Monday December 17, 2012
By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator, Monday December 17, 2012
Ontario citizens blame teachers not Dalton McGuinty for strike
Ontario, Dalton McGuinty, parents, teacher, strike, Santa Claus, students, day off
parents
Thursday November 15, 2012
By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator, Thursday November 15, 2012
Fallen acorns a threat to kids with allergies
A York Region mother is fighting to have oak trees removed near her child’s school, fearing that acorns could pose a deadly threat to students with severe allergies.
Donna Giustizia said the young trees on property owned by the City of Vaughan next to St. Stephen Catholic Elementary School are littering the area with acorns. The school, meanwhile, is nut-free to protect students with potentially life-threatening anaphylactic allergies.
“A false sense of security is putting a sign on the door that says nut-free and there’s nuts all over the place,” said Giustizia, who has two teenage children with anaphylactic food allergies, one of whom attends St. Stephen.
“I’m not a crazy mom, I’m not asking for anything that’s not already there.”
Giustizia appeared before Vaughan’s committee of the whole last week to plead for the removal of the trees.
Several councillors at the meeting questioned the precedent that removing the trees might set. Thornhill/Concord Councillor Sandra Yeung Racco wondered whether removing these trees would mean having to remove oak trees from other public properties where children with allergies might be exposed.
Councillors referred the matter to staff to prepare a report on the issue. City communications manager Ted Hallas said in an email that staff wouldn’t release details of the report before it is presented to councillors. (Source: Toronto Star)
Tuesday February 21, 2012
By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator, Tuesday February 21, 2012
Strict parental rules about drinking can curb adolescent impulses to drink
Frequent drinking can lead to changes in the processing of alcohol cues that can, in turn, facilitate renewed drinking if an individual’s ability and motivation to reflect on drinking behaviors are insufficient. A study investigating the interaction between automatically activated approach tendencies and the ability and motivation to reflect on drinking behaviors in young adolescents with limited drinking experience has found that stricter parental rules about drinking are highly protective, especially for males.
“With repeated alcohol use, cues that are previously associated with alcohol use – such as the sight of a beer bottle – become increasingly important,” explained Sara Pieters, a researcher at Radboud University Nijmegen and corresponding author for the study. “This might be due to alcohol-induced changes in the brain’s reward system and the formation of memory associations.”
The term “approach tendencies,” Pieters added, can be understood by asking if a person is inclined to approach or to avoid a stimulus. “In most people,” she said, “tendencies to avoid are automatically triggered by threatening stimuli such as a snake, and approach-tendencies can be triggered by appetitive stimuli such as water when thirsty. In heavy drinkers, stimuli that have been associated with alcohol use automatically trigger a tendency to approach.”
“Studies have shown that adolescence is marked by a temporal lag in the maturation of two brain systems, one related to emotional and motivational processes, one to control behavior and thoughts,” added Rebecca de Leeuw, a postdoctoral researcher at Radboud University Nijmegen. “Whereas the former develops relatively fast during puberty, the latter continues to develop until adulthood, around 25 years of age. This means that adolescents are more likely to engage in reckless behavior. (Source: Eureka Alert)
Saturday February 4, 2012
Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator, Saturday February 4, 2012
When the kid comes back
When Joey Temprile finished high school, he promptly moved out and started university. As soon as he graduated, he moved back home with his parents. More than two years later he’s still there and doesn’t plan to leave any day soon.
At 25 and fully employed with the government, Temprile is an official member of the so-called boomerang generation, a growing breed of young adults who are returning home. Half of young Canadians in their 20s live with their parents, a phenomenon observers attribute to the troubled economy and ever-changing family dynamic.
As debate rages over whether or not the trend is troublesome, families living with adult children say the key to making it work is communication, respect and boundaries. Neither Temprile nor his parents have any concern with the fact that he and his brother Matt, 22, are still at home — in fact, they like it.
“From a parenting perspective it gives you the opportunity to talk with your child and relate to your child in a way you never have before,” says Temprile’s father Dan. “That’s been an enjoyable evolution of our relationship.”
Temprile feels the same way and notes any downfalls to the situation are overshadowed by the benefits. “I can live with (less) freedom if it means I can have a house at 26 or 27.”
It’s a clash of expectations that most often leads to conflict when children return home, says Christina Newberry, author of The Hands-on Guide to Surviving Adult Children Living at Home (Self-published, $30.53). After a taste of independence, many children struggle with the restrictions of being back under their parents’ roof. Likewise, their parents wonder what the new house rules should be and worry if their fledgling will ever leave the nest.(Source: Hamilton Spectator)
Thursday July 2, 2009
Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday July 2, 2009
Canada’s schools are flunking history
Canada’s Prime Ministers
A recent Harris-Decima survey found that nearly half of Canadians polled in May think Canada’s educational systems don’t adequately prepare people for the demands of contemporary economic reality, just 37 per cent believing high schools do their job of preparing people for the workforce “very well.”
On June 15 the Dominion Institute, an organization dedicated to promotion of Canada’s history, shared citizenship and democratic institutions, released its latest Canadian History Report Card survey, the 2007 version of which had found 82 per cent of Canadians aged 18 to 24 unable to pass a simple 30-question “exam” about Canadian history.
Another Dominion Institute survey by Ipsos Reid released this week for Canada’s 142nd birthday found that while 88 per cent of Canadians polled recognized pop star Celine Dion’s photo, 77 per cent Wayne Gretzky’s image, and 73 per cent could identify former prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau, only 19 per cent were able to name father of Medicare Tommy Douglas and 27 per cent Metis leader Louis Riel from their photos, and substantially fewer than half recognized either Canada’s first prime minister Sir John A. Macdonald (41 per cent) whose visage graces the $10 bill, or current Governor General Michaelle Jean (49 per cent).
The report abstract observes: “It seems difficult to comprehend that recent graduates of high school know so little about Canadian history…. What exactly do we require our students to learn about our country’s past?” This year the Institute examined history taught in Canadian schools, grading provinces and territories on their Canadian history curriculum’s quality at the high school level. (Source: Telegraph Journal)
Link to: 2015 Canadian History Report Card