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meSmInbme. questions: Where are there 3" “mu: “'3' M” . main strut-ls made (rum a a . mifm' , vmcaai highway? Mouffwllc? '1 W Markham? Uninnvilie? V_ W WJM ~ 'Iht“ Inca] (mes try to make w W m d Ihv higi'iwuw hum» main ‘mmwoi SIH'CL lhcrv arr many places W is compnsed oimoanOOeom ' "Politiciai mum-mum. \a- an»; Rimlmnd . . mum.“ cad-mg up In his (in. h rc- WEm.km election. Dalmn McGuinty mo can“ rt-pi'atediy reminded- us he is {Mm mum"! the si-Iiâ€"pmfvssmi Education 5mm». Gem Premier , W.WM (l fondly call him the Teachers W m 9"" Union Premier. given a propensity for 9"“ Mm‘ pricey licies that maintain labour peace \ boosting the fortunes of teachers unions. including commitâ€" ments on class sizes. kindergarten and teacher pn-p time.) lawn! mmh «mu mum minimum-am mwmwm swarm nun-muan ltvfiun mun-om mp copumhmml mhfl “mum hid-I wanna-m . Lu I61 mun-Gym; ton WWHMVM Stephen Madam Yuri Rtpnn Main hump cnmmunuv mm“! mm l-u [ETTEIS POLICY [meg:un Amman“; I ’ISTIIHI'TN IN 905 294 8244 Muir Banmflr WSW-2612 a 905-W»fl773 wvurmm. cosâ€"«0am .4 Honda-5355 . 9056403778 Ennqu/u, hm Mason EDITORIA! "In schools all over Ontario. test scores are up. clam sizes are down. more students are graduating and there's been eight years of peace and stability." ter the premier Under the Liberals. education spending has increased by more than $6 billkm since 2003. to SZO'billinn in ENDS/10. Education has mined health care in the htrttumless black hole of expenses in our have-not prov- ince. accounting for the bulk of the McGu'mty govérnmcnt's current SI l4-blllion spending spree. It's fair; then. to expect imprnw- mom in student achirvemcm. not jun teachers' salaries and benefits. Note that since 2003. our public schnulss wrvr 90.000 frwvr studcnh. Private mim'auun us still booming, In his first mandala ML Md Sunny Re: Ballamrae rvsidems mam main start-5M? warms. (X1. I3. Last, nmmh's public met“- mg Io get input on an updawd omcial plan was stratcgdcafly controlled so none of the pub lk‘ was alkMed to comment m :1le questions publidy. Public input did occur when a prt-semer. talking about trail development. mentioned the word "muturiird" and was loudly msgm'nded to by the audience. ‘ “They know how to comm! highways.‘ one planner said. The meeting begs many questions: Where are there main streets made from a pro- vincial highway? StoufMlle? Markham? Uninnvillc? Hwy. 48 not Main Street The presenters to be pushing the idea of making Hwy. 48 into a beautiful main sum! lhmugh Ballanlrae. 1110 local 0st try to make the highways bypass main 5mm. 'lherr am many places lETTERS TO THE EDITOR Politicians can’t take credit for high marks ' Ballamrae is made up of an increasing number uf sul» division communities. It would be forward looking if these mmunizies were desigmed to have access to local bminws‘es without their traffic battling the highway or cloging residential streets. Certain facts should be accepted and respectu! with rrpative planning 0 Hwy. 48 is a major roadway and slmuld remain sa (lall it the highway. . Banantrav dam nu! need a shopping comm-3M9. main street. It needs businesses: and on a hypaxs beside the highway. ‘ Bwaineascs are important. but should not he allowed to mm the highway mm an easy access side stn'm. ' Come on. folks. let’s have some vision fur change. GLEN BRUBACHER in Ontario when! main stmc highways are griderk night mam , gromiscd 75 pet ( cm of ()maflo stu» dents would meet or exceed stan- dards un standardizpd tests. He couldn‘t keep the promise. then or "()Vi" l‘hc length of time of the test has been slashed by half. multiple choice question's have increased and students can use calculators. Mgm' (cachch “teach the test" before acluv a! Inst. Howcvt‘t. rcsults are up. In 2003. 54 per (cm 0f students met or exceeded the standard; today. it's 68 pct cent. It's fair'm note. however. the 2(K’);% test is different from the 2m I test. Critics allege the modest improvw moms are due to a manipulation of the lasting process. Debora Kelly RA! 1 A MIRA} You can’t deny our international achievement in reading in the OECD's recent standardized test on literacy. Ontario istyear-old students ranked in the top 10 of 65 jurisdictions. topâ€" ping studenis in lapan and Singa- pore. - 11w Liberals also lowexed the aca- demic requirements for a high school diploma. which may account for. the “pet-cent increase in graduates Under the previous Conservative government's revised curriculum. Ontario moved into the. top 10 with Singapore. Korea and Hong Kong in Grade 4 mth and science in 2003. The good news is 83 per cent of Grade 9 students taking academic math arr making the grade â€" the only group making good on Mr. Md‘minty's lung-ago promise. Yet a mere 42 per cent of Grade 9 students in applied math meet or exceed standards. / What about the nther 58 pet cent nf these kids? And the many in clemen- turv whoa! below standards? I didn't Wfiile the ‘pmvincé'k 20,” ROAD results show grades 3 and 6 students have made gains in reading and writ- ing. math is another story. There has been no improvement in the last fivé years: in fact. it dropped by l per cent for Grade 6 students to 53 per cent. SEW-Tribune Puausuan Ian Proudwa The booming milinn industry reflects this trend. with children as ynung as five signed up with fran- chises such as Kumon. Sylvan and Oxford at hundrixls of silos across {he province. at $4010 570 an hour. Our kids are achieving 7 though still not enough of mom not because of politicians. but bvcausc of skilled and caring toarherx and tutors. supportive parents and their own commitment hear the answer on lhv Lampaign trail ~ fun‘day kindergarten and smaller primary classes wun'l hvlp them. As for the achievement improve» ment we've seen. the reality as parents who can afford it are paying extra to ensure their children not only make the grade. but excel. The education system alone isn'l doing n_. Even if we ha've to scrimp. were hiring tutors ~-â€" I am and so are most parents in my circle We'll do whatev- er we can to help our kids. In fact. one in three parents is paying a tutor. saye the Canadian Council on lcarmngv DeboraKmlsmmrlnchmfoIWMRegn Medium, Burton 1» Cqu Debora Kelly Robrn Lazurko Plowman lactic Sman Let's give credit whcrc n 15 d Business Dunno-t. Dunn-um)» hummus. Ammmsmu Nu nh’ "(KIWI Tamra Par‘hrvu mutton. ()rmuom flurry Rim 1 Ut'