Our children have gone back to school. We can now leave them with the teachers and go about our personal business! We rejoice..They are going back. The ads told them that they need computers, mod clothes, and great shoes. I am appealing to every one of us to think of the opportunity we all have to help these young people become the best that they possible can be. This is our bid job. We heard the African proverb that it takes a village to raise a child; it takes ALL of Port Alberni to raise OUR children.
Yes, we have taken care of all the physical things that are important for the success of our children. As a former teacher, I have always paid attention to the both curricula: the Government and the personal. We need to pay attention to the curriculum that the Government has set down for our children, and I call on all of us to assist our children in all ways we can to help them to be competent in this area.
The other curriculum is most important. It is called the HIDDEN curriculum. It is what the teacher teaches every moment that he is in contact with the students. Students may forget the material of the government curriculum, but the lessons of the hidden curriculum taught by all the teachers in the lives of our children will linger long after they have left school. That is why it is said that you never know where the influence of a teacher stops. We, teachers, parents and teachers affect eternity.
I want us all to take this other curriculum very seriously. Business will not prepare students and parents for this important curriculum. This curriculum comes from within us. It is up to ALL of us to answer this crucial question: WHAT TYPE OF HUMAN BEING DO WE WANT TO EMERGE BY THE TIME OUR CHILDREN HAVE LEFT THE SCHOOL? How do you teachers, and I certainly include parents and all citizens, answer this question? We are not off the hook when our children return to classes.
One of the important values that I would like to see taught by us and our teachers in every class in this valley is SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY! We live and work here and we have a responsibility to make this the best place in the world. I mean that! Henry Ford told us: If you think you can or you can’t, you are right. So if you think that developing this sense of responsibility is a pipe dream, then it is. If you think they are the crazy thoughts of some woolly headed idealist, then you are right. But if you think of developing a new world where we care for one another as brothers and sisters, then it is possible to work together in creating this world.
At my age, I have been attending a number of funerals. I have been given an opportunity of listening to a number of eulogies, and I have never heard anything mentioned about the money that the deceased made, or a statement of his/her financial portfolio. It is always about the type of human being that inhabited that body. Steven Covey told us to start at the end. Think of the end as we begin this present new term. Death is terminal for every one of us. What would we like to hear said of the lives that we lived?
Wherever we are in life, we can cultivate kindness for the other. We can be nice. We can be loving. It is my hope that this community teaches our children these values of brotherhood and sisterhood as we begin this total educational journey. We could and will continue to be the most caring society on earth! This is our mission. Please sign the pledge.
NOW FOR MUSIC IN OUR LIVES: Here is a note from Sylvia Springer from the Barkley Sound Community Choir;
Our season will start on September 15, 6:45 at the United Church. Come early to get your music. Choir fees are the same as last year, $30.00 for each session. This is the beginning of our 10th season, and we invite past members to join us this year of celebration. We have some special things planned.
The Valley is invited to celebrate. MUSIC IN OUR LIVES!!!
FOOD AND FILOSOPHY..Laughter Yoga with Ellen Brown at Dolce Vita on Monday 13th at 5:30 p.m…LAUGH, AND THE WORLD LAUGHS WITH YOU!!!