Wednesday, September 14. 2016

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

B & C Blocks Social Studies 11 - Today we'll continue with our look at the federal and provincial government structure in Canada. Remember you need to choose two Federally controlled powers that you think should be transferred to the provinces and then come up with an argument for each. You should have two to three main points for each and then write a speech/letter outlining your request and the reasons why the Federal government should give those powers to the provinces (Dear Mr. Prime Minister...). Lastly, we'll look at the Legislative Branch of the Federal government in Canada starting with the House of Commons. You'll need to work on three questions:

1. What is "Caucus" and what does it do?
2. What is "Cabinet", what is "Cabinet Solidarity", what happens when you break "cabinet solidarity", how do you get to be a cabinet member, and identify three ministries covered in the federal cabinet?
3. What is the "Official Opposition" and what do they do?

Here are some websites to help:
Current Canadian Ministry (Cabinet)
Privy Council Office: About Cabinet
Conservative party Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet
Parliament Of Canada Members of the Cabinet and Opposition Critics

A Block Geography 12 - Today we'll move on to geographic spheres within the Earth system (the Lithosphere, the Atmosphere, the Biosphere and the Hydrosphere). After a few notes, you'll need to look at figure 1.8 (p.13) and figure 1.9 (p.14) in the Geosystems book and try to interpret the relationships among the four spheres as a result of humans burning fossil fuels and if you're having trouble with this consider the carbon cycle (pages 634-5 in text) or look the links on yesterday's blog entry for more help.
D Block Criminology 12 -Today we'll start by looking at the work from yesterday - the difference between deviance and criminal behaviour (acts that are criminal but not deviant and deviant but not criminal). Remember, 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. This will lead to our look at the three perspectives of how criminologists view crime: 

1. Consensus = the belief that the majority of citizens in society share common values and agree on what behaviours should be defined as criminal. 
2. Conflict = the belief that criminal behaviour is defined by those in a position of power to protect and advance their own self-interest.
3.  Interactionist = the belief that those with social power are able to impose their values on society as a whole, and these values then define criminal behaviour. 

Once this is done we'll turn our focus to the history of crime and law (looking at Hammurabi, the Mosaic Code and the development of Common Law in England). We'll learn what Actus Reus, Mens Rea, Mala in Se and Mala Prohibitum mean along with taking a look at the differences between Indictable, Summary Conviction and Absolute Liability Offences. We'll see what defences you can use and what the goals of criminal law are for society.