Friday, June 4, 2010
Teachers Sexually Interact with Children
Holy, It Happened (Summary of the Event)
A teacher from Don Mills Middle School in Toronto was arrested and charged for two counts of sexual assault and two counts of sexual interference. A 12 year old boy confided in another staff and then the principal was then alerted on May 12th, 2010. A substitute teacher has taken over his classes in the mean time. Stewart Adams a teacher at Kingsview Village Junior School was arrested within two days of the first arrest. The news of Hang’s activities may have been the key factor in the arrest of Adams as more students are becoming less shy to come forward and telling their story. At the moment both teachers will continue to receive regular pay until these investigations come to an end.
Cause-Effect Predictions (Positive Economic Statement)
If the arrests of these two teachers spark the arrests of more deviant teachers to come then a lot of money will be wasted and coming out of federal funding, these leakages in money will result from adding the income for substitute teachers, and the money spent on the investigations to prosecute these deviant teachers. If these teachers are convicted of sexual assault then chaos stemming from parents and others against child abuse will arise, as civil unrest will no doubt in sue and the peel board’s ability to select and hire employees will be scrutinized. If the amount of teachers assaulting their children accumulates then not only will the funding that goes into education be affected but the money that is spent on corrective facilities and prisons will increase substantially to account for increased criminals.
My Amazing Opinion (What Should Happen)
The government and public school boards should maintain policies restricting the access of teachers to students only during school hours. These implemented policies would then reduce the ability for teachers to take advantage of students out of school hours and during school hours there should be surveillance that would not only prove a teacher’s guilt to crime but will also help deter crime. Children should also be made more aware of situations that occur. Often times, crimes and the violation of laws could be stopped a lot sooner than they are actually stopped, if the violator was apprehended earlier on. Awareness is an effective deterrence against the crimes teachers commit as students will realize the situation and go to help immediately, rather than being shy and doing nothing which kids often find themselves doing because they simply do not know what to do. In hindsight, the screening of teachers, implementing stricter policies and adding surveillance is a luxury that the public school system cannot afford at this moment in time, simply because there is not enough money circulating around, thus, raising awareness is the best course of action to take. It is clear that deviant behaviour is obvious to suspect and it is assumed that everyone knows what is right and what is wrong and when to go to someone for help, but quite simply many people do not know what is wrong and they do not go for help. This case is especially true for young ones as they are very innocent and vulnerable to manipulation.
White, Madeleine. "Toronto Teacher Faces Sexual Assault Charges ." Toronto Star 03 June 2010: A2. Print.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Helping Foster Kids!
What in the world? (Summary of the Event)
In Ontario, children in foster care are in a complete and utter disadvantage in terms of education. Parents with children living at home often use their child benefits and opening up a Registered Education Savings Plan. The parental investments trigger $2000 in federal learning bonds and the federal government actually matches the contributions put forth by parents to a maximum of $7200. I t would cost the government 8 million dollars a year just to set up a comparable social benefits program that targets those children in foster care in Ontario alone. By law, those in foster care must leave by the age of 18. In all likelihood, they usually drop out of school before post secondary education because they must provide food and shelter by working before they can focus on their own education. Many aspiring workers remain living at home till their mid 20’s today, which adds to their advantage further.
Cause-Effect Predictions (Positive Economic Statement)
If the federal government provided a better education benefits program for foster children then fewer children within child care would drop out of high school, as it stands fewer than 44 percent of foster children complete high school by the age of 21. If the federal government decided to help education in Ontario then not only will they be using 8 million dollars out of the budget but they would also have to compensate the other provinces as well. The whole process will be too costly to maintain and sustain for a long period of time. If lobbying is successful and financial assistance is given to those in foster care then taxes may increase for the average Canadian citizen, in hopes for equal opportunity for all Canadians.
My Amazing Opinion (What Should Happen)
The government should start the segregation of education paths at a young age, so that people will learn to specialize into a designated field at a younger age. Thus, there is a higher chance of attracting foster children to pursue their designated careers before they are forced to leave foster care. The federal government should remove the fact that they will match the contributions made by parents and use that money to create a fund that grants assistance to those based on financial security and puts priority to those who need it the most. The segregation of education should be implemented into Canada as people will be equipped to enter the labour force at a younger age and they leave school with the skills and knowledge needed to start their lives. This approach allows for people who do not require as much schooling to go straight into the workforce and thus sufficiently reducing the use of taxpayers’ money on individuals that do not need it as their jobs do not require further education. This approach is much more favourable than sustaining the Registered Education Savings Plan, because the plan not only assists parents that are already able to make consistent contributions their education fund, but the federal government also matches the contributions of those parents and thus helping these parents even further.
Monsebraaten, Laurie. "Foster Kids Shut Out of Education Benefits." Toronto Star 17 May 2010: A1 and A12. Print.
Friday, March 12, 2010
Employing to a Better Economy
Summary of the Event
Over the course of February, Canada experienced over the top gains in employment. The availability of 15,000 jobs was expected, so it came as a surprise when the net gain in employment was 19,200 jobs. The increase of 60,000 full-time employment jobs during February offsets the 39,000 losses in jobs that occurred in the previous month. The food service, natural resources and manufacturing industries had shown the most increases in employment. Whilst retail, finance and investment, insurance, real estate and housing industries had shown the most decreases in employment.
Cause-Effect Predictions (Positive Economic Statement)
The unemployment rate in Canada reduced to 8.2 percent, as a result of increases in jobs. Full-time employment has been responsible for Canada’s economic growth since last summer as full-time workers have a greater capacity to spend money in the economy relative to those who work part-time. Increase in employment is heavily reliant on the public sector, the part of the economy in which the government has influence over, as such the government will have to deal with the increasing budget deficits.
Personal Opinion (Normative Statement)
The government should play less of a role in increasing public sector jobs as to reduce increasing budget deficits, which is the excess of expenditures over revenue. The government should also provide incentives for the private sector of the economy, profit oriented businesses seeking personal gain, to increase employment.
MY AMAZING OPINION (What Should Happen)
Governments should provide and advocate for the increase of employment in the private sector of the economy. This suggestion should be implemented, because in February, there were 7,500 losses in jobs, which suggests that businesses are hesitant to reabsorb the labour capacity this country has to offer. The private sector of the economy had lead to the betterment of financial reforms, the usage of more advanced technology and increased knowledge for the working class. The public sector of jobs also has a higher turnover rate for employment, compared to that of private sector jobs. As such to keep the unemployment rate as low as possible, the Canadian government should play less of a role in the employment of work.
Abma, Derek . "Canada gains 20,900 jobs in February." National Post 12 Mar. 2010: 1. Web. 11 Mar 2010.