Superior Educational Standards in Ontario, Canada

Brian, my model is Ontario, Canada. When I studied, worked there you had to have a minimum of five years in the classroom before you could apply to take the principal's course. You also had to be a classroom teacher in your subject field before you could apply to take the advanced training to become a department chair. And you had to serve as a department chair before you could apply to be a principal.  I completed the department chair training in social studies; I never served as a chair. Yes, as the old West Point saying goes, "To give an order, you must first learn how to take an order." This applies to education too.

Canadian Trends Point Toward USA War Against Iran

Canada has closed its embassy in Iran and brought all of its foreign service folks home. This is a signal that it is putting distance between itself and what is about to happen when the USA attacks Iran. A bank manager friend of mine tonight told me that one of his clerks has a son in our military who has gone back to that part of the world again. Before leaving he told her that plans are underway to go to war with Iran. This coincides with the closing of the Canadian embassy. Likely the gangsters in Washington will wait until after the holidays to launch. It would be bad PR to ruin the coming holiday season. As my late sainted uncle liked to say, “Same tune, second verse.” God bless. Paul

"Red Tories" the "One Nation" Canadian Conservative Tradition

John, thank you for the superb definition of "One Nation" Conservatives. This describes your humble servant here perfectly. A year or two ago, you and I spoke briefly about the "red Tory" - fair play for all - tradition in British, and Canadian, politics. I learned about it when I lived and studied in Ontario, Canada for eight years. You caught me by surprise when in our short visit you also knew about it too! Otto von Bismarck would be a "One Nation" Conservative too. Classic conservative thought as you know views society as organic, similar to the human body, in which all the its parts must be healthy for the body to be healthy. What in fact masquerades as Conservative thought here too often, far too often, in fact, is classic 18-19th-century Liberalism, in which the Individual can divorce from society and not care about the health of the whole. This is the rationale, if you need one, for the destructive greed at work in our American  "body politic" sadly for too many years now. In short, the Canadian or British "Red Tory" or the "One Nation" Conservative believes in fairness for all - without having to sacrifice the traditional values and heritage that have stood the tests of time. Thank you for helping your humble servant here to see more clearly the sad impasse which we have reached in our country. Keep up your good work. Paul

Thanatos Sadly Is Alive and Well in Canada Too

Carl, Freud observed humans have two subconscious drives. One is eros (source of word erotic), the drive to live. The second is thanatos, a drive to die, a subconscious death wish. Freud observed that reason (ego) and social tradition (super ego) around us serve as a check on thanatos, when reason (ego) and social tradition (super ego) work well. When reason and tradition weaken, look for self-destructive behaviors. For example, alcoholics and drug addicts, in effect, have a death wish for they defy logic and social wisdom accumulated by the human race over centuries. It is amazing to observe the death wish in our own society, for more and more it acts in irrational ways and in defiance of human wisdom accumulated over centuries of hard experience. Pick your examples of such death-wish behaviors.

Happy in Canada

Hi Paul,

 here's something to make you smile. I often think we are complainers and the Danes I've known have been crusty but perhaps it says something about not trying to be #1 or even 2 or #3.

Happy? You Must Be From Canada

The Guelph Mercury, September 26, 2012 If you're happy and you know it, a new report suggests you might be from Canada. The Centre for the Study of Living Standards says more than 90 per cent of Canadians surveyed report they are either satisfied or very satisfied with their lives. The centre tracked numbers collected by Statistics Canada in its community health survey between 2003 and 2011. Canadians have stayed happy through that entire period, with 91 per cent reporting life satisfaction in 2003 and 92 per cent saying so last year. The scores were enough to officially rank Canada as among the happiest countries in the world. The centre says a Gallup world poll taken in February 2012 rated Canada as the second most satisfied nation, ranked only behind Denmark. Centre executive director Andrew Sharpe said the numbers tell a compelling story about the standard of living most Canadians enjoy. "We do have high levels of income. We have weathered the financial crisis better than other countries of the world," Sharpe said in a telephone interview. "We do have a good health system. We complain about it, but at least there's full coverage of all Canadians . . . We do have a lot of advantages as a country." The StatsCan data - compiled in biennial surveys between 2003 and 2007 and in annual surveys from 2008 onward - asked Canadians to rate their own levels of personal satisfaction on a scale of 0 to 10. Those who assigned themselves a score of 6 or above were considered to be pleased with their lives as a whole. The numbers have remained relatively static in most cases, but Sharpe said some age-related trends have begun to emerge in the most recent figures. More of Canada's young people are reporting feeling contented, while the country's senior citizens are expressing more reservations about their lot in life, he said, adding the gap between the two age groups has widened considerably over the past several years. About 94 per cent of Canadians between 12 and 19 years of age reported feeling satisfied in 2003 compared to 92 per cent of those over 65. By 2001, the number of satisfied seniors had fallen to 89 per cent while youth happiness scores had shot up to 97 per cent. Sharpe attributed some of the change to the economic turmoil that has roiled the job market and depleted savings for those nearing retirement, leaving the country's youngest residents comparatively unscathed. The data, however, suggests there may be other factors at work causing seniors to feel less positive as they age. Sharpe said the stats show the need for policy-makers to analyze issues impacting seniors, since current approaches appear to be coming up short. The trend among Canada's aging demographic illustrate why it's important to track happiness alongside gross domestic product and other more traditional indicators of well-being, he said. "I think the goal should be to improve happiness. It sounds trite, but what's it all about? It's about the life satisfaction of Canadians," Sharpe said. Satisfaction levels also differed by region, according to the centre's analysis. Average scores taken over the eight-year period suggest residents of Nova Scotia, Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador were most likely to be happy with their lives. Satisfaction scores were lowest in British Columbia, Ontario and Nunavut. The StatsCan data that formed the basis of the centre's report was gathered from 65,000 people nationwide but excluded some of the populations most likely to report dissatisfaction with their lives. The Canadian Community Health Survey does not collect data from people living on aboriginal reserves, full-time members of the Canadian Forces or those currently in institutions. Sharpe acknowledged data from those excluded demographics could lower scores, adding even the current high numbers should sound a cautionary note. "I don't want to go to complacency. 'Oh, aren't we great,' therefore there are no problems in Canada. That's not where this is going," he said. "We can do better."

2012 Differences Between USA and Canada

Hi,

this was an opinion piece in the Toronto Star and I have to agree that I am also puzzled by the election in the USA.

I also think that the piece in the NY Times on American exceptionalism gets at a crucial point that America will have to come to grips with: God is not on America's side and never was. If you are a Christian he is on the side of the righteous, buthardly behind groups. Is god a chauvinist?

"Americans have one of the lowest participation rates in elections — only about 50 per cent in the presidential race. Yet they are very much engaged in politics. They do tune into their leaders’ televised debates — 68 million for the first Barack Obama-Mitt Romney encounter, 65.6 million for the second, and 59.2 million for the third. If Obama loses the election, it may be because he was listless in the first encounter and barely there in the third, thereby allowing his weak and vacillating opponent to catch up to him in the polls within days.

Several reasons have been proffered for Obama’s failure at such a crucial moment, despite his brilliance, command of detail and personal integrity and discipline.

It’s said that he does not relate to ordinary Americans, the way Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan did. That he is an elite intellectual who does not enjoy getting down and dirty with opponents. That he got thrown off in the first debate by Romney’s aggression — “probably no one has talked to him like this since his election” in 2008, said CNN’s David Gergen, former adviser to four presidents.

Or that Obama is just fed up with the Republicans’ extreme partisanship, their brazen distortions of his record and their own flip-flopping on key domestic and foreign issues.

Tough, say the critics. American elections are not a gentlemen’s joust but rather bruising battles where winning, by hook or by crook, is all that matters.

There’s also the economy, stupid. No American president wins presiding over high unemployment. Never mind that Obama inherited a mess and has put the economy on its way to recovery.

 

Still, it boggles the Canadian mind that the American electorate would take Romney seriously, despite all his inconsistencies, empty Cold War rhetoric and dedication to the same catastrophic economic prescriptions as George W. Bush’s.

Half the lectorate doesn’t seem bothered as to how Romney would balance the budget while planning to spend $2 trillion more on defence and giving away $5 trillion in tax cuts, mostly to the wealthy.

Not just the Tea Party types but tens of millions more have been sold the lottery dream that they, too, can get rich like Romney and Co. if only the government got out of the way and taxed less.

And that the way to gut government is to hand it over to a guy who made a success of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City by taking a $400 million federal subsidy, and whose running mate, Paul Ryan, is attacking Obama’s $90 billion alternative energy program after milking it for his home state.

And that the way to create jobs is to hand over the reins to the man who shipped jobs to China.

And the way to solve the crisis of 46 million people having no medical care and tens of millions more having the barest minimum insurance is to kill Obama’s universal care and bring in vouchers for even more privatized care.

And the way to help the 47 per cent who don’t pay taxes and whom Romney holds in disdain is to have them at the mercy of the generosity of the rich. As related by Ryan, didn’t Romney tell a fellow-Mormon whose two kids were paralyzed in an auto accident, “I know you’re struggling — don’t worry about their college; I’ll pay for it”?

Half of Americans couldn’t care less about the other half.

Nearly half are committed Republicans and the other half Democrats. So it doesn’t really matter if Romney moves from being a pragmatist to a “severe conservative” committed to extreme right positions on abortion, contraception, immigration, etc. to now, suddenly, pivoting back toward the centre.

In foreign affairs, the transformation is even more startling. After months of warlike noises, he’s now a man of peace.

He does not want to bomb Iran, of course not. He does not want to send troops to Syria, does not even want to use American planes to enforce a no-fly zone there.

 

He agrees with Obama’s pullout from Iraq, agrees with the pullout from Afghanistan in 2014, and supports Obama’s increased use of drone attacks on Pakistan. He does not want a trade war with China.

Would a Romney be electable in Canada? To ponder that is to ponder the remaining differences between America and Canada."

Young Males in Ontario Today

We have made buying and selling a shibboleth: the customer is always right! NOT! But this is the absurdity that has arisen from making everything a transaction rather than a conversation or could we hope for a meaningful dialogue?

 An interesting discussion has arisen here in Ontario about young males who tune out in school. One teacher has suggested that video games give power to the player and they are frustrated when they enter an environment where they are not the controller. Unfortunately they are too immature to recognize that they can't always be in control.

 The other theme is that often parents model bullying by harassing educators. Even twenty years ago some parents came to school consultations with lawyers.

 Finally, there are 'Christian' parents who are suing because they want to have detailed lesson plans for every lesson in advance so that they can keep their kids away from potentially hazardous 'education'.

 We've got a lot of teapot fascists running loose,

walter