Monday, June 4. 2012

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


A Block Social Studies 11 - Yesterday I had a chance to watch a brilliant commercial about access to fresh water from World Vision

FYI: World Vision is a non-profit organization (however it is denominational - Christian) that works in three areas for the developing world: disaster management, development assistance and advocacy (human rights, economic justice and peace).

Today we'll take a look at the Human Development Index which focuses on health, poverty and hunger, education, and environmental issues in countries around the world. Don't forget a good resource is the UNDP HDI Report. We'll take a few notes down on HIPC's (Highly Indebted Poor Countries) and the cycle of poverty looking at two power points about material wealth and food (based on photography from Peter Menzel). Later we will make a connection between the social problems (gender, health, children, etc.) in HIPC's with economic development. We will examine traditional economies which are based in primary industries and subsistence farming and compare those with developing and developed economies.

There is an excellent news story on the CNN Freedom Project called Chocolate's Child Slaves.

From the CNN site: It may be unthinkable that the chocolate we enjoy could come from the hands of children working as slaves. In the Ivory Coast and other cocoa-producing countries, there are an estimated 100,000 children working the fields, many against their will, to create the chocolate delicacies enjoyed around the world.


This story is a good example of the social problems associated with development and the reliance upon monoculture for economies in developing countries. More on this tomorrow.

B Block Law 12 - Today I have the library booked for you to continue your work on the major civil law project that is due in just over two weeks. Including today there are eleven classes remaining until your final exam and thirteen classes left until your project is due. Tomorrow we will look at guardianship and support guidelines in Canada; Wednesday we'll use the notebooks and Thursday we'll start "The War of the Roses".

C Block Geography 12 - The topic for today in Geography is consumption. On Friday we began the class with the National Geographic Human Footprint DVD. We got through scenes 1-4 and today I’d like you to show scenes 5 (sweets, fruits and vegetables) through 17 (conclusion) – this will take about 1 hour and 11 minutes of class time. When the DVD is over I'd like you to answer the following:

1. Why do different cultures use and consume things at different rates? What do the numbers and facts in the video say about North American society?
2. In some areas of the world people are already in conflict over a limited amount of natural resources. How will a growing population affect people’s access to food, potable (safe drinking) water, and fuel? What affect might the population increase have on pollution and encroachment on wildlife habitats?

D Block Criminology 12 - Today we will have our last journal entry. This week we'll look at white collar and corporate crime and today I'd like you to work on a journal entry based on questions in the textbook (and the documentary "The Corporation" that we'll finish watching tomorrow). I'd like you to answer the question "Can Corporations Commit Murder?" If a corporation is considered as a person in law (as it is in the US) who can be held liable (responsible) if a corporation kills people? Use questions 1 & 2 from page 285 as well as question 1 from page 291 in your Criminology the Core textbook to help. Find an example of a story where a company was held responsible for the death of people and use it to support your ideas. Check out the following: Redefining Corporate Crime (look at the bullet points half way through the article) Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 (a law in the UK) Corporate Crime
Reporter Top 100 Corporate Criminals (most are fraud, antitrust and financial) Newser (news
stories about corporate crime).