How Important is Class Size?

If you live anywhere West of the Rockies, here in good 'ol Canada, or if you watch the CBC News nightly, you may be abreast of what's going on with the BC Teacher's Federation has been shaking things up. They haven't distributed reported cards since the beginning of this year, they've went on strike the week before Spring Break and they're threatening more job action in the very near future. The current Conservative Government hasn't been very generous to the public sector since being elected into power. I use the term elected loosely since the Canadian turnout during election time was both pitiful and embarrassing. But nonetheless, here we are, an overtly Conservative government, and once again, for the umpteenth in the last decade, BC teachers, are among some of the lowest paid in the country, yet have to grapple with the highest cost of living in the country. But there it's not just a lack of funds that has teacher's screaming foul.

Classrooms around the province have been slowly increasing in size, with little or no recourse. Some experts have reported that the ideal number of students in a class is 15. If that was true, teaching jobs would be snapped up left, right and centre! But the truth is, the average class size in BC is 35. When you compare that with the population of an average lecture hall during a first year course, at a top notch university like UBC, you'd be looking at a class size of about 300-400. So, what's the big deal with a class size of 35?

Well, what many of you may not realize, is that of those 35 students, 4-5 of them could have special needs that require a great deal more attention than the average student. And with Special Education Assistants lacking, due to a substantial lack of Government funding, regular teachers are having to grapple with new challenges that they've not been trained to deal with, whilst trying to teach students who don't suffer from any number of learning disabilities.

The other issue with burgeoning class sizes is the inability for a teacher to properly address a disparity in learning abilities. Every classroom has those students that excel, and those that barely scrape by. The larger the class size, the less attention given to the students that need it most. Students who excel get bored and those who are failing, just, well, fail. Running a classroom is a delicate balancing act for the most accomplished teacher, and forcing them to take on more students, without providing them with the necessary financial support and resources just isn't fair.

The Great Kony Debate

About a week ago, I logged into my usual accounts, Gmail, Hotmail, and of course Facebook. I immediately noticed that my Facebook page had been littered with the same image over and over again, a clip from a certain YouTube video entitled Kony 2012. I ignored it for the first couple of days, thinking it was some sort of comedic clip of some teenager doing something ridiculous, or perhaps, an endearing animal video, but when my curiosity got the better of me three days later, for the next 29 minutes and 59 seconds that it took me to watch the clip, I was enthralled. So much so, that I put the video on pause, and summoned my boyfriend and two neighbours across the hall to come watch with me.

The 30 minute long clip had all the characteristics of a mini-documentary, but its' purpose was not only to inform,  it was emphatic call to action. The video in question was an introduction to the infamous Joseph Kony, an indicted war criminal, and so-called leader of the Lords of Resistance (LRA), a guerrilla group in Northern Uganda. Kony is believed to have abducted over 60,000 children, enslaved and repeatedly raped women, and forced his army of children to slaughter tens of thousands of innocent villagers over the last 20 years. The film has topped 72 million views on YouTube, and seems to gathering followers at an unbelievable rate. In spite of its popularity, the director of the film, and co-founder of the group Invisible Children, Jason Russell, is now facing a firestorm of criticism for a number of inconsistencies in the film.

Several journalists have stepped forward to dissect Jason's work and the charity group driving the Kony 2012 campaign. It has come to full light, that Joseph Kony is no longer in Uganda, and has been operating out of the DRC and Southern Sudan for the last six years. And there is little or no threat of Obama pulling out the Special Ops team he dispatched to the region, which is one of the incentives Kony 2012 creator is using in his film. And there is significant backlash from the Ugandan people who are crying "too little, too late". They also claim the nature of the issue has changed, and though Joseph Kony indeed must be brought to justice, the Ugandan Army has also committed similar crimes against their own people, yet they are not part of the campaign.

There are countless angles to the campaign. And if you want to sort through the truths and untruths, you need to become a detective of sorts. Kony 2012 is accomplishing an international awareness that has never before been accomplished through this particular medium. And though critics complain that the film oversimplifies the issue, it is because of this simplification that individuals are able to grasp the core issues. Wrong or right, this campaign is well-intended, with a limited particular political agenda. Whether it's six years too late, or sixty years too late, the children of Northern Ugandan bear the tragic legacy of Joseph Kony's actions, and bringing him to justice is the first step to healing the lost generations.

Birth Scams - Citizenship Troubles

There has been an alarming increase in what Canadian officials are calling incidences of "birth tourism". A foreign national will touch down and remain in Canada until their baby is born, so that the child can gain citizenship. These "passport" babies are causing a political uproar for a number of reasons. According to the Canadian Citizenship and Immigration Minister, the old law of "citizenship by place of birth"is extremely out-of-date and needs to be remedied. Apparently, the Canadian and American citizenship system is unique in the developing world, in that most nations in the world, immigrants  require a blood connection; At least one parent must have been born in that country or the immigrant will have lived there for a significant amount of time.

China has come under fire, as reports of fraudulent immigration consultants coaching pregnant Chinese women on how to conceal their pregnancies when they arrived in Canada. They are then told to keep out of sight, until the birth of their baby (of whom can take full advantage of the health care system, and educational system). After the birth of their "instant- Canadian", off they fly, back to China with the intention of using their babies citizenship to move the entire family to Canada at a later date. Canadian hospitals have been on the hook for paying the bills of several of these 'passport babies', as the mother's have disappeared before paying their bill.

This issue has only recently come to light within the Canadian public, and the reactions are mixed. Canada's natural population has a low birthrate, immigration is necessary to keep the population balanced, and critics of this possible new legislation are concerned that a drastic change to the law will discourage immigration, and harm the nation economically.

The concern at the end of the day, is how will this new legislation effect babies illegally born in Canada? Will they become stateless? Canada has signed international treaties stating they would never render a national of any country stateless. But in the same breath, how do we ensure that tax payers are not on the hook for unpaid medical bills? If Canada is to work on this issue and come to a resolution by the year's end, these are questions that cannot be left unanswered or unattended.