Inner-city poor

Poverty or marginalized groups may be identified as people who are unable to care for themselves or their families, as well as, the few who are prone to antisocial behaviour. Another suitable concept for marginalized people was put forward by Karl Marx. He indicated that the underclass was shaped and dominated by a society’s economic and political force but have no productive role.

The marginalized class is characterized as a fragment of wealthy societies that interconnects among diverse social problems. It is this paradox of poverty in an otherwise affluent society that efforts are made strenuously to eradicate. 

 The poverty paradox is seen in elements that work towards reducing poverty. This includes strong economic growth, government transfers to persons of billions of dollars per year, improved universal and public education systems, increased minimum wage, and increased housing subsidies. However, the marginalized groups remain at a disadvantage. B.C. has the highest child poverty rate in Canada at 18.6 % and single parent families (mostly female parents) with children, is on the increase at 49.8 per cent. Without living wage standards parents and other caregivers who work for low wages face impossible choices such as buying food, heat the house, feed the children, or pay rent. The result is spiralling debt, constant anxiety and long-term health problems.

There are many poor people who are not members of the marginalized class. This includes the elderly poor, widows, youth without family support, mental illness, physical disability, and those who suddenly found themselves plunged into poverty without warning. Similarly, there are people who engage in activities that is said to be characteristic of marginalized people who are not poor. For example, among the rich and famous you can find laziness, unreliability, drug and alcohol addiction, and episodic romantic attachments.  Some analysts believe the poverty paradox is only one manifestation of a much more general deterioration of society. The major problem is the way in which spreading marginalized groups are undermining the province capacity, family life, social integration, and political stability.   

 According to Christopher Jencks & Paul E. Peterson in The Urban Underclass, 1992, “one can differentiate four separate explanations of the poverty paradox.” This includes the inadequate programs of social services, the culture of poverty, the perverse incentives provided by welfare assistance, and the disproportionate effects of changes in the international economy.  Each explanation addresses the way in which the urban poor have contributed to a poverty paradox. Clearly there is a need to offer policy recommendations designed to resolve this paradox.

Inadequate programs of social services in Canada as well as in the United States, is in my opinion, a society in which the myth of equal opportunity has obscured a reality of submerged class conflict, racial discrimination, and tolerance of economic inequality . Similar to Americans, Canadians have relied on natural resources, provincial government systems instead of federal, a large private market, and a private dynamic economic growth to resolve social tensions.  As a result, extremes of wealth and poverty have emerged side by side. Although some efforts to improve these conditions were made in the wake of the Canadian depression between 1929 -1939, the country is too committed to individual freedom and too suspicious of government to redistribute wealth in such a way as to meet the needs of the poor.

The culture of poverty is a cultural explanation of the relationship between the poor and the poverty paradox. It holds that the lifestyle to which the urban poor have become attached is self-perpetuating. Street life can be exhilarating – in the short run. In a country where jobs are dismal, arduous, or difficult to obtain and hold, it is more fun to hang out, plan parties and use drugs. Gangs provide young people thrills, perceived protection, prestige, and money. When men cannot earn enough to support their families, they avoid enduring relationships with their female companions, and some women cannot earn enough to support their families or themselves, turn to prostitution.    

Most people who are marginalized I interviewed, experienced personal disappointments, insults or affronts, and rejections, as a product of broad social forces – class dominance, racial prejudice and discrimination, cultural exclusiveness – over which they, as individuals, had little control. This explanation however often becomes self-fulfilling, both for the individual and the group as a whole. The more one rejects the system, the less one is willing to study or work and the more one is rejected by the societal mainstream.

A glimmer of hope is to become politically active citizens as a means to helping poor neighborhoods. In this way these communities will be less depoliticized by the many economic and social ills that affect them. Whatever general issues they are subjected to, the neighborhoods can remain integrally involved in citywide politics.

Research shows that poor people living in poor neighborhoods differ little in their attitudes from poor people living in middle-class communities.

In conclusion it may safely be stated that two lifestyles tug at young people living in poor neighborhoods; the stable family with its belief in upward mobility and options for the future. The street culture which revolves around violence, drugs, sex, having babies, and other problem behaviours is the second lifestyle. The neighborhood can be predominantly street-oriented or a liveable community. Accordingly, lifestyles depend on the individual and on the neighborhood itself. Equally important is the class background of the young person. All teenagers are at risk and vulnerable to the alluring street culture, and most will flirt with the experience, many will successfully resist.  Those who are not well parented and raised with optimism toward the future may linger in the street culture and may eventually succumb to its standards.

The street culture can proliferate. As economic conditions deteriorate, the street culture grows, and more residents adopt its standards of behaviour. When things improve, those who are better off leave the street and the most desperate people are left behind increasingly isolated from the responsible families and the successful role models they provide.

This is a simplistic thesis that views culture from a mainstream ideal. The differences between the inner-city poor and wealthy countries are far more complex and require greater research.

The Medieval Church and Masterpieces

On the site of a new cathedral, the master mason would draw up the plans and direct the laborers. Soon after, everyone set to work with the sculptor directing the whole operation; the mason arranged the small hand-cut stones between the ribbing to support the vaulted roof one hundred feet above the floor; a craftsman set colored glass between lead strips for the windows.  

Goth architecture is a triumph of light, owing much to the glass industry that developed in the twelfth century. Glass works were built near forests (which supplied wood for the furnaces), monasteries and cities. By 1373 glass making had become a prestigious craft and there was a glassworkers’ guild.

Glass manufacturing led to the art of making stained-glass windows. These windows developed along the lines recommended by a German monk, Theophillus, author of a technical book called De diversis artibus (Concerning various arts). His detailed instructions include descriptions of how to use a hot iron to cut out colored glass segments, how to insert them into their lead casings, and, finally, how to achieve the magnificent rose windows and stained-glass pictures that were the pride of patrons of the bishop. Abbot Suger, who built the Abbey of St. Denis near Paris and wanted its church to be the most resplendent in the west, declared that he had sought  “with much care…the most subtle and exquisite masters to make painted windows…which cost much by the excellence and rarity of the materials of which they were composed.”

http://saint-denis.monuments-nationaux.fr/

But all this richness and luxury and profusion of color were not to everyone’s taste. In the thirteenth century the Cistercians (a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns) forbade the use of stained glass in their simple churches.

For most artists of the Middle Ages, nothing was too beautiful for the glory of the Lord. Every part of the Cathedral was symbolic – the building itself was the Cross; the domed or vaulted roof, the crown of thorns; the choir, the head of Christ; the glow of the windows, the light of heaven; and the towers represented arms uplifted in prayer.  

Many cathedrals were decorated with rose windows, circular window with patterns of interlacing lines. These windows are contained in the stone ribbing and the lead strips that join the pieces of stained glass. The masterpieces of nameless craftsmen who worked in the service of the Christian faith, these windows have a worldly, almost unreal, quality. (La Sainte-Chapelle, 1246 – 1248, Paris).

Music and Art

Cathedrals, churches, and monasteries were also the places where music was played and enjoyed. Toward the end of the sixth century, Pope Gregory the Great had given the human voice a central role in the religious service, and for a very long time “Gregorian chant” one of the most moving expressions of Western spirituality. Five centuries later, in the music schools attached to cathedrals, works with two or more harmonized melodies were composed. Instrumental music was no longer solely an accompaniment to the voice. Drums, tambourines, and flutes remained the most common instruments played in popular music, but in the circles of lords and monarchs the lyre, the harp, the lute, and the viol (early stringed instrument played with a curved bow) emerged.

Music was taught at universities in the quadrivium, part of the curriculum of the seven liberal arts. It was regarded as a superior branch of education and knowledge. It was said that he “who does wrong proves that he does not understand music.” The organ, which had existed since antiquity, became the chief source of music for religious services in cathedrals. Harmony was studied and developed and musical notation perfected. In 1320 Philippe de Vitry published a treatise, Ars nova (New Art). It described a new way of writing down music, more precise and at the same time more flexible. Ars nova was characterized by the poetical quality of its text and the lyricism of its musical themes, with their intricate top line, more flowing rhythms, and freer counterpoint. The name “Ars nova” was also applied to the style of music then in fashion.

In 1360 Guillaume de Machaut composed the first full polyphonic mass for four voices in this style, with the instrumental parts alternating with a variety of melodic and rhythmical themes. This Messe Notre-Dame (Mass of Our Lady) was one of the works that most influenced the late medieval composers. Ars nova swiftly spread to Flanders, Florence, and England. Later, it spread to Germany and Spain.

In the fifteenth century, royal courts began employing chapel masters. The days of the troubadours and trouvères, of France, the English minstrels and the German minnesaengers, with their songs of love and the glorious past, were over.

The evolution of art during the Middle Ages provided painters with techniques and subjects for centuries to come. Roman churches were already decorated with frescoes, and Byzantine paintings had given the West a taste for icons. But with the Florentine painter Giotto, the history of modern painting and the age of great masterpieces truly began. Giotto (1267 – 1337) used light, delicate colors, and composed simple, beautifully balanced arrangements of figures and masses, using real men and women as models. In his frescoes he moved on from the symbols customarily used in painting by introducing a humanistic realism that already heralded the Renaissance.

In the fourteenth century the art of painting was highly valued in Italy, which abounded with artists’ studios. It was in Italy that in 1390 the first technical treatise appeared, covering all aspects of painting. The author advised on the use of particular colors in tempers painting: “If blue is to be used and is dark in hue, add a little glue or the yoke of an egg; but if the blue is pale; choose the yolk of a dark brown country egg. Mix it well with the pigment. Apply three or four layers to the material with a silk brush.”

Elsewhere in Europe, mainly in Flanders, France and Germany, other painters were experimenting with new techniques and styles. The Flemish painter Jan van Eyck (1422-1441) was one of the first to use oil. On a wood base primed with white lime, mixing the pigments with oil made the paint more fluid, enabling artists to correct, retouch, and make additions. This kind of perfectionism was impossible with frescoes, which required the colors to be applied very quickly to the wall before the plaster dried. Painting in oils gave pictures a new luminosity, transparence, and depth that revolutionized the history of Europe.

At the end of the fourteenth century, Provence in Southern France was an important artistic centre. Numbers of painters came from the north, Burgundy, and Spain to Aix and Avignon, where King René had his court. Around 1460 one of them, Enguerrand  Charonton, painted this Pietà on wood. A double curve is formed by the body of Christ and the grief stricken faces of St. John, the Virgin, and Mary Magdalen the intensity of their sorrow makes this work one of the high points of medieval painting. (Pietà of Villeneuve-les-Avignon, Louvre Museum, Paris) 

  

Baal of the Bible angered God (Numbers 25.3)

In the spring of 1928 an Arab peasant working in his field on the Syrian coast of the Mediterranean struck his plow against a slab of solid rock. He discovered that the loosened rock concealed a decrepit stairway leading deep into the earth. Fifty feet in a vaulted tomb lie hidden were a number of artifacts and metal vessels. Beyond these ancient artifacts lay a wavering city of the dead. The articles dated back nearly 4000 years. It also resurrected for a brief thought-provoking moment an ancient deity Baal who, some thirty centuries before the time of Christ, was worshiped throughout the entire Middle Eastern world.

The excavation site became an open field displaying bodies of the ancient dead. The clank of shovels, the careful shifting of the earth, the silent, patient brushing of the artifacts was like a litany dedicated to the memory of Baal, the god to the Babylonians, Mercury or Hermes to the Greeks, Jupiter to the Romans, and Adonis to the Phoenicians. But to the Canaanites, he was Baal, god of the sun and sex.

In Canaan his influence was so great that many minor deities were known as Baalim  to prove the god was everywhere at once.  His symbol was in the shape of a phallus displayed in the places of worship. It was spoken of as “Baal” as though the god himself was there. The Semitic word, baal, meant husband, possessor, or lord and prince. His symbol was found in every home, public place and temple. Mothers named their children after him; names like Hannibal (the grace of Baal), Baal-Sham (the power of Baal), and Asdrubal (Baal is my helper). Cities dedicated to him were given the names of Baal-Gad, Baal-Parazin, and Baal-Hana).

The priests of Baal declared that the god first appeared when a primal universal force called EI, the elemental god, and Athirate, the goddess of the earth, who holds the ocean in her womb, became the parents of the gods. Baal was their firstborn and was given the sun for his throne. Soon the priests decreed that Baal and EI were one and the same, and that Baal’s consort was Astarte or Ashtoreth. She was known as Aphrodite to the Greeks, Ishtar to the Babylonians, Nana to the Sumerians, and Venus to her devotees in Rome. Regardless of her name or place, she was the wife of Baal, the virgin queen of heaven who bore fruit although she never conceived.

Marble temples and alters honoring Baal and Astarte glistened on sacred hills throughout the land of Canaan. At the beginning of spring, when the winds were still, the evening fires burned on hills. With impassioned ceremonies, the people involved their lives intimately with the life of the god. The reproductive force was the most powerful and mysterious of all manifestations. The power of generation was the object of the gods’ devotion,  and Baal was its personification.

Sacred Prostitution

All the land was Baal’s, and the location of smaller temples and shrines was determined by the phallic character or the proved fertility of natural plants and objects in the midst which suggested it was here that Baal dwelled.  Here the god’s shrines were built and fruit trees were planted. Walls were constructed to sanctify them. The worshippers were restricted  in how far they may enter, only the priests advanced into the inner sanctum where the young and muscular figure of Baal, hewn out of Granite, set upon a throne bathed in the light that filtered through an opening to the sky. Adjoining the temple were courts and chambers for the temple prostitutes, women chosen for special duties to gain the favor of a god who was best worshiped in the union of the sexes (When Sex Was Religion).

When a man approached a woman in the court, he tossed a coin to her and said, “I beseech the goddess Astarte to favor thee, and Baal to favor me.” The money became a part of the temple treasury, and the art of prostitution a sacred obligation to be fulfilled.

Throughout the land, the presence of Baal was marked by pillars or tree stems stuck upright into the ground. Because Baal impregnated the land by copulation, the ceremonies in his honor were often imitative sexual acts. The people believed that there was a secret power waiting to be unleashed through the rite.

Records indicate that the Semitic Canaanites were industrious, freedom-loving people. Their houses were large with spacious open yards between. They were great admirers of horses and loved games in which horses played a major part. They had great knowledge of agriculture and expert trades people who worked with clay and metal, creating impressive sculptured pieces in bronze, copper, gold, and silver, always reserving their ablest talent for creating statues of Baal. Images of Astarte depicted her in the nude, holding two white doves in her hands, while at her feet a lion and a coiled serpent lay stretched out submissively.

A thousand years of struggle were to take place between Baal, god of the sun, and Jehovah, God of destiny, between a god of the flesh and a God of the spirit. During these years, the Canaanites and the Israelites intermingled, each often worshiping the other’s god. For a thousand years the god of sex consistently triumphed and his followers increased. For a thousand years the cult Baal worked its magic, rewarding its followers with the joy of life in a productive land. The temples of Omri, Jezebel, and Athaliah flourished. It was as though the god of fertility lavished his abundant harvests upon the people to convince  them that he was mightier than Jehovah, that worship to him was honorable, and that a spiritual power was inherent in the orgasmic rites. So successful was he that there were Israelites who said, “if the worship of the sun god is an offense to Jehovah, why does not Jehovah rise up and defeat the great god Baal? There were also those who, condemning the idolatry turned from the immoral spectacles to the rituals of their holy faith. They watched and waited to see what the God of Israel would do.

The faithful now build new alters to honor the God Jehovah, but in a little while a hymn to Baal echoes again somewhere deep within the throbbing earth and steals once more into the minds and acts of people. A voice is heard saying “the great god Baal is dead.”  Or did he ever die?

Sex Worship

Wherever people live, people worship. The search for a satisfying religion is the greatest adventure and the boldest quest. As far back as we can go in history, before there were alters, churches, prophets and priests, humans were trying to come to terms with the mystery and magic of the universe.

Primitive races asked themselves the same questions that we ask ourselves today. “How can I understand the hidden forces that play upon my life? How can I deal with the mysterious power which is sometimes so near I can control it with a prayer, and at other times, so far away it defies my prayers and my faith?”

As humanity set about to solve the enigma of personal relationships with the unseen, methods were used that seem curious and strange.  It was the beginning of a quest for truth, and seeking to unravel the mysteries of the universe.

In the simple mind of the ancients, it was logical that every stick, stone, plant, and tree appeared to be impregnated with life. Sticks were the source of both fire and fuel; stones provided both weapons and places for protection. Certain branches when stuck into the earth began to grow, certain plants contained magical powers to heal. Certain trees seemed never to die; certain herbs when eaten gave exotic visions of a life to come. Humans learned all this as they moved upon the bosom of the earth, having been placed here by whom or what, was unknown. They only knew that peace must be made with a strange, unmeasured, and at times, a lonely and a frightening land.  

The ancients seeing animals around them got the first clue of their own inherent instincts. In beasts and reptiles humans dimly perceived and believed they were ancestors which led to a better understanding of self. Each creature had the ability to reproduce its kind and, through its sexual functions, overcame the awesome power of death, gaining, it seemed, a small step toward some sort of immortality.

The first religious symbol was the totem, a pole in the shape of a phallus on which was crudely carved an image of an ancestral animal god. The first ceremonies were mimicking the animal which the clan or tribe had chosen. The dances, chants, and earliest prayers mimicked the movements, utterances, and habits of their deity. The most intimate ritual was patterned after the copulative act as observed in the creation which was the totem guardian and the god of the clan.

As humanity began to recognize the reproductive urge in all living things, the relationship between humans and the world deepened. Birds were reverenced because they flew upward toward the source of light. Fish became symbols of life (Marcus Bach in his book Strange Sects And Curious Cults suggests that the ancients somehow knew the modern truth that  fish resembled spermatozoon, whereas in my book When Sex Was Religion, I point out that the ancients believed fish were virgin born, and possess aphrodisiacal properties by the worshippers of Venus, it was also pointed out by George Ryley Scott Phallic Worship 1941 in regards to fish worship,  that it was because fish was considered to bear some resemblance to that of the female vulva). The virile animals, particularly the bull, ram, lion were honored for their creative power and the hint of conquest over fear. These were the gods and demigods etched upon the totem, and reverenced in ritual and song, unfolding the qualities hoped to be found within humans themselves.

The worship of the totem turned to the adoration of nature itself. Nature as the creator was more powerful than its creatures. At times it was cruel and formidable, but it was also loving and kind. It was also an unpredictable force. The wind was a spirit, the rain a messenger, the night a specter, the moon an eye, and the sun, a god. There was no god greater than the sun. It blessed and cursed brought joy and grief, filled humans with fear when it dropped from sight and aroused in the mind a hymn of praise at its reappearing.  Most of all, the sun stimulated and energized human creative powers. Light and life were its attributes and there was nothing in the vast world more worthy of worship and awe.  The sun was a king and the earth a queen; a queen endowed with never-ending life by her royal consort. The ancients reasoned that the rising and setting of the sun was a sexual act which fertilized the earth. As a mother begets her children, so mother earth begot her fruit. Out of this thought came the first hint of the cosmic father-mother relationship – the sexual union of the universe – of which man and woman were a part. This was the answer to the mystery of creation; it was light upon the puzzle of birth and death.  

It was reasoned that the earth had its springtime of impregnation, its summer of fruitful productivity, its autumn waning and its wintery death, and we were all part of this cosmic drama and death. As the earth received impulse from the sun to create and bear fruit, Humanity also reasoned that we too, were dependent upon the sun god for creative powers.

In a very real sense, it was believed we were considered a solar being, an offspring of the solar deity, the sun.

Prehistoric humanity developed the rudimentary concepts of religion.  The origin of religion as phallic worship was profound. They have left their influence upon worship all through the ages.  The meaning behind the sacrifices, chants, the rituals and rites, the ceremonies and ceremonials, together with the sexual symbolism, have persisted until our present day even though, with malice of forethought, we have sought to destroy their ancient meaning.   

The earliest elements of divine services had to do with the sun and sex. These have persisted all the way from the lingam and yoni in the temples of Hinduism to the towering minarets of Islam; from the star of David in Judaism to the phallic crus ansata in the Christian Faith.

If we reject the evidence pointing to some form of union for creation and the evolution of thought it inspired, the entire history of world religions become unintelligible and grotesque. If, however, this key to religion is grasped, it will unlock the past and show us that all that has happened is meaningful and profound.

Bullying in school and the community

       Bullying, violence, schools and society

The transformation of the ethnic composition in Canadian society is ongoing. Our schools are changing and our classrooms are international.  Educators, teachers, and parents need to come to terms with the diverse nature of our education system. Canadian society is multicultural and the education system should prepare our citizens to cope with the national and global realities.

Reasons why ASSIMILATION is important

·         All humans are members of a single species, there are no biologically meaningful subspecies within it.  The concept of races, are social constructs corresponding to no biological reality.

·         Differences between human populations are entirely the product of the social environment.

·         Racism in all cultures and ethnocentrism are irrational with dysfunctional attitudes, to which certain rigid, authoritarian types of personality are especially prone. Such attitudes must be challenged by promoting equal status between groups.

Racial inequality and sexual politics in Canada dates back to the original contact between the European colonizers and the Natives who were the first people in the country. The Europeans quickly established their political and economic dominance and the Natives soon came under the direct control of the European colonial powers.  The British and the French emerged as the dominant national groups, while the natives were pushed onto the reserves and subjected to discrimination while being denied access to economic and political power.

By controlling immigration policies, both the English and French consolidated their cultural and institutional dominance. They determined which groups would be allowed entry, where they would settle, what jobs should be allocated, and which languages should be spoken.  English Canadians offered preferred status to immigrants from Britain and Northern and Western Europe, who were culturally and socially similar, while the less preferred ethnic groups, mostly from southern Europe, Asia, and Central America, took low occupational and social roles.

Until 1962, the Canadian Immigration Act openly discriminated against non-white immigrants. In 1967, changes in immigration laws altered composition, resulting in a multiracial society, but the stratification system has not been significantly changed. Despite a reduction in ethnic inequality, immigrants from warmer climates continue to exhibit lower socioeconomic status.

 The school system plays a pivotal role in addressing the issue of youth violence & bullying, because of the potential for reaching a large number of children.  Teachers are ideally positioned to identify children who have social, emotional, behavioural, and academic problems that may require special assistance. Much can be done within the school system to reduce aggressive and violent behaviour among children and youth and to increase and promote pro-social responses to conflict.

School based violence does not manifest itself in the same form and to the same degree in all school districts. As a result, these differences will necessitate developing policies that are individualized to the needs of the particular school board.

Considerations when designing a prevention school-based violence policy

(a)   A school board’s violence prevention policy should be internally consistent; the various statements, procedures, and provisions should relate to each other to form a unified document. For example, if a school board has an elaborately detailed policy concerning weapons, e.g., defining what constitutes a weapon, outlining the consequences for an infraction, and so forth. There should also be a policy concerning less sever behaviours such as intimidation/bullying/threats, harassment, and fighting.  Policies should build up from the less to the more serious behaviours, otherwise, the policy as a whole appears disjointed.

(b)   In addition to being internally consistent, policies should be congruent with programs. For example, if a conflict resolution program is implemented within a board’s schools, this preventative approach to dealing with school violence and promoting social skills should be reflected within the board’s policy documents.

(c)    Policies should be comprehensive in order to address the various aspects of school-based violence. For example, programs could be targeted toward ;

-          The school “community” and student body as a whole (e.g., conflict resolution, curriculum-based programs, promoting a positive school climate and academic excellence.

-          Teachers (e.g. staff development)

-          Identified students (counselling and support services, social skills training, alternative –to-suspension programs)

-          Victims of violence  (e.g. aftermath services, protocols for responding to emergency situations)

-          The community outside the school (e.g. police liaison programs, involvement of community groups in the development of violence prevention policy).

-          Board policies should have a community focus. The causes of youth violence are many and often lie outside the purview of the school system. Partnerships between schools and community groups must be developed for concerted, sustained, and comprehensive violence prevention efforts to occur.

-          School boards should have supplemental programs for students who are disruptive, aggressive, and violent. These programs should be supportive and corrective rather than punitive, demoralizing, and inflexible.  There will always be a group of students who require specialized services such as social skills, self-control, anger management training, and individual counselling and therapy. Placing students in special education and behaviour classrooms is often not sufficient to address the range of needs for some students or for students with disruptive behaviour be placed in a regular classroom setting. As well, programs targeted to the entire school community may not be effective with a growing population.

Supplemental programs may be provided either internally, using the school board’s own resources, or through the services of a community-based social services agency that specializes in dealing with difficult children and youth. E.g.  Provincial mental health programs, non-profit societies, etc.

  Why  you should nominate and vote for me for Vancouver School Board Trustee

On Saturday November 15, 2014, Vancouver will be voting for Mayor, city counsellors and School trustees. The difficult question is who are these people, and who should I vote for?  

In politics the gap between promises and delivery is one of the reasons there is so much cynicism. Opposition parties draw as much attention as they can to a government’s shortcomings, while media coverage may also focus on unfulfilled promises. In such situations people become disenchanted and look for simple explanations.

The fact is, we need passionate people to be elected in a position that requires not only knowledge, but vision, creativity, and passion. That’s why I am seeking nomination and seeking your support.

My priorities include;

1. Ensure all students receive top quality education with high standards

2. Parents, students, and community engagement

3.Financial management and promotion of current social and commercial educational needs. This will translate into business and employment opportunities for graduating students.    

                     

School Trustees and stewardship

Every sector of society is constantly in the process of reform. Government reform and education reform, as well as all other organizations, are always packaged in economic terms first.  Although the real issues are far more serious, our schools and other agencies are under financial scrutiny. All organizations continue to search for the latest programs and ideas to reduce cost.

 A budget crisis usually means the organization is failing in its core purpose. As a result, it is unable to serve its constituents or the society as a whole. And if it is unable to serve its constituents, that means it has failed to serve its own internal workings. The way organizations move forward (in this case a school board), has to do with the definition of purpose or governance. Governance recognizes the political nature of our environment, and hope for genuine organizational reform, resides in how we each define purpose, and balance the budget.

Education and society

It’s not that some cultures are smarter but that some people are not given the opportunity to learn.

Data spanning over 3000 years shows that education can take many forms and serve many needs.  Over time, instruction of the young shifted from parents and skilled adults to institutional settings such as royal courts and temples, each with its own standardized body of knowledge. Schools with prescribed curricula and appointed teachers were founded for various purposes to transmit knowledge and information, social values, and useful technical skills. The purpose was also to socialize individuals to particular roles.

In North America by the second half of the 19^th century, the selective preparation of the elite members of society had evolved into more inclusive systems of education.

One of the most significant phenomena of the 20^th century was the dramatic expansion of public education systems (government-sponsored).

In the early 19^th century the education system in Canada, was much the same as it was in England; it was provided through the efforts of religious and philanthropic organizations and dominated by the Church of England. Although there was overlap among types of schools, there are records of parish schools, charity schools, Sunday schools, and monitored schools for the common people. The institutional method was a rudimentary combination of religious instruction and literacy skills.

More advanced education was limited to the upper social classes and was given in Latin grammar schools, or in private schools with various curricular extensions on the classical base. Until about 1870 public systems of education emerged, accommodating religious interests in a state framework. Public support was won for the common school, leading toward universal elementary education. Secondary and higher education began to assume a public character. Local responsibility and authority was elaborated in the respective provinces.

The federal government has maintained and supported the education of armed-forces personnel. Research and development in higher education are promoted directly through grants from national research councils for social sciences and humanities. Grants are also available for natural sciences, engineering, medicine, and the arts.

In 2002 the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia published a report from its Standing Committee on Education. It outlined a vision for the renewal of education and the public consensus about the importance of education to the economic prospects and social welfare of both the individual learner and society. Many of the accounts emphasized that learners should have an opportunity to accomplish their intellectual, social, individual, and vocational development. It was also suggested that emphasis should be given to preparing learners to meet the province’s human resource needs and that there should be a closer link between work opportunities and schooling, particularly at the secondary and post-secondary levels.

This shows the belief in the intrinsic worth of education, suggesting that it is better to be well educated than to be poorly educated. Further, it reflected societal beliefs that an educated individual has considerable social and economic value for the self and thus for society.

Schools in British Columbia 

In 2014 according to “The Mandate of the British Columbia School System,” the purpose is to enable learners to develop their individual potential and to acquire the knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed to contribute to a healthy society and a prosperous and sustainable economy.

In the secondary schools it’s common to have a two day rotation that consists of 4 courses per day. If students fail an individual subject they still move on to the next grade level in subjects they pass. Some courses are required in order to graduate both at the school level and other courses require provincial exams in order to graduate.

The curriculum and learning standards are mandated by the Ministry of Education. The key principles include the following:

(a)    Learning involves the active participation of the individual student.

(b)   Learning takes place in a variety of ways and at different rates.

(c)    Learning is both an individual and group process.

Looking at the BC School System Values and Beliefs

-          Learning takes place in different ways and at different rates

-          Learning is both an individual and social process

-          Everyone can learn - and learn together

-          Play is an important way to learn

-          Group work is an integral part of school work

-          The amount of homework learners are given depends on their ages

-          Oral language development is an important part of learning

-          Students usually move through elementary school with children who are the same age

-          Learning how to learn and how to gain access information are considered critical skills

-          Letter grades are based on much more than test results

Different age groups

Kindergarten

-          No letter grades are given

-          Learning is play based

-          The focus is on developing social skills and basic concepts

Grades 1 to 3

-          No letter grades are given

-          Learning is theme based

-          Literacy skills are developed using many books rather than specific textbooks

-          The focus is on building oral language, vocabulary and on developing reading and writing skills

-          Usually one teacher for all subject areas

-          Development is focused on five areas: intellectual, physical, social, artistic, and emotional

Grades 4 to 7

-          Letter grades are usually given

-          There is often more than one teacher

-          Students begin to use textbooks, as well as other sources of information

-          More of a focus on reading and writing skills

-          Oral language and group work

-          Students given more responsibility for their own learning and conduct

Grades 8 to 12

-          Students may have 8 subjects and 8 teachers

-          Given greater responsibility for self-sufficiency and responsibility

Education may be defined as the process of training and developing the knowledge, skill, mind and character, by formal training. 

In general it is a form of learning in which the knowledge, skills, and habits of a group of people are transferred from one generation to the next through teaching, training, and research.  A right to education has not been recognized by all governments. Although, at the global level, Article 13 of the United Nations’1966 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights recognizes the right of everyone to an education. 

Scholars and Universities

 In the fifth century, barbarian invasions and unpredictable climate changes swept away much of the culture of antiquity. Books and the written word held little interest for fighting men hungry for land, bent on pillage and instant gratification. Only the monasteries preserved the writings of the saints and a few Greek and Latin manuscripts that had been rescued from destruction. The monks copied the texts in elegant manuscripts, destined for the treasuries of the churches rather than for general reading. Books were precious, in the same way a silver plate or golden chalice were. Nevertheless, under Charlemagne’s rule, 768 AD – 814, written culture was revived.  The empire needed men who could read and write legal texts. But it only affected the elite belonging to the palace.

It was not until the twelfth century that a new Western culture began to take form. Population growth, expansion of trade, and the building of towns stimulated the exchange and movement of ideas. Men of learning, enriched by a knowledge of Greek and Arabic texts, rediscovered the authors of antiquity. They absorbed the new thinking alongside the lessons of the Bible and the teachings of the founding fathers of Christianity. Nurtured by this new culture, the masters changed their behavior and attitudes.

In Paris, Oxford, Bologna, and all over Europe, universities were created, linked to the growth of towns and cities. Unlike the monastery schools, where the teaching was often rigid, they were true centers of learning, attended by students from far and wide.

The Latin word universitas means “guild,” and the masters, who were both teachers and scholars, banded together to form guilds to protect their rights. They lived on the money their students paid for lessons. Some were followed from town to town and were regarded as true masters of thinking. Some universities were more highly regarded than others and some became specialized.

Education often consisted of a study of texts and “disputes” on their meaning, questions and interrogations on their hidden significance. Seated on a dais, the master read aloud, commented, and gave answers. Opposite him sat the students, who were often poor. They had no permanent home and they went from town to town to get what education they could. Sometimes, to earn a living, they worked as jugglers or clowns, begged or stole.

In the thirteenth century, as the universities became organized, the wondering scholars became fewer in number and the bands of lively witted travelers and vagabonds faded away. They were succeeded by students who were better off or given financial assistance by charitable institutions. One of the first such institutions was the college founded by Robert de Sorbon 1253, in Paris, which was to grow into the Sorbonne, the present day University of Paris.

Alongside oral lessons, the basis of teaching became the written word. The authors of the syllabus had to be read by both masters and students, and records were kept of the professors’ lectures. The book, once a luxury item, became a manual, a tool. Paper-making processes improved, books became smaller, abbreviations and a modern script came into use.  Reeds were replaced by quill pens, which made it possible to copy manuscripts more speedily.

The university consisted of four independent faculties and prescribed a complicated examination system that regulated the allocation of grades.  The arts faculty taught a six year course and granted a bachelor’s degree. The specialized faculties, law and medicine, granted the students a doctor’s degree.  Theology, which was regarded the most “noble” discipline, demanded from 15 to 16 additional years of study. 

A new form of study also developed alongside the teachings of the Church.

During the intellectual renaissance of the twelfth century, the Arabs served as intermediaries. Moslem schools and libraries were filled with the works of ancient Greece. These manuscripts travelled from the East through Italy and Spain to the West. Some original Arabic texts, Arabic versions of Greek texts, and original Greek texts were translated with the help of Spanish Christians who had lived under Moslem rule. Research, logic, and science made enormous progress by contact with Euclid’s mathematical works, Aristotle’s philosophy, and Hippocrates’ writings on medicine. In addition, the Arabs made their own contribution, including the writing of modern numerals and subjects such as algebra, agronomy (the science of crop production), and alchemy. The Koran was also translated and amended by order of Pierre the Venerable, Abbot of Cluny.

In Canada, the Association of Universities and Colleges, with its presidents, held its first meeting in 1911. They gathered in Montreal to discuss what questions should be raised, when they attend a meeting of the Congress of Empire Universities held the following year in London.

In 1915, the presidents, with 26 representatives from 18 universities, met again to discuss common problems, which they had recognized as a need for a national organization to exchange information. By 1917 the group had become formalized and as named the National Conference of Canadian Universities. It is described as “the voice and conscience of Canada’s institutions of higher learning.” The Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada was incorporated by the Canadian Parliament in 1965.

Through various organizational structures and names, the association continues to provide leadership for higher education in Canada and abroad.

In regards to the Canadian Aboriginal population, only 8 percent of the people aged 25 to 64 have a university degree while 23 percent of non-aboriginals of the same age group have a university degree. Another issue is more than one-third of Aboriginal people have not completed high school, and federal funding to support Aboriginal students attending a postsecondary institution has increased only two percent a year since 1996 while tuition has increased at an average of 4.4 percent a year since 1998.

Dr. Larry J. Falls, Ed. D., ACS

Community engagement is a major factor in education. According to the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada, through collaboration, universities and communities make each other stronger. Community-engaged research tackles social challenges, improves healthcare and solves environmental problems. University outreach activities address local needs. And business partnerships fuel prosperity.

At the same time, a community’s unique culture, economy and assets,help shape the research, curriculum and service commitment of a university.

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