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6- The Oakville Beaver, Friday April 27, 2007 www.oakvillebeaver.com OPINION & LETTERS The Oakville Beaver 467 Speers Rd., Oakville Ont. L6K 3S4 (905) 845-3824 Fax: 337-5567 Classified Advertising: 845-3824, ext. 224 Circulation: 845-9742 Editorial and advertising content of the Oakville Beaver is protected by copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited. THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR: The Oakville Beaver is a division of IAN OLIVER Group Publisher Media Group Ltd. NEIL OLIVER Publisher JILL DAVIS Editor in Chief ROD JERRED Managing Editor DANIEL BAIRD Advertising Director RIZIERO VERTOLLI Photography Director TERI CASAS Business Manager MARK DILLS Director of Production MANUEL GARCIA Production Manager CHARLENE HALL Director of Distribution ALEXANDRIA CALHOUN Circ. Manager Excellent role models Despite recent stories detailing a bitter dispute brewing between elected school trustees at the Halton Catholic District School Board, there has been much to celebrate in Halton's publiclyfunded education systems this month. On Monday the region's Catholic school board celebrated its 19th annual Sharing The Spirit Awards of Excellence, recognizing one exemplary student from each of the school board's elementary and secondary schools in Oakville, Burlington and North Halton. The nearly four dozen young people honoured this week were selected for having "demonstrated outstanding qualities in the following areas: Catholic leadership, family commitment, involvement in school affairs, involvement in community activities and dedication to a difficult situation or task." "We are proud to launch the celebration of Catholic Education Week 2007 (April 29-May 4) by recognizing the achievements and efforts of these students, who are role models for their peers of the quality Catholic education that we provide in Halton," noted board chair Al Bailey. Those who missed attending Monday's ceremony in Georgetown can view a repeat airing of the ceremony on TVCogeco on Tuesday, May 1 at 9:30 p.m., Monday, May 7 at 7 p.m. or Wednesday, May 16 at 9 p.m. Then, next Thursday, May 3, the Halton District School Board will honour 93 exceptional students during its 23rd annual Celebration of Student Excellence evening, to be held in Halton Hills at Acton District High School. Those being recognized have demonstrated at least two of the following areas: academic, vocational and athletic fields, self-improvement, community work, citizenship and student leadership, or specific criteria that reflects the school's unique priorities. These recent honours reveal more about Halton's education systems than a standardized test ever could. They teach us that our schools are generating some outstanding students -- and future leaders -- who provide exceptional examples for classmates to emulate. We salute these students for providing positive role models for their peers and all who come after to follow. The Oakville Beaver welcomes letters from its readers. Letters will be edited for clarity, length, legal considerations and grammar. In order to be published all letters must contain the name, address and phone number of the author. Letters should be addressed to The Editor, Oakville Beaver, 467 Speers Rd., Oakville, ON, L6K 3S4, or via e-mail to editor@oakvillebeaver.com. The Beaver reserves the right to refuse to publish a letter. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Parent concerned about merchandising in the schools I would like to start by saying that I am extremely happy with the school system in the region, and I am confident that my children are receiving a wonderful education in a great environment. However, I am writing to express my growing concern over the amount and type of retail activity that seems to be coming through the classroom. It is fast reaching a point where the schools are turning into a retail channel and is distracting for both parents and children. Developing a sense of fun in the classroom is great ­ children should learn to like school, not shifting their focus away from learning and developing social skills to wanting to buy stuff. And it is not just grade school levels that are being exposed ­ my daughter in Junior Kindergarten has retail catalogues sent home with her from the classroom for video games, toys and electronics. It seems that, at the impressionable young elementary school age, the student experience is moving toward developing little consumers who want to buy things. I am not singling them out, but certainly the most prevalent brand is the Scholastic book and toy catalogues. And now a new version of the book catalog has come out that promotes sales of video and other electronic games to students (under the Click brand, an extension of Scholastic). Promoting book sales in the school system is one thing, but toys and video games? Sending these home via the classroom is not fair to the students whose parents are trying to teach them proper values, and is not fair to parents in often being put in the position of having to draw the line and deny the "Please can I get this?" request. Parents have enough challenges in everyday life in teaching their kids restraint, that you can't always buy things that are put in front of you, and it now seems to be creeping into the classroom. Are these the values that we as parents and as a commuBY STEVE NEASE snease@haltonsearch.com nity want to be teaching to our children? Are we turning them at this impressionable young age to be consumers or should we be teaching them the joys of learning, playing with their friends and participating in the classroom? I understand that this is a source of revenue for the school board but surely there are better ways that are more appropriately aligned with the values and objectives of being an enthusiastic kid in school. Please understand that that this is not intended to be a rant, but rather an expressed concern from a parent in the community. STUART BECKER The Oakville Beaver is a member of the Ontario Press Council.The council is located at 80 Gould St., Suite 206,Toronto, Ont., M5B 2M7. Phone 416-340-1981. 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