Attacks on teachers' unions misplaced

Dear Editor,

I would like to comment on Sarah Schiefer's opinion column from last week. Simply, I think her attacks on the teachers' unions are misplaced.

While she offhandedly commented on cuts to the arts, it seems she willingly suspended, or did not possess, real knowledge of the destruction done to education in Ontario by our Tory government.

Let's put some perspective on this issue. The premier came on television last October to inform the people of Ontario that education was suffering due to a lack of standardized evaluation processes.

In the same breath, he told us that our students' skills ranked among the lowest in Canada. Do I sense any inconsistency?

Our premier spends tax dollars on expensive advertisement campaigns, which are designed to tell us why there isn't enough money to continue funding essential services according to the old design.

Does anyone else wonder why he didn't spend that money for the hiring of new teachers, rather than for the spreading of Conservative rhetoric?

Finally, I think it's shameful that teaching, one of the most sacred professions, is being treated as an expendible resource.

Teachers have been left with few options besides job action. This is unfortunate, but a reality. As we all know, the work of teachers extends well beyond the classroom.

Common sense dictates that you don't "improve" a system by stripping it of more than one billion dollars.

Perhaps that new Tory buzz phrase, "Putting Kids First..." should be put in its proper perspective: ahead of the sad, but more accurate, disclaimer, "As soon as we balance the budget."

John Michael Connelly

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Ripping pages out of books? You're evil!

Dear Editor,

It seems that this year more people than ever are ripping pages out of books, both on Reserve and on the regular shelves. People have also been taking books off the shelves and hiding them so that no one else can use them. Likewise, people have been purposefully putting microfilm microfiche back in the wrong boxes.

This poses a serious problem. When items are put in the wrong area of the shelves, they are essentially lost to all patrons. It could take years for them to be found. Ripping pages out of books is against the entire spirit of scholasticism and collegiality that libraries operate on.

A library is an institution dedicated to the preservation of knowledge for all people. People who destroy, steal or conceal books have no place even entering a library. I hope everyone reading this takes this to heart.

Jonathan Strang
Library Patron and Employee

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Sports fans aren't degenerates

Dear Editor,

This letter is directed toward one John McNeil, who in the October 7th edition of The Cord stated (among other things) that Laurier is full of people "sadly in need of maturity," simply because they play or watch sports.

He went on to describe sports as "non-productive activities" and the people who play them as "overgrown children" who should be "chastised more than rooted for."

Apparently Mr. McNeil would have us simply watch old reruns of The Facts Of Life and ponder infinity rather than enjoy some physical activity.

I am far from being an athlete, but I certainly enjoy watching a good hockey game or throwing a football around, as do many Laurier students, I'm sure.

Playing or watching a sport does not make one a mindless idiot; improving your physical health by staying active is far from being non-productive.

So I just have a few questions for you, Mr. McNeil: You stated that you have "a heart rate of 56-58 beats per minute."

How exactly did you get your heart rate that low without participating in some "non-productive activity," anyway?

Secondly, what right do you have to call sports fans a bunch of degenerates?

Sports are just a hobby. You must have a hobby, John.

There must be people somewhere who think that whatever it is you do in your spare time is dull, mind-numbing and that only a complete moron would want to participate in it.

So I'm curious: who exactly declared you the authority on all that is good and proper?

Where do you get off telling people that what they do to relax - or God forbid to further school pride - is a juvenile waste of time?

Adam Coe

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Canadian Oxford Dictionary clarification

Dear Editor,

I enjoyed reading the article about Alex Bisset and the Canadian Oxford Dictionary, and I was pleased to see your ample coverage of his visit to Laurier.

For the record, however, I would like to clarify one or two points. The article states: "Weldon concluded by wagering that, with the exception of the Loyalist movement into Canada in 1783, the publishing of the COED in June of this year was the single most important event of Canadian literary history."

I think "wagering" is the wrong word, and I said nothing about Canadian literary history. What I actually said was that "with the exception of the migration of the United Empire Loyalists to Canada in 1783, the publication of the Canadian Oxford Dictionary in June, 1998 was the single most important event in the history of Canadian English."

The Canadian Oxford Dictionary represents the most thorough and complete record of our Canadian variety of the English language to date. I'll bet my hat on that.

Jim Weldon
Department of English