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p 4 weekender march 1 1997 stuc liuon service clubs poised for millenium with help this week the nation was shocked and saddened to learn that eatons the stal wart canadian company woven into our history as snugly as a hudsons bay blanket was filing for bank ruptcy protection theirs was the first christ mas catalogue the first no- questiohsasked moneyback guarantee many firsts now an ending eatons management says theyll be back with new re structuring able to meet the challenges of the future they speculate they should have gone public way back in 1988 its too late now makes you take a look at our tried and true institu- viewpoint jo ann stevenson tions what other cornerstones of our society will not withstand the rest of the 90s let alone enter the new millennium service clubs this week the first gaylesbian lions club launched in toronto lions clubs international greeted the club with grace aware that the members are committed to citizenship and service to community still the unusual develop ment reflects the change afoot within service organi zations many of which are struggling to attract new members lions clubs are thriving perhaps its because the work is so relevant in durham their lions- quest canada program is a key reason durham school boards ranked so well inter nationally realizing that children are our future lions provide the major funding for the promo tion of positive youth devel opment the life skills teaching reaches three million chil dren around the world each year and includes a conflict management component and skills for adolescence as well lions support young diabetics and journeys for sight part of their response to helen kellers challenge to them in 1925 to take up the cause of the visually impaired and become knights of the blind in the crusade against darkness the average member of service groups such as the lions is aging unless younger people keep replenishing the ranks these familiar foundations in our society are going to crumble their contribution to community is unequalled unlike the eatons compa ny which is not in the hands of the public service clubs are the tribune weekender edition a metroland community newspaper patricia pappas publisher joann stevenson editorinchiet andrew maffi general managereditor debkaweller director of advertising barry goodyear director of distribution vivian otieo business manager pamela nichols operations manager btouffviixe all enquiries 905 6402100 fax 905 6405477 6244 main st stouffviue ont vxbripge all enquiries 905 8529741 fax 905 8524355 88 brock st w uxbridge ont httpwwwyorkregioncom the tribune published every wednesday and satur day is one of the metroland printing publishing and dis tributing group of community newspapers which includes ajax pickering news advertiser alhston herald barrie advance brampton guardian burlington post citypar- ent collingwoodwasaga beach connection east york mirror etobicoke guardian georgetown independentacton free press kingston this week lind say this week midlandpenetanguishene mirror milton canadian champion mississauga news newmarketaurora erabanner northumberland news north york mirror oakville beaver orillia today oshawawhitbyclaringtonport perry this week peter borough this week richmond hillthomhillvaughan liberal scarborough mirror todas seniors contents not to be reproduced without written permission from the publisher permit 1247 the publisher reserves the right to refuse or classify any advertisement credit for advertisement limited to space error occupied the weekender is a member of the ontario press council esu educations come a long way all who have meditated on the art of governing mankind have been convinced that the fate of empires depends on the education of youth aristotle education makes people easy to lead but difficult to- drive easy to govern but impossi ble to enslave henry peter lord brougham joanne harris burgess has been teaching canadian studies at york university in toronto for the past fourteen years its a job thats become more not less challenging with the passage of time because with each succeeding year the students signing up editors mail foxfire full of filthy language to the editor i have read your opinion a mair in the weekender of february 8 1997 i would like to give you my opinion who considers these titles to be among the finest literary works in the english language yes the students today are certainly aware of the scatological words in fox fire perhaps a few of them more than likely pepper their daily language with them but not these students referring to all students in school what an insult to the vast majority of students is it not right to protect these students from words they are certainly aware of it will be a sorry day when everyone with whom we deal in the future uses these words in daily conversation and business dealings if this is the intent of teaching this book this would be come of the result what is the intent of teaching it then certainly the parents have a right to direct what their children learn from time to time everyone makes a mistake they might admit they made a mistake putting this book in the curriculum what is your reason for saying we are beginning to view schools as simple day care centres and the only purpose served by our beleaguered educators is that of a glorified babysitter it is amusing to me for you to say that parents should be kept in a strictly sup porting role kept parents should stand on the sidelines and be forced to support cheer the activities to which their children are sub jected yes the hockey parent has gotten out of hand from time to time but the par ents of their children have a right to say something when things go awry as they did with the imposition of foxfire full of filthy language and violence imaging d bruce mcdowell seemed to know less and less about their own country or did they ms harris decided to find out on the first day of classes last semester she handed out a questionnaire to 100 canadi an studies students these kids were all graduates of ontario high schools they had all chosen to take a course with lots of canadian content sample questions on the test what is the date of cana das founding name three canadian painters name three canadian nov elists and the title of one of their books shouldnt be much of a chal lenge for sharp interested high school graduates right wrong sixtytwo percent could not name any canadi an authors only nine of the 100 students could come up with three names and artists fiftynine per cent couldnt name a single canadian painter only four per cent knew any artist beyond the group of seven and emily carr as for the date of canadas founding well we celebrated canadas centennial just 30 years ago youd think that might be a clue more than half the students couldnt even hazard a close guess as to canadas birth day what the hell is going on here what have these kids been doing for the past four years more to the point what have their teachers been doing but perhaps thats unfair basic black arthur black maybe the teachers have been slaving like trojans and canadian high school skulls are just too thick to absorb esoteric information like margaret atwood and robert bateman and you know birthdays and stuff well if canadian students are dumb its a relatively recent development here are a few sample questions from another questionnaire given to ontario students 1 state the most important facts about any two of the following company of one hundred associates battle of waterloo the normans bat tle of queenston heights coming of christianity to england taking of quebec 2 give the names of a governorgeneral of canada b lieutenantgovernor of your province c premier of canada d premier of your province e reeve of your township or town that last question by the way was considered such a gimme that it was only worth five per cent of the total mark both questions were part of an exam stu dents had to pass to get out of grade 11 of wellington high school back in 1927 weve come a long way in 70 years question is which direc tion