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economist suntribune saturday april 14 2001 stouffville tribune a metroland community newspaper 9 heritage rd markham ont l3p 1m3 opinion telephone 905 2942200 416 7987624 fax 905 2941538 email newsroomeconsuncom publishen ian proudfoot general manager alvin brouwer editor in chief brenda larson director of advertising debra weller deputy editor debora kelly editor jim mason production manager pam nichols distribution director barry goodyear online publishing manager margaret fleming classified manager ann campbell retail sales manager stephen mathieu inside sales manager stacyallen business manager robert lazurko office manager vivian oneil letters appalling to read a column with so many generalizations about teens rewhafs going on in themindofa vandal a column by joan ransberry april 5 it appalls me to read such an article with so many generalizations about teenagers it is people like joan ransberry who give the good teens a bad name where does someone get off ranting and raving about how she cannot deal with teenagers and their misbehaviour correct me if i am wrong but joan was once a teenager too whether she was an exemplary student or a slob she must know there are good teens as well as bad it puzzles me to no end that she has wit- nessed teenagers who own the sidewalks because i have never seen such behaviour if joan has a realistic solution to her percep tion of rebellious teenagers borrowing a bul letproof vest and carrying a bat is certainly not it rather than trying to prevent violence by using violence why not create an awareness campaign about respectable behaviour and the success one can achieve by attending school and avoiding criminal activity that seems a little more realistic to me jderasmo oxbridge lack of extracurricular activities hurting students future the current climate of public education is jeopardizing the future of students across 1 ontario with a lack of school activity in the past few years students have been unable to acquire leadership skills and therefore have been incapable of meeting the requirements for university when universities make demands for 1 leadership through school activity we need to question whether these activities are in fact extracurricular or essential obviously universities find no separation between the two though many schools are no longer on a policy r damage has been redone students no longer have the same choic- cj ir programs available nor do they have the same desire for scholarship money leadership and school involvement is not recommended but required without schools offering the normal variety of leadership opportunities only the brightest and the best suffer similarly athletes seeking enhancement of their skills andor scholarship funds are left struggling against a system no longer promot ing students best interests granted there are a chosen few who have risen to the challenge and made school life more bearable those individuals should be recognized however on the whole school is no longer as fun as it was only five years ago not only are students attitudes suffering but so is their future because schools are not meeting university requirements erin smith newmarket why are grade 10 student test results kept from parents i recently received from the eqao education quality and accountability office my sons grade 10 literacy test results it simply states that this student has suc cessfully completed the ontario secondary school literacy test i found these socalled results somewhat inconclusive i called the eqao to request a photocopy of my sons test results and i was denied apparently the grade 10 test results reflect personal information that is protected under the freedom of information and protection of the privacy act i find this statement hard to swallow if the results reflect personal information regarding each individual student then why are those students being denied a copy of their own test results how are students to work on their areas of weakness if they are not informed as to what they are if these test results are so private then why did the harris government release the results to the media before the eqao had a chance to inform parents these tests are apparently just another pro paganda tool used by the harris government to undermine teachers and the education sys tem if you would like to express your concerns call the eqao at 18883277377 jane nelson aurora join our online discussions at yorkregioncom your opinion is important to us on our let ters to the editor pages and on our website we invite you to join the ongoing discus sions at yorkregioncom and youre welcome to launch your own discussion there too the site serves readers of the york region newspaper group which includes the economist sun stouffville tribune richmond hillthornhillvaughan liberal newmarketaurora erabanner georgina advocate and stouffville sun k mbmionsmbelessuian t400vtordsahdnyusinduda i daytaetdephonenumber- tfyiume and addresthe j sf j jv newspaper reserves the nght to s publfinbrnot publish and to stquffiduetriburie yservingihe community since 1888 canadian circulations l audit board member ontario presscoundl canadian pubocatfons mad product safesaffeement 11403419 subscript rales by mat 1 year g955thurlysonly j stouffville tribune published every thursday and saturday is one of the metroland printing publishing and distributing ltd group of newspapers which includes the aaxpickering news advertiser alliston heraldcourier bairie advance barrys bay this week bolton enterprise brampton guardian burlington shopping news burlington post city parent collingwoodwasaga connection east york mirror erin advocatecountry routes etobicoke guardian flamborough post georgetown independentacton free press kingston this week lindsay this week midlandpenetanguishene mirror milton canadian champion milton shopping news mrssissauga news newmarket- aurora georgina erabanner northumberland news north york mirror oaknlle beaver oakwlle shopping news orillia- today oshawawhitbyclaringtonport perry this week peterborough this week richmond hillthwnhillvaughan liberal scarborough minor stouffville tribune todays seniors uxbridge tribune and city of york guardian r phone 905 2942000 i fax 905 2941538 classified 18007433353 distribution 9052948x44 distribiitiondeconstinxom tracy kibble speech competitions a good way to learn about our world its amazing what you can learn in just one morning at a public school for instance as one of three junior speech judges thursday at armitage public school in newmarket i learned there are a lot of traits i would like to adopt from animals did you know a wolf cub can smell a porcupine eating grass a mile away boy that would come in handy in case of a surprise visit by die inlaws or your geeky neighbour and apparently a monarch butterfly can eat its own body weight and has 12 eyes just point me in the direction of die nearest buffet table these butterflies have the best of bodi worlds they eat like pigs all day long and still look beau tiful graceful and coloursawy in direct sunlight most women i know have to sweat it out regularly at the gym eat like a bird on a daily basis and prefer low light and lots of makeup to look their best on die bright side however at least when i do get all dolled up some fouryearold isnt running after me with a butterfly net not yet anyway furry adorable koala bears have sev eral enviable traits of their own these crazy little marsupials sleep 18 to 20 hours a day and when the lazy beggars finally wake up they spend the remain ing four to six hours eating and socializ ing sounds a lot like my early 20s but seriously thats a lifestyle to which i could certainly become accus tomed and to make a koala bears life seem even more tempting the females give birth after only 35 days did you hear that women thirtyfive days so their offspring come out looking like pink jellybeans its only 35 days ive had headaches longer than that the infamous big ben had quite the life this 15million horse survived surgery and a car crash and is only one of two nonhumans to be awarded the order of canada now thats a career i also learned people in the icy town of inuvik actually drive on the beaufort sea enjoy a spectacular view of the northern lights and pay 6 for one egg other interesting facts most young people think of dads as big kids and agree homework ruins an otherwise great weekend teachers would be horrified to leam their students apparendy catch them with their pinkie up their nose and performing other bad habits judging speeches of these talented grade 45 and 6 students was a lot of fun and yes rather informative all the speeches were well researched and well delivered it takes a lot of courage and nerve to get up in front of your peers and talk for three to five min utes and it was a difficult task to choose just three winners rh alt v t f i mwmwmmaa try