I love reading the opinion letters in newspapers. I love how they show incredible intelligence AND incredible ignorance in such a small space that, hopefully the latter doesn't, represent Vancovouver citizens.
I've been published a few times in the letters pages, and I must say it IS kind of hard to get a letter published there- it has to be some sort of sensational, of course and once I got the hang of knowing how to be sensational wriing letters to newspapers got old.
Anyhow, two letters in particular got me interested enough to dicuss here.
I read this one first:
Gay taxpayers tired of subsidizng their critics:
It is bad enough that we gay British Columbians subsidize private Catholic schools with our tax dollars, but they now object to gays being included in diversity programs in public schools. Our thousands of dollars are gleefully accepted, but we are considered inferior and unworthy. I don't think so. It's time all taxpayers took a close look at private schools that inevitably teach that they are the only ones worthy of anything.
Hugh (Bart) Vincelette, Vancouver
I had a "huh..that's interesting" moment.
Ad at first I agreed whole heartely- WHY do we as taxpayers pay for things that will demoralize our community and/or bash and/or potentially spread hate?
Letter
Published: Thursday, March 20, 2008
It is disappointing to read that some members of the BCTF may be contemplating job action to express their opposition to the Foundation Skills Assessment (FSA), an important tool in assessing children's learning outcomes.
The FSA is an annual assessment of how students in Grades 4 and 7 are performing in reading, writing and math. It is a valuable tool for measuring individual student achievement and it allows us to address learning challenges early before they become real barriers to student success.
This form of assessment has been in place for almost 10 years and experts, including B.C.'s own representative for children and youth, have found it to be a useful tool. Over the last year, I also travelled to school districts around the province where I heard from numerous parents, teachers and students about the importance of this assessment.
Broadcast E-mail to All UBC Vancouver Students, Faculty and Staff from President Stephen J. Toope:
For the second time in a week, our Vancouver campus community has received a threatening message.In this second case, an unspecific threat has been made for Wednesday. The threat does not specify a time, a location within the UBC Point Grey campus or the method of doing harm.We must take such threats seriously, and we are working closely with senior RCMP personnel to address this new threat.What can we all do when faced with such a threat? We are taking the advice of the RCMP to treat the non-specific nature of the threat with a higher level of community vigilance but to otherwise continue our normal activities.However, because of the specific mention of the Biosciences building in the threatening message received last week, and the traumatic experience of the occupants who endured a full lockdown of the building at that time, classes will be cancelled tomorrow (Wednesday) in the Biosciences Building.
For details, see the RCMP news release at: www.rcmp-bcmedia.caAnd please continue to look at www.ubc.ca for the latest information.
Here's a fantastic message I just received, please read and send in your email of support by December 21 for Canadian Literature to be included in our school curriculum.
REQUEST FOR SUPPORT FOR A CHANGE TO THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS CURRICULUM IN BRITISH COLUMBIA
Reply requested by December 21, 2007
Over the past few years several national research studies have documented the lack of attention paid to Canadian literature in Canadian schools. Currently our classrooms are dominated by some British but predominately American novels.
A report for The Writers’ Trust of Canada that was commissioned by the Canada Council made a series of recommendations about what could be done to improve the situation.
Through ArtStarts for Schools, a project is being developed and a group of stakeholders has been identified and has met to address these recommendations.
Part of the work has included a survey to BC teachers of English Language Arts. In that survey completed at the end of October 2007, 97.8% of responding teachers indicated that they think it is important to teach Canadian literature in secondary schools. 88.9% indicated that they think more Canadian literature needs to be taught.
"iKnow! is a community site for learning languages powered by personalized learning tools. We have built a suite of software applications based on years of scientific research into memory and effective learning methods."
Primarily targeted at non-English speakers, it can be adapted for learning other languages as well. Enjoy!
What: two courses: 1) Blogging for Beginners; 2) Family Blogging (all ages welcome)
When:
Beginners: 9:30am-12:30 pm, Saturday, September 22nd and Saturday, September 29th, 2007
Family 1:30pm-4:30pm, Saturday, September 22nd and Saturday, September 29th, 2007
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Contact lorraine.murphy@gmail.com. If inquiring about online classes, please let us know your time zone.
“The Secret Beyond….. The Secret” 1 day Seminar September 15th 2007, In Vancouver. 9:00AM – 5:00PM
Even deeper than the movie! Discover the real secret ingredient for manifesting Anything you want in life.
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and find out how you can get Baron Mastery Institute to pay your tuition.
