la maison

New: Support Freedom of Speech Online

Miriam Jones — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 19:37:00 +0000

Do you support the right of individuals to freedom of speech on political issues? to speak truth to power? to engage in online satire for the amusement and education of their readers? If so, please consider donating towards the legal fees of the editor of this blog. She is being sued for defamation for some of the material posted here. Donations will be gratefully accepted via Paypal to jones@unbsj.ca, or any other way, really. Canadian Tire money accepted at par.

And no doubt

Miriam Jones — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 16:23:33 +0000

you have all seen this most recent proof of the child-centered-ness of our provinicial politicians.

[cross-posted to Living in interesting times.]

More evidence that

Miriam Jones — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 19:24:07 +0000

the N.B. Ministry of Education is peddling backwards: in the U.S.A., according to the New York Times, reliance on standardized testing is on the way out:

A commission convened by some of the country’s most influential college admissions officials is recommending that colleges and universities move away from their reliance on SAT and ACT scores and shift toward admissions exams more closely tied to the high school curriculum and achievement.

For a government that practically boasts a line of action figures (Kelly “You won’t like me when I’m angry” Lamrock, The Invisible Shawn, Jack “The Flash” Keir, Ed “Elastic Man” Doherty, and all their rubbery friends), they sure are mired in the past.

That being said,

Miriam Jones — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 12:55:54 +0000

here is an interesting article from the most recent issue of University Affairs: “The rise of the monoglots: Fewer and fewer universities require students to master a second language. Some think that’s a shame,” by Léo Charbonneau, University Affairs (Aug.-Sept./08).

À bientôt

Miriam Jones — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 01:07:24 +0000

Folks, given that the recent squirmishes have subsided — with a sort of détente rather than a victory, it’s true — this blog is probably going into a hibernation phase. No doubt things will heat up again, certainly in the lead-up to the next provincial election, but who knows? perhaps sooner. And when that happens I will in all likelihood dust off the old keyboard. But for now there is little to say. Or little I want to say, anyway.

I am going to leave this blog up as an archive — it is an artifact of a particular struggle at a particular time and place and as such it represents a little corner of history, however modest. And I may post, from time to time.

If you really miss me, drop by my other education blog, Living in interesting times. Also, coincidentally, about a N.B. Liberal disaster, this time involving post-secondary education. Those wacky politicians, eh? What high jinx they get up to! Crazy kids.

As always, you can read about FSL in New Brunswick at the Citizens for Educational Choice website, and Immersion delayed is immersion denied. And keep your ear to the ground: CEL will be around as long as we need to be.

Like Batman, only bilingual.

When Bad Research Leads to Bad Policy: The Case of New Brunswick

Miriam Jones — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 00:48:23 +0000

Shamelessly lifted from Matt and Diana: “This opinion piece was in response to EFI policy development in NB. It was written by Philip Oreopolous who is an Associate Professor of Economics, University of British Columbia and a University of Toronto Research Fellow, Canadian Institute For Advanced Research. It was written just before the decision was announced on August 5th.” Download PDF.

To stay on the theme of birds for a moment,

Miriam Jones — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 18:53:51 +0000

I think it is safe to say that we have all learnt something these past months.

Too good to languish in the comments

Miriam Jones — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 16:08:57 +0000

Eric just posted the following comment in response to the previous post on humour:

Why did the chicken cross the road?

Kelly Lamrock: Because the chickens on this side of the road were causing streaming which hurt our test scores! For this reason, we are eliminating chickens and will provide each child with an egg in grade 6 from which some might produce their own chickens. Children who do not opt for the egg will receive chicken manure.

Donald Arseneault: The chicken had to cross the road so we could establish a Uranium mine on the chicken’s property.

Kelly Lamrock: People who oppose the chicken crossing the road are missing the hidden X factor! You often have to cross roads in fantasy football.

Victor Boudreau: Because the other side is not paying its fair share of taxes! The Liberals will increase the taxes on both sides as well as introducing a road crossing fee.

Kelly Lamrock: Following a court ordered consultation, I have decided to compromise and just make the chicken cross halfway. We’ll just hope that no cars come by.

Mike Murphy: Because it is more efficient to have separate systems! We’ll have chickens on that side and ducks on this side.

Shawn Graham: What did Kelly say?

Just sayin’

Miriam Jones — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 03:57:38 +0000

At least one way of measuring the freedom of any society is the amount of comedy that is permitted, and clearly a healthy society permits more satirical comment than a repressive, so that if comedy is to function in some way as a safety release then it must obviously deal with these taboo areas. This is part of the responsibility we accord our licensed jesters, that nothing be excused the searching light of comedy. If anything can survive the probe of humour it is clearly of value, and conversely all groups who claim immunity from laughter are claiming special privileges which should not be granted.

Eric Idle

You know what’s really

Miriam Jones — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 20:14:15 +0000

Liberal caucus, learning to carry a tune

getting on my wick? All these apologists who think that whatever disasters the Liberals propagate, they should be forgiven as long as they appear “contrite” and “rueful”, as long as they “learn.” Of course, Graham and Lamrock set the tone themselves and their supporters are only too happy to take the hint. This from the government that wants to give merit raises to government bureaucrats. That wants performance-based contracts. That wants to “measure outcomes” and impose repercussions for anyone who doesn’t “produce”. And we are supposed to wryly shake our heads after each cock-up and say indulgently, “Well, I bet they won’t do that again! Kids, eh? But did you see how abashed they looked? How cute is that? Look at Shawnie with his hands in his pockets, and little Kelly, shuffling his feet.” The ever-consistent Marcelle Mersereau writes, “The Graham government has survived its first serious crisis. There have been lessons learned from this exercise that will not be quickly forgotten.” Not very reassuring from someone who herself seems to have forgotten the serious crisis of last fall, for starters.

Me? I say, “spare the rod.”

[Cross-posted to Living in interesting times.]