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{(11.1 ort'u/ "What was good enough for my' father is good enough for WW son“ This worn-out old saying may arise from a nostalgic feeling for the past or it mat- be an indication of ‘t stubhorn restsrance [O‘Chflnge and provide a feeble excuse to avoid coining face to [flLC with than-us We heard this saying many- times in Ontario when the movement to close "the little red stliiiol houses_ was being promoted. No matter what are the private thoughts of individuals “e no“ recognize that the school system as represented by the country one-room schools was doomed and could not adequately provide the education for young people growing u‘ in this \lcrr modern era. p i ‘ Alvin Toffler lfl‘hls book "Future Shock" says, "\Vestetn socictt' lor the past itlU y-cars has been caught up in a fire storm of change. This storm far from abating. now appears to be gathering force. Change sweeps through the highly- industrialized countries with \\il\‘L'\ of ever accelerating speed and unprecedented impact, It spawns in its wake all sorts of curious flora W from psychedelic churches. 'free universities to science cities in the Arttic and uifc swap clulss in California." ’ \Ve who have been members of the \Vomcn's Institutes for .1 number of wars have seen tremendous changes in our own lifetime. \V’e talk about the good old days and it is fun to recreate the atmosphere of a hundred years ago in Anniversart celebrations, but who toultl honestly say' that we would want to go back to living conditions as thcv “L'I'L' even 2* rears ago. What. no television. no comfortable motor cars. no supermarkets and L'lL'klll'lL ;|[\llli[|'n(u‘. nod airplanes for rapid transportation! A few hours of being \\l[ltt\tl[ electricity are hard to En UTE. Let's face it. we don't want to go back to the good old days, All right! If we want these modern technological changes which maki- our living easier and which will get more Sophisticated since technologists and scientists in all fit-ids are working hard to develop ideas for new things, then we must accept that changes in life soles. in thinking and attitudes are going to occur and some of these changes We are not going-Lil like, Toffler says, "The acceleration of change does not merely bulch industries or nations. [t is a concrete force that reaches deep into our personal lives. tonipels us to att out new roles and confronts us with the danger of a new and powerfully upsetting disease." a disease Il.lll1c‘(l ht Toffler, "Future Shock." Toffler also says. "Unless intelligent steps are taken to cope with the dist-ast- millions o! human beings will find themselves increasingly disoriented, progressively inctittipetcul to deal rationally with their environments. The malaise. mass neurosis, irrationality and free-floating violence is already apparent in contemporary life are merely' a foretaste of what may lit- ahead unless we come to understand and treat this disease.’ And what has all this to do with those of us who belong to one of the largest women's organization in the world â€" to an organization dedicated (a) to help women acquire sound and approved homemaking skills (b) to help develop better informed, happier and more useful citizens. With all this Change, as yet no substitute has been found for {1 healthy home Inukgrnuntl for developing good citizens. though some have proposed other means. some of ohith have actually been tried. The parents. often the mother, are the people who must plan and establish the homes for the children they bear and are expected to care for. The honiemaking skills mentioned in the objectives of the \‘l/nmen's Institute do not just mean the skills of cooking. sewing, laundering, etc. It means skill in creating a healthy home atmosphere. skill in under- standing young people, it means making the supreme effort of understanding that rapidly changing world into which young people will emerge from the home environment. And the Women's Institute? "\Vhat was good enough for our mothers" is not good enough for our daughters. Old programs. old formant must he examined and some, may'he many, should be discarded. Each branch has a responsibility to its members. to the women in the community. to the whole community" to provide rograms that will help to stimulate thinking. to look forward, to understand, to anticipate unite needs. Now is the time with a carefully prepared new Handbook suggesting excellent programs that must be promoted by our Convcnors and their tomniiiiees, In our birthday celebrations we are honouring our past members and this is right; but let's not get away from the fact we are going to have to live in a strange new. perhaps ‘sl‘blit‘klng, world and we'd better prepare for it. SUMMER 1972