Tuesday, June 9, 2009

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

Tomorrow there is a tutorial to start the day. From 8:55 - 9:25 you need to go to whatever class you need assistance in; as of tomorrow there are FIVE classes remaining in the semester so please use the tutorial class wisely! The morning schedule is altered so that B Block goes from 9:30 - 10:30 and A Block goes from 10:35 - 11:35. The schedule for the remainder of the day is unaffected.

C - Criminology 12 - Today we will look at the sex for profit work trade by focusing on prostitution. We will understand the different types of prostitutes (street walkers, circuit travelers, bar girls, brothels, call girls and escort services). We'll look at some high profile cases (former New York state governor Eliot Spitzer) and examine the reasons why people turn to prostitution. Next we'll examine the laws in Canada on obscenity - as related to pornography (Criminal Code section163 subsection 8 and the community standards of tolerance test) and ask the question "Does pornography cause violence?" Tomorrow, we'll spend some time looking at substance abuse and then you have the rest of the week to work on your final project.

Consider the following:

Sir Patrick Devlin stated…Without shared ideas on politics, morals, and ethics no society can exist…. If men and women try to create a society in which there is no fundamental agreement about good and evil, they will fail; if having based it on common agreement, the argument goes, the society will disintegrate. For society is not something that is kept together physically; it is held by the invisible bonds of common thought. If the bonds were too far relaxed, the members would drift apart. A common morality is part of the bondage. The bondage is part of the price of society; and mankind, which needs society, must pay its price.

So yesterday I briefly gave you a question that should have been hard to answer, a question about shared morals and the law. Should we legalize prostitution? Think about the two opposing views:

• Sexual Equality View The prostitute is a victim of male dominance. In patriarchal societies, male power is predicated on female subjugation, and prostitution is a clear example of this gender exploitation

• Free Choice View Prostitution, if freely chosen, expresses woman’s equality and is not a symptom of subjugation.

A - Social Studies 11 - Today in class we'll review yesterday's work on the cycle of poverty, the burden of debt, structural adjustment policies, and HIPC's (see the World Bank's list of HIPC's here). For an alternative view on the World Bank, the IMF, and HIPC debt see the New Internationalist March 2004 magazine article here.
After this review we'll look at vulnerable people in impoverished countries (women and children), health issues (including the HIV/AIDS epidemic), and foreign aid (CIDA). Don't be apathetic and feel hopeless! Is there something you can do? Check out the possibilities for Canadian youth at CIDA's Youth Zone. Today, you'll need to add the following questions to the work you completed yesterday:

• page 357 question 1 & 2 and
• page 360 questions 1 & 2
  

B- Social Studies 10 - Today we'll continue with our work on the economy of BC, with our focus being on mining. I'll go through some facts and show you some web sites that can help and then you need to continue working on your Economy of BC poster activity. Here are a few websites of note:
Mining Association of British Columbia
Britishcolumbia.com - mining in BC
BC Ministry of Energy, Mines, and Petroleum Resources
Mineral Resources Education Program of BC