The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

4 -- PORT PERRY STAR -- Tuesday, August 11, 1987 Editorial Comments Where Do They Teach? Liberal leader David Peterson last week unveiled a major policy statement in his election campaign when he announced that about $300 million in new dollars would be pumped into the school system of this province over the next five years. About $170 million would be used to hire 4,000 new teachers at the grades 1 and 2 level to effectively reduce pupil/teacher ratio from the current 30:1 to 20:1. The old math suggests that a reduc- tion of 33 per cent, an impressive number. Further, about $95 million will be spent over.three years to purchase 40,000 new computers for .Ontario elementary schools, and another $90 million will be spent for the necessary software, computer texts and other equipment for high- tech education. it's a trendy proposition for Ontario education. Computers, math, science, high-tech gadgetry and emphasis are all much in vogue in this day and age. We suspect a lot of parents will get very excited at the thought of their eight-year olds racing through the halls with floppy discs in every pocket and 40,000 new computer terminals just waiting for the touch of little fingers. As for the plan to reduce the PTR by one-third at the grade 1 and 2 level at a cost of $170 million, we can only presume that Mr. Peterson has plans to follow this with another major announcement to infuse large sums of money for capital construction. If not, where are these 4,000 new teachers going to work, in the parking lot? In many of Ontario's schools where the current grade 1 and 2 PTR is 30:1 there is a corresponding lack of classroom space. One need not | classrooms dot the landscape around Prince Albert and R.H. Cor- nish Schools. One cannot find fault with the notion of reducing the PTR, but do we put these 4,000 new teachers in portables? Hopefully not. The Durham Board of Education has promised a new school for Port Perry. Just when that school will open its doors is anyone's guess right now. But the plan calls for ten classrooms, hardly big enough to put a dent 'in the mushroom field of portables. The Durham Board says finan- cial constraints preclude the construction of a larger school. Essen- tially, when and if that new school gets built here, it won't be large enough to handle the current overflow of students, never mind the future growth in the community. There is nothing wrong with the announcement last week by Mr. Peterson to hire 4,000 new teachers, add 40,000 new computers and all the accompanying gadgetry. But where is the physical space to - put these 4,000 bodies and their 80,000 students? As we mentioned earlier, many schools in Ontario are already badly overcrowded, especially in fast-growth areas like Durham Region. Many others are beginning to show their age and are in need of major renovations. This aspect of education in Ontario badly needs a hefty shot of financial assistance. Maybe Mr. Peterson is saving this announcement for the last of his campaign. The announcement by Mr. Peterson last week said the 4,000 new teachers to reduce the PTR would be phased in over five years and presumably the provincial government will be picking up the tab for that period. But once those new teachers are hired and working in the system, they are there to stay. Will local Boards ultimately be faced with the full cost of paying these salaries from their revenues generated through property taxes? Mr. Peterson's announcement made for nifty headlines in an elec- tion campaign. A couple of questions still to be answered are where are the classrooms for these new teachers and who will be paying their salaries over the long term. "OLLie Morr 7 A GREAT AMERICAN, BUT A SOCIALIST vor PP QUITE UN-AMERICAN k further than Port Perry where some 25 portable Port Perry -- fed 235 QUEEN STREET - PORT PERRY, ONTARIO Phone 985-7383 PO Box90 LOB INO J PETER HVIDSTEN Publisher Advertising Manager (*Cna i ni ny ch | Member of the Canadian community Newspaper Association yd Ontario Commuy ty Newspaper Association Pubhished every Tuesday by the Port Perry Star Co Ltd Port Perry Ontar JB McCLELLAND Editor Authorized as second class maid Dy the Post Ottice Department Ottawa and tor cash CATHY OLLIFFE News & Features VAN (Omg E of Ce 4 wl I» » ree ayy 08e payment of postage nn cash Second Class Mar Registration Number 0265 Subscription Rate In Canada $20 00 per year Elsewhere $60.00 per year Single Copy 50° COPYRIGHT All layout and composition of advertisements produced by the adver tising department of the Port Perry Star Company Limited are protected under copyright and may not be reproduced without! the written permission of the publisher Chatterbox by Cathy Olliffe GET ME OUTTA HERE I need a holiday so bad I can taste it. I am wildly bored with the dog-days of August. There is nothing going on in this town to speak of, and I'm fed up to my teeth with staring at this blank piece of paper in my typewriter. I feel I have no opinion on anything this week. No poly-saturated words of wisdom to impart on anyone. I have a dentist appointment in an hour and I'm actually looking forward to it. At least it's something to do. Maybe the Doc will give me gas and I can be oblivously happy while he takes a jack-hammer to my molars: Wouldn't that be fun? I heard a story about a guy recently to loves the dentist because he loves gas. His last visit was a little weird, however. Apparently he got a good waft of the stuff, and was, basically stoned out of his trees, when paranoia struck and he began to believe the den- tist had given him too mich gas. "This is it! He's given me too much, and I'm dying, and with my mouth full, I can't even tell him. Pm too stoned to tell him. I'm dying right in front of him and he doesn't even know." I'd really like to have gas when I go in an hour (oops, 45 minutes). I've never had gas before (at least, the kind you get from the dentist). I think it would be a highly wonderful experience. I've always been one to enjoy new ex- periences. Or so I've been told. An old friend, Mark from Markham, told me on the weekend that I was once an interesting person, willing to try just about anything once. You know, bold, dar- ing, wonderful. That was me. "That's the way she was when I married her," Doug said. 'But she's not like that now. She's bor- ing. Doesn't want to do anything. Boy, did I get hosed." That's me. Boring. Afraid to take risks. Un- willing to do anything crazy and fun. When did this happen? When did I become boring? Did I eat too many egg salad sandwiches? Did I watch too much news on television? Have I read too many Harlequin romances instead of John Updkike novels? Truly, I would like to trace the demise of Cathy Olliffe. Did the downfall actually begin, as Doug says it did, the moment I married him? If that is true, wouldn't it be fair to say that Doug has, in fact, made me. boring? - Or would it be true to say that I was merely pretending to be an interesting person to lure him into the trap of wedlock? It's always fascinated me how men believe, in their heart of hearts, that they were hosed into getting hitched. As in conned. Lied to. Horswaggled. They must believe women have some sort of Hornswaggling Club, where they sit about knit- ting, drinking tea and gossiping, while honing their plans to trap prospective husbands. I have never known a club such as this, and I do not knit, however, I do enjoy a cuppa tea once in a while, with a little bit of milk and a heaping teaspoon of good gossip. Yes, I do admit I like gossip. I used to deny this (when I was a more interesting person), but I have come to the conclusion that I do thrive on smarmy stories involving other people. Gossip is a glorious thing. Nothing pumps the heart faster than leaning into a conversation (Yeah, Yeah?) and soaking up some devastating piece of fluff (NO! He didn't!) about someone you really don't like. And yes, there are people I really don't like. I don't like people who call me Olliffe, without the Mrs., as it took much effort to con Doug into mar- rying me ---- to whit, I deserve the title. I don't ~ like people who tell me I'm not doing my job when I'm not covering a story that's not my beat. As in council, and other stuff. I also have problems with suave looking older men with deep voices who exaggerate, and yes, lie, in order to be Pied Pipers of Hamlin and lead the rats out of the village. (Ah yes, the gas is a mere 30 minutes away ---- maybe I'm already hallucinating just think- ing about it). Speaking of rats, did you hear about Streetsville, where the townspeople are having problems with rats. To combat the pesky vermin, rat poison was put down into the storm sewers. Isn't that special. Some kid will be playing in the sewers, as kids are wont to do, who knows why, and said kid will probably eat the stuff in the sewers, as kids are known to do -- who knows, maybe, they're sick of Kraft dinner. And I must say, I am sick of Kraft dinner. When I was in college, I ate yards of the stuff. And while I bought it by the box, two or three at a time, there were those tasteless students who ordered it by the crate. We used to have some wild K.D. parties in col- lege. Everyone would meet in the common kitchen and bring a box of K.D. and some other wild stuff to add to it, and then we'd stir it up in a huge pot, and feast madly, while drinking Purple Jesus out of the bathtub. Those, of course, were the days when [ wasn't "boring. Now, I would no sooner drink grape Kool- Aid out of a bathtub then I would eat fried grasshoppers. However, I might even be tempted to eat grasshoppers if in return I was offered a vacation, Right Now. I couldn't be more bored. I couldn't be more ready to pick up stakes and move on down the road. Like I said at the beginning, GET ME OUT- TA HERE. Rn RR NUP TMA 1 Ea PAO JPR Th aE RE SUE SNE RE LS RR