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Hi Whltby Fre" Prees, W"esday, Januay17,1996 ,, 1Pag.7 M f........ .... Sehool rumours Education* circles buzz with rurnours these days. t je well known that the provincial governrnent i ite wisdom, has decreed sorne great reductions to education spending. Hospitals and municipalities have been similarly eut And surely those circles hum with their own rurnors,.like bees arnid clover, or flies ini the barnyard, whichever metaphor fits. But it je education which concerne un today, and it alone je agog with sufficient rumours for several columns. The firet level of rumour surrounds what midght be called the %After the Apocalypse' scenario. Iat ie, given the reductions to ail levels of education, what can* we possibly have left? Many predict larger clas esizes, reduced services for minorities, and the axing of hundreds of staff. Feeding these rumours, like eblldren pouring gasoline on a raging.fire, are announcernents of larger clase sizes, reduced services and layoffe. At the college level, which I know beet, reductions have already led-to the slashing of programns and staff layoffs. No doubt service reductions will follow. This ie deepite the fact that community colleges are already the mQst efficient portion of the"education sector. As Mary Hofstetter, president of Sheridan College, pointed out in a letter to the Toronto Star on Monday, o'Iegee costithe gkovernrent $2,000 per, studentièss than the elementary and high echool sector. True, collegeý students also pay a user" fee (tuition $1,109 this year). But even with that factored i, the total cost per student je still alrnost $1,000 lees per student than the elernentary/high scho ol' sector. if the govèrament were to follow the logic of equal paring to all sectors,,colleges will- have funding reduced by a 'haif by the Urnme the* elementary/high echool tand, university sectors trim down to where colleges now are. It je easy to see how, faced with a shortage of information fromn the'm'inistry, h ow the Apocalypse gets started.^ But this je not a trne for imternecine warfare. It je better that al sectors of educationý hang together., Otherwise, we'll see sernial haniginge. The- second set of rurnours we rnght cal'Moses on the Mountain.' Crudely put, this says about funding cuts, you ain't seen nothing yet. The Minister of Education and Training, it je said, has retreated to hie own Mount Simai. Any February day now he will descend, laden with wisdorn which -shall become policy for ail the schools fr-om this Urne forward forevermore. Ahern. Given -that the rninister's background lies i management seminar trairung, the rurnours predict a whole systern of education based on evangelic fervour. (First, create a crisis .. .) One could se. how educators might view tis as a triumph of emotion*over the mmnd. 1The third wave of rumours collectively could be called the. More Hoirsernen of the Apocalypse.' That is, juet as we al stagger in the duet, wounded and bleeding, the. second wave of deficit reductions wiil gallop over us, hacking down the walking wounded. Thus crippled, the. education system in all sectors will be ripe for privatization. Extrerne sceptics; daim " 1*8i the goal of cutbacks ithe. fret place: to force privatizaUion of huge portions of what are now public services. Given the magnitude of the rumours9, and the shortage WH1TBY POST OFFCE AT BROCK AmD DINDAS STREETS, Q.1911 This post office, built of New Brunswick sandastone stood where the Baik ofMontoal li now. It was opened in September, 1910 anid closed ln 19M6 when the new poit oMeie opened at' Dundas and Pe streets. h was demolished i May 1959. The tower dâck la now owneid by Earl Pascoe of Wliitby. Io YEARs AGO fr-om the Wednda nu J 5* 1986 edition of the * erSiegler will bufid a $2 million car metnanut ur ldb tisx> *% St nrwPreubyeran Churth held ià &tr * On. hundedmdfity«n katers took part ln the Eaatorn Canadian Divisional Skating Competition at WhItbyand Brooklillat Weokend., * SkyrocketlngCoesta for lability Insurance are causing Durhamn Board ofdc to ecuit back on some of its prograrneIn local ichools. 8U YERs AGO> from the Thur aJanuar121961 edition of the WIUTI Wý NEWS * Peter Etmanskie'a security guard at Dunilop Tire aerted joic oa Mr ulig otg wires near the M1~ tracka in tirne to, stop a train trom paum hoghtedne area. " Whitby Township Council will notjoin wth Whitby Towvn ionci iatatnlda to, this area. " le Scott, a former rnember of the Town Council died-suddenly on Jan. 8. " OtroCunty Sherif George A. Welah of Whitl wau namied president'of the Ontario Association of Sheriffas. 100 YEARS AGO from the ThuadaL Jnurar17 196 edition of the, " The boys of Brooklin are beigcriticized for interrupting the Salvation Army band by bangio sticks on metal pans ynnCoertA. " A shotingtournment-was tieli ttu .Whtb Junction Hotel on Jan. 13 and 14. " There are more than 100 resident pupilu at &ii Ontario Ladies' Coilege, with room for 40 or 50 more. * Whitby ham a checker club which holda turaentsevwezy Friday. 0-1 11 Fà