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| How it caught my attention
So a couple of months ago this TV commercial about "overcrowded classrooms" started appearing, and at that time its absurdity caught much of my attention. What's with complaining about non-existing "issues"? Every time I saw it, I wondered who was trying to brainwash us with these fallacies.
A few weeks ago they finally revealed their intentions clearly, by showing the complete version of the ad (ie. with the ending tacked on).
The TV commercial
I really cannot believe my eyes and ears - "absurd" would be an understatement for describing this campaign.
To complain about "overcrowded" classrooms? The only problem I see regarding class size is that the restriction added a few years ago of keeping it in the 20's is stopping students from being allowed to take a course they want (in high schools anyway). So if students were to complain, it would be the class size limit! Showing these strangely posed frowning children does not change the fact that classrooms are absolutely not overcrowded! ! If BC Teacher's Federation (BCTF) claims there is a problem, all they are suggesting is the teachers' incompetence (and I am by no means doubting the teachers' abilities here).
This commercial is also the best example for misusing statistics. (I'll type more about how they twist numbers in the next section below since I'm writing this blog in chronological order of my findings and comments)
So they claim that "177 schools [are] closed". Since when? Since BC became a province in Canada? Did they mention how many schools have been opened? A wonderful elementary school was just opened in my neighbourhood less than a decade ago.
They say that students with "special needs [are being] neglected". How so? I see at least one personal teacher taking care of each student with special needs in elementary and high school.
The more research I do, the more horrified I am
A few days ago I finally decided to check out the BCTF website to find out what they're all about and where their statistics come from.
First of all, their obviously misleading charts and tables mean one of two things to me: either they were not smart enough to manipulate data smoothly or they think their audience is a bunch of idiots.
Take the first graph for example. Starting the scale at 13 rather than 0 and positioning the two lines to create the ineffective illusion that BC's student-educator ratio is double that of the country's was a plain waste of time. Look at the peak in the BC's ratio. It looks like a 17.7? Assuming there is only one educator per classroom, this means on average each class has less than 20 students? And that's "overcrowded"? According to a Harvard scholar's research, class size has no impact on students' learning until it gets up to the 40s. In other words, it makes no difference for the student whether a class has 20 or 30 students.
Moreover, from their website I found their facebook group, in which I learned that BCTF was also the organization that made the big deal about Foundation Skills Assessment (FSA) tests last year. These tests are given in grades 4, 7, 10 and only take at most a few hours to complete. If they think spending a few hours is "wasting valuable classroom time," were their clocks and watches all broken when they held the multiple week-long strikes to increase their wages?! FSAs are important as a measure for the effectiveness of the education system. Without these tests, whichever organization is in charge of looking after the BC education system will have to wait until the students get to senior high to take provincial exams to have an idea of how much students have learned. There will be no assessment on the elementary school level.
BCTF makes the accusation that FSAs "only erodes confidence in public education." When I took these tests, I remember my classmates and I feeling relaxed knowing that the grades don't matter. (I also felt excited for getting to take a break from the regular class schedule.) Why would tests lower students' confidence? Are they suggesting public school students are all stupid and will do poorly? Plus, why should they be afraid to know how the school is doing compared to other schools in the province? Oh, we will feel bad if we don't do well. Therefore we must ban the assessment. BCTF's beloved NDP will feel bad when they lose the May 12 election. Therefore they should not participate in it. I mean, they should ban elections.
Finally, at the bottom of the website are these two lines:
"kids matter, teachers care."
"A union of professionals"
Kids do matter indeed, but I'm not sure what BCTF cares about. (Alluding to the strikes I mentioned above,) wages, perhaps?
I have always paid respect to teachers, but am still extremely disappointed to learn that this "professional" union is nothing but a joke.
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| today I encountered the most ineffective sales ever. So I was early for school and decided to browse around the booths at the SUB... I walked past this bank's booth and the lady there asked me about whether I've heard about their -. I immediately smiled and told her that I already have their mastercard and was ready to move on. She then continued and told me about their free banking accounts. Alright, that's fine; she's trying to sell me their accounts instead of the credit card. That's reasonable. She then focused on the fact that their accounts are free of charge for students as the selling point.
I told her the bank that I have an account with does not charge me either.
She continued to tell me that their accounts are free of charge and that there are 30 free transactions per month.
I told her again that the bank that I bank with does not charge me at all and there is no limits for transactions.
She tried to inform me on how my bank does charge me and I once again reassured her that they don't. She finally realized she should change her tactics. She asked me what year I'm in.
I told her I'm in 4th year, ie. will finish school in 2.5 weeks.
She then changed her main focus to the fact that the account is for students and as a student I can enjoy benefits of no minimum balance requirements.
I told her that my bank does not have a minimum balance requirement either.
I then reminded her again that I'm graduating.
She then asked me, "So are you interested? This account is for students only! There are lots of student benefits" After a while, I think she realized that her sell points did not flatter me, and so decided to sell me another product. She asked me if I travel to the states, and I told her no.
She therefore decided to ask whether I've heard about their U.S. Mastercard, how "when" I go to the states, I get to conveniently use it.
I told her that I already know about it because when I applied for my current credit card, they gave me the U.S. mastercard by mistake and I had to go thru the trouble of cancelling it because I don't even go to the states.
She continued to tell me that we're in Vancouver - close to Seattle, so when I go to Seattle, I can use the card.
I kept nodding but again reminded her that I don't go to the states.
She told me "Oh you will!! After you graduate, you will travel to the states!" anyway, you get the idea.
At the end I seemed to have convinced her to check out the services offered by my bank and also that the other credit card that they offer gives really good deals.
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| not in particularly sentimental mood or in urgent need to express myself
but since you requested, here's a blog with photos: so today after the tour I talked to my supervisor about how I have no plan after graduation when many of my friends have applied to grad school and various jobs.
And she made my situation sound so positive!!
She told me how it's probably better not to have a particular plan because then I'm open to try new things
She encouraged me by telling me I'm brave for telling her that I don't have a plan, because many people who claim to have a particular plan are probably making it up.
She explained how this is a transition just like the one from high school to university, except no one really talks about it; but it's good to know that I'm not the only one facing this situation. I told her I want to be a musician and she reminded me that it's okay to continue working as a part time musician after graduation. I now feel much better about my uncertain future and look forward to discovering my path. 
[was gonna upload my grad pics to go with this entry but since the file size was too large, I'll change it to these two pics that I took at UBC. These symbolize me looking out to what's outside in the world outside of university. I'm sure my route will come into focus just like the mountain here] | | |
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