May 21, 20146 min read
GRIND-HOUSE
[The names, faces, voices, and events of this story have been altered to protect the innocent, as well as our agents in the field.] The...
May 14, 20149 min read
CONTEXT
Weirdly, from what I’ve seen in elementary schools, kids are often told they can and should produce a perfect result in one brief...
Apr 28, 20149 min read
AN ARGUMENT AGAINST COMPATIBILITY
As you are aware, virtually everything we take for granted as common knowledge today was at some point prior considered dangerous...
Apr 25, 20143 min read
SUBJECT, CITIZEN, CONSUMER
It makes me laugh to think about our present notion of a model citizen and worker. You can hear elected officials, school administrators,...
Apr 16, 20145 min read
LIFE SUPPORT
Every few years non-governmental organizations re-evaluate the cost of living in major cities throughout the world. Here in Canada the...
Mar 27, 20145 min read
ASSESSING ASSESSMENT ASSIGNMENT ASSESSMENTS
Jenny: Chris, what you have quoted were all, according to your own headers, referring to Q1: benefits and drawbacks. If they are actually...
Mar 5, 20141 min read
LESSONS ON PERCEPTION
Ms. Chan, I’m writing to you to let you know that many in our class had a problem with one of the slides that was shown on Tuesday. The...
Jan 8, 20148 min read
THE PURPOSE OF EDUCATION or WHAT EVERY BRITISH COLUMBIAN NEEDS TO KNOW
British Columbia’s Ministry of Education has developed a new Education Plan. Their stated aim is to improve the provincial education...
Dec 2, 20137 min read
HYPOCRISY
(Co-authored with Rick Waines) December 1st, World AIDS Day, came and went with the same coverage we’ve come to expect. Once again this...
Nov 29, 20138 min read
IN-CLASS ESSAY
To me, the entire grade-school situation appears, by design, impossibly fragmented. Where, more so than at school, are people and ideas...
Nov 29, 201319 min read
INQUIRY INTO TEACHER EDUCATION
Our year of teacher education has only begun and already we have been introduced to so many knowledgeable instructors, inspiring mentors,...
Nov 9, 20134 min read
FORGOTTEN
If you know me then you know that I hate Remembrance Week (as it is currently constructed and observed.) This here is my annual...
Nov 8, 20133 min read
BELIEFS and HOPES
Just so we’re all on the same page, a “belief” and a “hope” are two very different things that should not be confused. I might hope, for...
Nov 2, 20132 min read
TUITION?
We actually hear a lot about tuition fees. (Of course we don’t tend to do much about the problem of tuition inflation, but it is talked...
Jul 27, 201312 min read
THE UNRAVELLING OF REX MURPHY or A SHORT LESSON IN IRONY
Rex Murphy is a Canadian icon: a Rhodes scholar, an author, a popular voice in newsprint and on national television and radio. But I...
Jul 19, 20133 min read
REFLECTIONS
I think I tend to be a bit of a contrarian and skeptic simply because so much of reality is innately counter-intuitive and our built...
Jun 12, 20134 min read
EARTH HOUR: IT’S NOT WHAT YOU THINK
Earth Hour, an annual event organized by the folks at The World Wildlife Fund, attempts to raise awareness of environmental issues by...
Apr 2, 20133 min read
WHAT A BUNCH OF WHEATGRASS
Last Sunday I walked in to my local grocery store where I was offered a sample of wheatgrass juice and some related promotional...