JUSTCAWS

As Remembrance Day draws near I fear the current movement to tell half truths and erase parts of our history are going to have some dire consequences. When older generations see young people toppling statues and spouting historical ignorance under the logic of the ends justifying the means, we all have reason to be worried. You don’t have to connect many dots to lay the blame at our education system. Schools are where we teach our history, celebrate our victories and learn from our mistakes. What started with shedding more light on Canada’s sins, has now devolved to removing accomplished figures in education for the crime of being white. Schools across Ontario have already started removing our first Prime Minister, Sir John A, from the names of schools bearing his name. Parks have removed or boarded up his statue. Those who objected were reminded of his role in establishing residential schools. He should be in a museum, not a park, is the progressive cry. But you need to meet people ...

  Recent  news   of school children being taken to a Pro-Palestinian protest has rightfully caused quite a stir from parents and has led the Ontario Minister of Education to investigate further.  You may ask why schools would allow field trips to participate in political protests altogether - most don’t, but the line between what is deemed “political” is quite blurry.  During my 25 years of teaching, I have witnessed greater emphasis on implementing character and values within education.  While some will point to the increased politicization of some teachers and their unions, what is often overlooked is the Ministry’s own Character Education document  Finding Common Ground   that was released way back in 2008.  I remember this document generating discussion back then as some believed the Liberal government (in power at the time) was trying to push their “values” onto students through this initiative.  In fact, the document itself seems r...

  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...

  When a government makes mistakes as they often do, I try not to point fingers. Most issues people have with them are a question of priorities and often bad decisions are only discovered with the passage of time. And others in the big scheme of things don’t amount to much anyways. It is why I haven’t gone after Ontario Premier Ford’s blunders maybe as often as I should. Trudeau’s team in Ottawa are the ones who get me going, because I find their choices so damaging to the Canada I know and love. I always try and understand another perspective and understand motive, but I must admit I haven’t decided if Canada’s Trudeau government are completely inept or evil geniuses. I have argued the latter in most posts, but they do keep me guessing. The issue that makes ponder that question right now is Canada’s rising population. We have all read the  headlines  of rapid growth that has taken off since the pandemic. What makes this all the more incredible is that this record populat...

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...

  I must say it was nice to see the Ontario School Boards sue the big social media companies for  deliberately hurting students.  While many don’t believe the school boards will prevail in this case, many are hoping it will draw more awareness to the dangers to children of unfettered access to social media. I would share that sentiment, but I take a dim view of virtue signals and hollow gestures when the safety of kids are at stake.  The school boards must take the needed step of removing the gateway device to social media - the smartphone.  If you are going to take the stand that social media is hurting kids, then how can you in good conscience allow access to it in schools?  In fact, the school boards themselves, maybe opening themselves up to the same litigation, once harm to kids is legally established.  Many have argued, as I have, that smartphones will be soon seen in the same light as smoking in the 1950’s.  Back then, smoking took place in...