Thursday, February 5, 2009

Today's schedule is C-D-Lunch-B-A

C - Criminology 12 - Today I want to continue with our look at the nature vs. nurture debate that we started yesterday again focusing on the history of psychological and sociological criminology. We'll look at the difference between deviance and criminal behaviour (acts that are criminal but not deviant and deviant but not criminal). What is deviant behaviour? A simple explanation of deviant behaviour could be any action that violates cultural norms (formal norms like laws - or informal norms like nose picking). This is a difficult concept because what an individual or sub culture in society defines as deviant is contextually situated (meaning what I think is deviant may be different for you; it is subjective - influenced by personal considerations).

Take smoking in public. You may think that this behaviour is acceptable because an individual has the choice to consume a cigarette and they are merely harming themselves...no problem right? You may, however, think this behaviour is unacceptable. Second-hand smoke is hurtful to others because they could be harmed by someone else's behaviour. So what is deviant in many cases is subjective. What is criminal is the codification of what a society as a whole deems as deviant. Homicide is criminal because as a society we believe that taking another life is unacceptable and deviates from the accepted cultural norm that we wish our country to be like.

So using the text and your brains you need to come up with a list of things that are deviant but not criminal and a list of things that are criminal but not deviant. After you'll need to take one act from either list and explain why it should be criminalized or why it should be decriminalized.

If there's time we'll look at the three perspectives of how criminologists view crime (interactionist, consensus, conflict).

Don't forget for Tuesday you need to create your own theory of why crime happens. You need to use the brainstormed list we did in class along with the notes you take today on the history of Criminology. Use the Crime Theory Web Site found on this link. Tomorrow we'll look at the difference between deviance and criminal behaviour (acts that are criminal but not deviant and deviant but not criminal) and the three views on crime (interactionist, consensus, conflict).

B- Social Studies 10 - Today we'll continue our lab exercise on latitude, longitude, and time zones. Yesterday we finished about half of the lab and today we'll work through longitude and time zones. Take a look at the following websites for help with time zones:
Time for Time
Time and Date
From Stargazers to Starships
Latitude and Longitude Flash
NOVA: The Search for Longitude
Royal Astronomical Society Calgary: Latitude and Longitude
US National Atlas - Latitude and Longitude
BC Open School Latitude and Longitude Flash

A - Social Studies 11 - Yesterday we finished the five themes of geography with the concept of "region". Last night I asked you to consider what a stereotype is and to consider what the different stereotypical student groups are in the school (jocks, band nerds, skids, LG's, emos, etc...). Look at the Changing Minds website for a good explanation of stereotypes.

Today we'll see what geographic (think the themes of place and region) information we know of other regions and we'll look at stereotypes of Canadian regions and examine why we have them. We'll try to figure out what the concept "regionalism" means, see how it is affected by our stereotypes, and determine how regionalism causes challenges to Canada as a country. You have a critical challenge question to answer for Tuesday, based on our discussion of regionalism.

"In BC we have more in common with someone from Seattle or San Francisco than we do with someone from Saskatoon or St. John's. What is good for BC is not necessarily what is good for Saskatchewan or Newfoundland and Labrador. We are more concerned with hospital beds in Kelowna, stumpage fees for trees pulled out of Clayoquot, schools closing in Vancouver, ferry costs from the Island and wether the Canucks will make the playoffs. We're more concerned about BC than what's east of the Rockies. The same could be said for southern Ontarians, Quebecois, Albertans, Maritimers, Newfoundlanders, and people of other regional areas. Canada isn't a country, it's a patchwork of self concerned regions so much so that Canada doesn't make sense as a country. Now tell me I'm wrong and tell me why."