Alberta Politics Thread

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by OMG!WTF!

usa - 29

Population of the U.S. - 324M
Population of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Germany combined - 101M

[Fighting Banana Slug]

Originally Posted by rubecube

Population of the U.S. - 324M
Population of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Germany combined - 101M

So you are saying the school rankings are roughly proportional to population? I don't see how the above indicates "punching above weight".

[Coach]

I'm not sure I buy that because the US's tuition rates are absolutely insane, and thus they have better top-end universities is necessarily correlated with better education. Maybe for those that are actually able to attend the schools, sure. But the percentage of the population that is able to get that quality of education is quite a bit lower.

I personally think a slight dip in quality (seriously, are the lawyers that come from Harvard distinctly "better" than those that come from UofC or UBC? Enough to so to warrant the extreme difference in cost?) for the opportunity to educate anyone who so desires trumps the "prestige" of having more universities on that list.

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by Fighting Banana Slug

So you are saying the school rankings are roughly proportional to population? I don't see how the above indicates "punching above weight".

Obviously not because then China and India would have the best schools. There are obviously other factors to consider. That said, if we looked at the top-4 schools in the United States vs. the top-4 schools in Denmark, I would bet that the top-4 in the U.S. receive substantially more funding but are financially inaccessible to a greater percentage of the population.

[Coach]

Originally Posted by rubecube

Obviously not because then China and India would have the best schools. There are obviously other factors to consider. That said, if we looked at the top-4 schools in the United States vs. the top-4 schools in Denmark, I would bet that the top-4 in the U.S. receive substantially more funding but are financially inaccessible to a greater percentage of the population.

And I would bet if you tested the students of each program against each other, the US ones would not perform better by any significant margin.

[corporatejay]

Originally Posted by MattyC

I'm not sure I buy that because the US's tuition rates are absolutely insane, and thus they have better top-end universities is necessarily correlated with better education. Maybe for those that are actually able to attend the schools, sure. But the percentage of the population that is able to get that quality of education is quite a bit lower.

I personally think a slight dip in quality (seriously, are the lawyers that come from Harvard distinctly "better" than those that come from UofC or UBC? Enough to so to warrant the extreme difference in cost?) for the opportunity to educate anyone who so desires trumps the "prestige" of having more universities on that list.

On average? Yes.

[Coach]

Originally Posted by corporatejay

On average? Yes.

I would actually go the other way and think (I don't know, these are just extrapolations in my head) that the average lawyer from most accredited unis wouldn't see much difference, but the high end at Harvard would be distinctly better for sure.

But to me, that would be because the best students want to go to Harvard, not that Harvard necessarily produces the best lawyers.

[corporatejay]

Originally Posted by MattyC

I would actually go the other way and think (I don't know, these are just extrapolations in my head) that the average lawyer from most accredited unis wouldn't see much difference, but the high end at Harvard would be distinctly better for sure.

But to me, that would be because the best students want to go to Harvard, not that Harvard necessarily produces the best lawyers.

It's both. There is a reason that most white shoe firms only hire out of the Ivy league or the equivalent. The best lawyers come from there and you have to be pretty effing smart to get into those schools in the first place.

[Coach]

Originally Posted by corporatejay

It's both. There is a reason that most white shoe firms only hire out of the Ivy league or the equivalent. The best lawyers come from there and you have to be pretty effing smart to get into those schools in the first place.

And/Or have a lot of money.

[corporatejay]

Originally Posted by MattyC

And/Or have a lot of money.

Meh, I mean sure there are people like George Bush, but don't kid yourself, you need straight 4s and like a 167 to get in there, and if I had those marks I'd figure out how to get 200k to go. You'll make that back in a year or two.

[Coach]

Originally Posted by corporatejay

Meh, I mean sure there are people like George Bush, but don't kid yourself, you need straight 4s and like a 167 to get in there, and if I had those marks I'd figure out how to get 200k to go. You'll make that back in a year or two.

I don't necessarily disagree. I just think that people who are the best will be the best whether they come from Harvard or UofC. They're the best because of their intelligence and work ethic, not because of what school they got their degrees from.

And as for firms only hiring from certain schools, I think that's just plain arrogance. If you're really going to take a candidate over another purely based on where they went to school and nothing out, you're throwing out a lot of applications of good people and doing a disservice to your business.

[Fighting Banana Slug]

I was involved in a similar discussion regarding "elite" law schools in Canada in another thread, and am of the view that most of the schools in Canada are roughly equivalent. Definitely with MattC on that one.

The top Ivy league schools are clearly top-notch, by attracting excellent professors as well as highly qualified students. However, there isn't a giant chasm of quality of instruction between these "top" schools and the average.

The analogy for me would be NHL players. The top players aren't 10x the skill of the average NHLer, perhaps only incrementally better, but they might be paid 10x more. Same would go for Hollywood actors, CEOs, etc.

This is all my opinion, of course. I didn't go to an Ivy League school, so I must not be that smart.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Fighting Banana Slug

I was involved in a similar discussion regarding "elite" law schools in Canada in another thread, and am of the view that most of the schools in Canada are roughly equivalent. Definitely with MattC on that one.

The top Ivy league schools are clearly top-notch, by attracting excellent professors as well as highly qualified students. However, there isn't a giant chasm of quality of instruction between these "top" schools and the average.

The analogy for me would be NHL players. The top players aren't 10x the skill of the average NHLer, perhaps only incrementally better, but they might be paid 10x more. Same would go for Hollywood actors, CEOs, etc.

This is all my opinion, of course. I didn't go to an Ivy League school, so I must not be that smart.

While good points we also dont have the same 'College Culture' here in Canada that they have in places like the USA and England where a particular school has an unprecedented prestige and can actually influence who hires you and various other factors.

[Coach]

Originally Posted by Locke

While good points we also dont have the same 'College Culture' here in Canada that they have in places like the USA and England where a particular school has an unprecedented prestige and can actually influence who hires you and various other factors.

It's arguable that this is a bad thing.

Personally, I would say this is a very bad thing. And it's actually related to the whole "educated the masses" point of view.

You may be missing out on very talented people who could do a lot of good in our society purely because we, as a society, are leaving them behind for factors that, IMO, shouldn't relate (ie, how much money you have vs quality of education you get)

[OMG!WTF!]

Originally Posted by rubecube

Population of the U.S. - 324M
Population of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Germany combined - 101M

University of Heidleberg - 1386

[VladtheImpaler]

Originally Posted by Fighting Banana Slug

I was involved in a similar discussion regarding "elite" law schools in Canada in another thread, and am of the view that most of the schools in Canada are roughly equivalent. Definitely with MattC on that one.

The top Ivy league schools are clearly top-notch, by attracting excellent professors as well as highly qualified students. However, there isn't a giant chasm of quality of instruction between these "top" schools and the average.

The analogy for me would be NHL players. The top players aren't 10x the skill of the average NHLer, perhaps only incrementally better, but they might be paid 10x more. Same would go for Hollywood actors, CEOs, etc.

This is all my opinion, of course. I didn't go to an Ivy League school, so I must not be that smart.

It's not just a question of smart. I had the LSAT to go to Ivy League, but I am sure I would have failed. The way I look at it, to go to Harvard Law you have to have the IQ, the drive, and the work ethic. When I recall my classmates at U of C, we didn't have anyone who had it all - we had smart people, we had the A personalities and we had the plough horses, but we were all "flawed" - the smart people were lazy, the workers weren't smart enough, or some such... It reminds me of my previous abortive attempt at applied sciences. I was somewhat of a math wizard (like finished 2nd in Alberta in the math olympiad) and went to U of T Engineering Science, which was widely accepted as THE place where you went if you were a math/science nerd. It was a whole different level than I had ever seen - people who did high level calculus for fun while taking the bus to school, people who stepped on fellow classmates to get ahead (we were told 1/3 of us would have be dropped after year 1)... I was not interested in the subject nearly enough and had no work ethic to speak of to be able to compete with people like that, and was eventually asked to leave. I was certainly smart enough, but didn't have IT. I would say Harvard Law vs U of C Law is something like that...

[Locke]

Well said.

[Jacks]

Moody's just downgraded us
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/repor...ticle29752671/

Another major credit rating agency has downgraded Alberta’s debt, citing the $10.4-billion deficit, rising debt and the NDP government’s long road back to a balanced budget.Moody’s Investors Service Inc. slashed Alberta’s debt one notch below the top Triple A investment grade rating, the second downgrade in two weeks.
“The downgrade of Alberta’s credit rating, along with our negative outlook, reflects the province’s growing and unconstrained debt burden,” Moody’s said in a statement announcing the downgrade.

[chemgear]

Originally Posted by killer_carlson

Interesting pickup today in the legislature and reported by Don Braid.

NDP environment talk about Alberta facing catastrophic weather because of climate change.

NDP goes on to cut forest fire budget to $86 million. Last two years it was $500 million, and the year before that it was $200 million.

Easy way to cut $400 million from the projected deficeit. Problem is risk that equipment and resources move out of province where there are more guaranteed contracts and require a premium to come back on short notice.

Look at what you did!!! You jinxed us!!!

[Derek Sutton]

Originally Posted by killer_carlson

Interesting pickup today in the legislature and reported by Don Braid.

NDP environment talk about Alberta facing catastrophic weather because of climate change.

NDP goes on to cut forest fire budget to $86 million. Last two years it was $500 million, and the year before that it was $200 million.

Easy way to cut $400 million from the projected deficeit. Problem is risk that equipment and resources move out of province where there are more guaranteed contracts and require a premium to come back on short notice.

This was a topic of discussion again yesterday to, for obvious reasons. Brian Jean was questioning the Premier about this, she accused him of "fear mongering" only to find out a few hours later that his own house was in flames. Heres the link because embedding on my iPad is a pain in the neck.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FVhJCEnKuck