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Friday, February 22, 2008
Liberals With Too Much Time...
Watch for something about this to pass by you in the next few days, especially if you happen to - as I do - know a number of Liberals.
Basically, Jason Cherniak claims that some "unnamed source" noticed that a picture of a "shocked woman" on a Tory website and a porn website were identical. He then goes on to accuse the Conservatives of "stealing from porn sites."
There's only one problem - that's not what happened here at all. The picture in question wasn't "stolen" - it's a stock photo. I discovered this fact after roughly thirty seconds of research. I followed the following simple procedure:
1) Search Google for "stock photos."
2) Pick the first decent-looking site.
3) Search for "shocked woman."
Presto. Hopefully Mr. Cherniak will rapidly retract and apologize for his accusations. I'm only barely a Tory - but spreading lies around the internet about how the Conservatives are "stealing from porn sites" is decidedly uncool.
Posted by Adam T. Yoshida on February 22, 2008 in Canadian Conservative Politics | Permalink
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----- Original Message -----
From: "KAROL KAROLAK"
To:
Cc:.....
Sent: Friday, February 22, 2008 10:07 PM
Subject: What can you buy for $ 1,130,850.00 in Ontario taxpayer's money???
A letter from THE LEARNING PARTNERSHIP OF GREATER TORONTO
To: The Honourable Kathleen Wynne Ontario Minister of Education
Congratulation Madam you have made a very good purchase.
Sincerely,
Karol Karolak P. Eng.
Revenue from federal government 4540
$ 124,216
Revenue from provincial/territorial governments 4550
$ 1,130,850
Revenue from municipal/regional governments 4560
Total revenue from government 4570
$ 1,255,066
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Canada's Education Success Story Deserves Recognition - The Learning Partnership
Date: Thu, 21 Feb 2008 14:48:00 -0500
From: OPEN LIST
News from OPEN - Ontario Provincial Education Network
Canada's Education Success Story Deserves Recognition - The Learning Partnership
Veronica Lacey, president and CEO of The Learning Partnership, recently sent out an item to the news media on the importance of recognizing the education success story in Canada. A copy of this article is included below. I think it's interesting reading and makes a number of good points. The item was produced in English only.
Sincerely,
Kathleen Wynne
Minister of Education
-----------------------------------------
Education success story needs to be recognized in Canada
Veronica Lacey
President and CEO
The Learning Partnership
Never quite sure how to handle good news. Take the issue of education.
Recently, in the National Post (Oct. 17), Robert Fulford called for a "radically reformed" education system. High school students, he said, seem "barely able" to tolerate books and learning; public schools are not taking parents to task for sending them "ill-mannered, ill-educated" children; "many students" arrive at university unable to read a poem or write a sentence. He proposed a restructuring of the public school system based on the competitive schools model favoured by the U.S. right wing. Parents, he said, should be able to set up their own schools and direct tax money to them.
Then, in The Globe and Mail (Nov. 29) Margaret Wente, said she was surprised that Canadian parents rated schools as well as they did in a national poll (42 per cent of those polled gave schools a B; one third gave them a C; six per cent gave them an A.) Canadian schools, Ms. Wente said, are resistant to change.
Immigrant parents, she said, are dismayed by lax discipline, disrespectful students and low math standards. "As always," she alleged, "the biggest losers are not the children of the upper middle class, but the children of the poor who have little help at home and no other place to go."
But where is the evidence to support such dire conclusions about the state of education in Canada? Unhappily, the columnists rely on anecdotes, not facts. Indeed, the facts stand in opposition to their grumpy assessments: Canadian students persist in scoring high marks in virtually every international assessment of ability.
Consider the report of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and
Development. In that report, available at
http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/52/1/37392733.pdf, the OECD notes that 15-year-old Canadian students perform well above average in mathematics and that a significant proportion of them rank as high achievers. Canadian students finished fifth among 30 OECD countries, behind only Finland, Korea, The Netherlands and Japan.
The report also highlights the fact that Canada's education system would make U.S. President George Bush envious: Canada, it turns out, is among the world's best at ensuring no child is left behind.
Concludes the OECD: "Few students are left behind in the Canadian education system compared to other OECD education systems: only 10.1 per cent of students in the upper secondary age perform at level one or below on the PISA mathematics scale - meaning they are unable to display the minimum level of mathematics proficiency needed to succeed in their professional and private life." So how can Ms. Wente charge that Canadian schools are victimizing this country's poor?
There's more. A recent international literacy test found that Alberta, British Columbia and Ontario were ranked among the top ten jurisdictions in the world. The test, known as the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study, measured a range of reading comprehension skills in Grade 4 students from 45 countries and provinces. Five Canadian provinces chose to participate. Only Russia and Hong Kong performed at a higher level than Ontario. The United States and England placed 18th and 19th respectively.
Then, earlier this month, the latest Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) results showed that Canadian students also excel in science. According to the study, only students in Finland and Hong Kong displayed better overall achievement levels in science than those in Canada.
In Ontario, 91 per cent of Grade 10 students met or exceeded the science benchmark set by the international study, which tested achievement levels in 57 countries. Ontario also displayed one of the smallest achievement gaps between rich and poor students in the world, the study found.
All of this success has been delivered at a competitive price, according to the OECD. Its report credits Canada's primary and secondary education system with high levels of student achievement for a "very reasonable level of investment" (slightly above the average per pupil expenditures made in the world's 30 most developed countries.).
This is the system Mr. Fulford derides as being "lax and cynical?" This is the system he wants drastically overhauled?
This is the system that, in Mr. Fulford's opinion, turns out uneducated graduates who are a drain on this country's economy and culture?
The problem is that Canada, too, persists in succeeding. The federal government this year enjoyed a $13.8 billion surplus (reducing the federal debt to its lowest level in 14 years), the dollar has reached parity with its U.S. counterpart (for the first time since 1976) and unemployment has fallen to 5.9 per cent (the lowest rate since 1974). Meanwhile, Canada's exports and imports hit record levels in 2006.
Isn't it more reasonable to conclude that public education has played a significant role in this country's success? Shouldn't teachers be congratulated for helping to equip a nation's workforce with the talent to thrive in a competitive and changeable global economy?
As for culture, let's consider the role of public education today.
Schools are at the forefront of building a cohesive society at a time when Canada has never been more multicultural. More than one million immigrants have settled here during the past five years.
Yet Canada's record of peacefully absorbing newcomers remains the envy of European nations.
In part, surely, that is a reflection of the work that goes on in our schools, where teachers actively meld cultures from around the world.
Make no mistake, The Learning Partnership believes the education system needs to be improved. But unlike some columnists, The Learning Partnership bases its recommendations on facts in the classroom.
We believe the system needs better research to inform teaching methods. That it needs to do a better job of moulding good citizens. That it needs to bring more parents into schools. That it needs to sharpen efforts to help students most at risk of dropping out, particularly First Nations students.
That it needs to ensure classroom instruction is relevant to all Canadians.
What the Canadian school system emphatically does not need is radical surgery - especially when all of the clinical evidence suggests the patient is in robust good health.
-----------------------------------------
Questions?
openlist@edu.gov.on.ca
or call 1-800-387-5519
You may unsubscribe or change your options at any time. Simply visit
http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/tools/eduminister/eng/openlist/mailinglist.asp?update=c&e=12477&a_b=tyd23&ggR=39572nh
Ministry of Education
Posted by: Karol Karolak | 22-Feb-08 11:05:35 PM
Adam Yoshida is about as credible on things like this as Bill Clinton is on oral sex with interns. Yet, he whines about someone else spreading lies?
To quote Adam on Obama:
"We have to run absolutely the dirtiest and the most vicious campaign possible. We need to destroy the man, totally and absolutely. We need to crush him."
And again:
"Use friendly stations - wait until five days before the election and pay some kid to claim that Obama molested him. Do whatever it takes. Nothing done to stop him is wrong or immoral, it's all in the service of the Lord.
Whatever it takes.
Use the Islam stuff. Use the communist stuff. Stir up the Latinos. Do whatever it takes. Anything that stops him is a blessing and a just act."
Or my favorite Yoshidaism:
"And if we can't find anything good, then we make it up or do whatever else it takes.
That awful man cannot be allowed to be the President.
God, I hate him so much and there's so little I can do. And definitely, there's no way I can honestly express the depth of the contempt and hate he inspires in me."
Posted by: BJ O'Rourke | 24-Feb-08 12:25:31 AM
Hey BJ, what Adam has written seems to be similar to standard "I hate Bush" fodder on any number of lefty websites. Don't see too many on the left complaining about that now, do we?
Posted by: Hoser | 24-Feb-08 2:21:52 PM
I've always thought Cherniak would be Hot Lips to Kinsella's Frank Burns. I mean, neither seems to be very net-savvy, do they?
Posted by: James Goneaux | 25-Feb-08 8:26:24 AM
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