Post on 19-Mar-2023
M o y e r makes it f u n and easier to grasp w i t h the w o r l d ' s f inest learn ing a ids . Take the Theodolite our young student is using, for example. With it, our Plane Table and Trundle Wheel or 100-foot tape (all shown below), accurate mapping of classroom, corridors or even outdoors becomes a stimulating adventure. How high is the school f lagpole? The Clinometer (front) will help him to find out. What's the diameter of the class volleyball ? It's easy to measure with our Vernier Caliper (right). Or, he can find for himself how Archimedes' principle works with our sturdy plastic Capacity Measures (left) and Displacement Can (below). In fact, we offer more than 100 mathematical learning aids for 10-to-1 3-year-old students. If you'd like to know more about them, just contact: M O Y E R Division, Vilas Industries-Limited • Mdncton • Montreal • Toronto "Winn ipeg • Saskatoon • Edmonton • Vancouver.
Unbreakable Polyshnpes
Encyclopaedia Britannica and the Canadian School Library
Association announce the 4th Annual Encyclopaedia Britannica Canadian
School Library Awards
Mr. T.V. Dobson, (left) Managing Director, Encyclopaedia Britannica Publications Limited, presents the First and Second Prizes of the 1969 Britannica Awards. Presentation was made at the Canadian Library Association Annual Meeting in St. John's. Mr. Philip J. Hanley, Deputy Minister of Education, Newfoundland, is on the right. First Prize of $1000. is presented to Mr. James A . Bowman, Director of Library Services for the Prince Albert Public School District No. 3, Prince Albert, Sask. Second Prize of $750. went to Sturgeon School Division No. 24, Morinville, Alta., represented by Miss Helen F. Kerr, Library Supervisor. Honourable Mention Awards were made to County of Lethbridge School System No. 26, Lethbridge, Alberta and Township School Area of Vaughan, Maple, Ontario.
Encyclopaedia Britannica will award two thousand dollars ($1,000. first prize, $750. second prize and ;2S0. third prize) to three selected school' systems with the most outstanding evidence of system-wide improvement in school libraries. The Purposes of the awards are: 1. To stimulate public interest in school libraries. 2. To point up the importance of good elementary school libraries to quality education. 3. To encourage citizen planning for their development. 4. To commend those school systems whose foresight and planning is an inspiration to others. Winners, selected by a judging committee from The Canadian School Library Association, will be announced at The Canadian Library Association Annual Meeting.
FOR APPLICATION FORM write to: Canadian School Library Awards, Encyclopaedia Britannica, 151 Bloor Street West, Toronto 5, Ontario, or Le Centre de Psychologie et de Pedagogic (1968) Inc., 260 Faillon St. W., Montreal 10, Que.
2X)0^Annivereary
SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 1969
PUBLISHED B Y THE B R I T I S H C O L U M B I A T E A C H E R S ' F E D E R A T I O N
Affiliated wilh the Canadian Taachcra' Federation
Volume 49, Number 1 September-October 1969
7 THE EDITOR COMMENTS
10 WHO REALLY BENEFITS FROM LEGISLATION? John Hardy
12 QUEBEC EDUCATION IN TURMOIL-POINT OF VIEW Perer A. Johnson
ANOTHER
14 THE ODDS ARE 5% OF YOUR PUPILS NEED SPECIAL HELP S. ft Laycock
17 ADVENTURE PLAYGROUNDS HAVE PROVED THEIR WORTH Gary Pennington
26 'OPEN AREAS' DON'T HAVE TO BE INDOORS
IV. V. Potter
29 A MATTER OF OPINION
32 QUOTES AND COMMENTS
Vlto Cianci
34 FROM OUR READERS
39 THESE TEACHERS HAVE RETIRED
40 MONITORING THE MEDIA Jan Drabek 43 NEW BOOKS
COVER STORY Miss Margaret Carter, who will comment on this year's series of cover pictures by elementary grade pupils, is a specialist in elementary art in the Vancouver school system. She believes the primary area is the starting place for visual training. Of our first picture, by 'Paula Craig of West Vancouver's Caulfeild Elementary School, she says: Cut paper and swatches of delicately toned paint make this head a lovely and forthright expression. Paula's 'art work' is beautifully balanced and strikingly dramatized by the black background. This Grade 1 pupil clearly demonstrates that, as Kurt Rowland says in Educating the Senses, 'the child's earliest experiences there are also his most powerful ones in the long run; they act on a virgin system . . . '
PHOTO CREDITS P. 12—UPI Telephoto; pp. 17-19—supplied by author; p. 20—Ross Kenward; p. 21 and top p. 22—Powell River School Board; p. 22 and top p. 23—supplied by author; p. 23—Peter Nichol; p. 26—supplied by author; p. 40—United Artists.
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come to canadas greatest education event! CANADIAN EDUCATION SHOWPLACE Industry Bldg., & East Coliseum, Exhibition Park; Toronto DECEMBER 4, 5, 6/1969
Three days in December. Three action-packed days filled with informative seminars, colorful exhibits, interesting films, stimulating discussions and exciting special features. That's Canadian Education Showplacel CES is for people in education . . . people like you who are interested in new developments and techniques for teaching and instruction, recent improvements in teaching aids, and more effective ways of communicating with students. This year, CES takes over the entire Industry Building and East Coliseum in Toronto's Exhibition Park to bring you the largest, most comprehensive education show ever presented in Canada. Special features include: the INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON CONTINUOUS LEARNING, where outstanding educators from Britain, France, Japan, Canada and the United States will examine various aspects of education, instruction and training from elementary levels through to post secondary and adult re-trait.ing . . . CES THEATRE, featuring a continuous pre \,am of films, seminars, demonstrations and discussions covering a wide range of educational topics . . . and the EXHIBITION OF SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE, where you'll see graphic displays of the most modern schools, universities and colleges in Canadal PLUS . . . hundreds of exhibits, thousands of products, everything needed for the operation and maintenance of school and industrial classrooms throughout the country! This is your opportunity to see, test and inspect all of the latest products, equipment and services from more than 450 of Canada's leading manufacturers. For more information and FREE pre-registration cards, contact:
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The B.C. TEACHER
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The teacher can be lost, his or her conscientious effort to no avail if first the parent fails to teach the child self-control and is remiss by neglecting to instill, from its earliest impressionable years, the holding of passion and prejudice and evil tendencies subject to an honourable and reasonable will; in substance the golden rule, to do unto others as they would be done by. For education begins with the breath of life and, before we are aware of it, the foundations of character are laid. This initial training, combined with the pupil's careful association, eases the burden of the teacher when further education of the mind can flourish.
Have you made application to our Vancouver or Victoria office for the No Claims Bonus on automobile insurance to which you may be
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T H E EDITOR C O M M E N T S
NOT WORDS
•/This summer thousands of words were written and spoken about the state of education in this province. Unfortunately, words are of little value unless they are followed by action.
Some of the steps needed to improve our school system can be taken only by the provincial government; some can be taken by school districts; some can be taken by staffs of schools; some, by individual teachers.
The BCTF Executive Committee has agreed with the Federation's Commission on Education that elementary schools should receive top priority. Much of the BCTF's
work this year will therefore focus on elementary education. So far so good. No significant improvement in our elementary schools will be made, however, unless and until school districts and teaching staffs decide what specific steps should be taken, and then actively take those steps.
The Federation's Division of Professional Development will be able to assist teachers with information, research findings, advice and suggestions, Lesson Aids materials, materials from the BCTF Resources Center, in-service activities, news of what is happening elsewhere, etc., but any changes must be implemented, of necessity, in the schools.
No matter how conscientious teachers may be in their desire to improve education, however, much of their effort can be thwarted by restraints inherent in our school system. It should go without saying, for example, that administrative positions and procedures exist only to further the work of classroom teachers. Sometimes, however, administration—either in a school or in a school district—becomes an end in itself. Administrators, too, must examine their actions to ensure that they are
contributing to the education of children rather than hindering it.
Moreover, any action or inaction of school boards and the provincial government inevitably affects the quality of education. However, we believe the claim of school trustees that they are genuinely interested in education and are willing to do whatever they can to improve it. And we are prepared to accept the provincial governments contention that it is willing to act if, as we have predicted, the education finance formula causes rather than solves problems in education.
In short, teachers, trustees and the provincial government all say they are prepared to act to improve our school system, particularly at the elementary level. Will the words result in action? The proof will be the degree to which our school system improves in the months and years to come.
Meanwhile, teachers have an opportunity to set an example for both trustees and government. We can show by our willingness to act that we are genuinely concerned about the children of our province.
As the colloquialism puts it so well, actions speak louder than words.—K.M.A.
WELCOME ABOARD «;With this issue we are beginning a new department, Monitoring the Media. Each month jan Drabek, who teaches at Kitsilano Secondary School in Vancouver, will examine various media for their use in the classroom.
Jan will deal with such media as films (features and documentaries), television programs, plays, magazines—almost anything, in short, except books, which are already covered in our New Books
department, edited by Don Nelson. In his first column Jan comments
on two current movies, 'Romeo and Juliet' and 'The Charge of the Light Brigade.'
We think you'll enjoy his straight-from-the shoulder commentaries, and we're sure you will gain some useful ideas for using the various media more with your classes.
Welcome aboard, Jan. You're now at the mercy of our readers!
— K . M . A .
SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 1969
Annuo! I N T E R N A T I O N A L SCIENCE EDUCATION SYMPOSIUM
sponsored by tho Department of Science, Faculty of Education,
University of British Columbia
FRIDAY, N O V . 14th and S A T U R D A Y , N O V . 15th, 1969
at the
STUDENT U N I O N BUILDING, U.B.C.
SCIENCE CURRICULA - WHO SHOULD DECIDE WHAT?
S p e a k e r s : DR. R. WILL BURNETT, Professor oi Science Education and Chairman, Dept. of Secondary and Continuing Education, University of Illinois (Fri., 10 a.m.)
MR. E. G. STROYAN, President, B.C. Chamber of Commerce (Fri., 1:00 p.m.)
DR. JAMES A. RUTLEDGE, Professor of Education and Associate Dean, Graduate College, University of Nebraska (Fri;, 2:45 p.m.) From U.B.C.'s Science Education Department:
Dr. G. H. CANNON, Mr. D. C. GILLESPIE and Dr. L. WALTERS
(Sat., 9:15 a.m.)
A q u e s t i o n - p e r i o d w i l l f o l l o w e a c h a d d r e s s .
M e e t t h e s p e a k e r s a t a n i n f o r m a l s o c i a l e v e n i n g
i n t h e S U B c a f e t e r i a ( F r i . , 8 : 0 0 - 1 1 : 0 0 p . m . )
Seminars: Chaired by each of the speakers (Sat., 10:50 a.m.) Panel Session: (Sat., 1:30 p.m.)
DISPLAYS, EXHIBITS Registration Fee $6.00
Advance Registration (prior to Mon., Nov. 10,1969) Make cheques payable to: "International Science Education Symposium
Name: (please print)
Address: :• ; :.. : • •
M a i l to: Mrs. Vivian McConnell , Faculty of Education, University of British Columbia, Vancouver 8, B.C.
The B.C. TEACHER
317 Lynn Ave., North Vancouver, B.C. Tel. (604) 985-0922
September 10, 1969
An open l e t t e r to a l l B.C. Educators:
For a number of years past, our company has enjoyed a pleasant r e l a t i o n s h i p , from Toronto, with Educators i n B.C. Now Thomas' Nelso'r. CVJ \SC&S (Pdhada) Limited" have opened an o f f i c e in.Vanoouyerl In es t a b l i s h i n g ourselves 1 on the west c o a s t and nrmeseniiian! 1 v +hT«AnafVi' J «r/-iT ' ' ir-i nn i-rnnrr u
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Hoping for the opportunity to meet with you personally, I am,
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Paul "Jevull
Western Regional Manager for THOMAS NELSON & SONS (CANADA) LIMITED
• OCTOBER 1969
J O H N H A R D Y
Who Really Benefits From Powerful groups nan manipulate
legislation to ... Mr advantage; the impotence of the poor permits
legislation to discriminate against them.
Tin a long a scholarly study on the format ion of pub l ic op in ion , V . O . Key Jr. conc luded that pub l i c o p i n ion in the main was not self-generat ing, but the product of an interact ion between pol i t ica l inf luentials and the masses. Publ ic op in ion is a response to the cues propagated by influentials, op in ion leaders and pol i t ical activists.
This has p ro found impl icat ions. It means that the we l i be ing of the peop le in the province depends greatly o n the bel iefs, standards and competence of the inf luential group.
It means that the pub l i c does not corrupt itself—if it is cor rupted, it
The writer, who has contributed previously to the magazine, is a teaching assistant at SFU.
10
has been cor rupted. It means that when the social
order is dissolv ing, our pol i t ical forms decaying, these are consequences not of the cupid i ty of the masses, but of the stupidity and self-seeking of the leadership in areas of government, business and e d u cat ion.
H o w are the cues propagated? Let's look at some legislation passed last year—in part icular the new labor legislat ion, Bill 33, through wh ich compulsory arbi trat ion, long establ ished for teachers, became law for unions.
In addi t ion, there was the o'(!iar cont ro l l ing legislat ion, B i ! 1 85, w h i c h p laced the cei l ing on educat ion budgets wi th in schoo l districts. Dr . Peterson felt it was in the interest of equal i ty, but w e need not trouble nur heads wi th Dr. Peterson's explanat ions, wh i ch confuse things.
There has been a general trend in Nor th Amer i ca toward a p lanned economy and British Co lumb ia has proved no except ion. Planning requires controls in matters of inf lat ion, strikes, rising costs. Both acts der ive from a c o m m o n matrix, that is an infert i le and bankrupt government (financially and creatively), but neither act wi l l solve the problem o f inf lat ion.
They are a p iecemeal compro mise, but not an intel l igent social po l icy . They are a concess ion to cor porat ions, to be sure, but that is not the on ly reason the pol i t ic ians crossed the act ion threshold.
Probably it was the convergence of two rising anxieties in crit ical
areas. First, the is was anxiety among the masses about rising wages and rising costs and it became necessary for the government to do someth ing to ca lm the mi.isses and to gain c o n trol of run-away educat ion budgets that were an embarrassment.
Noth ing hurts a pol i t ic ian more than inactivity. To d o someth ing, no matter h o w inept, is to gain some publ ic i ty.
Second, "here was considerable anxiety shaking tne corporate structures about p ro longed strikes, wh i ch threaten three-year plans. As Galbrai th has poin ted out, modern corporat ions long ago abandoned the market as a regulating dev ice for pr ice/contro l and arranged pr ice controls among themselves.
Anxieties Exerclne Pressure Uncertainty remains in rnatters of
strikes; concern ing w h i c h ' i h e corporat ions depend o n the state for cont ro l . A n d the enab l ing dev ice for the state is compu lsory arbi t rat ion, or Bil l 33.
It 'seems that rising anxieties exercised a pressure for act ion and account in part for the legis lat ion. O n e suspects that corporate c o n cern, rather than government c o n cern for the publ ic , precipi tated the government 's act ion.
W i th respect to educat ion , there was a need to reassure the pub l i c , but more important, there was a need for the government to reassure itself that it cont ro l led local schoo l boards.
The cues were propagated -through the mass media . The med ia
Tho B.C. TEACHER •
Legislation? have become a transmission belt, a c o m m o n transportat ion company, carrying whatever nonsense the poli t icians feed it, exaggerating and ampl i fy ing where it needs to.
Public Gets Information Only
In this way, the pub i i c receives med ia radiat ion—a lot of informat ion , but n o knowledge. Slogans emba lmed on the off ice wal ls of u n i o n leaders, reminders of a t ime w h e n corporat ions and unions sought each other's destruct ion, are trotted out for pub l ic consumpt ion. A loyal oppos i t ion adds to the rage.
W i t h i n the noise are the usual phrases, those logical abstractions, o n ' f reedom, ' 'democracy, ' 'the just society, ' 'the pub l i c interest, ' 'equaj.-. ity,' and some references to 'coV-munists. ' Whe the r these appeals seek tp^arouse o r quiet the pubi ic , they arefnevertheless based on >i\ie assumpt ion that the pub l i c is inf luent ia l . ' Perhaps the appeals s imply make the pub l i c feel inf luent ial .
Explanations Are Appeals
Explanations fal l in to this category. Explanations are appeals, but more astute forms of appeal , inasm u c h as they ca lmly explain the issues to a bew i lde red audience.
Thus, in an article t i t led, 'Bring the Public Interest into Strikes/ a U B C professor of economics , Dr . N o e l Ha l l , exp la ined the main d i mensions of Bi l l 33 to the publ ic . W h a t ' s al l the fuss about? ' he be gan. 'Surely not about compulsory arbi t rat ion. ' -.r.>>' /f^j
T h e main thrust of Bi l l 33, a c c o r d - / ^
S E P T E M B E R - O C T O B E R 1969 4
ing to Dr. Ha l l , was not compulsory arbi t rat ion; rather it was a totally new concept of dispute sett lement, an entirely new concept of governmental intervention—burden of proof. Here, either the union wi l l be asked to prove why it should have a 40-cent-an-hour increase, or management wi l l be asked to prove w h y it can't grant the increase. Some innovat ion.
O the r main innovat ions in Bil l 33, accord ing to Dr . Ha l l , are that: (1) It wi l l br ing the pub l ic interest into col lect ive bargaining. (2) It w i l l shift terms and condi t ions f rom those to wh ich both parties can agree, to terms and condi t ions to w h i c h un ion , management and the commiss ion can agree. (3) It w i l l prov ide a ful l- t ime c o m mission that w i l l enab le the c o m missioners to express an independent v iewpoin t and not compro mise their analysis.
O n the shortcomings of Bill 33, Dr. Hal l cr i t ic izes: (1) The pub l ic interest was not d e f ined, but wisely left to evolve. (2) If interpreted literally, the act c o u l d prove dif f icult to administer. (3) If unions and management f ind prov ing things a burden, they might 'adopt strategies to c i rcumvent the terms of reference of the commiss ion. '
Where Public Interest Lies
He does offer a c lue to where the pub l i c interest lies and where presumably, one w i l l expect the act to be interpreted literally. He says:
'The most dif f icult aspect of the 'pub l i c interest and wel fare ' c o n cept lies not in the essential services, but in those industries where c o n t inued product ion is closely related to the economic health of the prov ince. Protracted strikes in forestry, pu lp and paper, min ing, and perhaps f ishing might wel l be more Detr imental to the pub l i c interest than a strike of munic ipa l employees, in , for example, Del ta munic ipal i ty . . .'
It is wi th in the corporate structures then.
But the main prob lem with respect to Dr. Hal l 's article lies in the lack of awareness on the part of the pub l i c that they should d iscount academics. Dr. Hal l is a chairman of
a conc i l ia t ion board. He has a vested interest in industrial disputes, in whether o r not disputes take place and whether or not conc i l ia t ion boards exist. His career is tied to industry. Academics project a rational image and they are useful in the pol i t ical process.
For example, investigators into the ways of the Illinois legislature found that a professor f rom the U n i versity of Il l inois had been appearing in the legislature to rationalize oppos i t ion to a tax bi l l . A pol i t ic ian exp la ined :
' O u r arrangements were c o n c luded before the hearing ever started, but it was absolutely essential that members w h o had agreed f.o vote against the bi l l be furnished wi th a " c o v e r " — w i t h an impressive witness whose competence was un ques t ioned—so that they cou ld offer an explanat ion for their votes. The professor furnished that " c o ver . " W h e n w e return the favor on legislation on wh ich others are in terested, w e shall expect to be furnished wi th a " c o v e r " . '
There Are Many Publics
In add i t ion to the p rob lem of pub l ic interest, wh ich is undef ined because there is not one pub l ic but many publ ics, the not ion of an in dependent v iewpoin t by the c o m mission w i l l not stand scrutiny.
For one thing, government has a h idden hand in conci l ia t ion; For another, Herr ing (1936), Leiserson (1942), Truman (1951) and Bernstein (1955) investigated governmental regulatory agencies and found that few regulatory pol ic ies have been pursued unless they proved acceptable to the regulated groups. Edeiman argues that they become economic and pol i t ical in struments of the parties they regulate.
A n d conci l ia t ion boards tend to award sett lements higher than those unregulated bargaining can produce. Conc i l ia t ion boards deve lop symbiot ic ties wi th the groups they regulate as they become famil iar wi th wants and needs of these groi 'ps. In other words, a psychological embrace develops among the oppos ing parties and the referee.
Continued on page 24
fThe article entitled 'Quebec: Education in Turmoil' in the June 1969 issue gave a.comprehensive history of the situation in Quebec, and Mr. Ashwell is to be congratulated on his objectivity.
However, as one who has spent two years in Quebec (for the federal, not provincial, government), I disagree vigorously with the author when he states that there are no easy answers to the trouble with Quebec's educational system.
One of the major aims of the Duplessis era was to keep the public both ill-informed and misinformed about anything and everything in Quebec and Canada. Domination of the educational system provided the means. 'Grade 7 education is enough,' was one of his famous edicts.
Today, in Quebec, things have
A former B.C. teacher who taught the last two years In Quebec the author now teaches lor the Ottawa C lleglate Board.
not changed much. The people are still misled and the government still works tirelessly to create chaos in the educational system, as evidenced by the division along linguistic, and religious lines, the teacher negotiations, the CEGEP failure, the newly-consolidated high schools, and the one thousand school boards who treat teachers and students as something to be abused. ,
Old-world traditions and prejudices dominate the schooling system. The linguistic-religious basis provokes antagonism between French-Catholic boards, teachers and students and English-Catholic and English-Protestant boards, teachers and students. Rivalry, pettiness and jealousy are inherent in the system.
There are many movements a-foot to consolidate, and so remove the barriers; unfortunately, various groups are pulling in different direc
tions. Some want French-only instruction, as seen in the current St. Leonard fight. Others want bilingual schools without any religious instruction. Still others want combinations and permutations of both> ad infinitum. The result? DeGaulle only knows!
No modern educational system could possibly be built on such a diversified basis. And the shadow of the Duplessis government realizes this.
Perhaps the ones who suffer most, apart from the students themselves, are the teachers. It would be very difficult to find a more discouraged and down-trodden group anywhere; But it is partly their own fault in that no one voice speaks for the province's teachers.
Several unions vie for membership and compete with each other. Very little co-operation is evident among the 70,000 teachers, so in-
12 The B.C. TEACHER
Another Point of View
stead of seeking better learning and teaching methods, they are embroiled in trying to make a decent living.
Ever since Bill 25, which removed the rights of collective bargaining, all teachers have been abuses ;nd treated as non-professionals. The protracted negotiations are simply another means of showing governmental contempt for an educational system worthy of this great province.
As for the students, their situation is best seen at the CEGEPs—better known as junior colleges. Now in their second year of operation, fhey are proven failures for two reasons.
First, instead of carefully planning their development, the government merely lumped together the classical colleges/(religious learning institutes) and technical schools to form CEGEPs. Second, 30% of the students were supposed to take academics and 70% to study in the technical fields. In practice, the re
verse is the case. Consequently, student dissatisfaction abounds because there are no jobs and no space in the universities, u • > . . , •
However, the turmoil in Quebec's education is best seen by looking at the regional high schools which are being established to consolidate the numerous school districts. Gigantic structures that house 3,000 to 4,000 students, and are patrolled by numerous commissionaires, are the latest brain-child of Quebec's government.
The teachers meet before school begins in September and are given 200-page books of rules and regulations to be enforced. Secondary education has become impersonal and the students are only numbers to be processed in the factory-like buildings. The schools are doomed to failure because the students are merely a commodity and expense the provincial government must bear.
In addition to the above problems, one also finds the red-herring of separatism dragged across most issues—and separation is a distinct possibility in the near future.
There are those who wish a French island of culture in the midst of a WASP society. And many of these same people realize that if Quebec does separate, they themselves will make personal gains.
Consequently, these people push French-only instruction because it is a step along the path to separation.
In summary, I believe the government of Quebec does not want to be in the 20th century. It wants to keep the masses ignorant so it can rule and enjoy a separate state to which Quebec is quickly moving.
By obstructing the establishment of sound education, the Quebec Department of Education is fulfilling the desires of various individuals and organizations.*}
: SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 1969 13
f Both school trustees and teachers increasingly ho ld to the v iew that it is the business of the communi ty 's schoo l system to provide adequate educat ion for all the communi ty 's ch i ldren ( including those p laced in residential centers for treatment). Both groups are concerned wi th prov id ing help for the act ing-out, hyperact ive chi ld w h o disrupts the class, places an undue strain on the teacher and furthers his o w n maladjustment.
There shou ld be equal concern for the wi thdrawn ch i ld w h o reveals his emot ional problems through a persistent m o o d of unhappiness, an xiety or depression. If educators are to pay more than l ip service to prov id ing for indiv idual dif ferences in the c lassroom, they wi l l real ize that there really is no 'special educat i on ' ; that each ch i ld is ' spec ia l ' in that he shou ld have a ta i lor-made schoo l env i ronment wh i ch takes account of his own part icular deficits, strengths and indiv idual style of learning.
The Educational Research Institute of B.C. has recently released the report of the 1968-69 study, made by myself and J. A . Findlay of Burnaby, of the educat ional provisions for and needs of emot iona l ly d isturbed ch i ldren in B.C. schools. The study i nc luded :
1. A survey, through the use of a 40- i tem quest ionnaire sent to the 54 district super intendents of B.C. schools (and returned by all of them), of pol ic ies and pract ices wi th respect to emot iona l ly d isturbed ch i ldren in the schoo ls ; 2. Conferences by one or both directors of the study wi th key personnel of the school districts of the Lower Ma in l and , V ic tor ia and selected school districts on Vancouver Island, and the larger centers in the interior of the prov ince ; 3. Visits to special facil i t ies for d is-
: turbed ch i ldren in the schools where such were avai lab le; 4. A survey of practices and pol ic ies wi th respect to chi ldren w i th e m o t ional problems in other Canadian schoo l systems; and 5. A discussion of v iews w i th leading authorit ies in special educat ion in Canada and the U.S.A.
S. R. L A Y C O C K
The directors of the study were concerned w i th three quest ions: 1. W h i c h pupi ls may be considered emot ional ly disturbed? 2. H o w many such pupi ls are there? 3. What can be done in the schools to help such pupi ls to solve their emot ional problems?
Who Are the Emotionally Disturbed?
Teachers as professional persons are increasingly aware of the danger of labels (even such innocent - look ing labels as 'average,' 'bright, ' ' du l l ' or ' learning d isabi l ity'). A t best, labels are merely tentative ways of th ink ing about a pupi l in an attempt to understand what can be done to further his o p ' i m u m growth and deve lopment .
The term 'emot iona l ly d isturbed, ' therefore, shou ld not be considered a disease.entity as such but as a way of th inking about ch i ldren w h o present a variety of emot iona l problems. Such prob lems inc lude :
T. inabi l i ty to relate to teacher and classmates; 2. inappropr iate behavior unacceptable to peers and adults under normal condi t ions (e.g., excessive restlessness, too aggressive behavior ,
refusal to con fo rm to d isc ip l ine) ; 3. a persistent m o o d of unhappiness or depress ion; 4. an inabil i ty to face up to the o rd i nary problems of l iv ing; 5. a strong feel ing of inadequacy (poor sel f -concept) ; 6. a diff iculty in learning in spite of the usual remedial measures; 7. a tendency to have physical symptoms, speech problems, pains o r fears associated wi th schoo l problems.
T o o often the labels used in school are the result o f . a medica l approach to pupi l behavior. Teachers, however , shou ld focus their attention on the speci f ic behavior of pupi ls and on how, through using a broad spectrum of educat ional methods, they can he lp the pupi l to /earn better ways of behaving.
I am doubt fu l of the w isdom of a current ' band -wagon ' pract ice of label ing all emot iona l ly disturbed chi ldren as 'bra in- in jured ' o r as having a brain dysfunct ion. Many leading exponents of this v iew (inc lud ing Cru ickshank of Syracuse University) frankly state that they use this label for al l emot iona l ly d isturbed ch i ldren whether or not or-
The B.C. TEACHER
T H E ODDS A R E T H A T .
O F YOUR PUPILS N E E D SPECIAL H E L P
ganic proof of brain damage or dysfunct ion exists.
O n the other hand, there is plenty of support for the v iew that, wh i le some emot iona l ly disturbed ch i ld ren are bra in- in jured, the behavior of many d is turbed ch i ldren seems to be associated wi th a variety of envi ronmenta l circumstances in their home and schooj . Too great rel iance on medica l models in dea l ing w i th emot iona l disturbance is quest ionable in our present state of knowledge.
How Many Disturbed Children?
Studies of the number of emot ional ly d isturbed chi ldren in school have y ie lded percentages that range f rom 2 % to 4 9 % depend ing on the criteria used. A practical cr i ter ion is that of the number of pupi ls wi th emot iona l prob lems w h o need more help than, under present c o n di t ions, can be suppl ied by the classroom teacher. O n this basis, a cons idered conservative estimate is 5 % of schoo l ch i ld ren. Acco rd i ng to this cr i ter ion there w o u l d have been in the elementary and secondary schools of British Co jumb ia dur ing the schoo l year 1967-68 more than 23,000 pupi ls in need of special help w i th their emot iona l problems.
What Can Be Rone? If 5 % of pupi ls need help beyond
that w h i c h , under present cond i t ions, the classroom teacher can prov ide, what is the nature of such special help? Roughly, help can be prov ided in two main ways: 1. By prov id ing sufficient support ive services to the regular c lassroom teacher and the disturbed ch i ld that the youngster 's emot iona l problems can be solved wh i le he remains in his regular class; 2. By removing the ch i ld f rom the regular class and prov id ing special facil it ies to the degree necessary for the youngster 's rehabi l i tat ion wi th the aim of returning h im to his regular class as soon as possible.
Help for Child and Teacher
M a n y mi ld ly and some moderately disturbed pupi ls can remain in their regular class if (and jt is a very important 'if') sufficient supportive services are available to their teachers and to the chi ldren themselves. These services may c o n sist of those prov ided by an it inerant support ive teacher w h o has specia l ized in the emot ional problems of ch i ld ren , a district special counse l lor w h o has had special mental health training, a school psycho lo
gist, a school social worker , a mental - health - or iented school nurse, and, in secondary schools, schoo l counsel lors w h o have had adequate training in deal ing wi th the personal emot ional problems of adolescents. In add i t ion , some fairly severely d isturbed ch i ldren may also be able to remain in regular classes if the psychiatrists and psychologists of the regional mental health cen ters are able to prov ide some c o n t inuing treatment of these youngsters.
O the r ways in wh ich chi ldren in a regular class can be helped to solve their problems is through the use of paid and unpaid teacher aides. The former are especial ly helpfu l to the classroom teacher whose class includes one or more disturbed chi ldren as wel l as to the teachers of special classes.
Vo lun teer aides in the form of lay persons w h o regularly give an hour on two days a week to a disturbed ch i ld in a one- to-one relat ionship over a year or more have been found to be very effective. Such school systems as those of Ot tawa and London
Professor emeritus of the University of Saskatchewan, Dr. Laycock has also taught in UBCs Faculty of education.
SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 1989 15
(Ont.), use volunteer aides for disturbed pupi ls in both regular classes and in special classes.
Special Classes W h i l e it may be true that special
classes of various types have been used as 'dump ing grounds' or have enro l led pupi ls whose needs for such services have not been carefully determined, this does not just ify the recent ' band-wagon ' pract ice of d isbanding all special classes. This has happened in some i n stances in B.C, where special classes have been d iscont inued without providing sufficient supportive services for the ch i ld to solve his emot iona l problems in a regular class.
I am not conv inced that the schoo l , in deal ing wi th emot ional ly -disturbed ch i ld ren, has on ly two a l ternatives, namely either to leave them in a regular class wi th or w i th out support ive services, or to send them to special residential treatment centers. M u c h ev idence was found in the recent study that even qui te severely disturbed ch i ldren c o u l d of ten remain in their c o m muni ty schoo l if special services were prov ided in the form of a special class where the class was small (six pupi ls), the classroom env i ronment and methods of teaching mod i f ied , and a careful ly selected and we l l trained teacher avai lable.
As the first step away f rom a regular class, the Borough of Nor th York (Ont.) has 29 'pro tec ted ' classes consist ing of 18 to 20 pupi ls each , two or three of w h o m are disturbed youngsters and the remainder w e l l -mot ivated and stable ch i ld ren. Partial ,syecial classes and resource rooms are also used in a number of schoo l systems.
In these the disturbed pup i l retains his identi ty wi th his regular class, but goes to a special class or resource room for part of his schoo l work (typically for reading and arithmetic). A variat ion of this occurs where an itinerant supportive teacher takes disturbed pupi ls out of their class either ind iv idual ly or in groups for per iods of an hour o r two ip order to help them wi th their school work or through c o u n sel l ing.
There are no magical keys to teaching emotionally disturbed children just as there is no one way of teaching the so-called 'normal' child. The methods used in teaching disturbed pupils will vary with each child's needs . . .
I am conv inced , however , that when the needs of disturbed pupi ls are careful ly evaluated there w i l l still be some pupi ls whose needs are best served in a special class of 6 to 8 pupi ls on a reasonably structured env i ronment (with m i n i m u m distracting st imulat ion and the use of carrels where necessary) and wi th the services of a special ly trained teacher.
It is doubt fu l if the needs of disturbed chi ldren can best be met by placing them in omnibus ' learning disabi l i t ies' classes wi th chi ldren whose prob lems are mainly perceptual or prob lems of mental retardation or remedial reading. In the first place such classes are often too large (15 or more pupils) and in the second place few teachers are suited for both training and personali ty to be equal ly effective wi th emot ional ly disturbed and mental ly retarded pupi ls and those in need of remedial reading o r speech services.
Methods of Teaching There are no magical keys to tea
ch ing emot ional ly disturbed ch i l d ren just as there is no one way of teaching so-cal led ' no rma l ' ch i ld ren. The methods used in teaching disturbed pupi ls w i l l vary w i th each chi ld 's needs and the personali ty and teaching style of the indiv idual teacher.
Nonetheless the teacher trained
in deal ing wi th the problems of disturbed youngsters wi l l be fully aware of the possibi l i t ies of using the psychodynamic- interpersonal approach, the sensory-neurological approach and the behav ior -modi f i cat ion (operant-condit ioning) approach as these strategies are helpful to an indiv idual ch i ld or to a part icular group of pupi ls. The teacher's methods are l ikely to be eclect ic.
Adolescents' Emotional Problems It is doubt fu l if special classes are
useful in solving adolescents ' emotional problems. A better answer is usually found through carefully selected and we l l trained schoo l coun sellors w h o are freed f rom routine duties, w h o have a reasonable coun sel l ing load, and w h o are backed by the consultant services of special counsel lors, schoo l psychologists, school social workers and, where necessary, of psychiatr ic personnel .
The Laycock—Find lay report discusses in detai l the topics referred to in this article together wi th a var iety of other problems inc lud ing the evaluatiqn of special provisions for the educat ion of disturbed ch i ldren, and the training of the various types of specia l ized schoo l personnel . The fo l low-up of chi ldren w h o are assigned to a special class or returned to a regular class or w h o are transferred to or f rom the schoo l to or from a residential treatment center is also discussed.
The last sect ion of the report deals wi th what the school can do to help prevent emot iona l d isturbance in schoo l ch i ld ren. Suggestions are made as to the part p layed by ad ministrative devices, methods of grading, evaluat ing and report ing pupi l progress, creative teaching, curr icular experiences relevant to each pupi l 's needs, d isc ip l ine c o n ceived of as a learning exper ience for pupi ls, and the teacher's men tal health and emot iona l maturity.
The Laycock-Findlay report, en tit led Education for Emotionally Disturbed Children in British Columbia Schools, is avai lable for $4.00 postpaid from the Educational Research Institute of B.C., Board of Trade Tower , 1177 West Hastings, Vancouver1 .§
16 Tho B.C. TEACHER
1"We may now be witnessing the start of an educat ional trend in the pub l i c elementary schools of B.C. I hope that 'adventure playgrounds' — l i k e open area schools, ind iv idua l ized instruct ion and team teaching — w i l l become part of our everyday approach to work ing wi th ch i ldren.
Before focusing on just what an adventure p layground is, let us look at chi ldren 's play, because unless w e have some basic concurrence on this matter, a discussion of play areas is qui te pointless.
Play Is a Learning Activity Nevi l le Scarfe, dean of U B C ' s
Faculty of Educat ion, says, about chi ldren's play: 'A chi ld 's play is his way of explor ing and exper iment ing wh i le he bui lds up relations wi th the wor ld and wi th h imse l f . . . play is a learning activity. Play is educat ive because wh i le thus emp loyed the ch i ld is sel f -d i rected, who l l y in vo lved and complete ly absorbed . . . It (play) secures concentrat ion for a great length of time. It develops in i tiative, imaginat ion and intense in -
ADVENTURE PLAYGROUNDS HAVE PROVED THEIR WORTH terest. There is t remendous intel lectual ferment, as wel l as comple te educat ional involvement.
' N o other activity motivates repet i t ion more thoroughly. N o other activity improves personali ty so markedly. N o other activity calls so fully on the resources or effort and energy in the total human being.
'Play is the most comple te of al l the educat ional processes for it i n -
Mr. Pennington is an assistant professor in the Faculty ot Education at UBC.
SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 1969 17
f luences the intellect, the emot ions and the body of the ch i ld . It is the only activity in wh ich the who le educat ional process is ful ly c o n summated, where exper ience induces learning and learning produces w isdom and character. ' 7
If w e think about play from our own experiences we shall l ikely c o n c lude that ch i ld ien left to their own devices wi l l almost invariably play and have iun. However , a more detai led analysis of chi ldren's play provides other interesting informat ion : 1 . What we hear as the sound of chi ldren at play is often only the sound of some chi ldren at play. 2. To assume that fun alone is enough is perhaps faulty, for we are forgetting many of the other desired outcomes we talk about in educat ion. 3. Ch i ld ren at play in games or other endeavors can be quite ruthless and cruel . 4. The majority of young chi ldren are too sensitive to failure and frustration, too uncertain of their physical prowess, and too easily int imidated by compet i t ive chal lenge, to enjoy the convent ional p layground. 4
5. The recreative habits and physical standard of today's adult popula t ion is test imony to the patterns of play fostered and fo l lowed in the past. 6. W h i l e they may not often confess it, many parents and educators believe that chi ldren's play is something that wi l l magical ly take care of itself.
A . B. Etkes, an Amer ican architect, provides very apt commentary on this last point when he wri tes: ' W e do everything for our ch i l d ren ; we educate them, we train them, w e d isc ip l ine them, we direct them and yet we haven't really taken full ad vantage of the only thing they offer us freely . . . their desire to play. W e haven't, as yet, bothered to really study this most important phase of a chi ld 's l ife and turn it into a c o n structive, product ive learning experience.'*
Children's Needs All ch i ldren have basic needs in
the areas of growth. As we l l they need creative outlets and the oppor tunity for success.
In schools our tradit ional practices for administer ing to the physical growth needs of ch i ldren border on educat ional malpract ice. In most cases w e haven't prov ided either the envi ronment or the opportuni ty for appropr iate and natural deve lopment of strength, endurance, f lexibil i ty, balance and co-ord inat ion.
Stated more s imply, we haven't acknowledged or administered to kids' needs to run, jump, c l imb, hang, c rawl , or relate to other people and other things in a physical sense.
The innate desire of chi ldren to dramatize, to explore, to bu i ld—yes,
U'll: rrec-lorm tree at North Vancouver Community Center provides many branches lor climbers.
Below: Child-built split-log constructions oiler scope lor the imagination—a 'lort' can provide salety Irom 'wild lorest animals'!
even to tear down—are other strong needs.
Depend ing on background and the home enviroruTient, chi ldren may also be desperately in need of security, privacy and sense st imulat ion.
Perceptual skil ls, as another area of chi ldren's needs, is com ing more and more to the attention of educators. As Bryant Cratty has stated, we are 'on the threshold ' of recogniz ing the t remendous need to deve lop laterality, conf igurat ion skil ls, patterning, proport ional and kinesthetic awareness in ch i ldren. Initial research experiments — part icularly wi th chi ldren w h o have reading dif f icult ies—suggest we have only tapped the surface in terms of what we might be able to d o for chi ldren through the med ium of play.
18 The B.C. TEACHER
The Environment Education's role in respect to the
aforement ioned factors appears to be threefo ld : (1) provis ion of a r ich and st imulat ing learning env i ronment ; (2) provis ion of a free and creative learning c l imate; (3) gu id ance of chi ldren's activities in a manner that is educat ional ly beneficial to the indiv idual and to society.
W h i l e these variables are al l in terrelated, our present focus is o n the physical environment. A n d the present quest ion, reduced to basic terms, is simply, 'Where should chi ldren play?' The answer is also s imple '. . . in a safe but st imulat ing envi ronment . '
Assuming we desire an educational con t i nuum; assuming that we desire to motivate chi ldren in product ive and enjoyable ways in all
areas of our schoo l p lant ; recognizing that much of the chi ld 's learning at school w i l l take place in the 800 to 1,000 hours of relatively unsupervised free t ime at his d isposal ; and again, acknowledg ing the educat ional values of p lay—a large part of the answer to meet ing many of our chi ldren's needs may reside in what we call 'adventure playgrounds. '
The Adventure Playground
History: In the early 1940s C. Th . Sorenson designed one of the first adventure playgrounds in C o p e n hagen, Denmark. Sorenson, a landscape architect, found that chi ldren l iked activity in junk yards and bui ld ing sites more than they d id in his aesthetically pleasing tradit ional playgrounds.
His first adventure p layground
Above: // you have anything to work with, you can build an 'igloo,' a cabin, or a dog house. This one is in West Vancouver.
Below; Horseshoe Bay children make good use ot this combination oi adventure playground elements.
was patterned after these findings about chi ldren's play wishes. It in c luded left over bu i ld ing materials and other pieces of equ ipment w h i c h cou ld normal ly be cons i dered junk. It is interesting to note that his playground was an immediate success with the chi ldren.
The concept soon spread to Switzer land and other parts of Europe. Lady A l len of Hur twood , also a landscape architect, establ ished the idea in England. Her desire was to prov ide places where chi ldren cou ld satisfy their 'deep urge to exper i ment wi th earth, fire, water, and t imber, to work wi th real tools w i th out fear of cri t icism or censure, and their love of f reedom to take ca l culated risks . . . under tolerant and sympathetic guidance. ' " Her accompl ishments, part icularly in the slum areas of London, have been fantastic.
In Canadi i the chi ldren's creative play center at Expo '67 was perhaps this country's first comprehensive (and successful) attempt to provide an adventure p layground. Mrs . C o r nelia Ober lander and Go rdon Smith of Vancouver were instrumental in this development . Development in B.C.: Powe l l River is the only school district in this province wh ich has adventure playgrounds. These playgrounds are due largely to the imaginat ion and insight of Jack Van Zwieter ing, grounds foreman for the Powel l River District schools.
In November 1968, Van Zwieter ing spoke at a provincial conference on elementary school physical edu cat ion. Response to his presentation was overwhelming. As a con sequence a number of schools in Kamloops, Vancouver , Coqu i t l am, Nor th Vancouver , West Vancouver and Chi l l iwack are p lanning to bui ld adventure playgrounds in the immediate future.
Highlands Elementary Schoo l in Nor th Vancouver and Graham Bruce Elementary Schoo l in Vancouver are
SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 1969 19
schools wh ich appear to have deve loped the concept most extensively in the urban areas.
In fact, it may help to relate in point form a bit of a success story regarding Highlands School in North Vancouver .
Highlands School: An Abbreviated Case History:
1. Summer 1968: Initial informal pool -s ide discussions between un i versity personnel and two teachers recently given charge of the physical educat ion program at Highlands Schoo l . A lso brief conversat ion between university staff and enthusiastic school pr incipal about deve lopment of physical educat ion program. 2. November 1968: 'Quest for Qual i ty ' Conference on elementary schoo l physical educat ion attended by both physical educat ion teachers from Highlands Schoo l—oppo r tunity to hear about and discuss adventure playgrounds wi th Mr . Van Zwie ter ing . 3. November 1968: Ralph M o y l e , men's physical educat ion teacher, visits Powel l River to v iew playground deve lopment there and take 8mm movies of chi ldren at several schools. 4. January 1969: Universi ty personnel meet wi th Highlands P-TA execut ive regarding adventure playgrounds. V iew ing of slides courtesy Powe l l River Schoo l Board. Suggest ion by university staff that students plan and deve lop init ial playgrounds and that parents be involved in the p lann ing and deve lopment of the project. 5. January-February 1969: Grade 6 and 7 students design a number of very interesting and imaginative scale p layground models .
February 1969: Genera l P-TA meet ing. Student models on display, slides and movies on Powel l River program, project ions for H igh lands Schoo l . . . Project gains overwhe lm ing support f rom parents! Offer of construct ion materials, services of various companies, dona tions, indiv idual professional services of architects and engineers . . . All f rom wi th in the P-TA membersh ip ! 6. February 1969: Tentative ind ica-
Below: Highlands School pupil playground-planners displayed their models to UBC Faculty ol Education students l*<l March.
t ion of board support of p layground concept . 7. February 1969: Quest ionnai re to parents to gain addi t ional ideas and determine what service, t ime and materials are avai lable. 8. Ma rch 1969: Detai led scale mode l deve loped by parent (Mr. Skeath) based on student ideas. M o r e offers of services and mater ials by parents. 9. March 1969: Student models on display at University for benefit of U B C Faculty of Educat ion students and staff. Elementary students' f ield trip to University. 10. March 14 ,1969 : Schoo l carnival to raise funds for adventure playground. . . A f inancial and social success. 11. March 24, 1969: Formal presentation to North Vancouver School Board for support of the project. L ike l ihood of distr ict-wide adopt ion of the concept of adventure playgrounds. Full board support and approval granted. 12. Con t inued communi ty interest in project by a number of other schools, the Pacif ic Nat ional Exhibit ion and other agencies. 13. Projected Comp le t i on D a t e — Fall 1969.
Right.' This •-i.iple tree trunk with ils branches, replanted on a Powell River school playground, is a popular feature.
The signif icant ingredients in this short case history appear to be : the soundness of the basic concept , the enthusiasm and suppor t of adm in istrative and teaching staff, good work ing reciprocal relat ions between two school boards and the university* and, perhaps most im portant, involvement of students and parents in the p lann ing and execut ion of an idea that offers direct soc ia l , educa t iona l and recreational benefits to a l l .
The Adventure Playground— A de-finition: It is dif f icult to def ine the adventure p layground in a concise and speci f ic manner . J. Crape has suggested that 'c reat ive ' playgrounds (or spaces) usual ly contain the fo l low ing play e lements and div is ions: sand, water, hard surface, grass land, c l imb ing equ ipment ,
'' walls and space for veh ic les . However , upon examinat ion one
sees that many of these elements can be found in some o f our better tradit ional p laygrounds. A better way of def in ing the adventure playground may be to l o o k at the equ ipment ideas and play areas p lanned
•Actually universit/es; Dr. Eric Bannister of SFU co-operated in this venture.
20 THE B.C. TEACHER
by students at Highlands Schoo l . These i nc luded : C l imb ing cages Crawl ing pipes Tunnels Bancel l mazes Skate ramps C l imb ing trees Large and small and ropes
slides Igloos and forts C l i m b i n g nets Even ground for Sand boxes games Bar rollers Shinny bars Rockers Tire j ump pits Hopsco tch and A triangle bar
other b lack pul ley top games. Scrambl ing pets
Tree houses . Bike and trike Trol leys tracks Barrel rolls Tire walks Tire swings O l d cars Boat swings Rebound wal ls Balance logs C l imb ing wal ls Stepping stones A rocket swing Tree forts and Tether balls
fire poles Hi l ls, f lowers, Hi l ls and trees
mounds of Lighting for earth* night use
"l have observed that children gain great pleasure from playing in, on and among trees, piles of dirt and various other types of vegetation, and land contours, yet the first thing school and park designers do when building parks or schools is move in and bulldoze these natural areas flat, and soon children don't play there any longer.
Areas of Concern Grant ing that many of these ideas
have great appeal to chi ldren, parents and educators still have many legit imate concerns. Safety is one such concern that jumps to the minds of many parents. In a really 'way out ' adventure playground in London that inc luded very high student-bui l t structures, students made bonfires and 'w i l d ' Tarzan ropes. Author i t ies found that there was only one reported acc i dent and that it was caused by a parent urging a child on to greater heights.
A report f rom Edgehil l Schoo l in Powel l River states: 'They (children) learn a sense of responsibi l i ty to one another in playing safely, and though there have been accidents to chi ldren using the equipment , these occur no more frequently than from falls in the p layground, d o w n steps or wh i le engaged in team sports or athletics. '
A report f rom J. P. Dal los Schoo l in the same district showed that one ch i ld suffered contus ion to the left forehead when he fell wh i le s l id ing down the fire po le and that there were other reports of minor skin abrasions.
As wi th the use of large indoor c l imb ing apparatus, educators are beginning to realize that chi ldren learn conf idence, skil l and safe habits through work ing and playing on equ ipment at their own level ol ability.
Talk ing about ' l im i ta t ion-minded ' play equipment , Etkes asks: ' H o w long wi l l a chi ld repeat the s imple play scheme? He may innovate on the sl ide, dangle dangerously f rom its unders ide, walk up its ramp, or make a game of b lock ing the ladder and dar ing others to get by. He may use the swing wi ld ly and hazardously, or monopo l i ze it wi th a violent chal lenge to others to un seat h im dur ing the c rowded recess or lunch break per iod . The adventures are short l ived and unproductive as we l l as dangerous. He eventually becomes bored , frustrated and must turn elsewhere to respond to the ferment and curiosity wi th in h im . ' 4
The crit ical factor in creating a safe but provocat ive env i ronment for the ch i ld is to design equ ipment that wi l l a l low each ch i ld the oppor tunity to recognize his natural l imi tations as wel l as possibi l i t ies. Cost. Today as perhaps never before we are conscious of the burgeoning cost of educat ion. It is reassuring to note on the authority of architect Corne l ia Ober lander that the cost of deve lop ing an adventure playground is about 1/6 that of bu i ld ing a tradit ional p layground. The use of such natural materials as w o o d , rock and earth of course contr ibute to this saving.*
In B.C. w e should also use to better advantage the 4 % a l lowance for outside deve lopment of school sites when construct ion of new schools occurs. As we l l , the resources of the communi ty should be cal jed upon . Service clubs have prov ided tremendous help in the past. The ad venture p layground should suggest many possibi l i t ies to them.
If Nor th Vancouver is any example, parents have a great deal to offer in this enterprise. It is wor th not ing that this procedure e m -
*Concrete, wood, wire and rope—the materials of the adventure playground—not only cost less, but also are more inviting play surfaces than cold metal.
SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 1969
Left: This igloo slide tunnel is yet another element in Powell River's adventure playgrounds.
Below: Hans Berger designed the West Vancouver Community Center playground where this picture was taken.
bodies the keynote of the report of the BCTF Commiss ion on Educat ion, Involvement—the Key to Better Schools.
Vandalism. The Powel l River schools again prov ide some interesting data —vanda l i sm in their school playgrounds has not been a major p roblem. A few tetherballs left out have been slashed, but aside f rom having to rebui ld some early structures to make them much sturdier, there has been litt le p rob lem wi th respect to students vandal iz ing play equ ip ment.
W e can safely assume that many of the causes of de l inquency and vandal ism have to do wi th lack of identity, bo redom, lack of interest exhibi ted by adults, and a lack of appropr iate recreational facil it ies.
If we really take these factors into account in our p lanning ol recreation places, we may realize the type of benefits found in Powel l River, where one pr inc ipal wri tes that 'the p layground fosters a feeling of pr ide among ch i ldren w h o love to show it off to visit ing friends or hear it admired by ch i ldren new to the schoo l . '
I wonder if many readers can recal l the typical situation found o n many of our tradit ional playgrounds where swings are either broken or are w o u n d tightly over the top bar, where p icn ic tables are uprooted and over turned, where broken glass is thrown into sw imming pools? The source of these problem"; may wel l reside in the way we have p lanned our chi ldren's play areas.
I also wonder if w e cou ld exper i ment wi th the adventure p layground concept in our secondary schools. I don' t mean that we should repeat any of the ideas found in the e le-
The B.C. T E A C H E R
Above: Mothers and their iamilies enjoy their visits to this community recreation park near Horseshoe Ray.
Below: The stepping logs and swinging bridge are part ol a long obstacle course at the Young Ofienders Unit at Chilliwack.
mentary schools—these same ideas wou ldn ' t necessarily.work. But 1 can imagine similar areas — obstacle courses, partial ly assembled cars and car engines, large scal ing rocks for c l imb ing .
Having had the privi lege of seeing some of the excel lent architectural work done by students at Vincent Massey Junior Secondary School in N e w Westminster , I can anticipate some of the great ideas these young peop le cou ld come up with if given the responsibi l i ty of designing an adventure p layground.
Rural Needs. Educators may be quick to label this a concept that appl ies only to metropol i tan cen ters. A n d certainly, wi th current problems of urbanizat ion, the need for play spaces is more p ronounced in ou r larger cities. It must also be recogn ized, however, that the character of our rural communi t ies is also changing. The days of work and play in t:',c fields aren't part of the life of too many youngsters in our out ly ing communi t ies in 1969.
K i rchncr , in his study of the physical fitness of elementary school ch i ld ren, found that chi ldren l iv ing
in metropol i tan areas were more physical ly fit than those in rural areas. He suggests that modern modes of transportat ion, increased sedentary habits of chi ldren and the lack of organized recreational op portunit ies avai lable to rural ch i ld ren are contr ibut ing factors. It is very l ikely a myth that the young country boy or girl is stronger and healthier than his or her city coun terpart.
The need for physical ly cha l lenging and interesting activities such as those found in an adventure playground may thus be even greater in
S E P T E M B E R - O C T O B E R 1969 23
our smaller towns and cities.
Some Fundamental Questions The fo l lowing quest ions are taken
from a recent U B C Schoo l of A r ch i tecture thesis dea l ing wi th the relat ionship between ch i ld deve lopment and the env i ronment . 3 These quest ions are part icularly relevant to the topic under cons idera t ion:
1. Spatial Boundaries: Are they natural or man-made? Are they fostered by the physical
env i ronment or set by parents? D o they aid or h inder growth by
a l lowing explorat ion beyond or bottl ing up and containing?
Are there routes past boundar ies — o r dif f icult but solvable ones to tackle?
2. Spatial Size: Are there large spaces open and
free for the ch i ld to expand into apd intimate spaces for security and retreat?
Are spaces suff icient to satisfy the needs and patterns of the chi ld (i.e., running, c l imb ing , making noise, etc.)? D o they increase wi th maturity?
3. Sense stimulation: (Physical ob jects, peop le , etc.)
Does the ch i ld l ike co lo r , mo t ion , form, etc.? Objects to practise spatial percept ions (up, d o w n , under, etc.). Objects to aid group ing apd co-operat ive play (sand boxes, w a gons, merry-go-round). Objects to
Who Really Benefits? Continued from page 11
Finally, concern ing Dr. Hal l 's artic le , a compar ison w i th one wri t ten by C . D. Ovans helps underscore the point. M r . Ovans wrote an appeal for pub l ic support . But look at the intent of the wr i ters: one sought to arouse the pub l i c ; the other sought to maintain pub l i c qu iescence.
People have come intuit ively to regard col lect ive bargaining as a ritual and ask why the ritual every year. W h y not a l low for automat ic increases? O n e reason, perhaps, is the need to cond i t ion the pub l i c to
24 . •>
increase muscular co-ord inat ion, etc.
D o they evoke rhythm, noises, texture, sight, the senses, etc., in excit ing fashions?
H o w does sense st imulat ion from physical objects relate to the ind i v idual or group and h o w d o they relate to each other or the physical env i ronment in total?
Is a part icular env i ronment def i cient or abundant in st imuli for chi ldren?
H o w diff icult is it to get close to st imulat ing environments? A r e they fixed and local o r per iod ic and transient — to give either security and rel iabil i ty, or exci tement and interest to explore where they came from?
D o they st imulate the growing ch i ld through each stage of deve lop-
It is difficult for children to grow up emotionally stable it they are denied space and freedom to take and overcome risks, and it they are denied the opportunity to meet and make friends wjith others ot their own age.
—Lady Allen of Hurtwood in Planning for Play.
accept higher pr ices, and it is the pub l ic that pays the b i l l .
Propagat ion has occur red when peop le b lame the high cost of labor for pr ice increases w i thout knowing whether wages have increased or by h o w much , yet pay the price. Is the battle real? O i is it all i l lusion?
Certainly the battle is real for the unorganized publ ics , those people on f ixed income, the small entrepreneurs, the pensioners, w h o pay higher prices w i thout cor respondingly higher incomes. For the unorganized publ ics , the effect of Bill 33 is mainly psychic. It is to be hoped that their comfor t is of some dura- : t ion ; otherwise the government wi l l
ment or are there gaps?
4 Differentiation of Function: D o the ch i ld and adult funct ions
interact or oppose?
5. Social Interaction and Privacy: Are there provisions for privacy
and social interact ion areas for the ch i ld and parent? What are the l imits—at home or in the c o m m u n i ty—inside and outside? Does the ch i ld have a room to himself or material to make a fort?
Is there concern for the wants and needs of both parent and chi ld?
6. Safety and Needs: H o w can one relate parents' c o n
cern for safety wi th the chi ld 's needs to explore? Does one remove all harmful envi ronments (i.e., sloughs, junk pi les, caves, etc.), and if so, can the env i ronment b e c o m e so sterile and protect ing that the ch i ld does not learn to cope wi th clangers?
Can the env i ronment be p lanned around natural dangers wh i ch might st imulate those w h o are past the stage w h e n the danger is acute?
If schoo l and communi ty leaders wi l l co-operate and p ioneer in seeing that adventure playgrounds bec o m e a reality in our e lementary schools, then in addi t ion to the many values out l ined above, the imaginat ive teacher w i l l have an ou tdoor c lassroom at his d isposal . A n d play may become a truly s ignif icant learning exper ience for all youngsters.§ References available on request.
have to go through the mot ions again.
Bil l 33 re-sanctif ies col lect ive bargaining. It ensures that the ritual w i l l take place, that unions w i l l be part of the economic scene for some t ime, and most important, that wages and prices wi l l cont inue to rise.
It does seem that, whatever laws are passed, the powerfu l groups in society can effectively manipulate legislation to their advantage, wh\\e the impotence of the poor enables legislation' to discr iminate against them.
Regrettably, Bill 33 fo l lows this pattern.§
The B.C. .TEACHER
11
In 10 seconds, describe the size, shape, color and structure of a specimen of rhodochrosite.
For you to describe verbally the above specimen, would take considerably longer than is necessary for your students to assimilate a visual image of it. That's what's so grr-at about photography: regardless of what subject you teach/photography can help you explain it faster, easier and a lot more effectively.
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W . V. POTTER
Mr. Potter was principal ol Needles Elemenlary-lunior Secondary School last year. He is now in the Kelowna School District.
Imagine a mounta in that rises kni fe-edged against an Oc tobe r sky of b lue! Imagine a c l imbing forest trail overlaid wi th gold and over-arched with gold supported by the trunks of whi te b i rch, poplar and pine in the diffused light of the autumn sun. You cannot imagine, in this environment, teenage boys and girls — an entire school of 4 7 students — strol l ing through corr idors of the w i l d erness, sitt ing in a ferny glade for the open ing exercises, revel ing in the great out-of-doors.
Why? It isn't done ! W h y . . .?? The warmth of ' l iv ing ' and the sunshine that surroun
ded a one-clay out ing can scarcely be radiated from the page of a book.
After a few brief direct ions our school 's populat ion wa lked a long the shore road of the A r row Lakes to a w o o d e d trail leading to a Forestry Branch lookout. A t a leisurely pace, in sel f- forming groups, the students walked for some time. A 'Wagon W h e e l ' each may have con tr ibuted to the enjoyment of the open ing exercises at our ferny glade.
A poem gave food for ref lect ion:
Yesterday is now a memory ; Beneath tomorrow's veil we cannot see; The dawn brings unspoi led hours for
work and p lay— Let us salute today! M a y we be true to all the light w e see — Loyal and strong, that w e may proud ly be W i t h joy and beauty l ighting up the way, Masters of life today!
' O Canada ' was sung where pines and maples grow. The day's Bib le read ingwas Matt. 5:1 - 1 1 . The Lord's Prayer. Announcements :
'—d iv ide into patrols of six. —appo in t a leader. '
C lawmarks on the smooth green-grey trunks of whi te poplar trees either amused or int imidated the hikers. Several w i l l ow grouse faded into the shadows. Trunks of cedar, Douglas fir, Douglas maple, larch, spruce and p ine made avenues to the mystery wo r l d beyond .
Each patrol chose its o w n campf i re site f rom a w ide -spreading area through wh ich a mounta in stream echoed . Smoke in various quantit ies began to rise; blue co lumns in the clear autumn against a background of bracken and forest.
Each group took on an indiv idual i ty : the Housekeepers, the Mounta ineers , the Pirates, the Hipp ies, the Creek-s iders, etc., and yes, the 'Outcasts '—three of us en joyed a casual lunch by a campf i re of dry poplar.
A teacher visited each campf i re to direct, to joke, or to enjoy a moment of f r iendship. Then came songs, marshmal lows, short per iods of instruct ion in the ident i f ication of several native woods and what to do w h e n lost in the wi lderness.
The return trip found everyone more easy, more c o n siderate of each other, and glad to be alive that day.
The B.C. TEACHER
Students' Impressions Varied 'I en joyed cook ing stakes over a fire and the de l i
c ious taste of it when it was done. A l l in all we had a prosperous hike and a good t ime.'
'The hike up and back was quite educat ional . ' 'The taste of outdoor food that had been cooked over
a little campfire was absolutely glor ious. ' ' W e had steak and good things to eat and especial ly
I l iked the smell of w o o d in the air. I l iked being told about trees.'
'Sitt ing around the fire singing and roasting marsh-mel lows was lots of fun, but the walk was too far and too steep. '
'I appreciated the trip and I hope w e can have another one. I l iked when we stopped and sang taps and had the Bible reading. '
'I got to know my fel low-students better and I enjoyed everyone being together and we got a long very good. '
'I think that Friday was one of the most enjoyable schoo l days of my life. It showed the pupi ls that the teachers cou ld trust them on a f ield trip l ike this. It offered the students a bit of adventure and fun. '
'I en joyed cook ing the steaks, sandwitches, apples and marshmel lows over the f l icker ing fires.'
' W e were free to do as w e pleased. I heard a great number of the students say they cou ld go on more trips into the hil ls. '
' O u r trip touched on a sample of wi lderness l iving. Campf i res and cook ing is someth ing not every ch i ld gets to do . Being wi th other students in the outdoors is a very nice feel ing. '
'It was a long trip but I enjoyed every bit of it. The leaves were a kind of thought of nature and their pleasant scent was in the warm air. '
'I thought it was fun to have the chance to eat outside by a campf i re instead of at schoo l where I w o u l d p robably be f in ishing homework or someth ing. '
Staff Comments Favorable
'I wish that city schools cou ld have an opportuni ty l ike this. I'm sure parents w o u l d support it complete ly . '
'I feel that a Canadian school does not usually offer such a rewarding adventure. '
W e appreciate the values that were real ized on this out ing. D o we dare dream of such an innovat ion in schoo l activities as week- long ' l iv ing- in ' outings in the wi lderness at locat ions reserved and equ ipped for this purpose? C o u l d it become a heritage of all rather than the. privi lege of a few schools? The laboratory is in expensive, the 'open area' is large and already constructed. Oppor tun i t y for pupi l involvement is unl imi ted.
A m o n g the inf luences that lend enr ichment , self-d isc ip l ine , and wholesomeness to life are experiences in 'total l iv ing ' in the w ide open spaces.
This c los ing quotat ion was spoken by the late Taylor Statten, be loved ' C h i e f of C a m p Ahmek , A lgonqu in Park, On ta r i o :
'The winds that b low over those vast stretches of spruce and pine are a remedy for many real, and all imaginary ills.'§
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2: Secondly, we wish to announce that the series now includes 14 new volumes, plus 4 new practice pads, edited and published in Canada by Reader's Digest especially for
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SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 1969 27
B.C.T.F. Co-operative Association Our Charter Flight Department Has Done It Again
Share The Excitement - Make Your Plans Now
C o n t a c t M i s s S c o t t a t 2 0 6 - 2 2 3 5 B u r r a r d S t r e e t , V a n c o u v e r 9 o r M r s . R e d f o r d a t 3 4 9 1 S a a n i c h R o a d , V i c t o r i a
"take your pick"
CHRISTMAS 1969 THE W A R M GOLDEN SANDS OF THE BEACH AT WAIKIKI
H o n o l u l u P . W . A . D e c . 2 1 - J o n . 3 / 7 0 1 5 3 s e a t s $ 2 1 0 . 0 0 H o n o l u l u P . W . A . D e c . 1 9 - J a n . 3 / 7 0 1 5 3 " $ 2 1 0 . 0 0
THE FLUFFY POWDER SNOWS OF SQUAW VALLEY R e n o / S q u a w V a l l e y P . W . A . D e c . 2 8 - J a n . 4 / 7 0 1 1 7 s e a t s $ 2 5 5 . 0 0 p e r p e r s o n
a ' i i n c l u s i v e — i h a r i n g t w i n b e d d e d r o o m — w i t h o u t b a t h
$ 2 8 5 . 2 0 — a l l i n c l u s i v e — s i n g l e r o o m — w i t h o u t b a t h
$ 2 0 3 . 1 5 p e r p e r s o n a l l i n c l u s i v e — o n e c h i l d 2-12 s h a r i n g r o o m w i t h p a r e n t s
SUMMER 1970 B r i t a i n P . W . A . J u n e 2 8 - S e p t . 2 1 5 3 s e a t s $ 3 1 5 . 0 0 B r i t a i n P . W . A . J u l y 1 4 - A u g . 1 9 1 5 3 / / $ 3 1 5 . 0 0 B r i t a i n P . W . A . J u l y 1 1 - S e p t . 5 1 5 3 It $ 3 1 5 . 0 0
B r i t a i n A i r C a n a d a J u n e 3 0 - S e p t . 6 1 5 0 HI $ 3 1 5 . 0 0 B r i t a i n A i r C a n a d a J u l y 2 1 - A u g . 1 6 1 5 0 II $ 3 1 5 . 0 0
B r i t a i n C P A i r J u n e 2 8 - A u g . 3 1 2 4 0 II $ 3 1 5 . 0 0 B r i t a i n C P A i r J u n e 2 9 - A u g . 3 0 2 4 0 II $ 3 1 5 . 0 0
J a p a n C P A i r A u g . 1 5 - S e p t . 6 1 5 2 a $ 3 5 0 . 0 0 J a p a n * O p t i o n a l t o u r p a c k a g e a v a i l a b l e * a i r f a r e o n l y
A u s t r a l i a Q u a n t a s / C P A i r J u n e 2 9 - S e p t . 5 G r o u p a $ 7 6 9 . 0 0 Q u a n t a s / C P A i r o f 6 0
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High season dates.are: Departure (Eastbound) June 74 to August 3 Return (Westbound) July 25 to September 14
The rest of the year is low season.
To accommodate the preponderance of teachers, the Co-operative must arrange charter flights to London during the summer months, which is the high season.
28 The B.C. TEACHER
f O n e of the most v iv id recol lect ions I have of my early school days is the spectacle of three classmates f i l ing out into the hall each morn ing wh i le the rest of us rose to recite the Lord's Prayer.
It was expla ined to me that the trio were Jewish and therefore cou ld not take part in the exercise since 'they don ' t bel ieve in Jesus.'
Pr ior exper ience on the playgrounds and instruction in Baptist and Salvation A rmy Sunday Schools had left me wi th the undisturbing if naive not ion that the only difference between Jewish kids and the rest of us was that they went to a different church.
But here was proof that something much more serious was invo lved , warrant ing a dai iy d isrupt ion of the pub l ic school routine, i began to v iew my Jewish classmates wi th a mixture of envy (for being able to get out of the dai ly prayer recital) and suspic ion (for being palpably different).
I can' t think of a better way to start breeding rel igious intolerance in six- and seven-year-old ch i ldren. Hav ing seen the evident ly al l -wise pub l i c schoo l set the example by exc lud ing Jews f rom a rout ine classroom activity, the chi ldren had begun to learn a bias wh ich w o u l d lead some of them in later l ife to bar Jews i rom clubs, ne ighborhoods and jobs.
Wha t of the Jewish chi ldren themselves? Their parents had ev i dent ly taken advantage of the prov incia l regulat ion excusing f rom the dai ly Christ ian rel igious exercises those wi th conscient ious object ions. Presumably these parents felt it less offensive to have their ch i ldren s ingled out as non-bel ievers than to have them take part in the ritual of an al ien faith. Nei ther alternative is part icularly attractive to the non -Chr ist ian parent.
This was in 1945, the year after the British Co lumb ia legislature amended the Publ ic Schools Ac t to make Bible reading and the Lord's Prayer mandatory features of the pub l i c schoo l day. Previously B.C. had been the on ly Canadian province in w h i c h Bible reading was not permi t ted in pub l ic schools (the Lord's Prayer was opt ional) , but
A M A T T E R O F OPINION
LET'S CUT OUT
SCHOOL RELIGIOUS EXERCISES
D A V E R O B E R T S O N
publ ic feel ing about rel igion had been growing more intense dur ing the Second W o r l d War and the government of the day bowed to pressure by adding the fo l lowing words—st i l l in effect today—as Sect ion 167 of the A c t :
'A l l pub l ic schools shall be opened by the reading, w i thout explanation or comment , of a passage of Scripture to be selected from readings prescr ibed or approved by the Counc i l of Publ ic Instruction. The reading of the passage of Scr ipture shall be fo l l owed by the recitat ion of the Lord's Prayer, but otherwise the schools shall be conduc ted on strictly secular and non-sectarian pr inciples. The highest moral i ty shall be inculcated, but no rel igious dogma or creed shall be taught.'
Regulations drawn up by the C o u n c i l of Publ ic Instruction prov ided that teachers or students wi th conscient ious object ior to the rel igious observances cou ld be excused, but, as I have tr ied to indicate earl ier, this is not a satisfactory solut ion.
M a n y p e o p l e — m o r e , one w o u l d hope, than was the case a quarter-century ago—today bel ieve that rel igious belief is a personal and pr i -
Mr. Robertson is actively interested in the question ol civil liberties as a
member ol the Civil Liberties Association.
vate matter wh i ch should be of no concern to the state save in its responsibi l i ty to see that individuals are free to practise the creed of their o w n cho ice.
Another diff iculty wi th the present law is that, as it is wo rded , it appears to ban any kind of study of rel ig ion. But obviously a student's educat ion wi l l be incomplete if he is prevented from learning anything of the various religious movements wh i ch have shaped history and c o n tinue today to inf luence socia l , po lit ical and economic developments all over the wor ld .
There are several other object ions to Sect ion 167 as it now stands, most of them cited by the 1965 Consu l ta tive Commi t tee Report on Rel igious Exercises in the Schools. This report resulted f rom the BCTF's resolut ion of the previous year wh i ch recommended d iscont inuance of the compulsory rel igious exercises. The commit tee 's f indings inc luded the fo l low ing :
• The prescr ibed exercises, being automat ic, are of dub ious rel igious or educat ional value.
• N o one seems to know whether the exercises are intended to be de vot ional or instruct ional. If devot ional , the classroom hardly lends the appropr iate atmosphere; if i n struct ional, the Section's proh ib i t ion of explanat ion or comment severely l imits the educat ional value.
• M a n y teacheis are not or do not feel qual i f ied to lead devot ional exercises or instruct in rel igious matters.
• In pract ice, the Act 's strict requirements somet imes are c i r cumvented or carried out in ways that rob the exercises of any devot ional o r educat ional value they might have had to begin wi th .
The Civ i l Liberties Associat ion recently prepared a posi t ion paper i n corporat ing the arguments in favor of amending the law and propos ing new word ing for Sect ion 167. C o p ies of the brief and letters urging support of the Associat ion's pos i t ion have been sent to the BCTF, to Education Min is ter Dona ld Brothers and Deputy Min is ter Dr. Nei l Perry, to the B.C. Schoo l Trustees Associat ion and to school boards throughout the Lower M a i n l a n d s
SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 1969 29
m 'QWS'S'S' Q jalaj eisje ad pages 373, 383 and 390 to 395 olume N of the all new New Book of Knowledge.
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11
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NUMBER LORE Long, long ago the Greeks and many other
ancient peoples thought that numbers had magic powers. Even today there are people who think that some numbers are lucky or unlucky. They believe that 7 is a lucky number and that 13 is an unlucky one. In fact, there are tall buildings in which no floor is numbered 13. The floor above the 12th floor is called the 14th. We all still use expressions and phrases that have come down to us from the people who once believed in the magical qualities of numbers. We give three cheers; we talk about being in seventh heaven; we say that things are at sixes and sevens.
Numbers have intrigued people down through the ages. The ancient Greeks were particularly fascinated by the characteristics of numbers. To them different numbers had special qualities. For example, the Greeks thought of even numbers (those that can be divided evenly by 2) as breakable and therefore weak and feminine. In contrast, they thought of odd numbers as unbreakable and
therefore strong and masculine. The number 5 was used to represent marriage because it is
the union of 2 and 3, the first feminine and the first masculine number.
• P R I M E N U M B E R S
Some relationships that the Greeks found among the natural numbers seem especially interesting. (Natural numbers are the ordinary numbers, such as 1, 2, 3, 4, and so on.) The Greeks found that some natural numbers can be divided evenly only by themselves and 1. These numbers are called prime numbers or primes.
Of the first ten natural numbers, 2, 3, 5, and 7 are prime. (The number 1 is not considered a prime.) Take 5, for example. It can be divided evenly only by itself and 1. There is no end to the list of prime numbers. No matter how high you count, you will still keep finding prime numbers. After 2, itself a prime number, all the prime numbers are found among the odd numbers. The even numbers
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These research activities on Numbers come from the only
encyclopedia that really adds up to a youngster.
Have fun with number 9. (a) The number 12,345,b79 is strange. (Note
that there is no 8.) When multiplied by 18 (or two 9's), the product is all 2's. When multiplied by 27 (or three 9's), the product is all 3's. Do the multiplication on a piece of paper to see if this is true. Then multiply 12,345,679 by 36. You know that 36 is four 9's. Do you think the answer will be all 4's?
(b) Take any two-digit number except one in which the digits are the same. For example: 93 Reverse it 32 Subtract the smaller from the larger 54 Reverse the new number 45 Add them 92 Do the same with other two-digit numbers. What is the answer? Is the answer always the same?
(c) Think of a number. Add the next larger number. Add 9. Divide by 2. Subtract the original number? Is the answer 5? Will it always be 5?
Make a magic square. Long before the Greeks explored numbers, the Chinese had invented number games. About 500 B.C. the Chinese created the first magic square. A magic square consists of rows and columns of numbers. Each row adds up to the same number. So does each column, and so does each diagonal. Here is the first known magic square (written with modern numerals).
Increase your number language. In ancient times people wrote numbers in many different ways. These are some of the ways that number 143 was written long ago.
Find out how the numbers from 1 to 10 were written by.
(a) the Egyptians; (b) the Romans; (c) the Mayans; and (d) the Babylonians.
B Try a cross-number puzzle. Work this as you would a crossword puzzle, using numbers instead of words.
Across A. 207 + 66 + 50 D. 120 + 312 + 356 G. 2 X 193 H. 858 ~6 I. 100 - 10 J. 2X45 K. 112 + 54 M.400-M N.8X8 O. 160-7- 2 P. 12 + 146 + 91 R. 1,606 - 834 U. 20 X 20 V. 496 -h 4
Down A. 3 X 11 B. 56 -v- 2 C. 3 X 1,232 D. 54 + 17 E. 8,814 - 324 F. 5 X 1,660 K. 4 X 406 L. 6,104 + 46 + 290 M.9 X 119 Q. 270 - T - 3 S. 8 X 9 T. 1 X 24
Find out more about the all new New Book of Knowledge.
Pleasant beginnings like these enable a young student to move confidently on to the more sophisticated problems. That's the whole point of the New Book of Knowledge. It's written and illustrated to meet the needs, interests, and abilities of younger students. Try our articles on arithmetic, fractions, percentages — just for starters. See what a real help it is to have the New Book of Knowledge in your classroom.
mnnnn? EGYPTIAN
CXLIII
BABYLONIAN
T H E NEW BOOK OF KNOWLEDGE It never talks over the heads of younger students.
Grolier of Canada ( SK) 200 University Ave. N5£̂ / Toronto 1, Ont.
Q U O T E S A N D C O M M E N T S V I T O C IANCI
from the files;ll%Sllllold & new fTh is is p lanned to be the year of The Big C lean -up ; the Sort ing O u t ; the Th row ing Away .
In general , I have a theory that anything wh ich hasn't been in active use for six weeks should be thrown out, and I fo l l ow it pretty we l l . Somehow , it has never app l ied to my col lect ion of notes, c l ippings, pictures, photos and all the rest of the stuff I have been keeping ever sihce I was about 16 years o l d , when I started keeping notebooks and c l ipp ing files. Mos t of it I have found useful , but sheer quantity, and the fact that much of it is outdated, forces me at long last to start th inning it out.
I keep tel l ing my English classes that the notebook habit is a good one to get into, and that their o w n personal notebook wi l l very l ikely prove to be the most important too l , and a source of ideas for ever. This is certainly true for me. I know I cou ldn ' t funct ion wi thout my notebooks.
The material comes f rom every conce ivab le source : dai ly papers ; magazines of every stripe f rom M a d to the university quarter l ies; books ;
scraps remembered from radio or TV programs; notes jotted d o w n at lectures and meet ings; remarks made by kids in class o r written in their essays and exams; overheard bits of conversat ion; lines from plays—there's no end to sources of material. Some of it is straight; some of the items have my penci led reactions beside them (I wonder , on look ing at some of the o ld items why on earth I kept them in the first p lace, and what m y comment means).
The greater part of the material is made up of ideas wh ich have jol ted me into an awareness, have turned a light on something I had seen only d imly or have started me off on an entirely new line of thought.
From Harper's Magazine in 1937 came this item wh ich jarred me out of the comfor tab le little rut I was already getting in to : 'Whatever education maybe culturally or as a concept, as an institution it is not independent or self-sufficient. It cannot create; it can only reflect.'
The fo l low ing came f rom the
same magazine several years later, wri t ten by Robert Hu tch ins : 'Interest as the aim of education leads to aimlessness. The proposition that what is taught should be taught as interestingly as possible does not mean that what is interesting is what should be taught.'
A reminder f rom Bert rand Russell to those ci t izens w h o lately have been getting wo rked u p over the need to contro l f rom outs ide the school cu r r i cu lum: T h e teacher, like the artist and the philosopher, can perform his work adequately only if he feels himself to be an individual directed by an inner creative impulse, not dominated and fettered by an outside authority.' A m e n to that.
N o matter where you d i p into W . R. Niblett , you f ind someth ing stirring. W e l l , I d o anyway. '// our long-term aim is simply to compel children to accept from the outside a faith ready-made and to take over by rote, at second-hand, a set of values which they do not gradually come to feel as their own, we are not in fact educating them to be fully human.'
P R O V I N C E O F BRITISH C O L U M B I A has opening for
DIRECTOR OF PATIENT EDUCATION AND TRAINING Tranquille School, KAMLOOPS
SALARY: $10,200, rising to $12,180 per annum. A challenging position at this major institution. Responsible to the Medical Superintendent for administration of training and education services including occupational and recreational therapy, academic school and workshop, development of curricula, budgetting, in-service training and research. Applicants must be Canadian citizens or British subjects with a M.A. or preferably Ph.D. in Special Education or Psychology, teaching or supervisory experience, administrative ability. Obtain applications from The Personnel Officer, Civil Service Commission of British Columbia, Valleyview Lodge, ESSON-D A L E , and return IMMEDIATELY. COMPETITION NO. 69:986.
Discount on fully AUTOMATIC BERNINA
Sewing Machines to Home Economics Teachers. For more information and brochures phone or write
SOUTHVAN SOWING CENTER
307c Authorized Bernina Dealer
6606 Froser Street, Vancouver 15, B.C. Phone 327-7022
Remember November — the 15th, that is —
PSA Membership Deadline
32 The 3.C. TEACHER
4
Here is another: T h e product of this sort of education and indoctrination is an individual in his degree personally responsible lor the culture which he has inli-jrited, and responsible too for adding to its content and changing its direction as called for by the times in which he lives.'
The earliest i tem in the co l lect ion came from someth ing wri t ten by H. G . Wel ls , and I remember the charge I got out of it w h e n , in my last year at high schoo l , I found h: 'Telling the truth is the latest achievement of the human mind, and so far the achievement is very imperfect. . .There is a real resentment in most minds against people who talk or depict too nakedly. Most of us prefer to float in a rich warm buoyant juicy mess of make-believe ... Our minds are still in the amphibian stage, and cannot hold out in the clear dry air. . .Man is born secretive, intricate and self-defensive, and he learns to become frank and simple. Candor, like everything else, is a thing to be achieved with infinite difficulty. . .'
Not all the items are in such serious ve in . A lot of them are bits of humor , happy examples of fe l ic i tous wr i t ing, sparks to give a w e l come lift. Such as this, f rom a talk given by a psychiatrist to his interns at a mental hospi ta l : 'There is one thing I wish you to remember while you work under me. In the present state of society, the patient is often right, and you are wrong.'
From the preface to a catalog for an exhibi t ion of the work of Georg ia O'Keef fe comes this little gem, wh ich I think cou ld be appl ied to our o w n work : '. . .with the hope that it may show there are many ways of seeing and thinking, and possibly, through showing that there are many ways, give someone confidence in his own way.'
I don ' t know w h o was responsible for this, but I hang on to it: T h e secret of a serene life is always to leave wherever you are in plenty of time to dawdle on your way to where you are going.'
Some cynical character remarked
that educat ion was like animal training in that: 'It was a knowledge of means without knowledge of ends.' O u c h . The same lad said, 'An educational authority is one whose ignorance is highly specialized.'
From one of my favorite peop le , Richard N e e d h a m : 'Men and women weren't put on earth for each other to criticize or reform; they were put on earth for each other to enjoy.'
W h o wou ld expect to f ind something memorab le in a whodun i t? No t I, until I found this, spoken by one of the characters: T o an innocent, anything is possible, because there's no experience programmed into the memory to tell you that things aren't possible... Innocence is the knowledge that you can do something; experience is the knowledge that you ctn't.'
At this point in rummaging around, I have a hunch I'm not going to throw out very much of all this. You never can te l l ; I might need it someday.§
Y O U R S F O R T H E A S K I N G . . . valuable teaching material for your classes
Use this ad as your order form. Mail it together with your name and address to: The Corporate Secretary Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce 25 King Street West, Dept. " A " , Toronto
Quantity Required
1. Natural Resources Map of Canada (English only) x 17X"i A-36
2. Transportation Systems Map of Canada (English only) WA" x 17>£*, A-35
3. Booklets on agricultural subjects deslcned for farmers. Found useful E n ° " s h French for teaching agricultural to Grades 7 and 3, and In Secondary Schools. Illustrated. Check here for a Requisition Form listing booklets available
4. Banking Forms for Schools. To obtain a selection of banking forms for classroom use, check i : 3 r e for a Requisition Form giving complete list of forms avai lable
4 > , C A N A D I A N I M P E R I A L B A N K O F C O M M E R C E
SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 1969 33
F R O M OUR R E A D E R S
Was Misquoted, Says Reporter
Sir, Blushing all over, I unveil myself
as the Vic tor ia educat ion reporter whose scribbl ings drew V i to C i a n -ci 's ire in the May-June issue of the B.C. Teacher. M r . C ianc i disagrees wi th the idea of a provincial board to def ine the aims of educat ion, as advocated recently by James C a m p be l l , president of the B.C. Schoo l Trustees Associat ion. A n d Mr . C i a n ci brands my endorsat ion of the concept a 'woo l ly bit of daydreaming. '
A n ex-reporter himself, M r . C i a n ci has employed one or two o ld journal ist ic dodges wh ich come in handy on a du l l day. H e has (a) quoted selectively and then taken off on a tangent, and (b) is probably raising dust just for the hell of it.
W h a t d i d Mr . Campbe l l actually say? 'Purposes of educat ion are pro
perly in the realm of society at la rge/ he said. M r . C a m p b e l l d e clared that teachers' v iews on education 'are important but must cease to be exclusive. '
'Their realm of dec is ion-mak ing, as a class, must be more careful ly def ined to encompass ways^ and means and must not inc lude d o m inance over purpose and aims.'
Mr . Campbe l l p roposed a provincial cur r icu lum board , pr ime task of wh ich w o u l d be 'to determine society's best wishes wi th respect to the purposes of educat ion , and where these wishes were not we l l -def ined, to articulate and achieve acceptance of suitable purposes. '
The vision of our schools thus being del ivered into the hands of the Board of Trade and the Canadian Manufacturers ' Assoc ia t ion is M r . Cianci 's very own bogeyman. I wish
he wou ld admit paternity instead of impl icat ing Mr . Campbe l l and myself.
I disagree wi th Mr . Campbe l l on the compos i t ion of his proposed agency (he wanis trustees and M L A ' s ) , but support his v iew that society ns a who le should dec ide the aims of its educat ion system.
Educat ion in B.C. is heavily insulated at every level from part ic ipat ion by the publ ic . The system has no long-term aims beyond the usual platitudes found in administrative bulletins. Fundamental dec is ionmaking is in the hands of administrators, nearly all of w h o m came up via the classroom.
Mr . Cianci manages to stick his words into my mouth , to the effect that teachers 'are so obv ious ly do ing a poor job. ' In the articles he refers to, I paid tr ibute to the profession for quiet ly burying the Chant C o m mission's hard-nosed, Three-Rs approach to educat ion.
A W E E K ' S H O L I D A Y W I T H P A Y !
TRIAD LEASING COMPANY, through their TEACHERS' PURCHASE PLAN, can save you a week's salary or more on the purchase of a 1970 automobile. The buying pewer of 22,000 B.C. teachers commands a fleet price in the car market. Before you buy any car check Triad's price. You can buy a 1970 NOW at lower than next summer's clearance' prices!!
Write, drop in, or phone for your fleet quotation to:
New Address: #240 - 1070 West Broadway, Vancouver 9
New Phone: 732-7833
Please Note: Winter hours 3 p.m. - 9 p.m. weekdays; 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. Saturdays
Financing can be arranged through
B.C. Teachers Credit Union 1815 West 7th Ave., Vancouver 9, 731-6191
T R I A D L E A S I N G C O M P A N Y L T D . W . R. (Bill) Stonier, President. Res. phone 733-1007
The B.C. TEACHER
As a reporter, the exper ience of being chopped up in print by deliberate misunderstanding has given me a new sympathy for those w h o d o scream, 'I w u z misquoted. ' V ic tor ia Bil l Stavdal
The Daily Colonist
Keeping up with the Jargon
Sir,
As I'll bet you already know, even the most literate and native speakers of our language (such as readers of this journal) have at their command only about 2 0 % of the 678,-482 words that currently constitute English. (This figure does not, of course, inc lude the words added to the language since last Tuesday when I made my count.)
At first glance, this failure on the part of most of us to establish an int imate relat ionship wi th 8 0 % of our potent ial vocabulary looks like sheer laziness. W e all appear to be sitt ing shiftlessly on the porch whi le the ripe fruit from The Great Tree O f O u r Language lies rotting on the
ground before us. But things aren't really as bad as
my metaphor. Most of the words we fail to pick up weren't meant for human consumpt ion , anyhow. They're mostly just jargon words designed to keep the uninit iated at a respectful distance, something the family doctor achieves when he accuses his patient of sport ing a ' b i lateral perorbital hematoma, ' wh i ch is a good example of the kind of ornate prose that for years has been giving the medical profession a black eye.
But my immediate quarrel is not with black eyes as such. No r is it wi th the several thousand jargon words that wi l l forever remain a mystery to those of us fated to spend our lives outside such arcane m o d ern specialt ies as medic ine, law, space travel, pol lu t ion control and fi lm censorship.
What I am quarrel ing wi th is the ever- increasing number of l inguistic hematomas ('swellings,' literally) wh ich currently darken the mouths of many educators, but wh ich are not understood by many teachers
inside the profession. Regrettably, even the most up- to-
dale dict ionary doesn't offer much help to a normal Canadian boy eager-beaver to keep up wi th his jargon. (I bought a new dict ionary for this very purpose not long ago and was dismayed to find that most of its contents were as stale as day-o ld bread by the time I got it home from the supermarket.)
So what I respectfully suggest is that as soon as you possibly can you inc lude in each issue of The B.C. Teacher a sort of 'greensheet' of educat ional jargon, so that those of us back here at the other end of the horse's mouth w i l l have some way of knowing wh ich of jargon's f l ight i est fill ies wi l l be worth bett ing on tomorrow.
In order to seem perfectly clear about what I'm suggesting, I've inc luded be low a few samples of the kind of entries I hope your green-sheets wi l l contain. The jargonisms that I have attempted to def ine and/or il lustrate are some that made me tear my hair wh i l e I was combing through educat ional jour-
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Available on loan: A new ten minute colour film "World At Your 5 Feet".
New policy now allows teachers of home economics to buy Bissell products at trade prices. Send for price list.
Prov.
S E P T E M B E R - O C T O B E R 1969 3 5
nals at my local barber shop one quiet day last summer.
I probably should explain that the barber shop I go to is not far from the U B C gates, and is, on this account, patronized by several members of the faculty, some of w h o m tend to be forgetful . So it is not unusual to f ind among the standard barber shop accret ion of o ld Gir l ie Mags and pre-war copies of Field and Stream some lef t-behind learned journals of the most educational type.
(Incidentally, the opportuni ty for high-level reading is not the only chal lenge offered by this particular barber shop. O n e rainy morn ing last winter, for example, I had to race a quite spry Assistant Dean across Tenth Avenue to see wh ich of us w o u l d get first crack at the Gir l ie Mags. But I doubt whether either you or your readers have any real interest in w h o w o n , so I'll get back on the track of my definitions.) unstructured: This highly honor i f ic adjective means someth ing l ike ' free' as opposed to 'p lanned, ' as in 'Jones was out on the town last night
so his lessons today are complete ly unstructured. ' W h e n appl ied to school bui ld ings, 'unstructured' means that Vic tor ia has not yet okayed the plans. inter-disciplinary: A n adjective that is common ly emp loyed to descr ibe study hall situations where at least two teachers are required to keep the noise po l lu t ion at a tolerable level . (See also ' team teaching.') feedback: A n exclusively singular noun that is f ight ing hard to replace 'gossip ' and the slangier 'scutt lebutt,' especial ly in urban areas. However , citings of it have been made as far north as Ch i l l iwack : 'Despi te the high cost of beef, cattle producers in the area feel that they wi l l be do ing wel l this year if they even get their feedback. ' dialog: A n o ld noun up to new tricks. In its contemporary usage, 'd ia log ' nearly always impl ies a serio- jocular confrontat ion between representatives from oppos ing factions, such as between a h ippie and a bald man, in wh ich case it can also mean ' two monologs. ' media: A n extremely f lexible word
that can be used as an adjective (as in ' resource media ' ) , or as a cons id erable mouthfu l (as in ' resource media center'). It also occurs as the s imple infinit ive 'to media , ' in wh ich case it means ' to take a book out of the schoo l l ibrary.' priorities: A singularly plural noun . (In these inflationary times, a single 'pr ior i ty ' isn't felt to be worth a serious thinker's damn.) As currently emp loyed , 'pr ior i t ies' are 'Those things one likes to do , and intends to get done ' as opposed to 'Those things one should do , but won' t . ' The fo l low ing social note f rom O t tawa shows exactly how the word shou ld be used: 'Posing for a representative from M a d a m e Tussaud's Waxworks is not among the Pr ime Minister 's cultural priorit ies. '
In addi t ion to the numerous jargon terms that are invented by e d u cators, there are, of course, others bo r rowed from the general language and adapted for school and c o l lege use. I hope you wi l l remember to inc lude examples of this type in the greensheets you wi l l be prov iding us wi th in the future. The k ind
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PRINTERS B O O K B I N D E R S 632-7722 EVERGREEN PRESS 682-7722 PRINTERS L I T H O G R A P H E R S
36 The B.C. TEACHER
of thing I mean is such a phrase as ' A n Involved Person. ' W h e n adapted to educat ion I think this usually means ' A teacher w h o can stomach the gut issues wi thout gett ing ulcers.' Vancouver A lan Dawe
Questions Needing Answers
Sir, Hav ing taught Grades 4 through
12 in my five years of exper ience, I hope to publ ish a book in an attempt to answer such quest ions as: 1. Is the Occupa t iona l teacher a Negro o r do you have to be a Negro to be an Occupat iona l teacher? 2. D o you have to work hard to be
a counsel lor or do counsel lors work? 3. D o chi ldren learn to 'play hookey' or do they 'play hookey ' to learn? 4. W h o do the administrators really love and w h o really loves the administrators? 5. Do you have to wear a suit to teach or do you have to teach to wear a suit? 6. Is there a bott le in the teacher's desk or is the teacher in a bottle? 7. D o we say the Lord's Prayer to learn or do we just learn to say it? 8. D o students love to learn or learn to love? 9. Is it school board or bored wi th school? 10. D o you learn to laugh or do you laugh to learn? 11. Is school for the chi ldren or are
the chi ldren for the school? 12. D o teachers test the chi ldren or d o the chi ldren test the teachers? 13. Is it pr incipal or just pr ince? 14. Does the t imetable work or does it just table time? 15. D o we fail chi ldren to help them or do we fail to help them? 16. Is it t r igonometry or t r ickono-metry? 17. Is it superintendent or intend to be super? 18. Is G o d dead A . D . or is he M in i s ter of Educat ion, B.C.? 19. A re there poor teachers or are teachers just poor? 20. D o you have to be right to be l iked or do you have to be l iked to be right? Nor th Vancouver L. Jim Short
We Shall Miss These Teachers Active Teachers Last Taught In Died Mrs. Isabelle Robson C o o k Nana imo August 2 Mrs . M u r i a l A u d r y Curr. Vancouver August 2 Mrs . Rosa Margaret Davey Vancouver August 2 Hugh Gera ld Green Nana imo Apr i l 21 Miss Mabe l Agnes H ind Vancouver August 2 Mrs . Pearl Irene (Nichols) H o l d e n M a p l e Ridge Apr i l 15 Wi l l i am Robert Long Powel l River February 10 Chr is topher Duncan Mac lnnes Vanderhoof June 30 Chester Hugh M i l l a r Shuswap M a r c h 14 Phi l l ip Dav id Palmer A lbern i Apr i l 26 Mrs. Ruth Russell Nana imo August 2 Alber t Brian Thompson Abbots fo rd M a y 27 Edward A . C . Tweedale Salmon A r m February 9 Mrs . A l i ce Eva W e n d e l l Burnaby August 2 Merv in W i l l i am Warw ick Abbots fo rd Apr i l 8 Wi l l i am And rew Wi l cocks Powel l River Apr i l 23
Retired Teachers Last Taught In Died Miss Mary I. Bol ton Vancouver Apr i l 21 Miss Ellen Bournes Coqu i t l am Apr i l 18 Mrs . H i lda (Nightingale) Bruce Lake Cow ichan M a r c h 25 Mrs . Ma r i on D. (Wright) Corn foo t Vancouver M a y 20 Miss Eva M . Doher ty Vancouver M a r c h 28 Miss Ruth George V ic tor ia Apr i i 28 Thomas Roy Hal l Vancouver Normal Schoo l M a y 10 Mrs . Jennie M . H. Hard ing Vancouver M a y 9 Miss Esther G . Harrop Vancouver Ma rch 16 Mrs . A l i c ia A . C. Humphreys Vernon August 2 Frederick Job Salmon A r m Apr i l 24 Frederick T. Marr iage Ke lowna / June 23 Clarence R. Messenger Vancouver J u n e l l Miss Jemima B. M i l n e Vancouver January 23 Frederick A . O ld f i e ld Vancouver August 17 Wi l l i am C. O z a r d V ic tor ia July 27 Edward S. Sims Vancouver Ma rch 1 Miss Lea A . St. James V ic tor ia June 29 Thomas S. Wh i t temore Vic tor ia M a y 6
SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 1969
AFF REQUIREMENTS 1 9 7 0 - 7 2
or Department of National Defence
Schools Europe The Depar tment of Na t i ona l Defence operates schools in Europe to provide e lementary and secondary educat ion for ch i ld ren of the C a n a d i a n A r m e d Forces. Teachers and Supervisory staff members are obta ined on a loan of service basis with the co-operat ion of their employ ing school boards in C a n a d a . A two-year Ag reemen t is negot iated by D N D wi th the school board and the teacher nominated by the board.
For the school y e a r commenc ing September 1970, it is expected that teachers and pr inc ipals wi l l be required for the fo l lowing grade levels and subject areas.
(A) ELEMENTARY LEVELS Kindergar ten , Pr imary , Jun ior , Intermedia te , French Conversat ion , L ib rary , Pr inc ipa ls .
(B) SECONDARY LEVELS M a t h e m a t i c s , Sciences, Geography, H i s tory, Eng l ish , French, La t i n , G e r m a n , Gu idance , Phys ica l Educat ion, H o m e Economics, Industr ial A r t s , C o m m e r c i a l wi th P i tman Shor thand, L ibrary , P r i n c ipa ls .
PROCEDURES The Depar tment negotiates wi th school boards only. Pr inc ipa ls and teachers interested in be ing considered for ass ignment overseas M U S T present a request to thei r board . Nomina t i ons for the 1970-72 term must be forwarded B Y T H E B O A R D to the Director of Dependants Educat ion , Depar t ment of Na t i ona l Defence, O T T A W A 4, before 1 December, 1969. Boards not now par t ic ipa t ing in this loan of service a r rangement may obta in c o m plete detai l of procedures by a direct request to the above address.
N O M I N A T I O N LETTERS S H O U L D I N C L U D E : (A) An outline of the experience of the candidate
and present level of teaching (grade or subject and grade);
(B) Subject area and grade level preference;
(C) Academic arid professional standing;
(D) Present basic salary rate; (E) Age, marital status, number of dependants;
(F) An efficiency assessment, general compatibility rating and other relevant information to assist in the selection of candidates.
LIFE INSURANCE TEACHING AIDS
for use in your Classroom
BOOKLETS Life Insurance, A Canadian Handbook: 1968. 104 pp., illus. English and French. Explains the fundamentals of life Insurance, company operation and investment policy, personal financial planning, etc. One copy to a teacher. The Story of Life Insurance: 24 pp., illus. English. Discusses history and explains facts for students. Available in quantity. Life Insurance: Dollars and Sense: 20 pp. English and French Answers questions frequently asked by the general public. Available in quantity. Problems in Life insurance: English: Teacher-student workbook unit for business practice and mathematics classes. One unit per teacher. Student portion in quantity. Sets, Probability and Statistics: 36 pp., illus. English and French. Explains the mathematics of life insurance. Available In class sets. Single copy of Key to each teacher. Careers in Life Insurance: 24 pp., illus. English and French. Discusses the careers in the life insurance business. Available in quantity. Actuary: 12 pp. English and French. Outlines career opportunities and educational requirements. Written by the Canadian Institute of Actuaries. Available in quantity. A Career for You in a Life Insurance Company: 24 pp. English and French. Outlines career opportunities for university graduates. Available in quantity. The Family Money Manager: 8 pp. English. Outlines fundamentals of money management. Useful for classroom discussion. Available in quantity. A Miss and Her Money: 24 pp., illus. English. Tips on earning, budgeting and saving for teen-age girls. Available in quantity. Money in Your Pocket; 24 pp., illus. English. Fundamentals of money management and life insurance for teen-age boys. Available in quantity. You and Your Family's Life Insurance: 28 pp. English. Describes the life insurance role in family and individual security. Available in quantity. Man and His Money (Economics and You) Series 1 and 2: Each 24 pp., illus. English. Witty articles explaining economics; for senior high school students. Available in quantity.
FILM STRIPS The Career of a Life Insurance Agent: Colour. 47 frames. English and French. For use in guidance classes. One print and one manual to each school. The Life Insurance Story—Part 1: Rev. '63. B/W. 36 frames. English and French. An introduction and history of life insurance. One print and one manuel to each school. The Life Insuranco Story—Part 2: Rev. '63. B/W. 42 frames. English and French. The various forms of life insurance, policies and uses. One print and one manual to each school. The Life Insurance Story—Port 3 : Rev. '63. B/W. 31 frames. English and French. Life insurance company operation and foreigr: business. One print and one manual to each school. You and Your Food: Colour, 28 frames. English and French. Instruction on good eating habits, nutrition and food value. One print and one manual to each school. To obtain any of these FREE teaching aids, simply teor out this advertisement, indicate items desired, marking quantity needed for each, and fill in the information requested below (please print).
Name of Teacher ordering ...
Grades and Subjects taught
Name of Principal
Name of School
Address of School
Enrolment of School
Send your order to: EDUCATIONAL DIVISION THE CANADIAN LIFE INSURANCE ASSOCIATION 44 King Street West, 15th Floor Toronto 1, Ontario.
38 The B.C. TEACHER
4
These Teachers Have Retired -At the close ol the school year in lune, one hundred ninety-five teachers said farewell to their classes lor the last
time. Seventeen others, whose names are also included here, retired during the six months prior to June 30 or
during the two summer months. To all these colleagues the Federation extends its good wishes lor the future.
Miss Laura E. Adamson, Vancouver Mrs. Ada Evelyn Almeder, Vancouver John A. Armour, New Westminster Miss Marie Anna Baker, Vancouver Ernest Richard Ballard, Vancouver Miss Norma M. Barrington,
Peace River South M I E S Bernice E. Barton, Vancouver Mr;. Nellie P. Beddoes, Maple Ridge Miss Kathleen E. Bisshopp, Coquitlam Mrs. Muriel L. Blackwell, Victoria Miss Ina J. Blanchard, Vancouver Miss Ethel M. Boothby, Mission Mrs. Laura M. Bowyer, Maple Ridge Mrs. Thelma P. Bradwin, Chilliwack David E. Breckenridge, Saanich Mrs. Mary C. Brook, Vancouver Mrs. Mary A. Brown, Vancouver Miss Margaret J. Bruce, Vancouver Stephen C. Brynjolfson, Powell River Mrs. Florence D. Buckley, Msple Ridge Mrs. Martha V. Callister, Alberni Duncan Cameron, Maple Ridge Mrs. Annie K. Camp, Nanaimo Mrs. Annie T. Campbell, Courtenay Mrs. Ella Cannon, Prince George Donald Capon, Vancouver Mrs. Frances H. Chase, Burnaby Mrs. Elva ]. A. Clark, Kelowna Mrs. Ethel L. Clark, Victoria Mrs. Florence E. Clark, Burnaby Miss Lillian A. Coade, Vancouver Miss Alice M. Coleman, Saanich Mrs. Agnes Connally, Maple Ridge Miss Agnes J. Conroy, Vernon Mrs. Marjorie S. Cook, Burnaby Mrs. Alice Oakley Cooke, Vancouver Mrs. Susan D. Cowan, Vancouver Mrs. Iris H. Crabb, Vancouver Miss Clementina Cruickshank, Vancouver Mrs. Minerva E. V. Crane, Victoria
; Miss Alice M. Curtis, Fernie Mrs. Marie Anne Deane, Burnaby Mrs. Ethel E. Dixon, Langley Mrs. Elizabeth H. Douglas, Langley James H. Downard, Victoria Miss Jean M. Drummond, New Westminster Isaac Abram Dyck, New Westminster Mrs. Kathleen M. Elder, Kamloops Mrs. Norah A. Elphicke, North Vancouver Miss Katharine Elson, Vancouver "Miss Lenore Eversman, Vancouver Mrs. Jessie J. Farber, Burnaby
. William Farenholts, South Cariboo Miss Madge C. Farmer, Surrey Miss Eileen C. Farrington, Vancouver W. Gordon Fleet, Revelstoke Mrs. Gladys Forbes, Victoria
-Eric Forster, Victoria 'Mrs. Marguerite Foxall, Nelson Mrs. Agnes M. Fraser, Vancouver Mrs. Amelia Fraser, Trail Mrs. Margaret Fraser, Chilliwack Beverly C. Fyfe, Vancouver Mrs. Mary M. Frew, Williams Lake Miss Jean L. Fulton, New Westminster James H. Gagnon, Trail Miss Edna V. Gear, North Vancouver Howard W. George, Trail Miss Claudia Gilpin, Maple Ridge William L. Ginther, Vancouver Mrs. Elizabeth A. Good, Chilliwack
Mrs. Gwynnith Gooding, Vancouver Mrs. Marjorie Gordon, Shuswap Roth G. Gordon, Mission John Gourlay, Ladysmith Mrs. Marg. Gowe, Vancouver Mrs. Eliza Grenfell, Merritt Newton L. Grimmett, Vancouver Albert A. Hards, Vancouver Miss Gladys Harford, Burnaby Miss Edith Harrison, Burnaby Miss Agnes M. Healey, Vancouver Mrs. Ella M. Heaven, Trail Miss Olive W. Heritage, Victoria Mrs. Lily Heslip, Vancouver Mrs. Charlotte M. M. Hess,
New Westminster Mrs. Marjorie V. Hiller, Prince George Mrs. Alice H. Hockin, Surrey Mrs. Fanny D. Hoe, New Westminster Mrs. Kathleen E. Honeysett, Courtenay Miss Kathleen Horner, Victoria Arthur M. Howard, Vancouver Mrs. Ruby E. Howard, Kamloops Andrew Wm. Hyndman, Vancouver Mrs. Louise Iverson, Victoria Mrs. Doris S. Jelley, Richmond Harry S. Johnston, Vancouver Miss Hilda Jude, Langley Mrs. Erma P. Keats, Nanaimo Clive A. Kelly, Victoria Miss Elizabeth Kendall, Vancouver Miss Ruby E. Kerr, Maple Ridge Frank Wm. Laird, Penticton Miss Doris Laverock, Vancouver Alvin O. Leboe, McBride Charles E. Leppard, Alberni Mrs. Minnie Leppard, Alberni Gordon Leversage, Richmond Ray B. Lobb, Kelowna Ernest P. Long, West Vancouver John C. Loomer, Victoria Thomas Lowe, Vancouver Miss Mary Lyster, Vancouver John L. McAllister, Vernon Miss C. MacAskill, New Westminster Miss Irene M. MacAulay, Sechelt Mrs. Bessie McBroom, Skeena-Cassiar Donald C. McDevitt, Campbell River Wilfred J. MacDonald, Vancouver Miss lleen McDonald, Vancouver Mrs. Lorraine Macey, Vancouver Neill M. MacGregor, Chilliwack William G. McKenzie, Burnaby Mrs. Donna M. McKinley, Golden Mrs. Bertha M. MacKinnon, Gulf Islands Mrs. Jessie M. McKinnon, Kitimat Miss Christie MacNab, Victoria Mrs. Elaine McNamee, Coquitlam Mrs. Clara V. Mansberg, Courtenay Mrs. Alice M. Marlatt, Lake Cowichan Mrs. Anella Martin, Alberni Miss Agnes L. Mathers, Queen Charlotte Leslie B. Matthews, Victoria Mrs. Mary Meek, Shuswap Miss Clara Mercer, Kimberley Edward F. Miller, North Vancouver Mrs. Florence Mills, Quesnel Charles William Mitton, Vancouver Stephen T. Moodie, New Westminster John Henry Moore, Burnaby Mrs. Pamela Morrison, Courtenay Mrs. Dorothy Moss, Langley
Miss Sylvia Mould, Vancouver Mrs. Anna B. Nash, Burnaby Mrs. Muriel Neilson, Sechelt John L. Nicholls, Qualicum Mrs. Ena Nisbet, Cowichan Miss Margaret Nixon, Kamloops Clarence R. O'Connor, Grand Forks Frederick A. Oldfield, Vancouver Miss Stella Pahkala, Vancouver Mrs. Eleanor Palmer, Victoria Mrs. Florence Parker, New Westminster Miss Dorothy Peacock, Langley Lionel A. Peake, Maple Ridge Mrs. Edythe M. Pedersen, Ocean Fails Mrs. Grace M. Perrin, Vancouver Archibald Pickell, Vancouver Gordon G. Piercy, Nanaimo Charles H. Pillar, Quesnel Mr;. Muriel K. Porter, Vancouver Mrs. rtachel Price,
Armstrong-Spallumcheen Mrs. Doris Pringle, New Westminster Hubert D. Pritchard, Penticton Frederick J. Reed, Alberni Mrs. Elizabeth Revel, Shuswap Miss Kathleen M. W. Reynolds,
North Vancouver Mrs. Agnes Robertson, South Cariboo Joseph T. Ross, Victoria Mrs. Helen Roulston, Cranbrook Mrs. Bernice Rutherford, Sooke Bernard Ryall, Nelson Allan J. Saunders, Vernon Miss Edna Savage, Vancouver Miss Jennie Schooley, Vancouver Mrs. Lorna Schreiber, Langley Miss Catherine Schreiner, Delta Cyril H. Shoemaker, Vancouver Miss Ethel M. Smart, Vancouver Mrs. Margaret Smith, Powell River Clyde McK. Smith, New Westminster Mrs. Mary E. Smith, Burnaby William G. Smith, Burnaby Mrs. Annie Sotvedt, Vancouver Herbert V. Stent, Summerland Miss Ivadell Stokes, Delta Miss Jean M. Story, Vancouver John H. Sutherland, Vancouver Mrs. Laura G. Taylor, Abbotsford Robert M. Taylor, Merritt Mrs. Annie Thomas, Nanaimo Miss Marjorie Thorburn, Vancouver Mrs. Myrtle Threlfall, Abbotsford Joseph Timmins, Nanaimo Donald H. Toms, Victoria Miss IrmaTrowsse, Cowichan Mrs. Gladys Tuckey, Powell River Charles Tudway, Courtenay Mrs. Esma Turnbull, Delta Henry P. Tyson, Maple Ridge Mrs. Grace Waldon, Chilliwack Wm. Arthur Weaver, Vancouver Elmer W. White, Nelson William A. Wilander, Vancouver Carson I. Williams, Fraser Canyon Mrs. Lilian Williams, Cowichan Miss Jean Wilton, West Vancouver Mrs. Grace Wiren, Sechelt Mrs. Janet Wolsey, Vernon Mrs. Jessie Wood, Peace River North Mrs. Sadie Woods, Victoria Mrs. Margaret Wyllie, Maple Ridge
SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 1969
MONITORING T H E MEDIA J A N D R A B E K
<rlt wasn't thai ihey had reached some sort of a pedagogical summit in East Europe.
Even after W o r l d War II their methods were mostly quaint antiques left over from the Aust ro-Hungar ian Empire. A n d , as a reaction to the six years of Nazi occu pat ion, in 1945 these were churned up by a hefty dose of rabid nat ionalism. In short, noth ing to write home about.
But in one respect the Czechs in 1947 were far ahead of the Nor th Amer icans in 1969: they used movies as part of the cur r icu lum.
A n d not those fl ickers w i th maps across wh ich sweeping arrows showed the extent of the Napo leon ic Empire in 1812, or a badly drawn diagram of rock formations showing the work ings of an artesian wel l .
Human movies. W i t h girls and boys and conf l ict and drama.
O n c e a month our school was c losed. In one long, chatty co lumn , with the pr incipal at its head, we marched to the nearest movie house for a special showing.
Even if the choice of f i lm on occa sion left a lot to be desi red, it was
The Charge ol the Light Brigade — Was Balaclava really Khe Sang?
great fun. The mov ie was not selected on the basis of its educat ional wor th , but on the basis of what was available.
So one month we were especial ly del i r ious wi th joy when the news leaked out f rom the pr incipal 's office that we w o u l d be exposed to the main issues in the deve lopment of the Amer ican West in v iewing Errol Flynn in 'They D ied wi th Their Boots O n ' — the story of Custer's Last Stand.
The only absentee on that day was one C ibu l ka , whose inf lamed appendix had been removed the night before. Acco rd i ng to the legend, up to the moment they con nected the ether machine he implored the surgeon to postpone the operat ion for 24 hours so he wou ld not miss the sound of the 7th Cavalry's a larmed bugler.
As it turned out, C ibu lka wasn't the only one w h o missed the bugler. W e all d id .
The \oc?\ Communis t Party secretariat heard of the proposed outrage and a cour ier hastily dispatched to Prague brought back a dul l ish, black and whi te Russian talkathon, cal led 'Len in in October . '
W e didn' t l ike 'Lenin in Oc tober . ' It w o u l d have been diff icult to l ike 'Lenin in Oc tobe r ' even if one were Trotsky. But the funny thing was that in spite of it we learned something.
It was my first encounter wi th the Russian Revolut ion. The intensity of the faces of V lad imi r Mich and his co l leagues—in spite of the puer i le act ing and the terrible overstatement of it a l l—remains imbedded in my mind to this day.
For their value to students this year I should put Zef irel l i 's 'Romeo and Juliet ' and Richardson's 'The Charge of the Light Brigade' at the top of the list.
The former is what Bob Newhart wou ld call an automatic 'grabber. ' Speaking general ly, any f i lm w i th a Shakespearean theme is good news for the English teacher.
True, The Charge hammered its point home wi th such vehemence that one left the theater not only w i th a spl i t t ing headache, but also wi th a strong suspic ion that Card i gan wasn't meant as Cardigan at all but the who le Amer i can mil i tary establ ishment, and that Balaclava was really Khe Sang. A n d it was too bad, because al though the metaphor was crude, the photography was superb.
As a spark for a thoughtful discussion of 19th century co lon ia l i sm, however , The Charge cou ldn ' t be beaten. Those kids in my Social Studies 10 class w h o managed to see it were greatly d isturbed by it and that, after a l l , was what it was all about.
A f i lm doesn ' t have to be great and educat ional (in the narrow sense of the word) to be a useful tool for the c lassroom. It's useful as long as it infuriates someone and that someone begins to think back as a result.
Some films manage to do this just by their title. To name a mov ie 'Krak-atoa East of Java' is to throw the gauntlet at all those w h o have ever spent any t ime over a map of the East Indies. Because Krakatoa is west of there.
The B.C. TEACHER
Take something cal led 'Where Eagles Dare. ' It had Richard Burton and Cl in t Eastwood in it — if you know what I mean.
In it a group of Ang lo -Amer i can supermen parachute into Bavaria and before you can say 'Ach tung Aufpassen auf d ie Englander, ' they take over a castle perched on top of a rock, wh ich is so strangely reminiscent of the pr ince's pad in 'Snow-white. ' It was great fun.
N o w , suppose after everyone in the class has seen it, you give an assignment that calls for putt ing d o w n on paper all the anomal ies that barked from the screen. I don ' t mean such details as H o l l y w o o d trad i t ional ly ignores — for example, h o w come that not a single Nazi not i res the strange accent of the A l l i ed agent, wh ich he must have in German no matter how much of a l inguist he is—but some that are even more obvious.
Like the shuttle service wi th captured Ge rman transports wh i ch the RAF seems to be running between the A lps and London and wh ich remains undetected by the Luftwaffe. Return trip w o u l d be we l l over 1,000
M.A.M. & S.I.R. Meet your ideal date or mate. Become a member of Mee t -A -Ma tch computerized or correspondence social service program. M a i l one dollar for your lifetime enrolment, details and other interesting offers.
"' MEET-A-MATCH P R O G R A M TOM DEUGAU, Director
3639 West 2nd Ave. Vancouver 8, B.C.
UBC GKAD, post-grad qua!incaMtlt\H (Cert. Ed. temale) tutor, teacher uml cxp. administrator in Vancouver and oversea.s seeks post in secondary, private school and/or college Immediately. N. Farina, c/o W.C. Bice, Bull, Housser & Tupper, 676 \V. Hastings St., Vancouver 2.
BRITISH T E A C H E R will exchange modem 2-bedroom bungalow South Devon coast and 19C8 car for similar accommodation in B.C. during August 1970. Miss K. Bryan, 18, Valley Drive, Church Road, Wembury, near Plymouth, S. Devon, England.
SEND FOR A CATALOG! 200 more Lesson A i d s
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miles, with about 9 5 % of it over Naz i -cont ro l led territory. H o w come these daredevi l pi lots never came forward after the war to c la im the fame they so justly deserve?
Talk it up, and the class has learned something about the geography of Europe, about the advances in aviat ion.
Qu i te a lot was also learned about tlie extent of the Nazi empire. A n d wi thout sweeping arrows!
What it al l boi ls down to is that there is nothing worse for teaching purposes than a med iocre picture. There is noth ing to get one's teeth in.
The really atrocious one is l ike the o ld eighth grade social studies text wh i ch , among other surprises, we l comed Clement Att lee to 10 D o w n i n g Street and wondered where it w i l l all end now that one can reach the shores of N e w Wor l d from Europe in 26 hours.
Suddenly every k id in the class became an editor. The chapter wi th the errors was by far the most w idely read.
M a y b e wi th the advent of classroom TV we shall not over look the
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educat ional possibi l i t ies of commercial movies. Even if only port ions were used to i l lus t ra teapo in t—such as the horrors of a civil war through the train ride in 'Dr . Zh ivago, ' or the problems of weightlessness through the orbi t ing space station scene in '2001: A Space Odyssey '— the result is super ior to many so-cal led 'educat ional pictures' wh ich are made on such a tight budget. They try oh so very hard.
The commerc ia l picture, of course, carries wi th it the stigma that one must pay to see it. Since the admission pr ice in first-run theaters is a l most $2, this is not a minor considerat ion. But it is usually qui te easy to arrange for a group price wi th the manager.
By the way, a 16 mi l l imeter version of 'Lenin in Oc tobe r ' is avai l able for classroom showing from the Soviet Embassy in Ot tawa for only the price of postage.
The Amer icans, on the other hand, do not offer a simil iar deal for 'They D ied wi th Their Boots O n . Looks l ike the deve lopment of the West wi l l remain a mystery to me forever.§
Attention Special Education Personnel
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P A T S E #105 - 2235 Burrard Street
Vancouver 9, B.C.
SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 1969
Sex How do you teach it to students who think they know more about it than you do? As an educator, you are well aware of the changing
concepts of sex education, and the growing demand
for appropriate sex education programs.
Y o u are also aware that today's students know
more—or think they know more—than any genera
tion to date.
Together, these factors have caused a country-wide
dialogue about what should be taught—and how. In
all the controversy, there is agreement on one point:
Menstruation, for example, must be taught in context
of a young woman's physical maturation and her
healthy identification of self as a female.
At Kimberly-Clark, we have watched with keen
interest chang ing
theories and practices
of sex education; and
concurrently, have
engaged in an exten
sive re-evaluation of
our own educational
materials. The result
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of the new Life Cycle Centre by Kotex products—a complete source of
information, teaching aids and sanitary protection
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We invite you to make use of this new facility, and we call your attention to our educational materials and teaching aids listed below.
Three new booklets have been specifically designed
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Discovery— for the girl in her
mid-teens; and for use at hom
a new booklet for Mothers-
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The Life Cycle Centre by Kotex Products,
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Day Wanted (Allow 4 wccks)_ 2nd Choice (Allow 5 wceks)_
3rd Choice (Allow 6 weeks)_
Number of Days wanted (limit 5 days)_ Materials will be sent to teachers or authorized personnel only.
Please allow four weeks Tor delivery of film and literature.
THE STORY OF MENSTRUATION. A 10-minute animated colour movie by Walt Disney Productions that tells how and why the menstrual process happens—simply, beautifully, and in excellen' '.aste. I6mm sound.
Free Booklets and Teaching Aids (Please specify quantity of booklets needed).
THE MIRACLE OF YOU YOUR YEARS OF SELF-DISCOVERY
_YOU AND YOUR DAUGHTER _One TEACHING GUIDE One MENSTRUAL CYCLE— OVERHEAD TRANSPARENCY UNIT One GUIDE FOR RETARDED GIRLS One TEACHER'S PRODUCT DEMONSTRATION KIT (for Grades 4, 5 and 6 only)
Send to: Educational Director, Lite Cycle Centre, Dept. BCT-69I0 Kimberly-Clark ot Canada Limited 2 Carlton Street, Toronto 2, Ontario.
Name and Title. Grade Street
School.
THE B.C. TEACHER
S U M M E R R E P O R T . . . (in case anyone has been asking)
. . . Since I left this page last term I have: spent over 1,200 hours loafing ; gone on 16 picnics and sundry expedi t ions to beaches, mountains and other out-of- the-way places; read about two dozen l ibrary books ; spent a few days explor ing the O l y m p i c Peninsula and Puget Sound areas (I can' t recommend the spectacular Hurr icane Ridge drive from Port Angeles too highly); attended innumerab le coffee parties, barbecues and meetings to help (in vain) elect the candidate of my c h o i c e ; received 32 new books f rom publ ishers; paid two visits to my school to see h o w the bu i ld ing expansion has progressed (very we l l indeed) ; managed to put on eight pounds in some mysterious fashion, but wh i ch I shall have shed by the t ime you read this (or e lse!) ; and then there was that little trip ^o the m o o n . . .
I S H O U L D LIKE T O H E A R . . . f rom any teachers in any part of
the prov ince w h o wou ld l ike to rev iew books for this department. Just send me a postcard (and save a cent) stating your subj'ect o r special interest, your exact return address, and, of course, your name. W e have to revise our fi le of reviewers every n o w and then, as it is dif f icult to keep it current and accurate over a per iod of years. Many peop le move, retire or d rop out of touch for one reason or another. Address your cards to me, C . D. Ne lson, Book Rev iew Editor, The B.C. Teacher, 1715 R i chmond Avenue , V ic tor ia , B.C. Thanx.
A N D N O W HEAR THIS. . . W e l c o m e back to the salt mines
for yet another forty w e e k s ! — C . D. Ne lson
Reference (Canadiana) '1007 British Columbia Place Names,
by G . P. V. Akr igg and Helen B. Akr igg. Discovery Press, V a n c o u ver, 1969. $5.70 Here is a book that is long overdue!
Outside of Walbran's classic, and now out of print, British Columbia Place Names and the three Milestones books by C. P. Lyons, there isn't much avai1-able for the average teacher to consult on Ihe fascinating subject of how our geographic names came to be. It is to Ihe credit of the Akriggs that this new volume will help fill in many of the facts surrounding the naming of B.C. towns and physical features. They have done their job well, with style and sound scholarship.
Two things are at once apparent: the first, obviously, is that the authors have had lo be extremely selective; and second, that many names are of uncertain origin or subject to several conflicting interpretations.
At the end of the book there is a postscript (see 'L'envoi . . . a continuing project,' p. 195), in which the authors invite further submissions from readers, many of whom must still be young enough to have heard at first hand how certain places got their present names. No doubt this book is but the first edition of what could ultimately become the definitive work in the field.
I hope future editions will include a bibliography separate from the excellent Introduction, and perhaps a more useful map on the end papers. The present map (with its Lower Mainland inset) includes about 40 towns and cities, and 16 names of rivers and lakes. Perhaps if the place names were numbered in the text it would be possible to show these figures in situ on the map.
Because the book follows a dictionary arrangement, with all names in one alpha-
A note about book prices: Prices quoted in these reviews are
publishers' list prices, and are subject to varying discounts: 5 to 15% on textbooks and 25 to 35% on trade books. Library editions and pre-bound books usually do not have discounts. Where price is not mentioned, this fact is noted in the review.
Teachers buying books for their personal use should try to secure at least a 10% discount from book stores, or ask for the regular educational discount when ordering direct from the publisher or his Canadian agent. Be sure to establish that you are a teache' when you send in your order.
N E W B O O K S
bet, no index is included. This is perhaps the most economical arrangement for the present work. If a greatly enlarged edition is later issued, however, it might be better lo arrange the names by regions (each with its i w n map) and have a complete name index for the volume. Of course, it would be a more costly production, but I, for one, would gladly pay the increase!
Any compilation such as this must be fair game for the nit-pickers, and, notwithstanding (he juthors' stated restrictions on the scope of their book, I should like to comment on a few omissions, unanswered puzzles and noteworthy entries. Since I am a native of the B.C. coast, and have worked all my life within shouting distance of it, I naturally have a special curiosity about the names of coastal places and geographic features.
Here are some names I wish had been included: Church House, Whaletown, Theodosia Arm, Lake Errock, Kildonan, Naden Harbour, Port Clements, Alliford Bay, Lawnh'll and Tow Hill on Morseby Island, Jedway, Swindle Island, Simoom Sound, Woss Lake, Bliss Landing, Belize Inlet, and many more. For these I would have traded Aldergrove, Arrowhead, Sil-verton, and ethers that commemorate little known persons.
A few intriguing-questions (lo my mind, at least) remain unanswered. For example, I have long wondered why we have Chilliwack city but Chilliwhark district. We are given the meaning of Cordero, but not Cardero. Are they related? Is the Allison of Allison Harbour the same as the one for whom the Pass was named? Is there any relationship between Chemainus and Somenos? I also wondered about Floods and Nicoamen; I had always known these places as Flood and Nicomen. And are Senlinck Island and North and South Benlinck Arms from a common source?
But the bulk of thjs little reference book is more than satisfactory in its treatment of place names. The longer entries for Vancouver, Victoria, Douglas and British Columbia are models of concise description which reveal painstaking research. Among the livelier name origins must be included Cotllriedson Mountain, Carrier Lake, Kalamalka Lake, Nosebag Creek, and dozens of others. Altogether, this book is a necessary reference for social studies teachers and all school libraries. I recommend it h&artily!
— C . LJ. Nelson Economics Contemporary Canada: Readings in
Economics. Ed. T imothy E. Reid . Holt , Rinehart and W ins ton , Toronto, 1969. $5.10
The author, a profussor from York Uni-
SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 1969 43
versity, Toronto, has selected 90 different articles from newspapers, magazines, the Economic Council, various royal commissions, the Canada Year Book and other sources on economic issues in Canada.
The wide variety of topics includes poverty, housing, the cost of separatism, pollution, credit, monopoly, foreign aid, balance of payments, communism, overpopulation and taxes.
The presentation is an 'issue-oriented' approach and is an attempt to provide challenging and provocative materials that the traditional economics text fails to do. Each article ends with searching questions thai provide ample opportunilies to involve teachers and students in discussion, thus making economics more relevant through two-way participation.
Much of the material is topical and cut.'ent, and consequently the book could be soon outdated. Nevertheless, it would be a useful addition to any library both for the quality of the articles and as a sourcebook for student research.
—Eldon Kier
History Conscription in the Second World
War, 1939-1945, by J. L. Oranat-stain. Ryerson, Toronto, 1969. $2.25 paperbound
One of a series of Canadian studies (the Frontenac Library) which effectively counters the charge that Canadian history is dull and/or bland, and helps fill the gap in the materials covering the 1939-1945 period.
Conscription has been a troublesome issue in Canadian affairs. Twice in a generation it has disrupted English- and French-Canadian relations, has split cabinets and political parties and has involved chiefly political rather than military considerations.
To W. L. Mackenzie King the great need in Canada was for unity, for harmony between English- and French-speaking Canadians; to this he dedicated himself. The author traces King's political troubles with Duplessis of Quebec and Mitch Hepburn of Ontario, the 1940 election and the NRMA-conscription for service in Canada.
He points out Ihe lack of French recruits because the Canadian armed forces were unilingual. There was no French Royal Military College, few technical training manuals in French, and no French officer-training available. The French-Canadian's attitude was that he was a second-class citizen.
After the 1942 plebiscite which released King from his previous pledge of 'no conscription,' he enunciated his now famous policy, 'Not necessarily conscription, but conscription if necessary.' This satisfied Quebec. As things turned out, only 2,463 conscripts served overseas as a result of the 1944 draft. The author concludes by stating that King was strikingly successful in his policy and that there will never be another conscription in Canada.
There is a time chart of military and political events for the 1939-45 period, and numerous illustrations and cartoons from newspapers relating to conscription. This paperback makes an excellent and important reference for Canadians.—Eldon Kier
MATERIALS RECEIVED IN BCTF RESOURCES CENTER (All materials available on loan—by mall or in person. Resource Center hours: Mon.-Fri. 9-5; Sat. 9-1.)
EARLY C H I L D H O O D E D U C A T I O N R E D I S C O V E R E D , comp i l ed by J. L. Frost. N e w York, Hol t , Rinehart and Wins ton , 1968.
FLEXIBLE S C H E D U L I N G : B O L D . N E W VENTURE, by D. C . M a n l o v e and D. W . Beggs. B loomington , Indiana University Press, 1965.
I N D I V I D U A L I Z I N G L E A R N I N G T H R O U G H M O D U L A R - F L E X I B L E P R O G R A M M I N G , by Caynor Petrequin. N e w York, M c G r a w - H i l l , 1968.
Invitational Research Conference, BCTF, 1969. PAPERS. (Avai lable free wh i le quantity lasts.)
N E W DIRECTIONS IN THE K I N D E R G A R T E N , by H. F. Rob inson and Bernard Spodek. N e w York, Teachers Co l lege Press, C o l u m b i a U n i versity, 1965.
O R I E N T A T I O N , P R E - S C H O O L A N D P R E - K I N D E R G A R T E N S U M M E R P R O G R A M M E FOR I N D I A N C H I L D R E N , by C . Ga l loway , N. M i c k e l -son and D. Burchf ie ld. Vancouver , Educat ional Research Institute of B.C., 1968.
QUEST FOR Q U A L I T Y ; Proceedings of the British C o l u m b i a Con fe rence on Elementary Schoo l Physical Educat ional , Vancouver , N o v e m b e r 22-23,1968.
THE S L O W LEARNER IN THE C L A S S R O O M , by Newe l l C . Kephart. C o l umbus, Merr i l l Books, 1960.
S T A N D A R D S FOR S C H O O L M E D I A P R O G R A M S . C h i c a g o and W a s h ington, Amer ican Library Associat ion and Nat ional Educat ion A s s o c i a t ion, 1969.
C U R R I C U L U M E N R I C H M E N T O U T D O O R S , by J. W . H u g and P. j . W i l son. N e w York, Harper and Row, 1965.
FILMS B A L A N C I N G . Produced by Elementary Science Study, 1968. Super 8
f i lm. 18 min. color . BONES. Produced by Elementary Science Study, 1968. Super 8 f i lm .
20 min. color . I D O A N D I U N D E R S T A N D . Produced for the Nuff ie ld Mathemat i cs
Teaching Project. 13 min. black and whi te. Primary classes invo lved in an ind iv idual ized exper ience approach to learning skil ls in mathematics.
INTO T O M O R R O W . Produced for the Nuf f ie ld Foundat ion Sc ience Teaching Project. 30 min. black and whi te. A class of n ine-year -o ld chi ldren investigate the envi ronment in and around their s c h o o l .
M A T H S ALIVE. Produced for the Department of Educat ion and Sc ience and the Schools C o u n c i l , Great Britain. 30 min . color. Shows pr imary schoo l ch i ldren learning mathematics f rom their own d iscover ies.
THE REAL S C H O O L . . .THE A C T U A L TEACHER. (CTF Conference 1969) Produced for CTF by the Ot tawa Publ ic Schoo l Board. 25 min . b lack and whi te. Teachers facing teachers, discussing some of the real problems of teaching—the diff icult ies exper ienced by beg inn ing teachers, the lack of meaningful commun ica t ion w i th in schools and the inadequacies of teacher educat ion.
SOUND FILMSTRIPS A N D N O W W H A T ? Nat ional Associat ion of Secondary Schoo l P r i nc i
pals. 22 min . Discusses many factors wh ich contr ibute to today 's student unrest.
T E A C H I N G THE D I S A D V A N T A G E D . Department of C lassroom Teachers , NEA. 12 min. Out l ines the characteristics of the disadvantaged s tudent and suggests teaching methods wh ich might be effectively e m p l o y e d .
T H A N K G O D IT'S FRIDAY! Nat ional Associat ion of Secondary S c h o o l Principals. 26 min . Based on project research on the exper iences of beginning teachers, the f i lmstrip illustrates some of the c o m m o n mistakes in attitude and behavior made by many beginners.
44 The B.C. TEACHER
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