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If the Hon. Judy Erola‘s proposal that the tax deduction for dependent spouses be eliminated, was only for discussion, she should have given the matter more thought, before she aired it in public. _ The reaction in this area has been vocal and swift. Calls have been coming in from all parts of the riding to protest. Mrs. Erola held a press conference recently to clarify and settle the hornet‘s nest she had stirred up. In reply to reporter‘s questions, the Minister allowed that she had no fixed ideas on how best to amend the tax system to help women. During the same press interview Mrs. Erola attributed the idea of cutting out the spousal deduction to the 13 year old Royal Commission Report on the Status of Women. When the Royal Commission Report on the Status of Women came out in 1970, the Report stated that dependency status tended to be a hindrance to wives in their struggle for equality in marriage and in the mainstream of society. It was not intended to force women from their traditional roles but rather to make it possible a choice where there had been virtually none. Had the recommendation been impleâ€" mented at that time, when the economy I want to give you some int’ormation on _ employment possibilities and an opportunity Laurel Vocational School â€" a secondary school for extended experience. Strong emphasis is located on University Avenue East in our city. placed on the responsibilities associated with This school was opened in 1968 and presently living and working in a democracy. One of the accommodates 570 pupils from all parts of objectives is to provide the students with the Waterloo Region, with approximately 200 "~ opportunity to participate in leadership and coming from the Cambridge area alone. decisionâ€"making functions; also to provide a This school is not a trade school, but offers a ceunselling service to assist students with program at the basic and modified level of the personal, educational, vocational and social Ontario Educational System and the only decisions, as well as to use the resources of the difference is the level taught. To explain this community to support the industrial proâ€" in a little more detail â€" the modified level is to grams. e This school is not a trade school, but offers a program at the basic and modified level of the Ontario Educational System and the only difference is the level taught. To explain this in a little more detail â€" the modified level is to train the student for basic employment, and the basic level uses the basic core plus additional skills. In many instances the philosophy and teaching methods reflect the specialty of this type of education. â€" There are four programs in the secondary level: 1) advanced level which goes to grade 13 and generally prepares the student for university entrance; 2) general program goes to grade 12 and prepares the student for apprenticeship or a community college enâ€" trance; 3) basic level is a fourâ€"year course to train a student for employment or community college entrance; 4) modified level is a fourâ€"year course and trains a student for emâ€" ployment. Many of the students at Laurel are deemed exceptional and admission requirements are that they be 14 years of age at the end of the previous school year and are considered suitable for the program levels offered. They should possess the potential for competitive employment upon graduation. Ninetyâ€"five percent® of the Kitchenerâ€"Waterloo students come by bus at their own expense, which can be quite a cost factor. In the first year at Laurel, the students enter a survey program to determine what they are best suited for. They take English, Mathematics, Science, Canadian Studies and Physical Education on a daily basis, and experience 16 shops, taking four of these in each of four semesters. In grade 10, the students choose one major or best shop and take that for two periods each day. They also choose two minor shops, generally related to the major choice and have these for two periods on alternating days: These choices may be switched at the yearâ€"end if the choice is not the best. In the four years the students can obtain 32 credits and, to graduate, 27 credits are required. The students may participate in a full slate of extracurricular activities, except football. They compete on an exhibition basis with other local secondary schools, and competiâ€" tively with similar schools located in Guelph and Brantford. They may also participate in an annual fashion show, displaying articles that have been made by the students. and is part of the home management course. Laure! offers an introduction to related WALTER McLEAN §chool views was bouyant, with a phasedâ€"in mecha nism, families would have been able to adjust. The Liberal government does not have a very good track record in dealing with the recommendations contained in that report. To dust it off now indicates a government that is devoid of ideas as well as funds. This is a tax grab aimed at that sector of the economy deast able to defend itself. If the Minister is aiming at the truly affluent as she claims, she is wide of the mark. She should have noticed as did Flora MacDonald my colleague and oppoâ€" sition spokesperson for the Status of Women that 62% of families (according to the government‘s own statistics) thad incomes of $20,000. per year or less. Many of these families will be immiâ€" grants where the mother is not fluent in English, many will be elderly or middleâ€" aged where the wife has never worked outside the home and many will be families with more than one child where the cost of childâ€"care would eat up the mother‘s wage. These families are having trouble making ends meet and the women particularly are under enough strain without such efforts on the part of the Minâ€" The school offers shops in auto body, auto service, blueprint reading, carpentry and building trades, dry cleaning and laundry, electricity, graphic arts, horticulture, indusâ€" trial crafts, machine shop, metal fabrication, welding and small engines. They also offer an introduction to additional employment possibilities and further opporâ€" tunities to specialize in the following courses: arts and crafts; beauty culture; business education; food services; home management; merchandizing and. marketing; music and family studies. The schpol accepts the responsibility for helping g:, young men and women who experience frustration and difficulty in their earlier educational encounters. They aim to help the students to equip themselves with understanding, knowledge and skills needed to achieve their potential as selfâ€"directing indiâ€" viduals and responsible, productive citizens. The program consists of varied e)g)eriences designed to meet the mental, "physical, emotiogal and. social requirements of these young adults. The school attempts to identify individual students‘ strengths and weakâ€" nesses, particularly in the area of reading, language, mathematics, physical and vocaâ€" tional skills, and to help each student to develop his/her maximum capacity in each of these areas. Teaching methods and objectives are designed to: 1) arouse the students‘ interest; 2) develop and redefine their skills; 3) enrich their background in education and life:; 4) prepare them to be productive individâ€" uals in a free society. ¢f These students may choose to enter fullâ€" time employment at the end of the second, third or fourth year of studies. The staff makes every effort to assist the students to obtain employment. Although a secondary school graduation diploma may be earned by the end of the fourth year, it is not necessarily to every student‘s advantage to complete four years. The program has succeeded when students are successful in obtaining and keeping an employment position. If you are interested in seeing this school in action, watch for Education Week (April 24â€"30) notices in this newspaper, and make it a point to visit this school té see the great job the staff are doing with these students. Deadly discussion The Minister responsible for the Status of Women has made many women angry with her comment that "It‘s only the affluent who can afford to stay ‘at home with the kids, and why should they get a tax break." One caller, Mrs. Janet Brash who lives in Stanley Park, said "it is very unfair to force middleâ€"aged women into the work force when there are not enough jobs for young women with their working lives ahead of them.‘" Furthermore, she feels that young mothers should not be deprived of the option of staying at home with their young children that the spousal! deduction now allows. Te Minister has totally ignored the bencfits which society gains through the efforts of people like Mrs. Catherine Brillinger of Waterloo, a former high school teacher who is now a Block Parent, who takes care of her own and other peoples children and is involved in other volunteer work. Mrs. Brillinger was inâ€" censed at the Minister‘s insensitive reâ€" marks. She said "I admit that we are among the fortunate, but we are not affluent. I am happy to stay at home with my children and happy that I can afford to help orgnmtions hardx’l by government cutâ€"backs but I am afr. that if we lose Friends. Bah. Who needs‘em. Y ou know this "r** the difference between friend and fiend. Guy tries to let his 30th birthday pass last Monday, with underâ€" standably minimal fanfare. â€" I was prepared, in fact quite pleased I had psychologically acâ€" cepted the fact that three decades had passed and I wasn‘t the least bit perturbed about swan diving into the fourth. That in itself is no mean feat, given the fact that as editor of this journal, I affix the number 30 to some 100 stories each week. To signifyâ€"THE END. _ That‘s what you do. Hang a â€"30â€". Meaning that‘s all she wrote. Well, maybe, but there was no way 1 was about to allow Freudian interpretation influence my frame of mind as I prepped to whiff out the forest fire atop my Angel Food birthday cake. & And things would have come and gone just fine too, had those despicable cretins I used to call friends not invaded the scene. Not talking about your everyday friends, the ones who ask advice, lend a buck, quaff a beer with you. I‘m talking about the kind you hear from once every five years, to remind you of a bet you had made in college one night you your head between your first and secâ€" ond toes. Yes, THOSE kind of friends. "I would like to kiss you once for every one of your birthdays," wrote one. "But I‘m afraid of getting emotionally involved." Very nice touch. The same person, inside the card, remarks "I‘m not saying you‘re old, but I have a rock I think might be your grandson." What a wit. A day or so later, another card arrives from a "friend" in B.C. who I have not seen since I walked miles over broken glass to get to his stag last summer. He must have remembered the effort I submitted, since he sent along a sentimental tribute fronted by a spanish onion with a solo birthday candle embedded. ‘"You‘re still coming on strong. Sure glad though that IT‘M not turning 30.‘ Cute. As a funeral. _ But did I let these surely good WATERLOO CHRONICLE, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 19, 1983 â€" CAMPBELL Hangin‘ the 30 that deduction I will not be able to do as much." Other volunteers had said the same thing. Dorothy Schnarr, coâ€"ordinator of the Mealsâ€"onâ€"Wheels program told me: "we would not be able to run our program if it were not for the volunteers."" She cited the obvious costs to them. "They drive 15 miles per day at .25¢ per mile, we tie them up for more than two hours of their day, 50 days per year." Consider the benefits to society from this collective contribution and contrast it with Mrs. Erola‘s comment... ‘"if a woman is childless and not in the work force, what contribution to society is she making?" I know a woman who, though childless and jobless spends her days visiting her mother in a nursing home. She runs errands and brings cheer to the others in the home whose daughters are busy with 9â€"5 jobs. She skates with mentally retarded children, takes library books to shutâ€"ins and gives blood twice a year. This woman‘s husband is a 25 year employee in a company that has been experiencing massive layâ€"of(s in the past few years with more to come. She is not affluent. Who is Judy Erola to question her contribution to natured barbs bother me? Not a bit. Not one bit. I mean, it didn‘t take more than 10 minutes the morning of my, birthday to convince myself my steadilyâ€"greying hair is no longer embarrassing, but rather distinâ€" And so what if I stopped to rest after three shovelfuls of snow in the driveway Saturday? Just wanted to pace myself. And the memory isn‘t fading, even though by coincidence yes I did forget that one Rodney Danâ€" gerfield joke at a party the other night. You know, the one about being so old that when I went to school, they didn‘t have history. _ And ok, so sue me just because I switched to the passing lane on my way past the cemetery into work. I wilt"concede that I did get a little short with the nurse in emergency where I went last week to get my broken nose fixed. But what the heck, did she have to ask me for my next of kin? For a broken nose, yet! Come to think of it though, 1 also snapped at that nice blonde Saturâ€" day night, who asked me if Elvis was my idol when I was a teenager. And then proceeded to lead me around doing the foxtrot, without even asking me if 1 knew how. And well, yeh, I did let the guy on the phone Tuesday from the insurance company go through his whole spiel about benefits, and But quit making a big deal about the fact I stayed home Friday night, curled up with a good book. It was snowin‘ like the blazes, the roads were badâ€"I had planned to go‘ out, I just, well, didn‘t, that‘s all. Hey, I don‘t have to sit here listening to you all build a case about me getting old. Heck with you. I‘m going to go look at some travel folders of Florida, so maybe I can get away from this bitchin cold. That‘s what I‘ll do, I‘ll just sit down with a nice cup of tea... Ah, I can do that later, it‘s been a long day, I‘m just going over to the couch to put the head down for a minute. Now CUT THAT OUT!