Live From China

One of the things that bothers me about all of this is that we must adhere to very tight time lines. There is literally no time for remedial work or extra practice. Students who are struggling or having difficulty, continue to do so. Their needs are sacrificed to the "gods of timetabling" and scheduling. There are year plans, unit plans and endless forms about forms. All this garbage takes away from the real reason for teaching: the students. And teachers become nothing more than clones. I predict many problems will arise from this slavish, mindless nonsense!

I still don't get your point, Griz. I have a hunch a lot of others don't either. What really bugs me about this is the unilateral way in which these decisions are made. Bloody wankers in Victoria sit in their offices with their master's degrees and act superior and think they know what's best for everyone. Just become someone is in a position of power and is supposedly well educated doesn't mean they come up with good ideas. In fact, education is, plain and simply, full of bad management making bad decisions.

Sorry, Molly, teaching at a private school doesn't answer the question. The school is required to teach the BC curriculum. Thus, I am assuming this is a province-wide edict.

Griz, where does this stuff about "indians" come from? No one has made a single reference to this on this thread!

I don't. That's why I am asking.

How accountable does one have to be? Let me explain. I teach at a private school. "Suddenly" the administration wants each teacher in each department to be teaching the same topic on the same day. For example, if you are teaching acceleration in physics, then on Sept. 15th, all the physics teachers must be teaching the same aspect of that topic on the same day. No allowances for student abilities or difficulties. In addition, all tests must be identical. All labs must be identical. At a meeting, we were even told we should not tell an interesting story if it was not directly related to the topic at hand. Finally, no marks can be deducted for an assignment being late because that is a behaviorial issue and not an academic one. Is this part of the BC government's aim at accountability in education? I personally have never heard of anything so kooky! How was I able to teach (and very successfully I might add!) for over 20 years without be hampered by this ultra-right-wing-control-to-the-nth-degree attitude?

But I am incredibly suspect of the so-called legitimate testing. The educated professionals invent a new syndrome or disorder with a whole pile of symptoms. Then they test for the symptoms. But if the disorder is fake to start with ........

Again, GostHacked, well said. Your post is hilarious, but the reality is that this shows a sad state of affairs when we have to label every "unusual" behavior being part of some disorder. Had a friend whose dad went out every Friday after work for one (literally one) beer, and suddenly some New Age pop psychology fanatic said, "Oh, he's an alcoholic." Like lots of sex? Oh, your a sex addict. Laugh at your own jokes and it is supposedly the sign of some kind of disorder. And on and on it goes.

I'm with you GostHacked. I think many of these so-called disorders are plain and simply made up. Oh, he or she doesn't like wearing sweaters in the winter because they are hot and confining. Oh, that is one of the signs of Asperger's Syndrome, or whatever. Yeah, sure!

If we have to have a ridiculous no-fly list, why aren't people informed when they go to buy a ticket rather than at the counter after they have purchased their ticket?

People might find the following interesting: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/story.h...a4-20a411de4e71 This is the same government who just voted itself massive pay raises, while at the same time refusing to raise BC's minimum wage. Campbell didn't even have the guts to face the press after this legislation was passed. It seems to me their unmitigated arrogance has turned around to bite them.

OK, a question about lie detector tests in the US: are there any states in which the results of a lie detector test are admissible in court?

Well, this topic is of great interest to me, especially now that I have had a chance to work in the People's Republic and therefore have had a chance to observe the affect of diet in two cultures. My observations are anecdotal, so bear with me. In China, people tend to be thin. The diet still mainly consists of rice, vegetables, meat (in small amounts), chicken and fish. The protein content varies from region to region. This type of diet seems to be accepted internationally as being healthy. Now, there is also a quickly growing middle class in China and along with that the money to "experience" Western food. McDonald's, KFC, Pizza Hut, etc. are everywhere in the larger centres. There is also a concern in China that middle-class people are getting fatter as a result. This is also influenced by fact that exercise is for kids or students. When you leave school you get married, have a family and work long hours. Of course, this also influences weight gain. I got a real "eye opener" from one of my students. He was getting excited at the prospect of going to Canada for university and was perusing a picture book on Vancouver. He pulled me aside and showed me a picture of the Seawall in Stanley Park on a beautiful day. His question? Not, "Where is this?" or anything like that. He pointed to the people in the picture (of which there were many) and asked, "Are all people in Canada this fat?"

Come on now, you can't be that bad! I think most of Canada is similar to Alberta: 10 months of winter, followed by 2 months of lousy snowmobiling, snowshoeing and skiing!

Street racers are jerks! Especially those who act as if it is their right to do so and will are willing to fight anyone who challenges them on this point. Well, except for the police and any judge who sentences them. Why don't we go the fine "one better": Caught once and not only do you get fined, but you lose your vehicle. And your license is gone for 5 years. Caught again, a higher fine, jail time and you lose your license for life. Basically, the judicial system needs to start unleasing "the fury of hell" on these punks. Especially those who kill people while street racing.

This is simplistic and untrue. By today's standards what happened was wrong, but 300 years ago it wasn't. Now I don't like what occurred but that doesn't mean a thing. As indicated by Riverwind, simply too much time has passed. And there is one question posed that NOT one pro-FN's poster has ever answered, NOT one: if compensation is required, where do we draw the line? Two hundred years? Three hundred? Or, even 452.5? In fact, I have seen these question posed again and again in similar discussions and never answered. We hear about moral obligations but how is it moral to reward one group against which no wrongs (remember none of the people you are rewarding were alive over a century ago) were committed and penalizing people who never committed the so-called wrongs? It is just as idiotic to say there is no upper limit to compensation or that people have gained unlimited wealth from FN's land. A quick foray into the world of mathematics will tell anyone that this is an impossibility. Both are impossible to give or get. Not even a civil war will change this fact. Wealth in Canada is a finite commodity. Again, these are buzzwords that are truly meaningless. Rhetoric used by propagandists.

Assuming you mean move to the city. Exactly what some of the young people who lived on the reserves near here have done. I congratulate them! They are setting a positive example for others. Or considerably more. It is an exercise in futility to judge past events by today's standards. Especially when the world was such a tremendously different place. Also, what is going to happen when one FN's group says to another FN's group, "Hey, wait a minute, that's was originally our land!"? "Yeah, but that was 600 years ago." "Well, since we went back 500 years, why can't we go back 600?" And we will have opened the door.

And, of course, we can use this against them. But in the end, I say, "So what?" It obviously didn't do the Iroquois much good. The question is how many "warriors" are there? Very few! And certainly not the numbers the VC were able to throw into the field, and at an enormous cost in life, I might add. Losses "you" cannot sustain. Furthermore, you can knock the numbers of warriors down because very few actually have the will to fight in any real battle. Neither, I nor most FN's people want things to go this way. In fact, it is probably not going to happen. Yes, the protests will continue. And a smattering of nutters will appear causing trouble and pretending to speak for everyone. Posit's arguments seem vaguely familiar. It's almost as s/he were a banned poster returned under a different name.

Well said, ScottSA. Posit's statement is just wishful thinking. There is a difference between the ability of a well-organized, heavily armed machine such as the USAF and its ability to deliver crippling blows to an entire nation's infrastructure and a few armed "warriors." Their impact on an entire nation's industrial complex would be insignificant. But more importantly, there is something called the will to fight. I think very few FN's people want to go this route. Very few! Now waiting for some response like they actually have magical powers, can walk through walls, can be in 15 places at one time, etc., etc. and, therefore, 10 warriors are the equivalent of the US Army.

Speaking of a piteous view...!

OK, here goes. There is a tremendous amount of naysaying on both sides of this issue. The law can be changed. No, it can't. Yes, it can. Spinning our tires and going nowhere. Over the last ten years, I have spent a considerable amount of time working with the FN's. Naturally, this issue has come up many times. I think we can all be enlightened by the views of FN's, not at the bargaining table or the protest line, but at the "street level." I think people will be surprised. Here's a summary: 1. Leave us alone! We are tired of the liberals, native wannabe's and hippies trying to help us. They only muddy the waters and make us appear helpless. We can solve this issue on our own. This is how the problem started in the first place. The great white benefactor looked upon us as children that needed their assistance. That also goes for the warrior societies who think they represent us. Violence only begets more violence. How is it going to help our children and grandchildren when they see this as a model for dealing with problems. Many of them have already experienced too much violence and abuse. 2. Solve the social problems first. Giving us more land and money isn't going to help. It is only going to keep us helpless and addicted. We would rather see the addictions broken before worrying about land claims. 3. Let us do the forgiving. We are fed up with self-deprecating whites whining about the past. The forgiveness must come from us, not them. We don't care if the King of France did this or the King of England or the Crown. That was a long time ago. If we punish the people and their children for so-called wrongs they never committed, we are only doing to them what they did to our ancestors. How do two wrongs make this right? Out of the mouths of the elders!

Sadly, I must agree with you. In fact, it is inevitable. I sincerely believe that most of the FN's groups want this settled at the conference table. I also believe that a small minority do not; in fact, I think this group is only interested in confrontation and revenge (for whatever past wrongs). I am convinced that this minority also terrorizes and provokes its own people I also think that a small minority of non-natives are thinking (I use the word lightly) and acting along the same lines. Because the government has not stood up in the past, I envision some confrontations will turn very ugly, violent and dangerous.

I am wondering if negotiations will also include the ending of government largesse.

Well, then this shows just how undiscerning you are! I am involved in negotiations right now and they have certainly taken more than a day. You have read texts from both sides (another buzz phrase), proving exactly what? That in doing so you are just so unbiased? A seeker of the truth? Hmmm, I wonder? I think you are missing a key point here. People can get together and alter oral traditions to suit their needs. So even if the stories are "corroborated", they could be lies. Add the element of anger, revenge and making lots of cash, and you have the makings of a huge scam. Not saying it will happen, but it certainly should make one sit up and take notice. If you think about it, your first and second sentences are contradictory. What you are really saying is that these claims aren't ending up in court because the system is populated with unlearned and unjust people. So I guess only the learned and the just will decide in your favor. And if they don't, they are really aren't learned and just. And around and around it goes.