Canadians Find a Way

What can be done about Joyce? In almost any other North American city except Calgary, Alta. (pop. 200,000), the question might never have been answered. Tenth Grader Joyce, 16, has an IQ of 130. But she failed three subjects last year, and her teachers loaded her report cards with such comments as "No effort, boy friends, more interested in personal appearance than school work." Counseling and conferences did not help; Joyce was an incorrigible shirker. Her school's answer to her case: it simply threw her out.

In Calgary, the Joyces of the classroom are known as "homesteaders"--able Canadian students who refuse to work. By 1954 they had become so numerous that mild-mannered Superintendent Robert Warren decided that something drastic would have to be done. He consulted his school board, finally put through the now famous Calgary Plan. In 1955 only ten shirkers were dropped. But as the plan became more firmly established, the number rose to 22 in 1956 and 34 in 1957.

The plan places an extra burden on the teachers. They must make absolutely sure that the laggard student has no emotional or mental block, that every effort is made to save him, and that he has the right of appeal. But for all that, the plan works. Of those expelled, more than half have returned, and most are doing well. Joyce, for instance, has so far this year earned one H (the highest mark given), two As, three Bs. Moreover, says Superintendent Warren, "achievement scores on twelfth grade examinations have gone up. It has become respectable in Calgary to be a serious student."

Last year nearby Medicine Hat (pop. 21,000) adopted the plan. Of ten students who got "laggard policy letters," five left school, but the rest began working so hard hat they earned a special commendation. Last month Sault Sainte Marie, Ont. announced that it, too, would follow the plan, and last week down in North Attleboro, Mass, letters went out to parents spelling out a new policy by which "intellectual loafers and bench warmers" are being dropped. At a time of rising costs and the growing teacher shortage, the plan has its appeal. Says Calgary's Superintendent Warren: "In 1955 Calgary spent $344.29 on each high school pupil. The public cannot afford to provide such service to pupils who take an indifferent attitude toward their responsibilities."

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