This image is entitled MRSS Year 12 Steiner last day 2007 by Gavin Anderson. It is used in accordance with his Creative Commons license.
They still have school assemblies with visiting performers these days, don't they? I know they have author visits, and I know there are public safety mesages, talent shows, school plays and general seasonal celebrations, but were they like some of the presentations I saw in my childhood?
I remember one presentation in particular where we were hauled down to the gymnasium at Lord Lansdowne Public School and treated to a story about gas -- natural gas, to be exact. It featured a mad scientist (white coat, funny hair, glasses, the lot) in his mad laboratory, working with natural gas. And by some science magic, he manages to resurrect a dinosaur from the fossil fuel, performed by another performer in a large felt-covered suit (which must have been extremely hot under the lights).
The presentation went over all of the safety issues around natural gas, including how to smell a leak and what to do then, all told in such a way as to make the kids respect, but not fear, natural gas. They end with a song and dance number where the nerdy mad scientist dances comically badly.
Looking back, one thing that struck me about this presentation is that they went beyond safety to talk about the future of gas. The mad scientist pulled down a projection map of Canada which showed where our active gas reserves were, and he confidently told us that there was enough gas here (in and around the Rockies and in Ontario) to last us thirty years.
"Ahem," says the dinosaur. "I don't know about you, but I think these kids here plan to be around for longer than thirty years."
"Ah, well, you see," said the mad scientist, and he proceeds to highlight possible but untapped resources through the maritimes, and across the Arctic, boasting, "these should last us well into the next century!"
So...
Up to this point, this presentation was like the other public safety presentations where we were taught to respect but not fear a particular item, like police officers talking about drugs (and hauling out the incredibly creepy Blinky, the doe-eyed police car), and how prescription drugs were okay but you still had to be careful around them, or Hydro officers telling us to watch out for downed power lines after storms and not play with them like Indiana Jones and his whip. But none of the other presentations got into the subject of the future of Canada's resources.
Which makes me wonder who actually put on this presentation. A local gas company would be expected to tell kids about how to smell a gas leak and what to do if you do, but I doubt they'd have any interest in encouraging kids to support gas extraction in the Arctic. That smells like an industry public relations organization.
Well, as I'm still remembering this almost forty years down the line, all I can say is that their PR department got their money's worth.
(UPDATE): Doing a quick bit of research, I see that the gas company Enbridge is quite happy to speak to schools in this day and age but, again, more about being safe around gas rather than where to drill for it.