On Population Control and Freedom at Any Cost
China has officially ended its one-child policy, and the New York Times argues against any similar policy ever existing again. The Chinese government’s decision to end its draconian one-child policy…
Marie Snyder
On Childhood Angst
Can children be existentialists? What I’m asking isn’t so much whether or not it’s possible, but should we allow it? If I dare to claim to define some central ideas…
On Reading and Writing
I teach grade 12 university-level philosophy, and I teach it as a university prep-course. So we read primary sources, and we write essays longer and more complex than the standard…
On Sex Work
Bill C-36, which passed into law almost a year ago, begins like this: “Whereas the Parliament of Canada has grave concerns about the exploitation that is inherent in prostitution and…
The Lives of Others
I have this poster on the wall of my classroom: It’s important to know. It’s necessary to understand how things work. And then it’s vital to act rightly in the…
The Election on Last Week Tonight
In case you haven’t seen this yet:
Call for Questions
Another civics teacher and I are hosting an all-candidates debate for potential MP of my school’s riding, which, for the first time, is not my own riding even though I…
Just in Time Learning
The experience that most prepared me for teaching wasn’t teacher’s college, it was working in a huge insurance company. They trained me to work efficiently and stay working until the…
Has the Green Revolution Actually Arrived?
There’s an article floating around sub-titled “The Year Humans Got Serious about Saving Themselves from Themselves” by Jonathan Chait. It starts with a litany of climate change-driven bad news with…
On Achievement and Death and Stuff
First, a bit about boredom: “Boredom may lead you to anything. After all, boredom even sets one to sticking gold pins into people…one may choose what is contrary to one’s…
Fighting Fanaticism
“Fanaticism is bred by hopelessness and despair. It is not the product of religion, although religion often becomes the sacral veneer for violence. The more desperate people become, the more…
Dear Orli
You wrote about the education system ruining your health because you started having panic attacks when you realized your future would be based on a set of criteria created by…
On So Much Anger
Anger may be defined as an impulse, accompanied by pain, to a conspicuous revenge for a conspicuous slight directed without justification towards what concerns oneself or towards what concerns one’s…
Economics of Happiness
The 60 min. documentary, Economics of Happiness, is being offered free to watch online for the month of August. It’s a thoughtful look at how we could be living if…
One Neat Trick to Lose Weight Fast
I just lost 10 pounds without even trying!! So I was ready to give away some clothes to charity because it was time to resign myself to my middle-age body.…
On Teaching Philosophy to Children
There are several articles and discussions being reported about teaching philosophy to children. They largely focus on the question should we, why, and how? Britain has a program, Philosophy for…
On Marriage and Divorce and Trolls and Haters
I moderate my comments because I once got 67 comments about carpet cleaning on one post. I rarely get comments at all, so I hate to block any I do…
On Rape on Campus
Since I saw Into the Wild and started reading Krakauer, I haven’t stopped. But this last one took a while to open. It’s about rape on college campuses, specifically in…
Peace or Apathy
I found this piece on Medium, yet another on-line time suck! You can’t read it without joining, so I copied and pasted the bits I like below. This piece says…
Supporting Bare Boobs
It’s not about this: the Braza Bra It’s about arguing in favour of a woman’s right to take off her shirt. How stupid, right? I mean, it’s stupid that we…