Re: The impact of the Student Choice Initiative on CFRU and the Guelph community
What is at stake for the students affected by proposed cuts to university student services? In this case, those affected are kindergarten students working with University of Guelph campus and community radio station CFRU.
Over the course of this year our classroom at Paisley Road Public School in Guelph has received visits from Bryan Webb and Jenny Mitchell from CFRU radio.
We began the year using recording equipment to collect sounds inside the school and around the schoolyard; for the youngest students this was an opportunity for them to explore and acquaint themselves with new territory, namely school. On each occasion Bryan and Jenny visit, they assemble a portable radio station inside the classroom and broadcast to a receiver radio in the hallway; the children take turns interviewing one another and gather around the radio to listen. This live audio work is recorded and will be eventually edited as a show for the broader public. For many children this is their first exposure to the medium of radio and it is media literacy in its most experiential form.
CFRU not only broadcasts an expansive range of programming to the community, it also provides tools and skills to the community that allow us to extend ourselves and reach out to others. In this case (and in the case of the other schools CFRU works with), radio offers a unique and crucial opportunity for children to reveal and develop abilities that were previously unforeseen and unheard.
CFRU operates with the support of the University of Guelph, but will be deemed an “optional service” as per the proposal affecting ancillary-fees. Under-recognized activities such as these need to receive attention and consideration as the public responds to this announcement. Are we comfortable pulling the plug on this important work?
—Aaron Senitt, kindergarten educator at Paisley Road Public School
Photo obtained via Wikimedia Commons