Wednesday, October 7. 2015

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

A Block Social Studies 10 - Today we'll continue our look at the current election in Canada specifically focusing on political ideology and the parties that follow specific ideologies. A political ideology deals with goals (how society should work) and methods (how to reach the goals). 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. You'll have a Web Quest to work on for me.

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". 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

There will be two members of parliament representing the Comox Valley after this federal election, now the Electoral Boundaries Commission has decided to draw a line through our Regional District.

Comox and Electoral Areas B and C will remain with the North Island, while Courtenay, Cumberland and Area A will join a new 'Courtenay-Alberni' riding.


D Block Geography 12 -  I have the library reserved for the class so that you may continue working on your Orting college development project. Ask yourself, what is the greatest danger to Orting? Of all that could potentially happen at Mount Rainier what poses the greatest threat? Now ask yourself what triggers that threat? What causes it to happen? Last think about the statistical likelihood of that event happening. How likely is the event to occur in the next 5, 10, 100, or 1000 years? Check out the risk analysis section of the COTF website for help here. I'll remind you that this assignment is due next Tuesday and it is crucial that you hand it in to me as we will be at the end of our unit. Today is our last day in class for research and creation

C Block Criminology 12 - We'll watch the recreation of the 1961 Stanley Milgram experiment on "Obedience to Authority".  From ABC News "Basic Instinct: The Science of Evil"

In the experiment, conducted at Yale University over a period of months in 1961, an authority figure -- "the experimenter" -- dressed in a white lab coat and instructed participants to administer what they believed were increasingly painful electric shocks to another person. Although no one was actually receiving shocks, the participants heard a man screaming in pain and protest, eventually pleading to be released from the experiment. When the subjects questioned the experimenter about what was happening, they were told they must continue. And continue they did: Two-thirds of Milgram's participants delivered shocks as they heard cries of pain, signs of heart trouble, and then finally -- and most frightening -- nothing at all.

So if we are studying violence and we categorize violence as "evil" then shouldn't we understand what makes people do "evil" things? The ABC Primetime News team recreated Milgram's experiment and we'll watch it today.