Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Cordell Jacks writes about the need for an economic model which evolves beyond the short-term exploitation of people and the planet. And…
Education
Which Country will be the First to Restore its Monarchy in the 21st Century?
Since the end of decolonization in the 1960s the number of monarchies in the world hasn’t changed all that much. While the expectation of modernists has been for the slow…
We Need Policy Based on Evidence, not Vibes
Survival of the fittest doesn’t mean the strongest survive, it means whomever can best adapt to the conditions of life will survive. Adapting doesn’t mean tolerating what’s happening and ignoring…
Teachers Prepared To Strike For Smaller Class Sizes
In recent years, many teachers are dealing with 40 kids, in unsafe classrooms, while the Sask Party Education Minister posts about a mining company on the day the strike is…
Squid Game
The UCP’s “bread and circuses”* approach to government is no longer working. The “bread” (low taxes and high employment) is no compensation for our crumbling healthcare, education, and social services.…
Tuesday Afternoon Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – David Macdonald highlights yet another record-breaking year of Canadian CEO income compared to the pay of the average worker. – Lisa Young’s…
The Kings without a Kingdom: History of the Aga Khans
A few years ago there was a bit of a scandal involving Justin Trudeau’s Caribbean vacation to visit Aga Khan’s private residence. This article isn’t about Justin Trudeau or the…
Why teach history?
Some Republican-led American states are changing how students in their public schools are taught civics. The new standards focus on patriotism, Christianity and anti-communism. Hands-on activities, such as debating current…
The Questionable Wisdom of Institutions of Higher Learning
Trying to convince universities to allow remote learning in maskless in-person classes and maybe to allow mini-HEPAs on the desk during exams appears to be futile despite the current risk…
The System Isn’t the Problem
See Lecce’s announcement on a mandatory anti-communism curriculum coming to schools: But then also check out Frank Domenic’s take on it and how similar our current provincial government is to…
How to Know
We need to fight back on the idea that there’s nothing we can really know. When I taught, more and more I’d run up against the claim that there’s nothing…
On Learning Loss
A New York Times piece discusses, again, learning loss from the lockdowns of 2020, but a new study shows the lockdowns actually improved some skills. The Editorial Board of the…
The Frustrating Run-Around on Filtration Units in Schools
This is a long but very informative video about what happened when people tried to improve air quality in schools. This is a very loose collection of things said that…
How It Began
When it all started, I immediately started reading news from China and Italy, figuring that what was happening there could easily happen here, and we should be prepared. Esther Hopkins…
Consumption is Back in Vogue
Tuberculosis is making a comeback! (Mass-consumerism never left.) About 2 million people die worldwide from TB, but not here, right!?! Now there’s a case in the University of Victoria and…
Danielle Smith Addresses the UCP/TBA AGM
I watched Danielle Smith’s speech to her supporters at the UCP AGM and all I could think of was Salvador Dali’s painting of the clocks. Time was melting, the landscape…
Of What Use is Alternate History to a Monarchist?
Wishful Thinking or Useful Tool? Alternative History is a popular sub-genre of historical fiction that asked ‘what if‘ some key event had gone differently. This can be a lot of…
Inaccessible Accessibility
Why is remote learning suddenly so difficult to access when we have all the tech we need to pull it off? When I was in grade 12, I started to…
SaskPower On The Future of Net Zero
Balance he says. pic.twitter.com/elGKwknjSg — John Klein (@JohnKleinRegina) October 17, 2023 SaskPower gave a lecture at the university about transmission and generation planning.
A woman’s world
Some years ago I wrote a book based on the theme that women are better designed for the modern world than men. (Visit this page for a free copy.) Men…