The Politics of Education
After I retired from teaching, my first blog was devoted to matters of education, including the institutional politics that frequently deform it. Now, more than five years into retirement, I…
Education
Missing $$$ at Ottawa school…
Wow. This kind of puts some of the issues that we have to deal with on our own Parent Council into perspective! 70 K! I so completely sympathise with the…
Way To Stand Out!
The Alberta Liberals released there platform for the upcoming election in 2012. In the platform is a radical policy (at least I think) to try and reduce tuition cost of…
Tuition Fees and University Participation #nlpoli
The connection between tuition fees and university participation was big subject in the summer run-up to the general election and then in the general election last fall. Just to give…
Alberta Education: An election bomb?
Alberta is ramping up for an election and while busty buses and money-for-nothing schemes are dominating the scandals, the new Education Act may be the thing that pisses enough people…
Things that make me go arghhhh! Part 1
I figure that this wouldn’t be a true blog without random kvetching about nothing in particular. So in that spirit, I present semi-aimless carping about disconnected aspects of modern life,…
Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose
I grew up informed and amused by Vancouver’s great editorial cartoonists Len Norris and Roy Peterson. At home, there is an original Norris on the wall, purchased at a 1981…
OLPC Canada in Saskatchewan
Years ago I bought two XO laptops from the OLPC program. I got one, and the other went to a child in Mongolia or another country where technology is scarce.…
Globe & Mail: Save Costs by Increasing Class Sizes
I offer this post not to distract people from the robocall crimes, but to remind everyone that there are other scandals going on as well. Readers in BC probably already…
Homophobic language from an Ontario Catholic School Board
A Toronto area Catholic school board has recently released a blueprint to combat a wide range of discrimination. Laudably it includes a robust defense of the need to combat homophobia.…
Education versus war – Friday Film Pick: War Made Easy
As students wage a massive strike in Quebec, over proposed tuition hikes that will nearly double rates in a few years, and with police responding like violent fascists—blinding the eye…
A No Era for British Columbia
The British Columbia Liberals promised a number of things when they aimed to form government in 2001. This is from page three of their 36-page campaign document A New Era…
New school rankings!
The Fraser Institute school ranking have been released and Pleasant Park PS has moved up the scale considerably! Congrats! I am not a huge fan of these rankings (nor of…
Dishonourable and unscrupulous – but consistent
Currently, the internet is alive with discussion of public education in British Columbia and I’ve gathered a few elements from different sites to create a composite of opinions that reflect…
BC Liberals Need To Stretch the Truth, They Already Know We Don’t Believe Them
There is a lot of rhetoric going around in the current BCTF/BC Liberal Government battle over teachers contracts. To set a context; BC teachers have been without a contract since…
BC Liberals Need To Stretch the Truth, They Already Know We Don’t Believe Them
There is a lot of rhetoric going around in the current BCTF/BC Liberal Government battle over teachers contracts. To set a context; BC teachers have been without a contract since…
What do YOU want from education?
A young woman, for whom I have unlimited regard, sent this message to me. She is a very experienced school teacher with a Masters degree in education. She knows more…
BC isn’t broke: putting teacher bargaining in perspective
Last Monday, BC teachers held a Day of Action in communities across the province to protest the BC government’s decision to legislate a contract and put an end to their…
The first Pink Shirt Day at Canterbury was a roaring succcess!
And I think this may become an annual thing. Thanks to all of the volunteers and the following organisations who sponsored this event: Trashy, Ottawa, Ontario