ron NORMAN

Comments from the Crossroads

aged child.

Even the most supportive of the Year 2000 program — the new education reforms affecting students from kindergarten to Grade 12 — have concerns about some aspects of the program.

And the most critical parents of the Year 2000? They shudder at the prospects.

So just what are these

upheaval, the likes of which haven’t been seen before.

It’s like being in the middle of an earthquake where the ground is shifting under our feet. No one knows what will be standing and what will be in ruins when it all ends.

What we do know is that there will be an education system of some sort, but what kind and how effective it will be is anyone’s guess. That has parents worried. if you don’t believe me, ask any parent of a school-

concerns? They’re vast and

varied, ranging from the shift away from letter grades on report cards (the most controversial), to co- operative learning and a fear that the new program will dull students’ competitiveness at a time when the world around them is getting more competitive.

I’m one of those parents on the side of the Year 2000 — for the most part, that is. I like it’s premise of individual learning.

please see NORMAN page 7

ete Pega |

Street TALK

Publisher Emeritus

L.V. Campbell Aug. 7, 1947- Feb. 15, 1973

Al Dollar Calgary

“It’s been adequate. They seem to be making an effort.”

Petrina Mrazek Blueberry

“They’re doing a

good job for the

resources they have.”

Julie Case Castlegar

“Yes, but I don’t like the way they block your driveway.”

: will al Patrick Lane Robson

“I don’t think (it) is up to par since they privatized it.”

Question: Have you been satisfied with the snow removal service in Castlegar?

Chris Bogan Castlegar

“The downtown core is poorly maintained.”

@ Saturday, January 30, 1993

OtherVIEWS |

Please address all letters to:

or deliver them to 197 Columbia Ave.

Letters should be typewritten, double-spaced and not longer than 300 words.

Letters MUST be signed and include the writer's first and last names, address and a telephone number at which the writer can be reached between 9am. and5 p.m. The writer's name and city or town of residence only will be published. Only in exceptional cases will letters be published anonymously. Even in those cases, the name, address and phone number of the writer MUST be disclosed to the editor.

The News reserves the right to edit letters for brevity, clarity, legality, grammar and taste.

Letters coWHE EDITOR

Overzealous Green gets failing grade — F

As per your sports page of Jan. 16 and Instructor Mr. J. Green; I have seen a lot of hockey over the last 30 odd years and I have never wrote a letter to a newspaper, but this “Making the Grade” feature is pure crap and not worth the paper that it was written on.

Mr. J. Green you get a “F” for your mid-season report.

I feel that the Rebels are a team — win, lose or draw — and to give anyone an “E” for his effort is an insult to the team and a slap in the face to any youngster out there doing his best for his team and his commu-

nity.

I realize that these young hockey players are volunteers in their com-

pay a dime.

Thave spent these last 20 years as a volunteer in the local Lions Clubs from the Queen Charlotte Islands to the East Kootenay and for the last

four years here in Castlegar, and if it were not for all the volunteers in

all these small communities no matter what their organizations this world would be a lot more dismal.

So I feel that your Mr. Green and The News which pays this ‘non- volunteer’ to write such crap should apologize to all the members of this

fine community, all of the members of the Rebels and particularly No.

19 Corey Ross.

munity and performing an entertainment for your dollar. I go to these games, pay cash for my entrance and bet that Mr. J. Green has yet to

John D. MacPherson Castlegar

Canadians must ensure refugees receive safe return

It’s with a mixture of hope and concern that many West Kootenay residents are closely watching this week’s organized return to Guatemala of close to 2,500 people who fled army repression and terror to a 10-year long exile in Mexico.

If the accords governing this first return are honored by the Guatemalan government and army, the estimated 40,000 remaining in UN- funded camps and the over 200,000 people scattered throughout Mexico will follow in months to come.

The returnees cross the Mexican- Guatemalan border accompanied by a number of volunteers from Canada, the U.S. and Eu- rope.

Their presence gives some measure of pro- tection against the still very powerful Guatemalan military.

Waiting for them at the border were Cana- da’s Ambassador to Guatemala, Brian Dickson, together with two MPs Dan Heap and Beryl Gaffney and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Rigoberta Menchu.

Over the past 10 years, several West Koote- nay residents (from Nelson, Castlegar, Grand Forks and Balfour) have visited the Guatemalans in the camps in Mexico. They travelled under the auspices of a B.C.-based in- terchurch coalition, the Christian Taskforce on Central America.

The group has maintained contact and com- munication with the refugees since they fled Guatemala and has helped to build a solid net-

work of support for them in B.C. — a network that certainly includes the West Kootenay. This support has now expanded across the country under the name “Project Accompani- ment”, with many church and community based groups working together on behalf of the refugees and of the people inside Guatemala who continue to suffer terrible repression.

‘There certainly is reason for grave concern. There are reports that the army has recently built bases in the region where the returnees are to resettle.

The support includes lobbying the Canadian government to closely monitor the human rights record of Guatemala and to respond di- rectly as well as through the UN Human Rights Commission to encourage the Guatemalan government to gain control over its army and to respect the fundamental rights of its citizens.

The level of repression, especially of the Mayan majority has not changed much since the refugees first flooded across the border in the early 80s.

However, because the funding from the UN to the camps is ending and poverty and pres- sures on land in Mexico are increasing, the Guatemalans feel they have little choice but to risk the return home.

On-going monitoring and support from the international community is extremely impor- tant and may make the difference between life and death for these people.

There certainly is reason for grave concern. There are reports that the army has recently built bases in the region where the returnees are to resettle.

Also, the President of Guatemala is appar- ently reluctant to guarantee the physical safe- ty of the returnees.

Those reading this letter are urged to write Secretary of State for External Affairs the Hon. Barbara McDougall asking that Canada con- tinue to closely monitor the situation; to strong- ly support the return; and to pressure the Guatemalan government to protect the safety and well-being of the refugees. her address (postage free) is,

House of Commons, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A OA6.

For more information about Guatemala and the return, why not attend the “Guatemala Sol- idarity Day” event in Nelson on Sunday after- noon, Jan. 31 from noon to 3 p.m. at the Wal- dorf School.

There are activities for all ages of family members.

You could also call a member of your local Central America Support group or myself at 365-50787.

Ann Godderis Castlegar

Norman

continued from page 6

That doesn’t mean each stu- dent learns on his or her own. In fact, there will be times when stu- dents work on their own, times they work in small groups and times they work as a class.

What it does mean is that each child learns-at a different rate, so not every child should be expected to learn the same things at the same time as every other child.

An example is my own two daughters. Each learned to ride a bicycle at a different age. One was ready to ride at age five. The other wasn’t ready for another year or

80.

While I support individualized learning, it doesn’t mean I don’t have concerns about it. I would hope, for instance, that expecta- tions for the students would re- main high and that students would be expected to strive for

goals beyond their easy reach.

Again, my own daughters are a good example. If I hadn't kept pro- viding opportupities for one to learn to ride, she might have tak- en longer than was really neces- sary. Would that have made any difference?

Well, she wouldn’t have been able to go on small cycling trips and other such things. So, yes, it did make some difference.

That raises another concern of mine with the Year 2000 program: that children realize what it is to attain their goals, but also that they realize what it is to fail to reach a goal. And that reaching difficult goals might entail three or four or five or 10 failures.

I worry that by tailoring learn- ing to individual needs, the learn- ing might drop down to what the child can do, rather than what the child is capable of achieving.

And that is the greatest fear of most parents: that standards with the new program will somehow fall. That’s why most parents don’t want to see the letter grading sys- tem eliminated.

Letter grades provide a tangi- ble link with the old system — a pillar that is still standing after the earthquake, if you like.

The argument against letter grades is that they don’t really tell parents what learning has taken place and that they affect stu- dents’ self-esteem and success. That’s true.

It’s also true that anecdotal re- porting — the method much in vogue in educational circles these days and presently used in Kindergarten and Grades 1, 2 and 3 — provides more accurate and complete information about stu- dents.

I can tell much more from a

page describing all my child’s ac- complishments and failures than I can from a single letter grade.

But the letter grade does some- thing anecdotal reporting doesn’t always do: it tells me that my daughter is either doing satisfac- tory work for her grade level or she isn’t. And it is pretty accurate. Much more accurate than anecdo- tal reports.

A happy medium would be what is going on presently in my eldest daughter’s Grade 4 class: letter grades with lengthy anecdo- tal reports.

And while it is true that letter grades can affect students’ self-es- teem and success, they can also do the opposite: provide much-need- ed rewards for hard work; the kind of rewards anecdotal reports just can’t provide.

NEXT WEEK: More on educa- tion changes.,