Readers offer their opinions on the homeless crisis in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan’s education system and a visit to Saskatoon’s City Hospital.
Those basic services could be completed in the old Inland Steel property, the old bus barns, the basement of Pleasant Hill school, the vacant former Giant Tiger store and any other empty building without much effort. Maybe some citizens would also volunteer their heated garage for this.
Somebody sleeping on the street will see a cot in a warm safe place as an improvement. You do not need treatment-level facilities for the basics. Then you build off of that. Some of these places may only be utilized for one winter, but until there is something else it is a start.
Gary Crawford, Saskatoon
Editor’s note: Saskatoon Land says the Inland Steel building is currently zoned heavy industrial and emergency residential shelters are not permitted in that district. There is also suspected soil contamination on the site.
Education standards dropping, basics ignored
Thankfully, some school systems are realizing that mistake and reinstating it, but it appears schools no longer enforce proper use of language, grammar and spelling.
I’m constantly dismayed by what I hear when in my grandson’s school. I shudder every time I hear students constantly using ground instead of floor. I don’t think I’ve heard a student in a long time use the word floor properly or even news personalities/TV reporters either!
When I mentioned this to an educator I was told teachers don’t time to worry about nuance. Seriously, you could have knocked me over with a feather. That remark, nuance, which in my opinion was an incorrect word usage, left me speechless, which doesn’t happen often.
Today, I watched my grandson print, not write, a report for school and I was disappointed to watch how he formed each letter. Another example, I guess, that teachers don’t have time to worry about silly things like that.
I remember the days of teachers, after stoking the pot-belly stove, drawing lines on the blackboard with a chalk holder that drew four lines.
The teacher would then write out the letters each day, which were reinforced with a series of printed letters arranged around the top of the blackboard, reinforcing how to form each letter. Where have the three Rs (reading, writing, arithmetic) gone?
John M. Thomson, Saskatoon
Hospital experience earns praise
Every health-care worker I had contact with was friendly, efficient and professional! Thank you to Dr. William Papenfus.
Judi Hassen, Saskatoon
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