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Whitby Free Press, Wednesday, November< 27,1996, Page 7 I z r ( o r t s, ci p it je 6 Acce-pt that Education Minister John Snobelen and tii minions who toil facelessly in bis education mines havo emerged with brand spanking new standards foi elementary sehool students. So this week's topice: standards for the elementarn grades. By now you wiIl have seen some news version; il la not our intention te provide the details here, nor would *we have room. But to give you some idea, by the end ol the year, a student will master the following standards foi written English: Glrade 1: Writes simple, brief stories and descriptions; ilradf .: Begins te revise and edit ownà work, as well as discuss it with the teachèe; Giradel Plans stage of writing ... and revises and edits own work, using constructive feedback from others; Çmrde : Writes in different fbrms te express persona] ideas .- . revises and edits own work so that it is appropriate for the purpose and audience. Similar details are provided in several areas of Reading, Writing, Spelling, Mathematics and Science. In the main, the standards announced are like motherhood. One would be hard pressed te be against them. Already, hard Uine educational types of the General Bull Moose variety have said publicly that the standards are not tough enough. Nobody rve heard yet says they're to teugh. Which means they are likely fairly close right now te what is happening. That said (daxnning with faint praise) let us soundly praise John Snobelen for producing something. I do firmly believe that simply stating your aime le an essential first step te aoeomplishing thein. So we now wilfl accomplish al the standards set out. If we have a caveat, it may be about the missing part. The OR ELSE part. Standards are wonderful, but meaningless without the Or Else. .That ie, each student will achieve these standards, in these grades: * Or else he/she will repeat the whole year, or at least the subject; * Or else she/he will receive additional tutoring until the standards are met; * Or else the teacher will b e fired, or at least retrained; * Or else the parent will be fined and punished, or retrained; * Or else the education minister or the government will resign or be voted out of office. Take your pick. Add to the Iist. The point being, there ,nust be a plan of action for any failure to meet standards. riven that this likely means retraining either the student r -the teacher or both, leads me to ask: With what esoures? Were i the undig to provide the supportfo hose flot meeting the standards? Because without an Or Else, or support prograin, Landards are worse than nothing. If we state everyone oming out of Grade 6 can identily and use suffixes and refixes, and they don't, and nobody does anything about thatfs worse than no standards at ail. A standard that ignored can be a harmful thing. Snobelen ia on record as being committed te cutting a further one billion dollars from education. He je going te do this, he says, and at the same time he imposes these standards. If he fails to perform this magical sect, there will be a terrible mess for some other governmen te d cean up when he's gone. I wish hlm well. A fnal n te: December must be fiction month for Whitby residents. In the current issue of Canadian Living magazine two residents have published works. Elsie R. Teskey, who lastyear won Swan's first and only Find-the- Error-In-This-Çolumn Contest, can be found on the back page (224) of the magfazine with a contribution entitled: Laurie's Parade. nd Ruth E. Walker's short story entitled 7Yadiins appears on Page 193. Ruth's stery was winner of firet prize in Canadiauz Living's annual short stery conteet. Congratulations te, both writers. Or else rE )i y it d s 16,1135 YEARSAGO from the ThUrsday, November 23, 1961 edition of the WIUTBy WEEKLy NEWS *The Town of Whitby bas a deficit of $48,,419 for 1961. *A 22-room addition ill hoe constructed at Anderson Colleglate with the entire cost being paid by federal and provincial grants. *A number of unopened streets in Whitby will ho sold as building lots. *Desmond G. Newman, a resident ofWhitby for the past four years, las seeking a seat on the town council. 100 YEARS AGO from the Friday, November 27, 1896 edition of the WfflyCHOCî (This issue la missing) - , . .. . .' . -I. Ie re )r it m AS.BURN GENERAL MMRE 1944 The Ashburn General Store bas been a landmark in the community for more than 140 years. A post office, stili in use, was establishec! there in 1852. The building was a Red! and White store in 1944, operated by Richard D. Sherwin. Ashburn got its naine from the burning of wood ashes to make potash in pioneer times. Whltby Archijves photo 10OYEARSAGO from the Wednesday, November 26, 1986 edition of the WIilTy FREE PRESS 0 Florence Heard Public Sehool may ho a French immersion school next year. 0 Town Council has approved construction of a medical clinic at Dundas and Centre streets. 0 Heather Armitage won gold, silver and bronze medals at an international swimniing meet at Brantford. 0 Olympie athelete Glenn Beauchamp received a special achievement award at a Judo competition in Japan. m -ET 1.rETE D ------------