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Column originally published in the Guelph Mercury Sept. 28, 2008.  

With the new school year underway, I want to talk about that dirty word for students — homework.

It seems it now is a dirty word for some Ontario school boards, too, as they have placed limits on the amount of homework students can be assigned. Some have even gone so far as to ban homework altogether in the early grades.

While I can see the merits of reducing the homework burden at the elementary level, I think we do our high school students a disservice if we lessen the expectation of their workload outside the classroom.

If anything, in today’s competitive global economy we need to raise the bar higher. Telling students to study more and socialize less may be easier said than done. Believe me I know, but we owe it to our young people to keep trying and not give up.

When I was in elementary school I was a pretty conscientious student who spent many a night doing at least an hour worth of homework.

In Grade 5, I can remember watching with envy from my bedroom window as my school friend Terry was playing and hanging out with other kids in the neighbourhood. I, however, stayed committed to my studies and eventually was rewarded for it.

I won the academic award for my elementary school and was accepted — along with everyone else who passed Grade 8 — to our local high school.

Like many elementary school friends who enter high school together, Terry and I started hanging out with different crowds and pursuing different interests. Mine was getting out more and having fun. I still wanted to get decent grades, but having a social life was certainly a much greater priority.

Playing sports let me hang with the jock crowd and my social calendar was kept busy enough to keep my head out of the books.

During my grad year, high school was a blast and I had the confident swagger seniors get when they think they have life by the tail. Sure enough, I was in for a wake up call.

For me, it happened around 3 a.m. at an all-night graduation event being held at Canada’s Wonderland.

There I met up with my old elementary school chum Terry and we caught up with each other while he drank his new favourite beverage, coffee. I told Terry how I was having so much fun this past year and I asked how his final year had gone.

He sighed, and seemed relieved it was over. Turns out he had been doing at least two hours of homework a night in his final year and even more prepping for his exams, hence the coffee.

He was heading off to Queen’s University to take biology and chemistry. I on the other hand was still waiting to hear back from my top school selection.

When I left him that night, I knew I had not pushed myself to anywhere close to my potential. Unlike elementary school, my high school marks mattered.

I ended up not getting into the top-tier university of my choice and there were no graduation awards or scholarships for my half- hearted effort.

Luckily, I got that wake-up call early enough to make changes and eventually was able to get on the right track.

From there, I soon realized that the years of university and post-graduation were the real party.

Nothing in high school came close to the fun times and lasting memories of those years. Independence and disposable income really are a fantastic combination!

Your greatest years of socializing and utter freedom shouldn’t be in high school — too much of your life lies ahead of you to be looking in the rear-view mirror.

It is true that not every student is bound for university or college, but all students can push themselves to reach their potential whatever that may be.

The stakes are even higher today in our competitive global economy.

Students today are not only competing with the kid sitting beside them for post-secondary spots, but also with students all around the world.

The safety net of low-skilled jobs that are held by some of the parents of today’s students are now heading elsewhere and even if a high school grad can find one, it soon won’t pay anywhere close to what their parents received.

So if you are in high school and sacrificing your social life as you study long hours or master your trade for our skills-based economy, don’t worry, your party is up around the bend.

But if you’re a student without a marketable skill, doing little work, but having an absolute blast, well enjoy, but your party may soon be over.

Apparently Cody Rasmus is a very talented player. He can feel free to demonstrate some of that talent anytime now.

Recently Jeff Blair of the Globe&Mail poured cold water on the idea that the Blue Jays will offer major long term contracts to coveted free agents this winter. Apparently A.A. is to continue making miracles happen on the cheap.

If this team ever wants to make the jump back into relevance in this city and the league for that matter, it has to spend the cash. There has been a noticeable uptick in Blue Jay enthusiasm this year, but that will fall off a cliff if big market Toronto fans sees rich Rogers ownership running the team like the poor KC Royals.

Rogers spend $120 million or say goodbye to recent followers and any goodwill. Sports Illustrated had it right when it said that the Jays are a team that CAN and should spend the money.

Hey Guelph City Hall would you mind storing my daughter’s soiled diapers for an extra week?

Apparently you believe it’s not too much of an inconvenience to parents of young children. Maybe it’s time you did your part for the environment.

Picking up smelly trash once a week use to be a basic service you could count on your local municipality to do. No longer here in Guelph.

This past month the city cut back the collection of many items including diapers and sanitary products to every other week from the regular weekly collection.

This might be understandable if the city was in a budget hole or the tax base was eroding. Not so here in Guelph. Budgets are increasing each year along with our perennial property tax hike.

The problem lies in this city not making their core services a funding priority. Environmental rebate programs and recycling centres can have a place for city that wants to label itself “Green”. But they can’t be funded at the expense of core services.

Without an understanding of what its priorities should be – I guess I should not be surprised when the city announces funding for an advanced toilet training pilot program for newborns.

Potty humour aside – getting it wrong happens. But on this issue the city is demonstrating irresponsibility and contempt for many Guelph residents.

I find in the last few years the NFL has replaced horse racing as the betting fancy for North American sport enthusiasts. It’s like Sunday at the track. Betting on the game has become old hat with fantasy player pools becoming the new way to play.

What this has done is create a situation where fans seems to cheer for a result rather than team. This may not have an impact tv ratings, but ticket sales in soft markets could suffer.

Therefore my conspiracy prediction for this season is that these “soft” market teams will have play-off win-loss records by season end.

The Ontario Liberals plan to to provide employers with a tax credit of up to $10,000, in return for hiring skilled, recent immigrants is a divisive job creation scheme. Governments should create across the board tax and regulatory reforms that will allow business to flourish and create economic prosperity for all. 

No one disputes that skilled immigrants should be in jobs they are qualified to do. Nobody wants a  skilled Doctor driving a taxi cab. But this problem is caused more by regulatory obstacles than a lack of will by employers to hire qualified individuals.

Criticize this plan and Liberals will label you anti-immigrant. Fortunately, I believe many independent voters won’t fall for this obvious trap. They will see this plan for what it is – another misguided Dalton job creation scheme that pits winners vs. losers.  A change of leadership is needed in this province that understands that you listen to the needs of everyone and provide economic opportunity for all.