JUSTCAWS

  With so many skills that can be done by AI much faster and and sometimes better than humans, it does beg the question what’s left for us? Under this uncertain future, it is no wonder the Ontario Ministry of Education is pushing a greater emphasis in technical, trades based education. As for students who aren’t hands on learners the opportunities in the future seem much less certain. It may even require governments to set parameters on what work humans will never relinquish. We have all read and seen what AI can do. It writes books, reports, essays, and generates art within seconds after be given a few basic commands. In this reality is it worth spending time building skills that will never match the power of artificial intelligence? Of course it is from an intellectual and humanity perspective - but what about practically? Education to a large degree is about teaching the skills necessary for the jobs of tomorrow. Many jobs today simply will not exist in the future for humans i...

The dawn of a new school year comes with a new cell phone ban that has already generated plenty of discussion. Be interesting how this will play out, but parents will play a key role in determining how well enforced the ban will be. Right now, much of the concern has been about getting student and parent buy-in. My experience is that most kids and parents get it by now, that cell phones and classroom learning don’t go well together. Share There will still be some holdout parents who want all day access to their kids, but I believe school administrators will hear more from engaged parents if the phones are not banned in class. Will also be interested in seeing if teachers themselves can practice what they preach. Listen to latest Public #onted for more on implementing the ban.

At the beginning of the Blue Jays season, I said this season’s slogan “to the core” should be called “wait and see”. Well we looked, and nobody has liked what they saw. Too many good starts were wasted by both the continued anemic offense and the average at best, when healthy bullpen.  Fans' frustration has finally registered at the gate, so perhaps someone or some people will be held accountable. Don't hold your breath on that one.   The core players it seems aren’t going anywhere and management isn’t going to fire itself. The only ones with the power to make changes is Rogers and while I believe they are concerned, Blue Jays president Mark Shapiro has done enough to earn for them, to earn a mulligan for himself. While most discontent is directed at Shapiro’s hand picked GM, for better or worse he is tied to Shapiro.  The term Shatkins didn’t happen by accident.  Even the most angry Blue Jays acknowledge it's the baseball operations, not the business side that nee...

Back  in 2020 made some suggestions of what Rogers could do if they were going to build a new stadium or make some major renovations. We all know now that they chose the latter. They did most of the heavy lifting already, but there’s always more that can still be done. The kids, well not kids anymore, and I have toured quite a few ballparks prior to the pandemic. We’re up to 17 now. Love doing the tours and taking notes of what works and what doesn't.   Had noted some of my observations for ideas on how to improve the Rogers Centre for baseball. Here were my Top 10 suggestions and a comparison for what they did and what still may be to come.   1.  Angle the Seats  - they did do this - but the steep incline has now created a significant blind spot down the line. So expect these seats to be in less demand than the better value ones in the upper deck.  2. Permanent Team Standings Display  - idea here is to have the courage to show everyone where...

As June begins I thought it would be appropriate to have a discussion about the pride flag being flown at Ontario schools. Recently, I opined publicly that the Canadian flag should be the only flag flown at schools as it should represent all of us. It is our symbol of unity, pride and progress.  That opinion, however, was liked and commented on by people who were not sharing my enthusiasm for the maple leaf, but liked the exclusion of anything pride. Their derogatory, inflammatory rhetoric made me realize we have not progressed  as far as I had thought or hoped. The importance of the Pride movement hit me more this year than any other. Some comments did give me pause though, to wonder if progressive voices were losing the room.  Even my own support of progressive causes and awareness campaigns is not absolute or without hesitation,  I’ve tried not to become numb to the constant awareness campaigns being pushed at schools for a variety of worthy causes and movements. ...