Smallc Posted June 14, 2009 Report Posted June 14, 2009 MONTREAL — Looking for a correct answer to a Canadian history question? It all depends where you ask.Prince Edward Island, the birthplace of Confederation? Ontario, Parliament Hill's home province? Guess again. A new national study that ranks Canadian history curricula in high schools ranked Quebec at the head of the class. The Dominion Institute, a non-partisan foundation dedicated to promoting Canada's history, examined what exactly provinces and territories are teaching high-school kids about the country's past. The organization will reveal a report card Monday filled with what it calls "worrying" grades about the country's education departments. Quebec earned a B+ for its Canadian history curriculum, while P.E.I., Newfoundland and Labrador, Saskatchewan, Alberta and Northwest Territories each took home an F. study Who woulda thunk? Quebec is the best at explaining Canada and its history to it's people. Quote
Smallc Posted June 14, 2009 Author Report Posted June 14, 2009 It does explain a thing or two about some people and their knowledge of Canada though. Quote
Moonbox Posted June 15, 2009 Report Posted June 15, 2009 It would be nice to see what sort of info they tested. Quote "A man is no more entitled to an opinion for which he cannot account than he is for a pint of beer for which he cannot pay" - Anonymous
Smallc Posted June 15, 2009 Author Report Posted June 15, 2009 (edited) Well, the difference is, that in the provinces that failed, you don't have to take a Canadian history course...and in Quebec you must take 2. I trust the Dominion Institute when it comes to Canadian history. Edited June 15, 2009 by Smallc Quote
jbg Posted June 15, 2009 Report Posted June 15, 2009 It does explain a thing or two about some people and their knowledge of Canada though. I had an interesting discussion in that hotel bar in Niagara Falls, Canada on April 7, 2007, with an apparently educated and well-to-do Canadian (the hotel cost around $295 CDN per night). The person, a Canadian, I was talking to said, "I bet you I know more American history than you do", and he said to "challenge him". I said, OK, what two elections were decided by the House of Representatives rather than the Electoral College"? The right answer is the 1800 election between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson and 1824 between John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson. He said, "wasn't it the Taft Election". I said "that was the election, like your 1993 and 1997 election, where the Republican Party was outpolled by a third-party candidate, i.e. the same as the Reform and Bloc outpolling the PCPC. He said "you win, I've never known an American to know anything about Canada". I told him I was making the stuff about Canada up. He didn't buy that. On another occasion, at a Great Big Sea concert in NYC, I met a Peterborough, ON school teacher who did not know what happened at the Plains of Abraham and didn't know who Montcalm and Wolfe were. I even met some Canadians who did not know who Louis Riel was. What's next, not knowing who John Macdonald was? Quote Free speech: "You can say what you want, but I don't have to lend you my megaphone." Always remember that when you are in the right you can afford to keep your temper, and when you are in the wrong you cannot afford to lose it. - J.J. Reynolds. Will the steps anyone is proposing to fight "climate change" reduce a single temperature, by a single degree, at a single location? The mantra of "world opinion" or the views of the "international community" betrays flabby and weak reasoning (link).
Visionseeker Posted June 15, 2009 Report Posted June 15, 2009 (edited) I had an interesting discussion in that hotel bar in Niagara Falls, Canada on April 7, 2007, with an apparently educated and well-to-do Canadian (the hotel cost around $295 CDN per night).The person, a Canadian, I was talking to said, "I bet you I know more American history than you do", and he said to "challenge him". I said, OK, what two elections were decided by the House of Representatives rather than the Electoral College"? The right answer is the 1800 election between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson and 1824 between John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson. He said, "wasn't it the Taft Election". I said "that was the election, like your 1993 and 1997 election, where the Republican Party was outpolled by a third-party candidate, i.e. the same as the Reform and Bloc outpolling the PCPC. He said "you win, I've never known an American to know anything about Canada". I told him I was making the stuff about Canada up. He didn't buy that. On another occasion, at a Great Big Sea concert in NYC, I met a Peterborough, ON school teacher who did not know what happened at the Plains of Abraham and didn't know who Montcalm and Wolfe were. I even met some Canadians who did not know who Louis Riel was. What's next, not knowing who John Macdonald was? I was in Florida not too long ago and found myself amongst a number of my fellow Canadians and a smattering of our southern cousins when the topic of world affairs came up. By rights, the Canadians were winning the day. The "other side" was becoming disheartened. So I, the fecal agitator, secretly fed them questions about Canadian history. My first feeds were kind of obscure. But then I gave simple items like first PM, date of confederation any WWI battle involving Canadians. The results were...abysmal. I came to realize from the experience that the “moneyed class” of Canadians don’t know all that much about their country. The worst example was a follow-up to the softball question (which CBC personality was a coach of the Boston Bruins?) - all correctly identified Cherry. But the follow-up asked “What city, which is also the city that house our Royal Military College, does he call home? They went 0 for 14. Edited June 15, 2009 by Visionseeker Quote
bush_cheney2004 Posted June 15, 2009 Report Posted June 15, 2009 ...On another occasion, at a Great Big Sea concert in NYC, I met a Peterborough, ON school teacher who did not know what happened at the Plains of Abraham and didn't know who Montcalm and Wolfe were. I even met some Canadians who did not know who Louis Riel was.What's next, not knowing who John Macdonald was? Indeed....Canadians who crow how much more they know about American history than their own are a curious lot...swamped by American media from birth. Quote Economics trumps Virtue.
jbg Posted June 15, 2009 Report Posted June 15, 2009 But the follow-up asked “What city, which is also the city that house our Royal Military College, does he call home?They went 0 for 14. I don't know the answer to that one. Does that put me in the class of the victims of Rick Mercer's questions? Quote Free speech: "You can say what you want, but I don't have to lend you my megaphone." Always remember that when you are in the right you can afford to keep your temper, and when you are in the wrong you cannot afford to lose it. - J.J. Reynolds. Will the steps anyone is proposing to fight "climate change" reduce a single temperature, by a single degree, at a single location? The mantra of "world opinion" or the views of the "international community" betrays flabby and weak reasoning (link).
jbg Posted March 13, 2011 Report Posted March 13, 2011 Who woulda thunk? Quebec is the best at explaining Canada and its history to it's people. I'd just love to see their anti-Anglo bias on display. Quote Free speech: "You can say what you want, but I don't have to lend you my megaphone." Always remember that when you are in the right you can afford to keep your temper, and when you are in the wrong you cannot afford to lose it. - J.J. Reynolds. Will the steps anyone is proposing to fight "climate change" reduce a single temperature, by a single degree, at a single location? The mantra of "world opinion" or the views of the "international community" betrays flabby and weak reasoning (link).
SF/PF Posted March 13, 2011 Report Posted March 13, 2011 I grew up in a suburb just outside of Edmonton, and I don't remember ever learning anything about Canada or Canadian history in my 12 years of public school. The pre and post-confed history courses I took in university were a real eye opener! One can only hope that the Alberta curriculum has improved since then. Quote Your political compass Economic Left/Right: -4.88 Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -6.15
cybercoma Posted March 13, 2011 Report Posted March 13, 2011 (edited) I'd just love to see their anti-Anglo bias on display. Living in New Brunswick, there are many students in university here from Quebec and they have said the education was a very pro-France perspective on history and a somewhat anti-English bend at the same time. You must understand, though, that it was the French who were hunting, trading and "developing" much of North America by foster relationships with the First Nations long before the English gave a crap about what was going on here. Not that the relationship with Natives was all rosy with the French, but they could not have covered a territory near as vast as they did without working alongside the Natives. Furthermore, when the English did defeat the French and take control of "New France", there was not much they could do about it. There were many more French settlers than British, so they mainly had the land in name only. It remained largely French anyway, as far as day-to-day relations went. In fact, many English-American merchants and settlers could not understand for the life of them why the English government put up with the French reality of Quebec (not named that at the time obviously), when they ruled the land. They often petitioned the government and tried to get them to get rid of French altogether, but the threat of revolt and losing control of the territory that they had won was too high. Anyway, rambling aside... the point is that the French played a crucial role in the development of Canada. The English came to the game late, but ran with it once they got here, largely ignoring the French and allowing them to do their thing, so long as they accepted that the Queen ruled Canada. Edited March 13, 2011 by cybercoma Quote
August1991 Posted March 13, 2011 Report Posted March 13, 2011 (edited) I came to realize from the experience that the moneyed class of Canadians dont know all that much about their country.Only the "moneyed class" don't know much?The rest of us don't know much either. I know very little about hockey and next to nothing about American football. Does that make me an ignoramus? Knowing when William Howard Taft was a US president is about as relevant to someone's life as knowing who played third base for the Dodgers in 1943 or what Mickey Mantle's lifetime RBI was. (I've heard of Mickey Mantle.) IME, most people know very well what is relevant to their life. They know the hours of their local grocery store. They know if a new position is opening at their work. They know the interest rate on their mortgage. They know (or at least wonder) if they are truly in love. Whether someone knows who was Prime Minister in 1933 or that Taft was a US president in 1910 is irrelevant for most people in their daily lives. And I speak as someone who happens to know that R. B. Bennett was our PM (buried in England) and that Taft was both a US President and a US Supreme Court judge. I have no idea who played (or plays now) third base for the Dodgers. It is wrong to measure people according to their anecdotal knowledge. It is doubly wrong to measure people according to their knowledge of politics and history. ----- As to the OP, the PQ government in 1978 changed the slogan on license plates from "La Belle Province" to "Je me souviens". Lionel Groulx, le chanoine historien, has a Metro station. The Quebec government requires more study time for history. My thoughts? We can send kids to school but that doesn't mean that they will learn anything. And second: Thank God our Constitution makes education a provincial jurisdiction. Edited March 13, 2011 by August1991 Quote
jbg Posted March 13, 2011 Report Posted March 13, 2011 One can only hope that the Alberta curriculum has improved since then. Heck, we got more Canadian history it seems. Quote Free speech: "You can say what you want, but I don't have to lend you my megaphone." Always remember that when you are in the right you can afford to keep your temper, and when you are in the wrong you cannot afford to lose it. - J.J. Reynolds. Will the steps anyone is proposing to fight "climate change" reduce a single temperature, by a single degree, at a single location? The mantra of "world opinion" or the views of the "international community" betrays flabby and weak reasoning (link).
SF/PF Posted March 13, 2011 Report Posted March 13, 2011 Knowing when William Howard Taft was a US president is about as relevant to someone's life as knowing who played third base for the Dodgers in 1943 or what Mickey Mantle's lifetime RBI was. (I've heard of Mickey Mantle.) IME, most people know very well what is relevant to their life. They know the hours of their local grocery store. They know if a new position is opening at their work. They know the interest rate on their mortgage. They know (or at least wonder) if they are truly in love. There is a lot of truth to this, IMO. Quote Your political compass Economic Left/Right: -4.88 Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -6.15
cybercoma Posted March 13, 2011 Report Posted March 13, 2011 As to the OP, the PQ government in 1978 changed the slogan on license plates from "La Belle Province" to "Je me souviens". Lionel Groulx, le chanoine historien, has a Metro station. The Quebec government requires more study time for history. My thoughts? We can send kids to school but that doesn't mean that they will learn anything. And second: Thank God our Constitution makes education a provincial jurisdiction. I really like the idea of CEGEP. Frankly, I think other provinces ought to adopt the program. Quote
Evening Star Posted March 13, 2011 Report Posted March 13, 2011 Who woulda thunk? Quebec is the best at explaining Canada and its history to it's people. This is extremely unsurprising to me. Quote
Smallc Posted March 13, 2011 Author Report Posted March 13, 2011 Why did this two year old thread suddenly come back to life? Quote
SF/PF Posted March 13, 2011 Report Posted March 13, 2011 Why did this two year old thread suddenly come back to life? Necro! Quote Your political compass Economic Left/Right: -4.88 Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -6.15
August1991 Posted March 13, 2011 Report Posted March 13, 2011 I really like the idea of CEGEP. Frankly, I think other provinces ought to adopt the program.Cegeps date from the 1960s. Quebec's first minister of education took office in 1964.Conclude what you want. Quote
jbg Posted March 13, 2011 Report Posted March 13, 2011 (edited) Why did this two year old thread suddenly come back to life? Necro! I was deleting old but unread e-mails and remembered I wanted to post here back in June 2009. Is "necro-ing" bad? Should one start a new thread that's the same as an old one? Edited March 13, 2011 by jbg Quote Free speech: "You can say what you want, but I don't have to lend you my megaphone." Always remember that when you are in the right you can afford to keep your temper, and when you are in the wrong you cannot afford to lose it. - J.J. Reynolds. Will the steps anyone is proposing to fight "climate change" reduce a single temperature, by a single degree, at a single location? The mantra of "world opinion" or the views of the "international community" betrays flabby and weak reasoning (link).
Smallc Posted March 13, 2011 Author Report Posted March 13, 2011 I was deleting old but unread e-mails and remembered I wanted to post here back in June 2009. Is "necro-ing" bad? Should one start a new thread that's the same as an old one? No, it just seemed strange that suddenly I was reading the response to a post that I didn't even remember making, that's all. Quote
SF/PF Posted March 13, 2011 Report Posted March 13, 2011 I was deleting old but unread e-mails and remembered I wanted to post here back in June 2009. Is "necro-ing" bad? Should one start a new thread that's the same as an old one? No, its just the slang term for resurrecting an old thread. Quote Your political compass Economic Left/Right: -4.88 Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -6.15
August1991 Posted March 13, 2011 Report Posted March 13, 2011 No, it just seemed strange that suddenly I was reading the response to a post that I didn't even remember making, that's all.Welcome to the club. Quote
William Ashley Posted March 13, 2011 Report Posted March 13, 2011 (edited) What's next, not knowing who John Macdonald was? E I E I O Here is one for you, what substance was his wife addicted to? And where did She go to recover? .... Here is another one, why Did William Lyon Mackenzie King stop going to seances? (two times - name both reasons) --- Here is a more recent one - what was Brian Mulrooney's "big in" to politics, it was as a mediator.. what was it for? This missle was contraversial - - starts with a B? How many times have nuclear weapons been in Canada? How many nuclear weapons are in Canada this month? What was the year US trade surpassed british trade in Canada? -------------- At its peak how many ships were in Canada's navy ---- guess within 50 how many air craft carriers? how many battleships, how many submarines? Where did the BC province garden come from? Whose house is connected to the ROM? Who killed the most people in Canadian history? What was the reason marijuana was criminalized in Canada? What leaders father was a prominent social credit party person? Whose daughter was accused of funding the black panthers to plant bombs in LA? Who was the first royal to visit Ottawa, and what house was bought, and from whom, to house them? How many great seals has Canada had issued? including non federal great seals *including french seals). Edited March 13, 2011 by William Ashley Quote I was here.
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