Carroll County Times Friday, September 17, 2010, Page C7

LIFE & TIMES

‘The First Newspaper’ School Brief

A Sort of Allegory, Part One The
room into portions, with
walls shrewdly placed
through its length and
Special education
workshop planned
The Partners for Success
Center of Carroll County
The workshop will cover
the following topics: defi-
nition of special education
terms; Federal and state
laws; the special education

“H ow likes it you,
Master Bren-
ton?” said the
brawny journeyman,
spreading out the news
sheet on a smooth oaken
table where it lay under
the light of a leaded win-
dow.
“A marvellous fair sheet,”
murmured Brenton Cax-
ton, seventh of the name.
“Let me but adjust my
glasses and peruse it fur-
ther lest haply there be still
aught in it that smacks of
error.”
“It needs not,” said the
journeyman.“ ‘Tis the
fourth time already from
the press.”
“Nay, nay,” answered
Master Brenton softly, as
he adjusted his great horn-
rimmed spectacles and
bent his head over the
broad damp news sheet
before him. “Let us grudge
no care in this. The ven-
ture is a new one and,
meseems, a very parlous
thing withal. ‘Tis a venture
that may easily fail and
carry down our fortunes
with it, but at least let it
not be said that it failed for
want of brains in the
doing.”
“Fail quotha!” said a third
man, who had not yet spo-
ken, old, tall and sour of
visage and wearing a
printer’s leather apron. He
had moved over from the
further side of the room
where a little group of ap-
prentices stood beside the
wooden presses that occu-
pied the corner, and he was
looking over the shoulder
of Master Brenton Caxton.
“How can it do aught
else? ‘Tis a mad folly. Mark
you, Master Brenton and
Master Nick, I have said it
from the first and let the
blame be none of mine.
‘Tis a mad thing you do
here. See then,” he went
on, turning and waving his
hand, “this vast room,
these great presses, yonder
benches and tools, all new,
yonder vats of ink straight
out of Flanders, how think
you you can recover the
cost of all this out of yon-
der poor sheets?”
Five and 40 years have I
followed this mystery of
printing, ever since thy
grandfather’s day, Master
Brenton, and never have I
seen the like. What needed
this great chamber when
your grandfather and fa-
ther were content with but
a garret place, and yonder
presses that can turn off
four score copies in the
compass of a single hour,
— ‘Tis mad folly, I say.”
The moment was an in-
teresting one. The speak-
ers were in a great room
with a tall ceiling traversed
by blackened beams. From
the street below there
came dimly through the
closed casements the
sound of rumbling traffic
and the street cries of the
London of the 17th century.
Two vast presses of such
colossal size that their
wooden levers would tax
the strength of the stoutest
apprentice, were ranged
against the further wall.
About the room, spread
First
Newspaper
by
Stephen
Leacock
out on oaken chairs and
wooden benches, were flat
boxes filled with leaden
type, freshly molten, and a
great pile of paper, larger
than a man could lift, stood
in a corner.
The first English news-
paper in history was going
to press. Those who in
later ages, — editors, print-
ers, and workers — have
participated in the same
scene, can form some idea
of the hopes and fears, the
doubts and the difficulties,
with which the first news-
paper was ushered into the
world.
Master Brenton Caxton
turned upon the last
speaker the undisturbed
look of the eye that sees far
across the present into the
years to come.
“Nay, Edward,” he said,
“you have laboured over
much in the past and see
not into the future. You
think this chamber too
great for our purpose? I tell
you the time will come
when not this room alone
but three or four such will
be needed for our task. Al-
ready I have it in my mind
that I will divide even this
breadth, so that each that Public Schools will sponsor cycle; eligibility; individual-
worketh shall sit as it were
in his own chamber and
a workshop for parents and
staff giving an overview of
ized education plans, IEP’s;
advocacy and parent in-
there shall stand one at the the special education volvement in the IEP
door and whosoever
cometh, to whatever part
process from 5:30 to 7:30
p.m. Wednesday at Ebb Val-
process; and resources.
Light refreshments will be
of our task his business ap- ley Elementary School, 3100 served. To register, call
pertains, he shall forthwith Swiper Road, Manchester, Cindy Senseney at 410-751-
be brought to the room of room B133. 3955 by Monday.
him that hath charge of it.
Cometh he with a madri-
gal or other light poesy
that he would set out on
the press, he shall find one Volunteer Training
that has charge of such
matters and can discern
Training dates in Octo- ■ New Windsor Middle,
their true value. Or, ber for school volunteers
7 p.m. Oct. 12
cometh he with news of are as follows:
aught that happens in the ■ Sandymount Elemen-
■ Winters Mill High, tary, 6:30 p.m. Oct. 13
realm, so shall he be 6 p.m. Oct. 8
brought instant to the ■ Taneytown Elemen-
■ William Winchester tary, 7:30 p.m. Oct. 13
room of him that recordeth Elementary, 6 p.m. Oct. 11
such events. ■ Liberty High, 9 a.m.
■ Oklahoma Road Mid- Oct. 15
Or, if so be, he would dle, 6:30 p.m. Oct. 11
write a discourse on what ■ North Carroll Middle,
■ Carrolltowne Elemen-
seemeth him some wise 7 p.m. Oct. 18
tary, 7 p.m. Oct. 11
conceit touching the public ■ Sykesville Middle,
■ Winf ield Elementary,
concerns, he shall find to 7 p.m. Oct. 19
7 p.m. Oct. 11
his hand a convenient desk ■ Parr’s Ridge Elemen-
with ink and quills and all ■ Eldersburg Elemen-
tary, 6 p.m. Oct. 12 tary, 6:15 p.m. Oct. 21
that he needeth to set it
■ Piney Ridge Elemen- ■ Taneytown Elemen-
straightway on paper; thus
tary, 6:30 p.m. Oct. 12 tary, 7:30 p.m. Oct. 28
shall there be a great abun-
dance of written matter to
our hand so that not many
days shall elapse after one
of our news sheets goes
abroad before there be
matter enough to fill an-
other.”
“Days!” said the aged
printer. “Think you you
can fill one of these news
sheets in a few days!
Where indeed if you
search the whole realm
will you find talk enough
in a single week to fill out
this great sheet half an
ell wide!”

AP PHOTO
Matt Marcotte, 17, a senior at Killingly High School,
gets help with Charter Oak teller Shannon Gerdeau
on bank transactions Aug. 23 in Killingly, Conn.

Teens learn work

of tellers at bank
BY EMILY GROVES
NORWICH BULLETIN “It provides
KILLINGLY, Conn. — some really
With a week of training at
Charter Oak Credit Union practical
behind him, Killingly High
School senior Matt Mar- opportunities
cotte can tell you one
thing: Banking is compli-
for students
cated.
“It took a while to get
to ... manage
used to all the transac-
tions,” said Marcotte, a
their own
AP PHOTOS Killingly resident. “I didn’t money.”
Grace Academy students Anna Bunting, left, and Gracie Buser are shown the cat’s cradle string game by know there was so much to
Korean foreign exchange student Grace Ha during a break from class Aug. 25 in Hagerstown. the system.” William Silver
Marcotte, 17, will have Killingly Superintendent

Cultural exchange
Private schools in Hagerstown welcome students from Korea, China
BY JANET HEIM
THE HERALD-MAIL (HAGERSTOWN)
HAGERSTOWN — It seemed like
an impossible feat finding host fami-
lies in the Hagerstown area for at least
40 middle school- aged Korean ex-
change students.
But Brian Kelley, the international
student program coordinator at Grace
Academy, said within six weeks he had
home visits arranged with more po-
tential host families than he needed.
Now, 47 Korean and two Chinese
students are spending the school year
at Grace Academy and Broadfording
Christian Academy, with a waiting list
of host families. The students flew
into Washington Dulles International
Airport Aug. 17 and 18.
The students are in grades six to 10,
and their English skills vary widely.
They are here through a newly
formed partnership between the two
Washington County private schools
and Global Vision Christian School of
South Korea. Samuel Pak, the interna-
tional program director for the pro-
gram called Global Education
Mission, said there are more than 200
Korean exchange students in the
United States.
He said he chose the Hagerstown
schools for the exchange program be-
cause of the proximity to Washington,
D.C., airports, their strong academic
and Christian programs, and their
willingness to take on such a large
commitment. Pak said he visited
schools in Baltimore, Frederick, Rich-
mond, Va., and Martinsburg, W.Va.
“After our first conversation, we
clicked. Some other people had
doubts and it never materialized,”
Pak said.
Five Korean teachers including two
married couples and a tae kwon do
Grace Academy students gather around Korean foreign exchange
student Jay Kang as he tries chocolate pudding during a break be-
tween classes Aug. 25 in Hagerstown.
master are here through June to assist
with teaching and to improve their
own English skills.
Korean students are required to
earn second- degree black belts to
graduate from Global Vision Christian
School. Grace and Broadfording stu-
dents will have a chance to learn the
martial art.
“I just look at it as a great cross-cul-
tural experience. It’s a fantastic pro-
gram,” Broadfording Administrator
Bill Wyand said.
Most of the Korean students in the
program participated in a five-week
summer camp in Korea that prepared
them for being away from their fami-
lies. By most reports, the transition
has been a smooth one, Grace Acad-
emy Headmaster Jack Appleby said.
“The teachers are so kind, peaceful
and lovely to students,” said Daniel
Kang, 16.
He said he likes the technology
available through the SMARTboard
labs and he thinks the academic ex-
pectations are higher here.
“It’s hard to be away from family, but
I have to do for my English. I want to
learn more English. I want to experi-
ence culture in an American school,”
Daniel said.
the entire school year to
master the teller trade, as
he will be one of 10 stu-
dents who will work at
Charter Oak’s branch in-
side the new Killingly High
School next month.
The Killingly branch will
be Charter Oak’s second
in- school location.
Sonya Armstrong, branch
manager of Charter Oak, of
Dayville, Conn., said the
success of Groton’s Robert
E. Fitch High School
branch led her to approach
the Killingly Board of Edu-
cation last year with an
idea for a location inside
the new high school.
Though a private busi-
ness, Armstrong said the
motivation behind the
partnership is not profit-
based.
“We will not be making
any money on this,” Arm-
strong said.
Armstrong said Charter
Oak has already spent
thousands of dollars build-
ing the branch, conducting
training, buying material
and paying student
salaries.
Education is the goal,
Armstrong said. She said
the sooner students learn
basic money management,
the better.
Student employee Scott
Walker, 16, of Killingly,
Conn., thinks it will be
good, “to get kids into fi-
nance while they’re in high
school rather than college.”
Killingly Superintendent
of Schools William Silver
said the district has a long-
term relationship with
Charter Oak. Silver said
the company has been
working with the high
school’s business depart-
of Schools
ment for years, providing
both material and person-
nel for lessons on personal
finance.
Silver said the school
board and the district were
excited about the possibil-
ity of a credit union inside
the school because it could
provide multiple opportu-
nities for students. Silver
said in addition to the in-
ternship and work experi-
ence for students, a branch
located within the school
also provided an outlet for
fostering personal respon-
sibility with the rest of the
student body.
“It provides some really
practical opportunities for
students to open their own
bank accounts and manage
their own money,” Silver
said.
Silver said he has only
received one phone call in
opposition to the idea, and
it was from a bank.
The branch, located near
the school’s cafeteria, will
be open four hours a day,
three days a week, Arm-
strong said. Students and a
Charter Oak employee will
work at the location during
the school day. Teacher
Donna Guillot said the stu-
dents who will staff the
branch are either part of
her advanced accounting
class or have a free period
and experience with busi-
ness courses.
Guillot said she has been
wanting a credit union in-
side the school for the
23 years she has worked for
the district, and described
it as an amazing opportu-
nity for her students.