Monday, February 13, 2012
Thursday, February 9, 2012
The Ultimate Simpsons Episode Competition
A bit of a departure from my usual topics, but my office is swept up in Simpsons fever with the launch of the Ultimate Simpsons Episode Competition!
Me and my fellow office Simpsons fan have identified 16 key Simpsons episodes which will compete against each other in the fight to earn the title of Ultimate Simpsons Episode!
Albeit, the judging will be completely subjective and open to all kinds of personal biases, but here we go!
Here are the 16 episodes that will be competing:
Simpsons Go to Australia VS Cape Fear
Homer Badman (Gummi Venus De Milo) VS The Krusty Special
Deep Space Homer VS Homer: Union Boss
Monorail VS Behind the Laughter
A Streetcar Named Marge VS A Fish Called Selma
The Stonecutters VS Bobo:Mr. Burns' Bear
Homer vs New York VS The Chowder Episode
Mr. Plow VS Secrets of a Successful Marriage (Homer the Teacher)
So, how's the list? Did we miss one? Let us know your thoughts.
Me and my fellow office Simpsons fan have identified 16 key Simpsons episodes which will compete against each other in the fight to earn the title of Ultimate Simpsons Episode!
Albeit, the judging will be completely subjective and open to all kinds of personal biases, but here we go!
Here are the 16 episodes that will be competing:
Simpsons Go to Australia VS Cape Fear
Homer Badman (Gummi Venus De Milo) VS The Krusty Special
Deep Space Homer VS Homer: Union Boss
Monorail VS Behind the Laughter
A Streetcar Named Marge VS A Fish Called Selma
The Stonecutters VS Bobo:Mr. Burns' Bear
Homer vs New York VS The Chowder Episode
Mr. Plow VS Secrets of a Successful Marriage (Homer the Teacher)
So, how's the list? Did we miss one? Let us know your thoughts.
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Leave Tuition Fees Where They Are
Yesterday was a "National Day of Action" for the Canadian Federation of Students to rail against rising tuition fees and the cost of post-secondary education. The CFS complains that the students are forced to rely on student loans to pay for school, and argue that education should not be a "debt sentence" for students. (Kudos on that clever line)
While I admit that higher education is an expensive activity, I'd argue that it should be, and that the real cost is actually much higher. Taxpayers already subsidize the majority of tuition costs for students, which would be 2 or 3 times more expensive if that was taken away. Plus, there are many opportunities to receive bursaries and scholarships for students that excel---I received open scholarships which paid for probably half of my tuition---and universities and colleges should be pressured to increase their spending on those programs.
However, the real problem isn't that education is too expensive, it's that there isn't enough of a return on investment. And making it cheaper will only exacerbate this problem. Education should be something that takes an investment of time, energy and money, for it gives skills and credentials that will further careers and future salaries. The problem is that this ROI is diminishing.
In the effort to be fair, to make education a "right," we've flooded the market. This 'educational inflation' made it easier to get into university, easier to get good grades, and easier to get that BA or BS or BBA, or whatever alphabet soup you were aiming for. But it has also made it harder to get a job. Degrees are run of the mill now, handed out by increasingly shady institutions to increasingly greater numbers of students. An undergraduate degree doesn't stand out any more, and so people are completing their Masters and writing theses in art history and communications and are still finding that there are no jobs. The answer to this problem isn't to pump out more degrees.
Canada already has the highest proportion of university graduates per capita in the world, even with the crushing burden of highly subsidized and tax-deductible tution fees. Instead of increasing our lead in this area, we should be focusing on making sure degrees handed out in Canada mean something, and that education is preparing students for the real world. We should be emphasizing excellence in the public education system, not passing through failing students and creating more holidays and vacations for students. We should be identifying the industries and skills where we have huge gaps in knowledge and put together comprehensive plans to get students to learn trades, study math, excel in science and power our future economy. While it may be easier to promise students the moon, it would be a lot more productive to tell them the honest truth.
While I admit that higher education is an expensive activity, I'd argue that it should be, and that the real cost is actually much higher. Taxpayers already subsidize the majority of tuition costs for students, which would be 2 or 3 times more expensive if that was taken away. Plus, there are many opportunities to receive bursaries and scholarships for students that excel---I received open scholarships which paid for probably half of my tuition---and universities and colleges should be pressured to increase their spending on those programs.
However, the real problem isn't that education is too expensive, it's that there isn't enough of a return on investment. And making it cheaper will only exacerbate this problem. Education should be something that takes an investment of time, energy and money, for it gives skills and credentials that will further careers and future salaries. The problem is that this ROI is diminishing.
In the effort to be fair, to make education a "right," we've flooded the market. This 'educational inflation' made it easier to get into university, easier to get good grades, and easier to get that BA or BS or BBA, or whatever alphabet soup you were aiming for. But it has also made it harder to get a job. Degrees are run of the mill now, handed out by increasingly shady institutions to increasingly greater numbers of students. An undergraduate degree doesn't stand out any more, and so people are completing their Masters and writing theses in art history and communications and are still finding that there are no jobs. The answer to this problem isn't to pump out more degrees.
Canada already has the highest proportion of university graduates per capita in the world, even with the crushing burden of highly subsidized and tax-deductible tution fees. Instead of increasing our lead in this area, we should be focusing on making sure degrees handed out in Canada mean something, and that education is preparing students for the real world. We should be emphasizing excellence in the public education system, not passing through failing students and creating more holidays and vacations for students. We should be identifying the industries and skills where we have huge gaps in knowledge and put together comprehensive plans to get students to learn trades, study math, excel in science and power our future economy. While it may be easier to promise students the moon, it would be a lot more productive to tell them the honest truth.
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
BCTF On the Airwaves
The BC Teachers Federation has new ads out, which make you wonder if they are planning to escalate their current job action to include an actual strike.
Of course, the ads recycle old adages without providing any context.
They claim there are 12,000 overcrowded classrooms in BC, without any definition of what overcrowding means. Why is a class of 30 senior students overcrowded? I could be convinced that the early grade classrooms need to be kept small with focused attention, but in the years that lead students up to entering college, university and the workforce, the classes should get bigger if anything. How is a coddled student getting hand-holded in a class of 22 students supposed to be prepared for life in a lecture hall of 400 or an office of 50?
They claim there are 700 fewer special needs teachers today than there were a decade ago. But how many fewer special needs students are there? Regular enrollment is down 60,000 over that same time period, so does it not hold that there may be fewer special needs students as well?
They finally claim that BC teachers are second-to-last in compensation in the country. While I have no idea if this is an accurate claim or not, it strikes me as irrelevant that Ontario is paying its teachers more while the province goes broke. Salary should be determined based on what the employer HERE can pay and what the teachers HERE should earn.
Of course, the ads recycle old adages without providing any context.
They claim there are 12,000 overcrowded classrooms in BC, without any definition of what overcrowding means. Why is a class of 30 senior students overcrowded? I could be convinced that the early grade classrooms need to be kept small with focused attention, but in the years that lead students up to entering college, university and the workforce, the classes should get bigger if anything. How is a coddled student getting hand-holded in a class of 22 students supposed to be prepared for life in a lecture hall of 400 or an office of 50?
They claim there are 700 fewer special needs teachers today than there were a decade ago. But how many fewer special needs students are there? Regular enrollment is down 60,000 over that same time period, so does it not hold that there may be fewer special needs students as well?
They finally claim that BC teachers are second-to-last in compensation in the country. While I have no idea if this is an accurate claim or not, it strikes me as irrelevant that Ontario is paying its teachers more while the province goes broke. Salary should be determined based on what the employer HERE can pay and what the teachers HERE should earn.
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