Rural schooling: A teen's view
Heather McPhail - valedictorian at West Lorne's West Elgin Secondary School - delivered this address to classmates, teachers and community members on Oct. 24. In spite of government funding commitments in the interim, we felt Ms. McPhail's take on the place of schools in rural communities was worth sharing.They're going to close our school. This is only a rumour, but for many Ontario schools it is a reality. My classmates and I were very fortunate to have completed our years here at West Elgin without too many drastic changes.
I'm concerned about the younger students, and whether or not this school will be here for them in the future. Schools are already being destroyed in rural Ontario today. This affects our class, students from the past, and new students to come. When might the last valedictorian speak at commencement? When will the last national anthem be played? Where will this community be without our school?
As I looked back over the past years spent within the halls of this school so many thoughts and feelings were rekindled in my mind. How about that first day of school? Nervous, lost, but excited all in one. We anticipated making new friends, feared some teachers or perhaps dreamed of that first high school romance. Grade 9 was a time when the girls towered over the boys; we had cafeteria food for the first time; we received marks for showing up in class and behaving. Grade 9 was also when Vanilla Ice was considered cool. That was only the tip of the iceberg.
At that time, we didn't realize the significance of the adventure we were embarking upon. Looking back on the happenings and memories that being together at WESS provided, we realize how truly lucky we were. While thinking about what I would say today, only the most important things stuck with me. The bad times or the disputes among peers with teachers, or even that time in detention, all seem quite insignificant. The pressures of student life - exams, projects, relationships and extracurricular activities - were all circumstances that we shared.
Together, we struggled with many of the same stresses, problems and tragedies of this small school.
At times, it seemed quite difficult to overcome certain obstacles, but we used each other, our teachers, our community, for strength and support. We have literally grown up together.
Some of us grew up here while others joined this school a bit later. One of the graduates who moved here from another place described how he had elementary classes in the city and barely recognized the faces in his own classroom. The student said that being at WESS he felt like part of something big, and loved to feel accepted.
Another impressive aspect of this school was its energy. There were hundreds of memorable school trips, band trips, concerts and competitions. We developed many successful sports teams over the years. We must not forget about our dedicated cows in the pasture. Not only did they support our Wildcat teams in the field in all weather, but they also taught us about the birds and the bees.
The SAA and students' council were both energetic and very public organizations that gave us breaks from the usual classes each day. They were fun for us, while they also reached out to the town. These groups raised money for charitable events like the Terry Fox Run, the United Way and many food drives. Those were just the biggies. I think that the hard work involved in our annual blood donor clinic, as well as the brave souls willing to donate blood, should be recognized. And all of the other clubs - yearbook, drama, dance committee, art and school reach. It is a bit overwhelming to remember all of the extraordinary things that happened here. I'm sure that everyone here today has some memories stirred up from this list of events. We share most of these memories because they were experienced together. I only hope this school will continue to work its magic for future students.
I often think of how we arrived where we are today, sitting tall and proud in our gowns and extremely stylish yet practical caps. The people of our community believed in us. They put their hard-earned money and their time on the line for us. I believe that our being here today as high school graduates shows some of our appreciation. They saw potential in each and every one of us, whether it be brain-related, skill-related, people-related, or a mixture of the three. It is obvious that our community does care.
Never before in the history of this school has a speaker had to worry about this school being closed. Without a school, it is very hard for a community to survive. Young families move to a new community and the first question asked is "Where's the school?"
If having no school turns away young families, how is a community to rejuvenate and grow?
It will be up to the people in this room to ensure that there will be graduating classes from this school and this community in the coming years. We can accept and adapt to many changes, but we are not going to just hide in the grass like little bunnies and let our school be closed. We are the Wildcats!
Sam English plays the NHL
Sam English knew what he was doing in the late 1930s when he brought NHL stars such as Eddie Shore, Red Horner and Ace Bailey to his Robbtown General Store.It created a selling bonanza for the storekeeper: cigarettes, chewing tobacco, pop and candy.
The men of the area all gathered around on nail kegs or whatever else they could find to hear of the hockey stars'exploits, via Foster Hewitt's voice on the radio, from the far off Forum in Montreal and Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.
The Robbtown store was located on the gravelled 10th concession of Egremont township, Grey county.
Former long-time Egremont reeve Bob Gillies farmed nearby and was no stranger to the store: hardware, dry goods and food were shelved or hung from floor to ceiling; children pressed eager noses to glass cases filled with candies and cakes.
The general stores were so important because they saved people the time of driving the horse and buggy into town.
"The store was a good place to meet your neighbours," Bob, who's now retired to Mount Forest, recalls. "The men of the area dropped in after supper for a chat and a few groceries."
The storekeeper was an influential person in the community, knowing more about the local residents than most church ministers, and often serving triple duty as the local postmaster and banker.
Sam English is particularly well remembered, Bob recalls, for his policy of rarely refusing anybody credit during the Hungry Thirties. Sam would take almost anything in trade to help pay off the grocery bill: wood, grain, livestock, horsehair, feathers. One spring he had 500 cords of wood piled around the store.
In the late 1930s, one of the hottest items on the farm market was radios.
They were battery-operated affairs - hydro had not yet arrived in most of the township. It would still be a few years before many farms in the area could boast their own battery radio, and another 10 years before the entire township was wired for electricity.
The battery was often the same one out of the car, but if not it had to be regularly taken to town to be recharged. It was used sparingly. Sam English was one of the first to have such a radio, and with it came the voice of Foster Hewitt every Saturday night.
Youngsters reading this must be reminded that there was a time when a radio antenna on the rooftop was a greater boast than a satellite dish is today.
And for listeners to Saturday-night hockey at the Robbtown store, the video portion of the broadcast was strictly a matter between each listener and their imagination. Each one saw for themselves the dashing figure of Ace Bailey streaking down the wing, or Turk Broda stretching to make a save. Today, there is only one Wayne Gretzky. We've all seen him a million times on television. There were many Ace Baileys. Everyone had their own personal version safely stored between their ears for instant replay.
As the listeners gathered close round the Robbtown radio woe be the one who interrupted the broadcast with too much to say.
Bob recalls one particularly tense game that was interrupted not only by poor reception but also by a set of loose lips in the peanut gallery.
On that occasion, it was Sam English's housekeeper, Myrtle, who was the enforcer for the team of annoyed listeners at the Robbtown store. Pulling out a not-too-clean dish cloth, she told the offender, "Stuff that in your mouth until the game is over."
It was a clean check, Bob pronounces, and it produced the desired
results.
Campbell Cork lives and writes in Mount Forest. "Homer VI," the
1999
edition of his annual compendium of local history, is now on sale
($15,
including postage and handling, to C.Cork, PO Box 136, Mount
Forest, ON,
N0G 2L0)
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UNEARTHED
Notes from All Over
Waste, waste and wasted
With grain and pork prices in the tank, farmers are wondering when lower prices in the grocery store will increase demand and, subsequently, prices.
But the practices of some retailers make you wonder how much of a link there really is between the farm gate and the display case. Mississauga farmer Joe Madill recently asked an employee at a Loblaws bakery how much food - buns, pastries, bread and the like - the company discards and what they do with it. The bakery attendant said about half of all breads from the store are sent to a food bank. People like to see the bins full, the attendant told Madill, when explaining the rationale behind excessive waste.
Of course, all the excess product is factored into profit margins, and the price paid for inputs such as wheat.
Swedish and Australian scientists have developed a system that
can
retrieve urine as a valuable farm resource. Australian
researchers reckon
the average person produces as much as 500 litres of urine per
year, and
that 10 times that amount of water per person is used to carry
the waste to
treatment plants.
"Urine is high in nitrogen and low in phosphorus," says
Commonwealth
Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO)
environmental
scientist Dr. Rhys Leeming, "and has been applied as liquid
fertilizer
since man began farming. The urine separating system...saves
water,
recycles nutrients and minimizes the risk of fecal
contaminations."
The process' heart is a urine-separating toilet system. Urine is
piped off
to holding tanks, from which farmers pump it into tankers for use
on the
farm. Fecal matter is collected and stored separately and
composted in
special bins. Composting proceeds more rapidly without the urine,
and the
resulting organic matter is used as a soil improver, according to
a CSIRO
release.
"Too much phosphorus can contribute to rapid algal growth, which
impacts
on water quality and habitats," says Leeming. "Groundwater still
needs to
be monitored periodically for excess salinity and nitrate
content, just as
it should when recycling whole sewage effluents."
Leeming says the process will have particular application in
rural
communities, "as well as being an important effluent management
option for
new housing developments outside major cities or in the
eco-villages of the
future." The system comes from a Swedish application of an Aussie
research
technique that uses biomarker technology to trace naturally
occuring
substances from digestive systems.
Marijuana farmers in St. Vincent, an eastern Caribbean island
with a
population of about 110,000, wrote a letter to U.S. President
Bill Clinton
recently demanding compensation for lost marijuana plants,
according to the
Toronto Star.
U.S. troops were poised to destroy the estimated 5,000 hectares
of pot
under production on the island last month, as requested by Sir
James
Mitchell, prime minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
According to farmer-protesters, wiping out the marijuana crop
would
destroy the livelihood of 8,000 people, adding to the island
nation's
current unemployment level of 40 per cent.
The U.S. has successfully challenged a European Union quota
system that
was key to the region's banana industry. Caribbean leaders have
long warned
that without a banana crop, which employs about 60 per cent of
the
workforce, farmers would turn to illegal crops such as marijuana
and
trafficking in cocaine and heroin.
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