Tuesday, February 16. 2010

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

B - Social Studies 10 - Today we'll continue working on our Atlas mapping activities. I'll hand out the second part of the activity today. You'll need to hand in up to the end of Part 2: Map Convention #2-Legend today (pages 1-6). Today's work is due next Monday (February 22nd). Tomorrow we're in the class first and then in the library for the next three days working on our physio-geographic regions of Canada project.

A - Earth & Space Science 11 - Yesterday we finished up our look at minerals and we focused on the rock forming mineral families (silicates, carbonates, oxides, sulfides, sulfates, halides, hydroxides, and phosphates). Today I'll wrap up Chapter 2 with a quick look at ores, industrial minerals, and gems along with environmentally hazardous rocks and minerals (remember the Berkeley Pit and the copper mine on Mount Washington?). You will work on a quick Chapter 2 review and we'll go over it in class. Don't forget that tomorrow you'll be in the library and we'll be working on our first project of the year.

C - Criminology 12 - Today I'm going to quickly review where we get our information about trends in crime (UCR, PRVS, Self-Reports). For the last part of the class I would like you to write a letter to the editor of the Vancouver Sun.

You are a criminologist who works at Simon Fraser University and have become alarmed at the media's (in your view) alarmist and irresponsible misrepresentation of violent crime in the city. The over simplification of news reports and the finger pointing have got you steamed (it's the judges, no it's the R.C.M.P., no it's the Solicitor General and the provincial government, no it's the justice department and the federal government, no it's the criminals, no it's the media, no it's.....fill in name here). So you're fed up and it's about time someone with brains educated the media about the nature and extent of crime in Canada and in Vancouver.

Write a thoughtful and polite letter to the editor of the Vancouver Sun outlining the current trends in crime (age, economy, social problems, firearms availability, gangs, drug use and justice policy - p.37-8 in Criminology: The Core) and crime patterns (ecology, social class, age, gender, and race p.42-9 in Criminology: The Core). You'll probably want to conclude your letter with a suggestion or two on how to deal with the "chronic offender" who is typical of those involved with the spate of recent gang arrests. You may want to throw in a reason or two why you think that violence is over reported in the media and maybe consider explaining why that hurts rather than helps deal with crime.