Alberta Politics Thread v2

[chemgear]

Originally Posted by Slava

Lol, wow. You managed to equate his views to something horrible and still save a Hitler blast for another pass.

Hey now, the election hasn't officially started. Gotta save that for the fear mongering in the closing days.

[Fozzie_DeBear]

Ugh...the basement-gate topic is weak sauce

Let’s talk policy mmmmm’kay?

[iggy_oi]

Originally Posted by chemgear

Hey now, the election hasn't officially started. Gotta save that for the fear mongering in the closing days.

Lol. Nothing in my question to Locke had anything to do with an election. It was a simple question in response to some of his views that he posted, kind of like when in the past people have asked him to back up his claims that Albertans are being taxed to death compared to other provinces, only in this case I was actually expecting him to answer.

[crazy_eoj]

Originally Posted by belsarius

Kenney didn't break any housing rule,.

Lol you've totally ignored the pertinent guidelines. I agree with the above quote.

As such, I won't be commenting on this anymore.

[DJones]

So what's everyone think about all inclusive learning?

I didn't mind the idea of it, but now there's a couple kids in my daughters class that are nightmares. One's non-verbal(can't keep up) and the other has some extreme anger issues. The wife went in to help in class and half the time she was there was spent trying to calm the kid down.

This is grade 1 and my oldest kid, so does this get better or worse?

[Envitro]

Everything that I've heard from our teacher friends (and we have many) indicates that it's a nightmare to manage.

For one, they need aides in every classroom going forward, but they don't have the funding to execute it.

It's turned into a complete ####show.

Sure yea, I get why they did it. It makes sense to include everyone, but at what cost to the rest of society and our education system overall? You can't all of the sudden now decrease the learning experience for the majority of the kids so that the kids with learning "differences" "feel" more included. Really it's more the parents of those kids that get up in arms about it.

Seems like we're setting ourselves up for some massive educational failures for the sake of political correctness.

[CliffFletcher]

I understand that parents of children with special needs want to see their kids integrated into regular programs. But we don't have infinite resources. I recently read a story about parents furious their special needs child has been removed from the regular school program after several instances of assaulting teachers, one of which resulted in the teacher requiring hospital care.

The needs of the many sometimes outweighs the needs of the few. Pretending the two never come into conflict is one of those naive delusions that Canadians seem especially prone to.

[DJones]

Ya the more I think about it, the more it bugs me.

How can they justify taking the time away from the rest of the children because one child has some extreme issues. There was a teacher aid, that after 20 minutes of the whole class stopping everything took the kid out of the class.

But this is a routine occurrence.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by DJones

Ya the more I think about it, the more it bugs me.

How can they justify taking the time away from the rest of the children because one child has some extreme issues. There was a teacher aid, that after 20 minutes of the whole class stopping everything took the kid out of the class.

But this is a routine occurrence.

The teacher aid is likely only present because the kid is present.

I think the general philosophy of integration first is good. The 20 minutes spent dealing with that issue was probably more educational then building a diarama or a musical instrument.

That said there needs to be a point to say this person is not functioning at the level to be involved in all activities so maybe they aren’t there everything the class does and has specialized learning some of the other time.

Investing to get people to be able to function on society will payoff when they need less support as adults.

[Lubicon]

I'm just glad my kids are out of the public education system now. I understand the value of inclusive learning and there is no doubt it can have real benefits for those kids. But if it comes at the expense of others then what is actually accomplished? If we're holding others back then the net benefit may not be positive.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by Lubicon

I'm just glad my kids are out of the public education system now. I understand the value of inclusive learning and there is no doubt it can have real benefits for those kids. But if it comes at the expense of others then what is actually accomplished? If we're holding others back then the net benefit may not be positive.

Do we have evidence to support that inclusive learning is holding others back?

[Lubicon]

Originally Posted by GGG

Do we have evidence to support that inclusive learning is holding others back?

Anecdotal only on my part. My guys were bored out of their skulls as the teachers had to focus on a few students rather than challenge others.

[DJones]

Originally Posted by GGG

Do we have evidence to support that inclusive learning is holding others back?

I don't see how it possibly couldn't be holding kids back.

I noticed Kindergarten, my daughter had a massive drop in performance from her daycare.

Daycare, kicked out anyone that was a disturbance and the teachers were great. Lots of time with the teachers, she was learning at a very impressive rate. First 4 months of school, she was bored waiting for other kids to learn how to count while the ADHD kids that would have been kicked out of Daycare dominated the teachers time. She was labeled a quiet independent kid which means the teachers can ignore her while they chase the troubled ones around.

ADHD kids are one thing, but these new kids are a whole other level. That kid is going to hurt someone. Be interesting to see if Kenney creates a voucher system. I am already on the fence of leaving. This can not be an optimal environment.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by DJones

I don't see how it possibly couldn't be holding kids back.

I noticed Kindergarten, my daughter had a massive drop in performance from her daycare.

Daycare, kicked out anyone that was a disturbance and the teachers were great. Lots of time with the teachers, she was learning at a very impressive rate. First 4 months of school, she was bored waiting for other kids to learn how to count while the ADHD kids that would have been kicked out of Daycare dominated the teachers time. She was labeled a quiet independent kid which means the teachers can ignore her while they chase the troubled ones around.

ADHD kids are one thing, but these new kids are a whole other level. That kid is going to hurt someone. Be interesting to see if Kenney creates a voucher system. I am already on the fence of leaving. This can not be an optimal environment.

You seem upset about 50% of the class being behind her and having all of that remedial work. I don’t think switching schools will alleviate your child’s boredom if she is ahead of the curve. Also it’s Kindergarten so you have a wide variety of pre-k education so the curve not even considering developmental issues is a huge span. Expansion of pre-k education would likely make a bigger difference in your issue than any kind o segregation. Or perhaps fix the February 28th allowable start date and push it back to Dec 31st.

The other thing is that having your daughter become an independent learner is a huge win. The ability to teach yourself pays so many dividends later on in life.

[8 Ball]

Originally Posted by DJones

So what's everyone think about all inclusive learning?

I didn't mind the idea of it, but now there's a couple kids in my daughters class that are nightmares. One's non-verbal(can't keep up) and the other has some extreme anger issues. The wife went in to help in class and half the time she was there was spent trying to calm the kid down.

This is grade 1 and my oldest kid, so does this get better or worse?

My daughter who is in grade nine attends a school with kids from the L&L program (learning and literacy program). It’s meant to integrate and help kids with literacy obstacles so that they can one day attend their community schools. Most of the kids are good, and they pose no issues with the overall class dynamic. But there are definitely the kids with serious social and emotional problems that take away from a healthy learning environment. I think the overall idea of the program is positive, however they need to flag the kids who shouldn’t be there. Trying to learn while a kid throws desks all over the class room while students cower in fear is unacceptable. Having students tell their teachers to #### off is also unacceptable. But they send them home (or somewhere else, I don’t know), and try it again a few weeks later. It really puts the other students on pins and needles.

[Oling_Roachinen]

Originally Posted by crazy_eoj

Hilarious!

Late to the party but can you provide the raw data from Statcan 14-10-0287-01, assuming these are suppose to be Albertan numbers? Cause the data doesn't seem to be provided...

[Aarongavey]

Originally Posted by crazy_eoj

Not an entitlement at all, he’s legally required to maintain a residence in his home riding. Even while working incredibly hard for all Canadians as a cabinet minister.

The hatred for showing support for his mother after his father died really says much more about those attacking him than anything Kenney ever did.

There is no legal requirement to have a residence in the riding. Not sure where you got that from.

[Aarongavey]

Originally Posted by Zarley

How specifically is he gaming the system?

Remember that:
a) All MPs are obligated to maintain a residence in (or within 100 km of) their home constituency.
b) The vast majority of MPs who live outside the NCR receive a housing allowance for accommodation in a secondary residence.
c) $900 per month is a modest and reasonable amount for this allowance - keep in mind the maximum housing allowance at this time was $28,000 per annum or $2,333 per month.
d) This practice was and remains standard practice amongst MPs in the House of Commons.

point a) is not true, there is no obligation to maintain a residence in (or within 100KM of) their home constituency.

There is a requirement to maintain a primary residency in order to get the taxpayer kickback for your secondary residency. But if you do not have a primary residency you cannot claim the kickback. But there is no requirement to claim a primary residency.

[Harry Lime]

Inclusive learning, at least at the higher public levels, includes adults helpers for the kids that need the most attention.

There are two problems that have been created over the last 10 years that are hurting the quality of learning. The first is the erosion of authority away from the teacher and toward the student, and the second is class size.

[you&me]

Originally Posted by Harry Lime

Inclusive learning, at least at the higher public levels, includes adults helpers for the kids that need the most attention.

There are two problems that have been created over the last 10 years that are hurting the quality of learning. The first is the erosion of authority away from the teacher and toward the student, and the second is class size.

My wife and by extension "we", have a lot of teacher friends and you nailed the two biggest problems.

Even in a regular, 'non-inclusive' class environment, there's no way for a teacher to adequately attend to even the most minor needs of 30+ students. Add in a "non-conventional" (I've heard this term used by several teachers, so it must be some sort of new, non-offensive label) student or two and it's a recipe for utter chaos.

And now, in some of the newer schools, apparently it's a thing to combine classes. One teacher friend told us of a school in his neighbourhood that has a combined class with 64 students, 2 teachers and one aid that attends to a few children (2, 4, I don't recall). You end up with 21-to-one student to adult ratio... there is no way that can be a fertile learning environment.