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This is the time of year when instant experts and fallgble fools sech as rnewspaper columanists make idiots of themâ€" seives by predicting what the next 12 months will bring. Looking into a New Year is rather like looking into an old rabber boot . It stinks a little, you can‘t see anything in there, and the thing probably leaks, heel and toe. I prefer to do a little looking back and a little looking forâ€" ward, make some hasty generaliztions based on the arthriâ€" tis in my big toe, and hope everybody will have forgotten what I said by the following week. Which they will. Let‘s look back â€" 195 was the year of The Big Strike. Everybody who was somebody, and a great many who were nobodies, went on strike at least once. As a direct result, Canada‘s credibility as a producing naâ€" tron, a reliable nation, a prudent, sensible nation, took a Foreign investors were heard saying things like: ~"AMiâ€" gawd, I‘d be safer betting on the exact hour and minute of Napoleon‘s retera from Eternal Exile than I would be putâ€" It was also the year of the Graad Gimme and the Chronic Catchâ€"up as everyone and his elderiy aunt, clad in sackâ€" cloth and ashes, moanred piteously, beat bosoms, and scrabâ€" bied tooth and nail to get a bigger chunk of the national loot than everybody else and her elderty uncle. It was the year in which the Montreal Olympics could no more have a deficit, according to that resncarnation of Moses misleading his people to the unpromising land, Mayor Draâ€" peau, thanr a man could have a baby. . It was the year in which the Thanksgiving roast turkey was transformed by our Grand Gure into boiled seagull . It was the year of election upsets, politcal promises, unâ€" on threats, dire warnings, imsane headliines and callow asâ€" seumptions. In short, it was a year mach like the one before it and the one that is coming after it â€" an armesing and horâ€" rifyimg record of man‘s moral and mental weaknesses. But that was the bad news. Now for the good news. It was also a great year, in some respects for you and me. Personally, I had a fime year. Just listen to this list, and yours is probably better, if you think back. I discovered a bracimg, healithful rnew sport, crossâ€"counâ€" try skimg., and within a month was known as The Terror of the Trails (by two old lades of Â¥ and 89) . I developed into Canada‘s most nauseatingly proud grandâ€" tather, as Pokey and I cemented an already firm friendâ€" ship, colminating in an orgy of mutual admiration this past Christmas when the little devil got at least eleventyâ€"seven presents. I love him because he is bright, lively, handsome, and a real hellâ€"onâ€"wheels kid. He loves me because he can get me to do anything, literally, that he wants me to do. In this leagaee I am known as The Spoiler . While we‘re all im the farmily, other things made it a good year. My wife and I stayed married and together, a rather unesual combination after a quarterâ€"century. We even like each other, which is almost imncredible, after what each of us has pat up with . My daughter, apparently celebratmg Women‘s Lib year, or something, got herself pregnant again and I am expectâ€" chener, Ontarie Address correspendince to Waterioo Syeare, Wateriooe, Ont. Teleghone 744 6%64. Waterive Chrenicle effice is located on 2nd Reor of Waterâ€" lvo Sqeare‘s Office Tower. ENTER w te mail entvance beside the Longhor Resâ€" twrant (dwrectly opposie the card shop) or from the elevator fuyer besde the TD Bank. Take the elevator to the 2nd floor and you‘re there. SANDRA LEA HAZELL. Editor SUBSCRIPTION RATES Published every Wednesday by Fairway Press, a divizion Mmm‘i’n .lfiw.g. I: who was expecting , but things are all cockâ€"evyed these days. Still in the family . I met a whole gaggle of cousins from the West ‘d never seen before, cousins from the East I hadn‘t seen for % years, and sisters and brothers I hadn‘t seen for a couple. A great reumon, enough farmily stuff to do a felâ€" low for the next decade. There were many other high moments for me during 1975. Drd some Auld LandSyneâ€"ing with newspaper f riends. Caught a big pike and rode in a tiny Aeronca over the broodâ€" mg. empty wilderness of northern Saskatchewan. Caught a mig cold and rode in a taxi through the brooding, teeming wilderness of Toronto. Beat my wife twoâ€"outâ€"ofâ€"five in golf. Ignored the postal strike by writing 52 columms. even though some will never see print. Teetered through another three terms of teachâ€" mg . Discovered that in another few yvears I would be eligible for a categorvâ€"F pension. F stands for Five cans of pork mg my first granddaughter (daughter underlined) any day row. Notice I sard I am expecting. It used to be the mother That was some year In Canada : one year $8;, in United States Continued on page 5 Downfown perspec City Magarine is an independent monthly devoted to urâ€" ban planning. The November issue is a typical one, with articles on the loss of the St. Catharines‘ fruit farmland and extracts from the Spurr report for CMHC in 1974 conâ€" cerning the urban land monopoly problem. (Footnotes to this article should alarm Canadian nationalists. They tell us that A.E. Lepage, Canada‘s largest realtor, estimated 35 per cent of its corporate time is spent with European and Asiatic investors, and that German citizens have invested one billion dollars in Canadian real estate.) Resident groups would find the OMB : Citizens As Losers, thought provoking. It analyses cases in 1973 involving citiâ€" zens and extracts ten principles used to justify OMB deâ€" cissons. When the zone changes in the secondary plan take place some of us will have to consider whether we want to be involved in an OMB hearing. It would be a good idea to keep these principles in mind at that time. The OMB tends to narrow the issue and decide on techniâ€" calities. They place a heavy reliance on experts, and strongâ€" ly support provincial government policies. They also place a great deal of faith in the good government of municipal councils. The 1973 decisions show hostility to citizen groups, according to the author, Bruce McKenna, and often give deâ€" velopers and municipalities a second chance for approval of the project under review. The decisions strongly supâ€" ported urban growth, and underlined the assumption that a few must always suffer for the benefit of the many. Finâ€" ally, the OMB heavily relies on Official Plans. If a project is consistent with the municipality‘s official plan, the OMB looks on it favourably. Obviously an OMB hearing can be a costly business, not only to the provincial taxpayer but to the developer or resiâ€" dent group involved in the issue. Recently a Stratford Heritâ€" age group was awarded $3,000 by the OMB, a sum which covered their clerical costs for presenting material at the hearing. They still lost the case. In recent months, the Waterioo County Board of Eduâ€" cation has been examining its philosophy of education. Through the Purpose of Public Education (P.O.P.E.) Comâ€" mittee, of which I am a member, the board has been deâ€" veloping a comprehensive and systematic philosphy, and it hopes to make it available for public reaction and sugâ€" gestion within the next few weeks. * There is already an implicit philosophy contained within the structure of the schools. The newer schools (built with in the last ten years) may make a stronger statement than the older buildings. In the City of Waterloo that educational philosophy is represented in Cedarbrae and MacEachern schools in Lakeshore Village and Sandowne in Lincoin Village. Incidentailly, Sandowne school will be officially apened on January 28 at 7: 30 p.m. These structures, known as flexible schools, which were described in detail in my previous article â€" are intended to reflect three important principles of modern education. One, the schools should be learning centres rather than mere collections of rooms, in which a series of desks are arranged neatly before a clean blackboard. Two, the school should provide an environment which encourages a child to learn at his/her own rate, either in a group or individual study. Three, the school should provide access to well qualified, highly skilled and warm educators. Although these aopportunities were often present in traâ€" ditional classrooms, a more open school enables the teachâ€" ing technique to flourish. Edocation It all seems a depressing topic for the middle of January, doesn‘t it? Unfortunately the OMB and its relationship to city planning is a topic we must keep in mind. On January 2th our planner, Richard Danziger will present his final report to Council on the Downtown Secondary Plan. Then in Febmryhewillholdopmhoussforpublicinputmthe reâ€" vised City Official Plan, of which our secondary plan is just one part. We must take advantage of the open houses as we have in the past, and keep ourselves informed. 4. The child does not suffer the same degree of shock becoming part of a highlyâ€"structured group. He/she has an increased opportunity for socializing (in converting to the needs of society way, not the just visiting kind of activity) and coâ€"operating in group activities. But, to me, the most important effect of modified open concept teaching is that the educational process is more responsible to an individuals‘ needs because there is a varâ€" iety of teaching (thus learning) approaches. schoolteaching.\l“neschooloccurswhenthechildworks as a free agent ~ unguided â€" within no specific frameâ€" work. That is, he/she finds something that is of interest and pursues it. The best reference I know of that states the case for free schools is Summerhill by A.S. Neill, available at the public library. Open school, on the other hand, seâ€" lects the environment and guides the child into discovery. It takes a lot of ingenuity and hard work to set up an environment that is both eyeâ€"catching and intellectually The benefits to the child are obvious, according to the parents within this community whose children attend modiâ€" fied or flexible schools. 1. The student learns very early that he/she is uitimately responsible for educational progress and personal behavior. 2. The child‘s curiosity is piqued and encouraged. 3. The released atmosphere teaches children that teachers adults, are approachable. Dear Editor : In reference to the lead article in your January 7 issue (‘‘Smoking could be prohibited .... "), some trenchant comments apâ€" pear to be required. The letter to our City Council from the Waterloo Regional Interâ€"Agency Council on ‘‘*recommending*‘ measâ€" ures which at the very least must infringe upon the basic rights and freeâ€" doms of those of us (myâ€" gestion that a majority of citizens would ‘"welcome" legislation _ to _ prohibit smoking in public places self included) who are As an aside, many people confuse free school and open Letter to the editor and Health was in the Waterloo Region is very large â€" as witness the daily salesâ€"volume of cigarettes, cigars and toâ€" bacco, all of which generâ€" ate a considerable amount of taxâ€"revenue. Has a survey ever been carried out, to determine the exact percentage of our Regional population who smoke? If not, how can a (presumâ€" ably taxâ€"funded) agency such as the W.R.I1.A.C.SH. justify its ‘"suggestion‘‘ that a majority would be in faâ€" vour of the proposed legisâ€" lation? Moving to their second® Continued on page 5 can only be a pipeâ€"dream. by Lynne Woolstencroft by Rosemary Rowe