Thursday, February 26. 2015

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

D Block Criminology 12 -  Today, we'll start by working through yesterday's questions...

1. Using pages 37 to 46 in the CRIM textbook outline and explain the crime patterns in relation to ecology, firearms, social class, age, gender and race.
2. What is a chronic offender and what is the significance of Marvin Wolfgang's discovery (why is identifying the chronic offender important)?
3. How would you explain the gender differences in the crime rate (why do you think males are more violent than females)? 

To help, we'll examine where we get our information about trends in crime (UCR, PRVS, Self-Reports) which connects us to yesterday's topic on perceptions of crime in Canada. The data from these sources show relatively stable patterns in the crime rate. Ecological patterns show that crime varies by season and by urban versus rural environment, however there is evidence of gender patterns in the crime rate: Men commit more crime than women. Age is one of the largest influences on crime; young people commit more crime than the elderly (and there are fewer young people in society). Crime data show that people commit less crime as they age, but the significance and cause of this pattern are still not completely understood. Similarly, racial and class patterns appear in the crime rate. However, it is still unclear whether these are true differences or a function of discriminatory law enforcement. So for Canada?
CTV News Crime Severity


To end I'll give you a review for next Tuesday's quiz.

C Block Geography 12 - Don't forget, you may use the Earth Interior web page or the Dynamic Earth webpage to help with questions 7 & 8 from page 366 of your Geosystems text (answers can be found between pages 334 and 336 of the text). After, we'll discuss the differences between Sial and Sima (continental and oceanic crust) along with figuring out what buoyancy and isostasy are. You'll need to complete question 9 from page 366 of the text (isostasy, isostatic rebound, and crustal equilibrium). We'll also transfer some notes into our week 3 package on the rock cycle and then we'll focus on igneous rocks and plutonic features.

If you need help look at the Geology for Kids web page, the flash animated movie on the Kids Know It network, or the e-notes Isostasty: World of Earth Science page.

B Block Social Studies 11 - You'll have time to work on yesterday's questions from class: 1, 2, 3, and 4 on page 253 along with 1, 2 and 4 on page 258 of your Counterpoints textbook today. For help on why you should vote see:

Elections Canada Young Voters Site
Elections Canada Electoral System explanation
Compulsory voting in Australia explanation
Electoral Reform in BC First Past the Post or STV
About.com First Past the Post vs Proportional Representation
Fair Vote
Historical record of Canadian Voter turnout
2011 Election Results CBC

Tomorrow we'll be in the library trying to find information on political party platforms and making informed choices about which political party best fits your own set of beliefs.

As a citizen of Canada you have the right and the responsibility to vote so, why should you vote? Leon Wieseltier wrote in his book "Insurrections of the Mind"...

"Here's why you have to think...an open democracy places an extraordinary intellectual responsibility on ordinary citizens because we are governed by what we think...we are governed by our opinions. So, the content of our opinions and the quality of our opinions basically determines the character of our society and that means a thoughtless citizen of a democracy is a delinquent citizen of democracy."

So an educated ordinary citizen means you should be aware of what political parties represent and stand for. Voting means making an educated critical decision in other words "thinking".