Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - January 13, 1990, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg press january Page 1 the Winnipeg free press welcomes letters from writers must their name and the authors name will be used and tetters Are subject to readers forum High school report must be scrapped readers find High school review leaves much to be desired in improving the education of Manitoba a Good education Means liberating students from grip of the textbook this is a response to Joseph Macks education Reform in the free press i will first give a Brief sum Mary of his article and then com ment on those Points of his argument that relate to textbook centred i will restrict myself to my area of namely science Macek begins by stating that improvement in education is the most important task for he goes on to decry the state of mediocrity of education in he also claims that the vaguely formulated recommendations of die advisory committee on High school education Pac Are ineffective in giving the Public advice on How to transform mediocrity of the current system into he suggests that new curricula be developed by people who have deep knowledge of the relevant sub and also that credit should be defined by some real achievement and not just As 110 hours of instruct he says that he stopped work ing with the committee when he realized that the sessions were Only responses made to react to drafts prepared by the department peo Macek concludes his article by giving what he Calls comprehensive proposal for a he proposes that a textbook be written by the Best minds in our and Industrial he believes that this would ensure equal Access to Quality introduce a Universal Standard for flexibility to learn according to their varied talents and he believes that a common textbook would allow parents and teachers alike to Check on the Progress of students and spot learning difficulties before it is too late to remedy let me begin by pointing out one of the puzzling aspects of science if we look at the reports of curriculum committees since the we begin to realize that the questions posed then could be taken to a contemporary committee with total of does not mean that there has been no improvement in science teaching in the last 50 what it does is that the Funda mental questions i education Are recurrent and the answers to them Are never but of an evolution Ary our periodic drive toward Reform is a response to a universally perceived social for the reforms of the late 1950s and Early 1960s in North America responded to the need to update the Content and method of presentation of chemistry and this need was recognized with alarm after the launching of sputnik in Ameri cans poured tens of millions of Dol Lars into developing the inquiry approach of science imbedded in the ultimate text books chem among put together by some of the finest science educators and Many of the top american the committee of science teachers embraced the program and the text convinced that a new Era of science teaching had Why have these textbooks especially psst for physics dominated the teaching of science for almost 30 years in North America i think the answer lies in the completeness of the presentation of science in the format of a highly Aca Demic approach that teachers them selves after science teachers were taught using such books on All Levels of their science there is a new movement afoot today in science education in response to the massive flight from science by both teachers and Stu the perception seems to be that the textbook centred science if it works at works Only for the academically gifted our Long experience with psst has shown that a common no matter How would Nei ther ensure individual excellence nor provide a Universal it seems to promote Confor mity and an unwillingness to ques textbooks in second Ary rather than encourage would alienate Par because of the specialized nature of such subjects As my mandate As a former High school physics teacher and now As an educator of future science teach i is to liberate students from the grip of the text boo centred teaching at Best pro Vides a Crutch for the As Well As the teacher at worst pro democracy at work both articles about the High school Reform published on Decem Ber 17 and 29 showed the weak and Strong Points of its weakness is that a Bunch of buddies for quite a Long skilfully manipulate the Public pro Cess in order to maintain their troughs and almost get away with the strength of democracy is that it takes just a few honest people in the Media and from the Public to defend it to Tell the truth about what is going it is now apparent that hardly anybody can take the challenges changes report this should also be Clear to those involved in the advisory they should pack in their ridiculous meetings and go Mcgregor Winnipeg motes regurgitation and the memorization of or rules for solving testing for achievement consists at Best of High Grade imitation of algorithmic procedures memorized from the textbook at mindless regurgitation of scientific Macks notion of credit As defined As a unit of real achieve ment Here would mean giving the right answers to textbook questions and Good science Educa Tion must go beyond future science teachers must not reject textbooks but must learn to use them what we need is a variety of texts covering the spec Trum from highly academic to very practically oriented suited for the general science these texts Are available we do not need a new super textbook for either the sciences or the what we need is High Grade teach ers who have the expertise and self Confidence to choose from among a wide variety of books and teaching As Well As teaching a and Are Able to impart enthusiasm for for responded to textbook centred learning rather he said one had to cram this stuff into ones whether one liked it or this coercion had such a deterring effect on me after i had passed the final i found the consideration of any scientific problems distasteful to me for an entire this autobiographical note suggests that we almost lost the great est scientist of the 20th Century to the Rigours of textbook centred we cannot take that risk in the especially when preparing the scientists and the scientifically literate citizens of the 21st Century is at Arthur Stinner department of curriculum University of Manitoba it was very encouraging to read in the free press a pointless school shuffle 17 and Macks education Reform is fraudulent the Public has a right and need to know when their institutions Are failing them in order to take appropriate action to Correct the i commend the free press for making this for some years our Public Educa Tion system has been severely criticized for failing the need of our youth to receive an intellectually sound which could adequately prepare them to function in our increasingly Complex and technologically advancing the system has been for Many years systematically trading off intellectual development in favor of something called social and personal As one of the i welcomed a Long overdue High school review her when announced in Many of us participated enthusiastically in the review process by sub mitting Concrete suggestions for in we waited patiently with anticipation that the review would Herald a change in emphasis in i was disillusioned and disappoint As were Many other when i read challenges the final report of the the report merely tinkers with a system which is producing an alarming number of functionally illiterate and attitude finally damaged for grades 9 to 12 shall be called seniors 1 to senior 1 shall be moved into the High school pro Gram and this shift creates the illusion that the number of credits required for graduation has been increased from 20 to More devastating than this obviously meaningless tinkering and sleight hand is the fact that the report also plans a time allotment for a but As yet compulsory course entitled per Sonal social development at the expense of other courses in senior 1 and the report for a reduction of one credit in Lan Guage arts at senior 1 Grade 9 in order to accommodate the new this is totally unacceptable since Many students continue to drop out at the end of senior 1 and Are in spite of nine years of functionally education minister Len Derkach did not accept the her report for immediate implementation but instead established a policy advisory committee Pac to take a second thanks to his Wisdom and also to the personal and intellectual integrity of Pac Joseph the pointless and fraudulent nature of the report is now fully it is time to get behind our minis Ter of education and to urge him to scrap the her report and to make a fresh Start at educational Reform utilizing the Best minds he can find from outside the educational Stab Claire Toews spokesperson parents network Winnipeg children cheated on 29 the free press featured an article by Joseph Macek called educational Reform is he says that the High school review her is a i agree with i am certain that the recommendations i made to the her were simply As so Many other people who have have a vested interest in education and when i hear and see How badly it is managed by a few ignorant i see our children Are not Only being cheated out of a decent but on top of that the Are paying for a sum of has been thrown away on this her How much is being thrown away on other things which we May not even be aware of i would like to know what our education minister is going to do about mismanagement of Public funds and when we can expect to see improvements in the educational system of this the time for excellence is not when it is too the future of our children is at stake army Hjaltar Dottie Winnipeg robbing Young minds Joseph Macks article education Reform is fraudulent free 29 angered is too too polite and too we do not hesitate to Call a person who steals a thief or a peo ple engaged in illegal drug deals Are called organized a person who kills a dozen people is a mass yet the article refers to those involved in much More vicious activities in very gentle terms such As educational vested and so these Are unforgivable euphemisms for those involved in robbing trusting and eager Young minds of the solid knowledge needed to Suc and thus crippling their chances for life in condemning generation after generation to Medio Crity and consequently to a meagre existence in year after the basis of our Independence in an increasingly competitive Are these less serious crimes How Long will this abuse go on unchecked and financed by our taxes i support Macks but next time he should leave out his euphemisms and Call a Spade a in my thorough investigation of the school review Sham should be ordered and those found guilty should be not reas George Zhanel Winnipeg Ottawa is killing quietly and deliberately More than 85 per cent of All canadians believe medicare is our Best and most valued social it is one of the most economical and effective health care systems in the Ottawa is killing medicare quietly and sometime Between 199798 and Ottawa will no longer pay a single cent for medicare in any of the 10 its sole contribution will be tax or the room for provinces to Levy higher personal and corporate income those tax transferred to the provinces 13 years Are Anonymous they have no strings and they Are of less value to poorer once Ottawa last direct Dollar has been medicare will Canadas Premier National social program will become a col Lection of 10 different health discrepancies Between Rich and poor provinces within an Over inadequate Public system for the poor and a private system for the Rich will because it will have no Money in the Ottawa will no longer have either the financial or constitutional right to guarantee medicare principles of Porta accessibility and Public adm Nistra the Manitoba medical associations Campaign against the provinces proposed two per cent limit on increases in medical ser vices is evidence of medicare the Mma tells Manitoban they face health care but rationing is Here now people dying waiting for coronary bypass surgery cancel patients facing delays in diagnosis nurses in three prov inces engaged in confrontations with govera Frances Russell ment emergency wards turning away a these Are All signs of medicare canadians have yet to realize that their current government is prepared to ensure that medicare illness is the previous Liberal administration began medicare decline in 1977 when it stopped paying 50 cents of every provincial health care but medicare death sentence was read by the tory government in Bui which capped Ottawa health care dollars at an annual rate of two percent age Points below the growth in the put medicare on the track to a funding formula programmed for compound decreases eventually in Ottawa brought medicare Date of death closer by lowering the ceiling to three percentage Points below the growth in the february Federal budget is certain to Advance medicare perhaps by Ottawa is warning that the provinces Are to be the next target in the War on the they have been living beyond their Quebec has done the most research into Ottawa handling of its health care last in its 198990 the Quebec government predicted that it will receive its last Federal health care Dollar in always sensitive to Federal intrusions into areas of provincial describes Ottawa gradual withdrawal from health and education As a unilateral con tract Ngout of its one wonders if the Federal government is not in the process of giving up its role in redistributing Canadas wealth and reducing inter provincial disparities As regards Public Quebec 198687 budget the Federal minister of finance maintains that Cash reductions Are fair because each province would have to sustain the same per capita such an assertion does take into account that a on Dollar Cut per capita in a Rich province does not have the same Impact As an equivalent Cut in a less affluent like is a have not prov meaning it receives equalization from the budget paper echoes complaints from the previous Manitoba nip administration that Rich provinces Are better Able to absorb losses in Federal Transfer payments than poorer not Only Are their taxes More but their population is better off and less dependent on social ser the budget paper is interested not so much to solve the prob lems of the less affluent provinces As to rid itself of part of its deficit at the expense of All the without distinction of each provinces capacity to absorb such Cut according to Quebec the cumulative effect of Ottawa austerity Mea sures Means a billion loss to the prov inces for health and pos secondary Educa Tion Between 1982 and billion of which occurred since Ottawa dollars account for just per cent of costs this Manitoba current budget for the first an absolute decrease in the amount of Money this province receives this year for health care and education from million to a confidential paper prepared for a finance ministers conference in states if existing trends the pressures on provincial health plans and the provinces Overall financial situation will become particularly for the less affluent in Federal transport minister Benoit Bouchard said the govern ment is determined to change the Way the country is each passing Day gives canadians greater appreciation of what he and his colleagues doonesbury by Garry Trudeau vmn3 lets what ;