| Sex. Madonna. Bare-Naked Ladies. Kim Campbell's shoulders. Lesbians on TV. There. Now that I've got your attention, I'd like to talk about education. A few years ago, I was helping a seventh-grader with his homework. Under the guidance of a wonderful sixth-grade reading teacher, he had even dreamed of being a writer. Now he was failing seventh-grade reading, writing his book reviews on "choose your own adventure" books and getting failing marks week after week. I thought I could make a difference. I got him to read Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea. He loved the book and, with my help, wrote three drafts of his report. Later in the week, I asked if his mark on the weekly book report had improved. It had - from an F to a D. When I asked what went wrong, he shrugged: "She said my handwriting isn't good enough." In a matter of months, one teacher had all but destroyed one student's interest in reading, writing, the entire world of literature. When the same teacher did the same thing to another student last spring, I decided that this year I wanted to pay particular attention to education in this province. I've heard enough horror stories, from the teacher who believes in reincarnation and spends hours regaling his students with tales of his past lives to the West Island teacher who passed out horrid and graphic anti-abortion material to his students. And enough wonderful stories, like the one about the school-board director who will put on a pair of blue jeans and accompany a group of student volunteers on a trip to the Old Brewery mission. Just what needs to be done But we need to go beyond mere stories to get a feel for what is really happening in our schools. There are two things about our education system on which we can all agree: 1) It's a mess. 2) Something has to be done. Beyond that, when you come down to asking just what needs to be done and particularly when it comes to paying the bill, things get sticky. And education in this province may have lost its strongest ally when the talented and energetic Michel Page succumbed to the lure of private industry. But I would like to start this occasional series on a hopeful note. In a round-table discussion last September, I got to know five young McGill student-teachers whose energy and intelligence will help shape everything I write about the subject. These student-teachers came to me with a stellar recommendation from one of the most respected teachers in the province, a woman who thought so highly of their abilities that she promised to accompany their job applications with a personal appearance to deliver her recommendation. They are Rita Molchan, Lynn McElligott, Ben Bartucci, John MacDonald and Greg Scruton. If you or I are or very lucky, we will one day have a child in one of their classes. They have taught me more than I could get into one column, or even 10 columns. Start with the bozo who said: "Those who can do and those who can't teach." Bulldip. Doing what you know how to do is a snap. Teaching it is the tough part. What puzzled me was why such bright young people would want to be teachers. What happened to burnout? Low salaries? Sullen students? Why not go into investment banking instead? The approach was too negative Greg Scruton - who says that in high school he was exactly the kind of problem student he now hopes to help - had a direct answer. "If we didn't think we could make a difference," he said, "we wouldn't be here." Then, in a single exchange, Rita Molchan changed my view of the teaching process. I told her story of the boy who got a D for his Hemingway book report, and she responded: "Her approach was wrong all along. Even if he was reading adventure books, and least he was reading and she could have encouraged that. But her approach was all negative, negative, negative. She didn't do one thing to make that boy want to read." Tomorrow, we'll talk about what happens when a group of idealistic student-teachers meet one of our vast and impersonal comprehensive high schools. And this final note: Today you get two Todd columns for the price of one. The second column, on page E-1, deals with the plight of Montreal's jobless and is part of today's special classified sections in which 7,363 unemployed Montrealers took advantage of The Gazette's special offer of free classified ads for the jobless. You can read the column if you like, but if you're in a position to hire even one person, I would prefer that you spend the time scanning the ads until you find the person who fits your company's needs. If you can hire one person from our classifieds, terrific. If you can hire 10 or more to permanent, full-time jobs, give me a call at 987-2620 and I will write a column nominating you for sainthood. (Copyright The Montreal Gazette) Author(s): JACK TODD Article types: COLUMN Column Name: JACK TODD Section: NEWS Publication title: The Gazette. Montreal, Quebec: Nov 10, 1992. pg. A.3 Source Type: Newspaper ISSN/ISBN: 03841294 ProQuest document ID: 165921931 Text Word Count 850 |
| Jack Todd's Column in The Gazette. Montreal, Quebec: Nov 10, 1992. pg. A.3 |
| Lessons to learn; Five student-teachers offer hope for the future |