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    Illustrated Chronicle of Three Generations

    David Fletcher
    Chatper 33: June 1990 to December 1991


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Chatper 33:
June 1990
to Dec. 1991

  • 33.1 Introduction: Transition from Student to Teacher
  • 33.2 Joanna and I (3 of 8)
  • 33.3 Teaching Full-time at King Square Collegiate (6 of 8)
  • 33.4 Completion of Phrase Animee (6 of 6)
  • 33.5 Preparations for Trip to Eastern Europe
  • 33.6 Summer, 1990: Poland, Solidarnosc (4 of 8)
  • 33.7 Summer, 1990: USSR (1 of 4)
  • 33.8 Rae Elected Ontario Premier, 1990
  • 33.9 Organizing at KSC (7 of 8)
  • 33.10 My Art of the Period, 1990 to 1991
  • 33.11 Fletchers During the Period, 1990 to 1991
  • 33.12 Chico, Lhasa Apso
  • 33.13 Starting "Towards an Ecozoic Curriculum"
  • 33.14 Summer, 1991: Poland, Solidarnosc (5 of 8)
  • 33.15 Summer, 1991: USSR (2)
  • 33.16 Fall, 1991: Collapse of the USSR
  • 33.17 Gulf War and Related Research, 1991
  • 33.18 Zeitgeist: Politics and Society, 1990 to 1991
  • 33.19 Culture, Books, Films, and TV: 1990 to 1991
  • 33.19 Summary, Conclusions, Connections, Goals, Omissions, & Regrets






33.1 Introduction: Transition from Student to Teacher

33.1.1 Introduction

33.1.2 Joanna







33.2 Joanna and I

33.2.1 Introduction

33.2.2 Joanna

33.2.3 My Year of 1990






33.3 Teaching Full-time at King Square Collegiate

After completing the FEUT program in May, 1990, I immediately returned to full-time teaching at King Square Collegiate. I continued to teach Visual Arts, History, Geography ("World Issues"), and English during the semesters that Summer, 1990; Fall, 1990; Spring, 1991; Summer, 1991; and finally the Fall, 1991, semester. As will be described below the problems of the school started in April, 1991, leading up to the end of my teaching at KSC in December, 1991, and the closure of the school in June, 1992.

Before April, 1991, I got along very well with the staff of the school. Most noteably, these included:

  • David Harley (Principal)
  • John Swettenham (Vice Principal)
  • Ray Mesluk (Physics, Computer Science)
  • David Cottrell (Guidance Councellor)
  • Chu (Chemistry)
  • Schneider (English)
Perhaps even more importantly, I got along very well with the students. ALL of them. There were no behaviour problems and each and every student worked incredibly hard to do everything related to the course and to get along with everyone else. A typical class photo is shown below. This was my Geography classroom which was full of books and maps on two sides, blackboard on the third, and large windows on the East. In addition to teaching full-time, I also on occasion took additional qualification courses. The intention was to increase the variety of courses which I was qualified to teach (my "teachables")

Summer Course, 1990: Science AQ

August, 1990, I completed the EDU1300A "Senior Science" additional qualification course for teachers at the FEUT building on Bloor and Spadina.

Summer Course, 1990: Industrial Arts AQ

August, 1990, I completed the EDU9171A "Industrial Arts" additional qualification course for teachers at Danforth Technical School.

History course: September 1990 to June, 1991

In the Fall and Spring of this teaching year at KSC I took a University of Toronto History evening course with Professor Jocelyn Thompson entitled HIS375Y "American Popular Culture". My three essays for this course were:
  1. "Reflection on the Sheets"
    This was a study of sheet music covers of the Ragtime era (1898 to 1917) to test the hypothesis that they reflect changes in popular American culture.
  2. " Revealed on the Sheets" A study of American sheet music of the Twentieth Century to test the hypothesis that popular American culture developed as a mix of degraded versions of elite culture and deracinated folk culture.
  3. " From Rhapsody to Rap City".



33.4 Completion of Phrase Animee (6 of 6)

33.4.1 Introduction

Phrase Animee, a computer based learning material (CBLM) software program which I developed under contract with the Ontario Ministry of Education, was my major project during the second half of the 1980s.

Phrase Animee was finally approved for distribution by the Ministry of Education on __________ and the credit screen was finally added to the software (see below).




33.5 Preparations for Trip to Poland and USSR

33.5.1 Introduction

While teaching at KSC, completing Phrase Animee, and settling down with Joanna, many of my thoughts were on my work with Solidarnosc. I planned to return and to make my next trip productive I corresponded extensively with Solidarnosc members in Poland.

33.5.2 Correspondence with Solidarnosc

33.5.3 Correspondence with the Teachers Union in Russian Federation of USSR




33.6 Fourth Trip
to Poland:
Solidarnosc, 1990

33.6.1 Introduction

33.6.2 Flying to Frankfurt

33.6.3 Prague and Czechoslovakia


33.6.4 Entering Poland from South-West

The previous time I had been to Poland, it was in 1989 and Solidarnosc had just come to power. In the time leading up to my fourth trip in the summer of 1990, there had been several developments. Following the June, 1989, elections Jaruzelski became President and Tadeusz Mazowiecki Prime Minister. The compromise agreeement, approved by Moscow, had included the retention by the communist-controlled PZPR of five key ministries, including Internal Affairs and Defence. But at the next (and last) congress of the PZPR (29 January, 1990) it was decided to dissolve the party.
see "Turning the tables?"

And so when Joanna and I went to Poland, there was an odd power vacuum.

33.6.5 Nazi Extermination Camps

Joanna and visited several Nazi extermination camps. The most famous is Auschwitz - Birkenau (near Kracow). There were others, including some near Joanna's hometown of Lublin: Majdanek, Sobidor, and Belzec.

In elections on 9 December 1990 Lech Walensa won the Presidency.
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33.6.6 First Trip
to Soviet Union (1 of 5)


After twenty-three years of anticipation and study, I finally stepped foot into the USSR.

33.6.7 'Sigda Gateau' (always ready)

This is the salute of the pioneers, always ready to defend the party and the Motherland.

33.6.8 Moscow, Summer, 1990

33.6.9 Massacre in Vilnius, January, 1991

Later, in the summer of 1991, Gorbachev had a terrible decision to make with regard to how to suppress the independence movement in the Baltic republics. If there was a extremely violent crackdown which killed many, as there had been during the Stalin years, then perhaps the Soviet state could survive. If somehow those who wanted more autonomy could be accommodated without violence, then perhaps the Soviet state could survive. This is what Gorbachev wanted and in was in the process of negotiating with them. But what the Soviet state could not survive was a middle road. This middle road is what happened. There was a crackdown, but the Red Army killed few, just enough to become martyrs to the cause and inspire the Baltic states to seek full independence. 
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