It's over.

It's over.

PARTY LIKE IT'S 2012!

It's almost over

It's almost over and I still don't realize it yet.

I think that's good. One of these days, soon, I will probably be sitting in my papasan, enjoying life and suddenly realizing that "Shit, there ain't no more CSL", and then start to reminisce and feel nostalgic but then, oh, too late. I keep myself from looking back.

Don't look back. You tend to start moving backwards.


The only analogy that's coming to my brain fried from studying is the scene where mini Anakin Skywalker is seen leaving his home on Tatooine.

It's a shit place. You're happy to be leaving for new opportunities but you also feel sad about leaving some people you love behind.
Know what you gotta do and do it. Know what you want and work for it. Keep moving. Life's not going to wait for you.
(Edit: and if you do end up wearing a mask, go all darth vader-y and conquer the galaxy, think of me)

Remember,
It's not only about what you learnt from the classes but also about what you learnt from the experience.

The hardships should have taught you something far more valuable than anything you learned in any of the classes.

May the Force be with you.

=================
And in the Spirit of the Exams:

Think: "Failure is not for me. It is only for the others. "

Teachers strike

You'd think we were in Paris.

Or maybe somebody among the teacher's syndicate just want a day off to enjoy summer. (Oh by the way, it's raining today)

There wasn't much talks with the government before the strike. (Or at least, the media didn't really cover it.)
With surprising efficiency, this time, within a week, the teachers' syndicate has already decided on a day to go on strike. Pardon the chat-lingo that's going to come up but this was my face: (O.O) When they said they were going to go on strike, I just took at as a balloon of hot air. But fuck, it took off!
Usually, these things drag on and on, both sides bitching, making progress and undoing it the very next day.

No endless round-table negotiations that go nowhere? No political sparring? A preemptive strike instead?! Whoa! That's a first.

Now only if people can be more expeditious when it comes to fixing the fire alarm panel.

===========================
Oh by the way, around 1 billion dollars for a G20 summit.
57,000 $ of which for a fake lake. Which, admittedly, isn't much relatively, especially when compared to the 200,000$ toilets and the 100,000$ gazebo. But have you looked at a map of Canada lately? (Or of the area in question?)
It's so full of natural, genuine lakes that it looks like somebody bombed the place. Why would you need to make a fake lake!?It's only 10 cm or so deep, so it serves no future purpose either except as a breeding grounds for mosquitoes.

Watch the video, the goof makes it funny, plus you might learn something.
http://video.msn.com?vid=cbcc2010-0806-1220-0038-151655448700

WEEEE!

I finally finished a script that I started.

Now,  I have no excuses for not updating the blog.

Hey funny thought.
Remember that firealarm panel I talked about a few posts back?
It's letting out intermittent buzzing and the "defectuosité" light comes on once in awhile again. So, if you're a fan of arson......

In other news...

Sometimes, all it takes is silence to find out just what a bitch a girl is. Some of 'em have really short fuses. If they don't get what they want, they go from sweet to bitch so fast....

Just stand there and smile, while she bitches her head off and generally makes a fool of herself. :)
Ahh sigh, what a waste of a perfectly mate-able female.

=============================

Tomorrow's post is going to be about preemptive strikes in the war of the syndicates.

In Soviet Russia, we nuke leaking oil wells

This has got to be the most cliche thing related to russian vs usa ever.

Picture this:
Americans are jumping around, panicking and blaming either BP or Obama.
On one side, Omaba is standing a puddle of sweat, as his plans for economic stimulation go down the drain 'cause he has to sign new laws/bills limiting/postponing deepwater drilling. Did I mention the fishermen out to get him too?
On the other, BP executives and technicians and scientists are also in a good deal of stress. They've tried for a month now to stop that monster pissing black crap into the gulf and for all the money, technology and manpower they've got in there, and despite trying a plethora of ideas ranging from smart to retarded, they still can't do it. Wat a wonderful display of impotency.

Oh, also pitch in the rest of the world also looking on, totally helpless.

And then picture a bearded russian coming up, in a russian accent saying:
"Ooh yes, oil leak, is no problem. We just blow it up with nuclear bomb. Problem go away."
Faced with wide-eyed astonishment he adds "We do it five times already."
I shit you not. They have. Google it.
 
Owing to the limited nature of my knowledge in the field I won't comment on whether it's a good idea or not. However, it sounds a lot more efficient than shooting 'junk into the hole' and 'shooting mud and drilling fluid down the pipe' while oil is still gushing out.

On a side note, notice how they still call it a leak as a way to downplay the seriousness of the problem. A leak is something you can stop with a hand. A leak is something you take a few times a day. It's not 1,900,000–3,000,000 litres a day rocketing out of a pipe. If that happens to you even once a day, please, be a firefighter!

DROP KICK DK.

Die Kravtz die!

When you see things like the above (and worse) on msn status messages, you know that somebody, somewhere, is tearing their hair off trying to finish DK. So once again, due to a tremendous urge of generosity, I have decided I'm going to help you out.

2- Type of Novel: The predictable kind.

4- 3 Supporting characters: Simcha, Cohen, Virgil. Simcha to get him started, inflating his head with ideas of shit like man with no land is nobody. Cohen to keep him going when he starts feeling guilty, and Virgil because the author needs an epic betrayal at the end to get the reader's sympathy.

5- Plot scheme:

And now, as I have better things to do, I bid you a good night. Muhahaha.

What Green Day is not

Before we start, this is not about the band. We've had white day. White day is a day in winter where everybody of the school goes outside to have some fun. Guess what Green Day is.

Now for what Greenday is NOT.

It's NOT a date. It's NOT a marriage. It's NOT an evaluated event. It's NOT a job interview. It's NOT something that matters in that insignificant life of yours.

And yet, there are people scrambling up and down, left and right to switch out of their teams because GASP!, of out the 15-16 people in it, there's one or two people they can't stand.

What bullshit. You spend at least 180 days a year with your friends, plus all the outings, parties and hanging out, not to mention all the future events like prom, reunions, and more outings, parties and hanging out, and you can't stand 3-4 hours without ALL of your friends in your team?

If you're like this now, what about when you get a job? You'll be in a team FULL of people you don't know, and that you may or may not like, and you will have to go with it anyways. Surely, you can take half a day in a team with only SOME of your friends  and still manage to have some fun and co-operate enough to perhaps play a friendly game of VOLLEYBALL? (perhaps but unlikely) Not asking you to start a family here.

And if seeing one or two people can mess up your day, fuck man, I pity you, you're going to have a bitch of a life. I know I won't be enjoying it as much as I would have if I had all my friends together, but to start whining and pestering the organizers about it like if it's the end of the world is fucking childish. They tried to the best of their ability and knowledge to pair up compatible people together. And knowing all the intricacies of the human nature, I'd say they did a satisfactory job of keeping the nitro and the glycerin in different teams.

You know you fucking suck when you've got Sec 4s talking about absolutely how absurd you whining about to change teams is. So, suck it up, get your shit in line, and fucking go with it. Who knows, if you get in there with an open mind, it might turn out okay. Not great, because that'll be asking too much of you, but okay.


PS: If you get pissed enough to get into a fight, well, that can be fun to watch too. (Or be in, depending on who you're asking)

Living under more danger than we have to

A nice complicated panel with about 22 lights which was linked to smoke detectors in about 20 areas of the school. Funny thing? Of the other two lights, the one with the label "défectuosité" was lit for about two weeks on an otherwise dark panel.


It's only after a microwave going kaput (either from it's old age or because it got some help), producing smoke and a foul smelling combination of burnt food and electronics without the smoke alarms tripping did we finally see somebody, a day or two afterwards, hunched over that panel.

But of course, those two weeks shouldn't have affected you all that much I expect. You all know how the building can't burn because of the asbestos in it, or that if it did burn, most of us would burn with it because of the outrageously small stair cases and strategically constricted hallways.

And damn, when is that new building coming around?

Time for a Hero

We need heroes in trying times. We need role models took look up to, for inspiration, motivation and I really don't know where I'm going with this cliché opening so I'll just stop.

This is NOT an advertisment for

Shit is going down in Greece because of the economic clusterfuck that's going on over there. People ain't happy, and when people ain't happy, they protest.
And since quite awhile now, protesters in Athens, Greece, have a dog as their frontliner. One kickass dog that isn't afraid of going against a wall of riot police.


Here's Riot Dog's facebook page.

We still don't know if it's a stray, or if it has a owner, or if it even is the same dog. But either way, it just goes to show that in trying times, it's good to have a hero.
Keep on protestin', you Greekstas!

(They say QC's on her way to the same fate. But who believes that, eh?)

PS: demotivational poster depicts Hitler had he been accepted into that art academy.

Here's a random thought...

You know those classified poem(s) you had to do?

Have you ever asked what their purpose was?

Well, their purpose is, aside from being an example treehuggers give about Reusing, 

is being a way for criminals too cheap or low tech to type their threats to get their message across.

Keep that in mind the next time you need to type a cleverly versed ransom note, but your printer's out of ink because of all those darn MTI formatted reports you've just printed.

Report from Australian news reader

It's confirmed once again: CATS HAVE NINE LIVES!

Cat falls eight storeys and survives!



Now those who are well versed in the saying, or are just not interested, may have noticed it was a Australian news website. Don't ask why I read Australian news because I have no explanation.

Actually, it's a new project I'm thinking of starting.

Those of you who aren't still in the young age of denial, innocence and optimism may have noticed that shit happens all around the world. You may have realized, one morning, drinking your coffee and eating your high-in-fiber cereals that: "Shit, the world's fucked up."

Too right you are. (And also, all the fiber you eat just ends up in the toilet bowl, and yet, they charge so much more for high-in-fiber cereal, does that seem right to you?)

 Regardless, depending on location, cultural differences, etc, I'm sure that each country's news websites will vary in the type, amount and presentation of whatever shit is happening on their soil. So, starting from next week, for one week, I'm going to read at least three different country's top news websites and hopefully, come back here with a humorous but totally meaningless report about news in other countries. Feel free to help.

French End of Year Writing Eval

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=107035919339339&v=wall

I think this says it better than I can.

Thanks to sister for finding it.

Post 127

HAPPY EARTH DAY!

Who decided that today would be Earth Day? And what does that mean anyway? Everybody does something nice to the Earth? See if the Earth cares. You're doing it for yourself. In which case, be nice to yourself and do something good for your environment everyday, not just on a piss ass 24 hours between the 21st of April and 23rd of April.

On another note, if you haven't noticed, the school is falling apart around us. Cracks are everywhere, snaking around supporting beams, walls and window frames. Paint's peeling and a whole section of the hall looks like a shootout scene because the wall's got so many holes in it. The ceiling is falling on our heads and water collects in pitiful tarps hung from the ceiling. It looks like those showers they have in a village in Asia that work on solar energy.
(Not solar panels, but in the form of water stored in a tire inner-tube filled with water on the roof.)


We are so poor. But I like poor better than rich.

Don't cha wish our sex ed classes were this fun?

http://www.healthunit.com/article.aspx?ID=15160

The beauty and curse of Language

Blue! Baby! Purple! Hippo! Umbrella! 

Nuances. Pictures in your head. Imagination.

The possibilities are endless with any language. It's what's good about words. It's also what's bad.

We almost got to the issue in French class, during which insecure people were endlessly questioning the studentteacher about which answer is "correct" and how to answer in future tests.  "What if..." "What if..."

There is no solution. What makes language great is that interpretation, past experiences and imagination varies from person to person. I admit, it's also a bitch sometimes when misunderstandings occur, but if you can't live with that, stop using words and speak only Math. (Danny will be more than willing to help, I'm sure) There, a 2 is a 2, no matter the context.

Also, if the debate had persisted, perhaps the issue of the counterproductivity of reading comprehension tests would have emerged as well. It's absolutely normal that one person does not interpret a work in exactly the same way as the next.  But, reading tests absolutely want one specific answer, and in that way, education dulls the imagination like nothing else.

There are standard meanings for certain things, but past the basic necessities to understanding, is it really beneficial to allow yourself to be limited by some bozo who didn't even write the text and therefore can't possibly know exactly what the author meant but who decides which answers are "right" anyways?

People Giving Up.

5 years of IB. 5 years of endless hours producing BS, making links, sounding more knowledgeable than we really are, putting up with the stress, and I digress before you develop the need to see a shrink.

You'd think some people after all this time would have learned something more than just how to make professional sounding sentences and digging up grey matter to find even the darkest of links. Everytime you get through a difficult project, sleepless nights, a stressful and disastrous presentation, something should click. You should learn from it.  

One thing you could have learned, among the innumerable—except maybe the lesson about procrastination (let's keep it real eh)— is to not give up. We hit a few walls, and every time, we dug a hole, put up a ladder, blew the wall up. Proof: all of us are still here aren't we? It'll be easier and easier to give up as the end approaches. But you shouldn't. Think of it as a test of character. 5 years of hard work, and you're going to take a nap before the finish line and let the tortoise win? What the hell is this? What are you worth then?

Yet, there are indeed people giving up in various classes and being a general ass in class and ignoring class etiquette.

Worse, it's not "stop working harder and working smarter". Letting go of the ones that you don't need and focusing on the ones you need in CEGEP is a passable excuse in certain cases. But no, they're letting go in every subject and predictably, preventing others from learning because of their disruptions in class. 

Going through IB isn't just about the BS. If it was, it'd be long gone by now. I'd like to think it's also supposed to build a little moral character no? A little development on the personal side? 
In this sense, some people have failed the IB. They gave up right after their *conditional* acceptance into CEGEP. Giving up before the end. Needless to say, they might impact the bottom rather spectacularly. You don't want to be one of those people.


I'll leave you to ponder on this:

A parachute seller once said: If it doesn't work, bring it back and I'll give you a new one.

Another Disaster in the Making

http://www.montrealgazette.com/vision+Turcot+Interchange/2727142/story.html

Turcot interchange, built in the 60s, started disintegrating in 2007. Now, three years later, they still haven't come up with a plan to rebuild the darn thing. But, some brilliant minds at Concordia came up with a wacky idea, thankfully still in the conceptual stages only.

Possibly due to increased pressure by environmentalists and other special interest groups, the people in charge seem to be interested by Concordia University urban studies professor Pierre Gauthier and architect Pierre Brisset's idea of building a smaller interchange will somehow cause people to take public transit, reduce pollution and generally be better for everyone.

Here's why I find their idea utter bullshit, on a certain level.

Let's start off with the purpose of a highway. Why do we build hundred-feet-wide paved expressways? Because there are so many cars on the road, ordinary two lane roads are no longer sufficient to efficiently funnel traffic from A to B. The number of cars on the road are still increasing, and yet, they want to make a new expressway that's smaller than the one before? I agree the environment is important too, but let's focus on the essence of things and take things one step at a time. Let's start with this one:

If you're going to spend millions of  taxpayers' dollars on something, can you please make sure that that something does what the fuck it is supposed to do? How is spending that much money on a smaller expressway going to accomplish the task of moving traffic more efficiently from A to B?

Their answer is that, by reducing the expressway's size, and thus making it more of a pain to get around, people will ditch their cars and go with public transit, and this reduction in traffic will in turn make it more efficient to go from A to B, as well as saving the environment.

My God, if you want to save the environment, good for you. I admire you for your noble belief. But, fuck man, don't do it by wasting money to build something inadequate for what is required of it. Illogical is the only word I have for it. And, believe it or not, their entire plan depends on public transit options like the tramways, shuttle buses, new metro lines etc,  that are as of now, not even close to coming to the drawing board, let alone reality. With this many variables still undecided, and knowing how city hall works (or how it doesn't) it's just another disaster waiting to happen.

At best, we're going to have astronomical cost overruns. At worst, we're going to have astronomical overruns, and a clusterfuck of a transportation problem in this city.

DDO gets the fail award.

http://www.thepassinglane.ca/2010/03/say-it-aint-so-man-fined-for-playing-street-hockey.html

Father and kids play street hockey in a quiet residential street.

Neighbor complains to the police.

Police shows up, following the city's bylaw, issues 75$ tickets to the players.

Epic fail.

Here's when you notice some people lack fucking general knowledge and personal integrity.

For one, the neighbor should not have complained to the police. The kids are outside, with adult supervision, instead of at some park getting wasted, or inside glued to the tube, getting fat. That's already enough to earn the parent and the kids a medal in this day and age. They're on public property, and can't possibly be making some enough noise for you to cry about, especially since I know for a fact that AIRPLANES buzz DDO all the fucking time! How the fuck did he see the need to bother the po-lease with that, taking them away from more important tasks, such as cracking down on actual crime?

For two, the cop, once there, should not have done what he did. Yes, he should be enforcing all laws in place, but issuing a ticket was not his only option. Maybe he was an immigrant or something. (See, the propaganda is getting to me.) I find it unlikely that somebody from Canada doesn't know that street hockey is like, I don't know, essential to a kid's mental and physical (not to mention social) development. Street hockey is played fucking everywhere! The cop could have given them a warning, kindly asking them to relocate, on the count of some loud-mouth neighbor complaining. This way, he does his job, doesn't get into trouble with his supervisor, and the kids are not penalized more than they need to be. But no, he had to make a scene. (And what a scene it is. It's on the news, there's protests, petitions, and they've organized a 200 player hockey game on the streets. Nice move, idiot.)

For third, the seal of fail goes to the dumbshit at city hall who drafted/passed the stupid bylaw. You think you need a law to keep street hockey players off major roads? Who's the idiot that's going to play hockey on the highway? It's not highway hockey. It's street hockey. Or do you think street hockey can impede traffic on a road which has none?  A quiet residential street serving a few houses ain't going to be of much use most of the time anyways. It's just sitting there. Let the kids have fun on it. Sure beats the hell outta the kids growing into the couch, doncha think?


--------------
Oh, on a separate note, walking home, I crossed two girls walking side by side... not talking to each other! And yet they seemed to be friends. You know what they were doing? They were texting. And not just for a moment. Saw them way down the street. Never raising their heads, they shuffled and dragged their feet over the ground, texting furiously, barely watching where they were going. Jeebus, I can't believe I'm saying this, but TALK, GODDAMNIT. You are fucking sad. 

---------------

On a lighter note, beavers are mostly from Canada. This one is no exception.

Argh, the french reading test made me want to barf. It just became predictably, progressively, inexorably a piss-off of the worst kind.

Putting aside the fact that it was a sorry excuse of a test, for it was taken out of a exercise book by the looks of the small print saying copyright Graficor, it was once again crammed with subliminal and not-so-subliminal messages promoting french, separatism, and similar topics that are so tedious and expected of in every test we get in french class nowadays.

For us, the government's childish attempts at—for lack of a better term—conversion,  isn't so bad. It's just some crap that needs to be endured through, and since exams are generally not pleasant, it's not bad enough to cut ourselves over. However, think of the poor bastards in Chicoutimi or Rimouski, who're 100% french, and getting brainwashed by never-ceasing propaganda. It's sad. What will happen later in their lives? What if they become narrow-minded a**holes who hate the rest of the world? Clearly, the Quebec government doesn't mind this, as long as we're all a nation of a**holes, all speaking french.

Back on track, after the first two or three questions that were moderately exciting (a.k.a. difficult) it promptly became repetitive and boring, until, reaching the end, it was, in keeping with past exam formats, downright crap. The last three questions are great examples:

Question: Do you believe that the French language will disappear from Quebec in the distant or not too distant future.

Possible answers:

Yes. We're all going to die someday, from a great extinction brought upon by some deadly virus or from the impact of a huge mass of frozen shit and rock hurtling from space among numerous other possibilities. By extension, as any child would know, the French language will also disappear from Quebec.
OR
No, the Quebec government has shown time and time again their outrageous ability to create more and more laws that protect the French language by violating the fundamental rights of others. This tendency does not seem to be abating. Therefore, the French language can be reasonably expected to still hang around Quebec for many years to come. (I answered this.)

Question: Do you think it would be a shame if the French language were to disappear from Quebec?

Answer: Yes, of course it would be a shame, especially considering that the French spoken in Quebec is very particular ( in the sense that swears need to be employed in every sentence). The loss of a language  is the loss of world heritage. It would be a shame to lose a part of our world's cultural, linguistic and historical heritage. (I meant it, surprisingly) On the other hand, it would also be a shame to hear the English language butchered by francophones.  (I also meant this just as much as the previous part.)

Question: Do you think a higher standard of spoken French in Quebec is necessary to Quebec's survival?

Answer: No. Geographically speaking, the land currently called Quebec will still exist, regardless if the residents speak French, English, Arabic or Whale. Linguistically speaking, (haha, a pun! sort of...)  the quality of the French spoken will change the existence of the Quebec as we know it. Depending on whether French is spoken properly or not, Quebec can be known to the rest of the world as France—with poutine instead of snails, or Quebec can be known as the Texas of France, and Quebeckers known as the rednecks of the French world. 

--------
And fucking A, what a coincidence. My friend just sent me this link. Texan conservatives managed to get the curriculum changed and imposed a questionable version of their social studies textbooks to their students, much like the QC government has done. HAHAHA! My Quebeckers-being-rednecks link is now even more substantiated!
--------


So as you can see, I was fuming towards the end of it all, and believe it or not, I did write the above answers (more or less) on the exam. I figure it's my opinion, so they can't possibly give me a bad grade for it, but you never know with those people...although if it happens, you can bet I'm going to start a freaking war.

D-Day

This is what D-Day looks like. Look at all those people lining up to be freed. Pity, they don't know that they're heading towards their deaths. 

Blowing off air

[Don't get me wrong, I love helping people]
Today is D-Day minus 2.

Usually, D-day is the last day of school in a school year, but in sec 5, there are two d-days. March 22nd is the first deliverance day.


So, D-day minus 2, I'm STILL getting msn spammed with questions about how to make a table of contents. Again, I feel like bitching at the school & school board for having gotten rid of computer classes.

However, truth be told, it is now confirmed that there are some fucking idiots out there. (Aside from the fact of leaving your PP to be done so late) Some of you had the fortune to have attended the class about using microshit word given by the PHY teacher, and yet, you still don't fucking know how to make a table of contents or add page numbers properly?What the hell is this? Jesus fucking Christ.

Get your shit together, especially when it comes to something as important as using a word processing software. Some subjects you may or may not use, and may or may not interest you, but you are in the year 2010, so unless the world fucking ends in 2012, you will be using computers and word processing software for many years to come. Sooner or later, you'll have to become proficient, and seeing as how many big projects at school require typed written report, doncha think now's about the right time?

Quit texting and get your shit together. 

And fuck, F1 = help!
Google is your friend on the internet
Let me google it for you is mine.

For example

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=how+to+make+a+table+of+contents+with+word

*Blank*

This is it.

CSL Discovery Channel Ep1

A brief word of introduction:

The sanctity of underage education has been compromised! There is an ever increasing number of studentteachers at CSL. Thus, a CSL Discovery Channel has been produced on these fascinating creatures who've come  uninvited into the CSL ecosystem. (Read with Discovery channel narrator voice—if you haven't figured it out already)
==============================

We see here the studentteacher in its natural habitat: a school teeming with brilliant young minds, youthful energy and unquantifiable knowledge. These are peculiar mammals. They are peculiar in the fact that they, unlike the majority of mammals in this school, are over the legal age of 18, and yet, their days are spent in the Quebec education system in anguish, as students, just like the underage mammals in this ecosystem.

Over here, on the second level created by a network of artificial beams and concrete above the ground, we have a male studentteacher. Let us observe how he behaves himself in the field. His neck is outstretched, his attuned ears twitch and being bipedal, his two legs and feet are poised to accelerate him to a top speed of 23 miles per hour for a short while in order to escape an attack.

He is anxious, on alert, searching for possible threats.

Indeed, the studentteacher is far from the top of the food chain and his lifespan in this ecosystem is directly proportional to how smart and attentive he is to his surroundings. His predators include other humans, his supervisors, and his teachers as well as psychopaths wielding various weapons ranging from the kitchen knife to the assault rifle. Today, his primary concern for his survival are the underaged humans stalking him in his territory, which has been carefully and tentatively marked with his sense of humor.

His predators are becoming restless.  They are hungry and are impatient to go out hunting for food, in this case, him. Luckily, studentteachers thrive in packs, and also get along easily with teachers. A teacher has entered his territory. He is safe...for now. 


Back on the ground floor, deep in the bowels of this fascinatingly diverse ecosystem, we find the female studentteacher. The female studentteachers are generally smaller than the males. This one has nearly completely her evolution from studentteacher to teacher, a process which can take up to 4 or 5 years, and interestingly, does not involve stages such as larvae or cocoons. The female studentteacher, perhaps due to her slightly diminutive size and softer voice, generally has more difficulty in defending herself against her predators. Therefore, she relies far more on the protection of her pack, as well as other ingenious tactics she has devised in order to stay alive in this threat-filled environment. As this female did not mark her territory as clearly as the male we saw earlier, other studentteachers are encroaching on her territory. However, this does provide this female with a pack, thus protecting her from multiple predators in her territory.


Mating behavior in studentteachers have not been observed in this ecosystem as of yet. It is possible that the stress-filled environment has rendered the species of this ecosystem impotent. This could be a blessing as the studentteacher population male/female ratio is grossly unbalanced in this ecosystem. There is but one male for 3 or 4 females. Should they copulate, the male will be most pleased. However, should they engage in coitus with the intent of procreation, we could reasonably expect a certain level of retardation in future generations.

Happy March Break

Finally march break.

Get out and have fun!

Just three simple points:

1-Life is short, so enjoy it every way you can.

2- Living means to experience things. Go experience new things, don't waste your life.

3- In order to continue to be able to do points 1 and 2, everything in moderation, and don't do something stupid enough to kill you.

Double post. So sue me. This ain't no forum.

So, some people have bee' complain' 'bout how I ain't been talking 'bout the O-lympics.

Well fuck you. Oi'll talk about whatever oi please.
Somebody even went to suggestin' I bash Canada's poor performance in the Games.
Well hell no. Doesn't matter if we ain't winning medals, we're in the games, and we're hostin' them. That's good enough. I don't think I'm in any position to judge any athlete about their performance in the Olympics and that's why I haven't been talking about it.

Then again, ever my so practical self, I sometimes wonder What The Fuck they're doing. Some of them have made it their only purpose in life to be best at whatever sport.
I admire their spirit, yes. But just what the hell are you going to do in life by being fastest at swimming that actually makes a difference? Lifeguard? Or, okay, you can do a quad axle. Good job. I notice you're very good. I also notice that not much of the world is covered in ice!

But, I suppose, at the root, they're setting the example and that's pretty important and awesome for inspiring future generations.


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Got something else to add. (click and look at advertisement under navbar)

Will ya look at that, USAF is recruiting outta sparknotes now. I suppose it does beat advertisements selling axe or pheromones, but hey, you know the air force paid money to post an advertisement there? ...with tax-payer's dollars...who's kids are going to be enticed by the offer. You know the air force needs video game players to fly their UAFs and UAVs now?

I suppose, on the bright side, it could be worse. It could have been an ad to join the marines.

Renzo's Theory of Natural Selection

(Read this in her oracular voice)
Those who survive the jungle known as CSL Lasalle are the "evolved" beings!

How true that is. And what a curse it is for the new teachers @ CSL. Gosh if this natural selection keeps up, the only permanent teachers are going to be former CSL students, and former CSL students only.

All the others are dropping like flies. Toupin was no good. Current history studentteacher will be lucky to make it through her final internship without some sort of psychological damage.

The current sec 4s ran through 2 or 3 teachers that they burnt out. (Hehe, wait till they get to the uber-evolved teachers, so to speak. ) Really, the future does not look bright for teachers at CSL.

While on the topic of the history studentteacher, here's an idea. Don't treat us like dogs. A whistle in the classroom is not cool, man. Stow it, you wannabe gym teacher.
Also, kicking the disruptive kids out of the class might have worked when she was teaching mentally challenged kids (her own words), but she really needs to cure her chronic kick-the-problem-out-of-the-class urge. We're neither disruptive or mentally challenged. I suppose it's for this reason that she loves to wear her delightful rain boots in class as well.

INTERNATIONAL WEEK

Somebody got the wacko idea of having an international week at an international school.

Now if you can get more international during one week at an international school, obviously, the school ain't international enough everyday now is it?

It's almost an inside joke how the 'international' in an 'international school' is not.

History up until this year was full of QC propaganda. French is enforced, English is frowned upon. Heck sure we're "multicultural" and diverse and from around the world but guess what, we all speak the same language, wear the same clothes, eat the same things, and do the same work in the same way.

They couldn't really take advantage of this "international week" and truly internationalize a school who doesn't have anything to boast about how "international" it is. How sad.

On the other hand, gotta applaud the two tenacious ladies, who despite unfairness, adversity and general FAIL from someone in charge, still managed to pull off a wonderful culinary experience and raised over 200 dollars for Haiti!

SLOW MOTION CAR CRASH

History class with the studentteacher was like a slow motion car crash, or a really long fall down a cliff.

It's a pain to sit through.

You know when somebody's drunk and he's about to jump off the cruise ship deck and you're just standing aside, knowing what's going to happen next, and letting disaster happen?

Well history class is like that, but a lot less fun!

Heck, now THAT was some EPIC foreshadowing. Like when you tell yourself "I still have tomorrow to do that"...

For one thing, when you're teaching the reform to a generation of kids who know what pre-reform was like, you keep your shit in line. Because we WILL screw your day big-time. You piss us off, we piss you off.
But, due to her inexperience, she just rolled her shit past that line like if there was nothing to it. It was a oh god oh god, she's screwed moment. You just knew she was going to crash and burn and that it wouldn't be pretty.

For another, when teaching a subject that can be as boring as watching fish drown, SPEAK up, and use INFLECTIONS! (Or bash historical characters) Her lessons shatter the saying that knowing more languages is always better. What's the point of knowing so many languages when you sound like Microsoft Sam? Isn't it best to learn one, and master it? Speak it fluently and captivatingly?

her whole lesson was like jumping off a very tall cliff, not to mention it actually made you want to jump off a cliff.


It started bad, it got worse, and she impacted the bottom spectacularly...

...when she announced towards the end that she would be needing almost our entire lunchtime for a catch-up lesson because we had one period less than the other classes.

It reminds me of Toupin. She committed professorial suicide when she kept punishing the whole class for the "misdeeds" of one or two people.

Back to the history studentteacher: essentially, she had the knife at her throat and was committed to committing suicide right there and then.
The class reaction was actually a let-down. I expected WAR. Instead, I just got murmurs and one person protesting. But still, I felt the resentment right under the surface, ready to blow up in her face. Kind of like almost dropping a spoon in a cup of superheated distilled water.

Luckily, our actual history teacher stepped up and saved her from a riot. Not graciously, but it was fucking hilarious.

-You want to take up their lunch period?
-Yes.
-And it's a mandatory thing?
-Yes.
-No.
-...?
-No. You can't take up their lunch time. Just No.
(Discussion between the two continues at front of class, with studentteacher reddening alarmingly. I expected her to burst into flame.

Not often you see a teacher OWNING another one in front of everybody. Priceless. It was a perfect end to a crappy lesson.

She's a studentteacher in her last term. She still has quite a bit to learn, and boy will she learn them at CSL.

Canadians think Positively

Canada, Canadians, are the constant target of friendly and not-so-friendly jokes made by people everywhere....especially down south.


And seemingly unrelated:
We feel, the people in QC at least, pissed off at the feeling that the government screws us on taxes every year.

But, we do manage to laugh it off:


Search the facebook group:

Were you dissing Canada? I couldn't hear you over my health-care benefits.

There are no words for this.

But in the spirit of valentine's try to beat this guy:

"They say an apple a day keeps the doctor away; a hug a day -- it's just fun."

Another fail becomes apparent

I think we all agree that the purpose of a school, of education, is to get educated. In other words, acquiring the knowledge you need in order to become a fully functioning member of society, adept in the basic skills of language, mathematics, etc. and potentially specializing yourself in whatever field.

I think schools and school boards are aware (I sincerely hope so, because otherwise, boy are we fucked) that technology plays a big part in society nowadays, and is present in all sorts of jobs, if not all of them.

So, tell me...

WHY THE FUCK ARE THERE PEOPLE WHO DON'T KNOW HOW TO USE WORD OR EXCEL!?

Don't know how to do a table of contents, don't know how to add footnotes, don't know how to make a table or graph. (I had a real horde asking me questions the eve of the PP due date)

Again, I'm pointing the finger of shame and blame on the schoolboard and CSL for having gotten rid of computer classes.

The equipment is there! Crappy I admit, you have to give some crack to the hamster running in a wheel inside the computer to get it to power up, but it's there! Microsoft Office, also admittedly shit, is there on every computer! (Except when Murphy's law screws you before a big presentation)
Why the fuck can't they find one period per 9-day cycle to teach us a little of this!?

They must think there are more important things, such as french, history, math. Granted, but you know what they want in those classes? Typed reports that can be a dozen pages long, with footnotes, annexes, table of contents, bibliography. I think it'd save lots of us lots of time if there was a computer class eh?

And the extreme example:
Some other schools have individual laptops for every student! Holy shit, you know there's a school board up North, for the Inuit, and they have a macbook for every student! How do we compete with that? I'm just asking for maybe a period every 9 school days! And if that's too long, you cheapos, make a split period with family economics, or cooking! Everybody's gotta eat, and cooking is a damn fine skill. Less people eating takeout, fast-food, or pre-prepared food and more people making their own food might just help trim the fattening obesity problem.

Now your saying that it isn't everybody who doesn't know how to use word, excel, or whatever, and that's exactly my fucking point. How did those who knew how to use these tools learn? They learned from google, wikipedia, how-to websites, forums, the freaking help document included in those software, or even their parents. Why isn't school in that list?! Isn't school supposed to teach us these things? Why did we have to resort to everything and anything BUT school to learn those things, which have clearly become essential for awhile now?

If something doesn't accomplish it's purpose, would you still use it?
If you buy a drill that doesn't drill, will you keep it?

Ponder that awhile.

Two WTF reactions

Helmeted teachers of autistic students stir debate

The title says it all. Run down:

Teachers feel threatened dealing with autistic children, and no, not a freaking horde of them. Each teacher only has four kids. (Not to underestimate the aggressiveness of autistic children of course, as the crude article implies them to be freaking violent wackos)

So, the principal came up with the wacky idea to have the teachers wear helmets. I went into What the Fuck mode. (What kind of helmet, I wonder? Football, hockey, biking, astronaut?) But before I had the time to start ranting about this, the very short article ends with something along the lines of
Doris Dubé, a spokeswoman of the Abitibi Autism Society of Quebec saying something like : the school's decision creates a negative image of people with autism.

Dayum, woman! I don't think a teacher dead from pens stuck in his skull by autistic children help the image of autistic people either, now does it?

======================================
Did something very rare for me: Watch TV. (I hate the advertisements—I'll rant about that one day)

I watched the news in time to see a rather fat spokesman for the QC government, or Loto-quebec, I'm not really sure, but it doesn't really matter when you think about it. Either body gambles, reaps in profit, but I digress.
Anyways, he's talking about how Loto-Quebec is going to start an online gambling website, to supplement the existing lotteries they own. Online gambling sites are technically illegal, but on the internet, laws get blurred, ignored, or disregarded because it's damn hard to prosecute. This is what he says, word for word:

"Those sites exist and whether they are legal or not, they are a 25 billion dollar industry."

His partner continues to say how it would be a good idea because they'd make a lot of money out of it.

HOLY FREAKING SHIT. You don't give a shit if it's illegal or not eh. Hey! It makes money! Let's go for it! What the fuck do you think you are? The mafia? Oops, I forgot, they actually look out for their family.

Not very reassuring when your province's government thinks it's above the law isn't it?
They need to stop smoking fleur-de-lis.

Hats Off to the students of Group 73 @ Oka secondary school

Enjoy this masterpiece. 'pologies for the people who can't read french. Hang in there people!





Anybody got any ideas on making an English subbed one about the reform? or about CSL?

Jay passes

Love him or hate him, Jay Leno has passed on.

Haha, just messin' with ya. (If only that were true) [Un]fortunately, he's still alive and back on the Tonight Show on ABC. (Ugh. I've gotten used to waking up in the morning hearing Conan)

ABC news

Actually it's Jay Dee Salinger who has passed on. (Jan. 1, 1919 -Jan 27th 2010)
50 years hiding from the outside world, living alone in New Hampshire, definitely some Holden in there don't you think?

People are freaking out about the contents of his safe, where the stories he's written in "self-exile" are rumored to be stored. Sure, there certainly is some curiosity on my part, for he is one of the few writers who write to write. There are just so many writers writing for money these days, you have to sift through kilograms of shit at your library or bookstore before you land on something that isn't just some mindless action movie turned into book.

I'll bet 10 cents that the contents of the safe will be a disappointment. (I'm poor, okay? This blog doesn't pay)

His writing might have been very jaw-dropping, revolutionary and illuminating in the 50s, (well, technically 80s) but we're in the 10s now, and I'm sure his style will appeal less to readers everywhere, especially since he did become slightly "off his rocker" as he aged. Staying alone for 50 years, more or less removed from society can definitely do that to you. Not to mention I always thought Holden was somewhat of a autobiography.

I didn't like Catcher in the Rye any more than I had to, (search through the previous posts, I vaguely remember bashing CitR for the Holden's problems) but I did appreciate the writing. Still the most important think I learned from dear Jaydee, is:

To make a living out of writing, write a pocket format book, stick it in an assassin's pocket, and get him caught red handed in the act of assassinating someone famous with it still in his pocket.

100th post, nothin' special

Wouhahaha. CHAMPAGNE ALL AROUND. (By the waw, point champagne bottle away from face when popping it)


The ministry correctors have gotten tired of ARG!umentative texts it seems.
Practice writing of open letter in view of final writing exam being an open letter.

French teacher really digs Foglia, an old, extremely ironic, sport-freak, insulting SOB who has his own column in La Presse. (God, I hope I don't turn out to be like him)

Noticed something though..... we enjoyed it a little more than usual. It was slightly blog-style, sarcastic, funny, and generally less tight-assed than ARG! texts.

Hmm...
we should start blogging as an assignment. Think of the shit we could write...plus it's very educational. The quantity of links I've made with the things I've learnt a little bit everywhere is astronomical. And every time I write, I do research, and I have to say, sometimes, I learn more writing one post than the whole day at school. O.O Why is that? (Not to mention I get to practice my English)


In a few years, blogging might be a exam. After all, lots more of our literature is found on the internet, and God knows how short the attention spans of web surfers are.

Apparently, my blog needs more pictures for the *visual* people so here's one:
...and oh damn, I totally forgot to rant about the people who are getting prom dates 6-7 months before the event. Oh well, too late now.

Also, I wanted to make a post about Haiti, but they are so unlucky that even this heartless pessimist doesn't want to make any jokes about it. (Isn't to say that there won't be some ranting about the reactions of people.....honestly, some idiots with nothing better to do protested that they're are too many soldiers over there providing aid, and that it's just all a ruse to gain control of Haiti... true or not, I don't see them moving their civvy asses over there to help.)

Debatezzzzzzzzzzzz

I'm hoping it's just because of the same subjects being discussed over and over again, but sitting through ethics debates was like watching paint dry.

If it was in any other class, I'd probably let it pass, because debates would have just been an excuse to evaluate the oral competency, but a debate in ethics, shouldn't it be a deep and meaningful session of dissing and cussing?

Instead, because of the scoring system (or so it seemed), the debate remained flat and shallow, with all arguments based on "expert" advice and statistics. You know how easy it is to fake a statistic? And you know how difficult it is to actually come up with a statistic that is truly indicative of anything other than that statistics are inaccurate? And these "experts", do you just blindly adopt their point of view because they've got a PhD in smoking pot? Think. Taking a bunch of numbers, arranging them and shitting them out is what a computer does. You're Human. You take information and you put a new spin on it. We could've replaced you with computers, and if a computer could do what you did, that really shows how linear and undeveloped the debate was.

There was no personal opinion, just stats and the opinions of others. It was boring. Debates are supposed to make you think. This one made me facepalm and feel disgusted. Although, I admit, it's a little difficult to emit a personal point of view with the subject of abortion—which proves that we need new subjects.

I really hoped, at least in ethics class, that it would have turned into something a little more deep and meaningful, with concrete examples touching true values and beliefs relating to us, humans. Oh well.

Write your opinion...sorta

Do you think classic Quebec literature should be taught to secondary students to help them understand the society in which they live in?

Your options:

Yes, Moderated, or—that's it.
Something smells fishy donnit?

Sincerely, I'm 100% for reading anything and everything, and I strongly believe that literature, even the low quality kind (hemhem-starts with the letter T), is in some way or another enjoyable/insightful/educational. But, it ticks me off when they screw us of our rights, especially when it's about our educational success, so why can't we decide what we write about?
Shit happens when I get ticked off.

So let us begin. (Abridged of course)

For my opinion letter I need to answer this question that you ask of me: Do you think classic Quebec literature should be taught to secondary students to help them understand the society in which they live in?

NO (I state my opinion very clearly), you shitheads (I address my audience), I believe, as explosively as a nuke going off (marqueur de modalité), that classic Quebec literature should not be taught to secondary students to help them understand the society in which they live in. (I make sure I am not off topic by restating it in it's entirety)

It would be wasting valuable time and resources as well as money—the student's. We have potential to be doing so much more with our precious time and already limited resources. Plus, we could use the money to get us what we need to enable use to survive the SAEs, which teach you such things like responsibility, and teamwork by forcing you to answer dumb questions in the same category as "Do bears shit in the woods?" (Don't know about shittin' but they do their pissin' in urinals)(Okay, went slightly off topic, but comic relief is necessary--the ministry people have extremely short attention spans)

In addition, your freaking question is bullshit. (Strong supporting argument. The final stake in their coffin) Classic Quebec literature does not help youth understand present day society because in no freaking bearshit way does Jesuits converting Amerindiens, wood-runners killing beavers, living on a farm, moving to the city, help me understand present day society problems such as the fucking high school drop out rate? or teenage pregnancy? or even how Quebec's education system managed to fuck itself so completely in so little time?

OOOh, I get it, you want us to understand how the English kicked your blue asses 250 years ago, so you feel whupped and still haven't gotten over it, especially with AMERICANISM, IMMIGRATION, and WORLD ECONOMICS raping you some more since then, so we're supposed to accept your illogical, unjust, quasi-childish attempts at preserving your culture/economy and just go along with it.

Seriously, 4 years of subliminal messages and propaganda through history and other classes. Gosh, you fail at being communists too, since clearly, this article isn't praising the Quebec government and bashing the crap out of EVERYBODY ELSE ON THIS FREAKING PLANET.

In conclusion, I'd like to say that we should most definitely NOT be learning classic Quebec literature(Return to the point), but instead, we should be reading more of everything to diversify our culture and understand of the world and society as WE know it, with classic Quebec literature last on the list of priorities because it is as helpful to us as sand in the desert.


Amen.

Debate subjects

(Normally no posts on weekends, but I feel like it. I apologize for the technical and unappealing aspect of it, but that's what goes on in my head)

Abortion
Euthanasia
Gay Marriage
Quebec Separation
Legalizing Marijuana
Legalizing Prostitution


You know why those sound familiar? Oh that's right! Because we've gone through them all several times already in debates! Woohoo! No change in sec 5! Still the same gorram subjects!

Hey teachers, you don't have to absolutely debate current (as in up-to-date) subjects to keep our interest and and actually teach us something. And hey, even if you are just evaluating our oral competency, how about making an effort to find us some new subjects or allow us to find one eh, since it is us going through the repetitive debate process every year, after all.

It was slightly promising in English with somewhat new subjects, like "Does a good education lead to a successful life" but those were subjects that were still obvious dead-ends, and so plainly don't freaking matter in our lives, no matter what conclusion or trail of thought we end up embarking on.

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Stop here if you don't want your brains blown out
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I just saw a movie today, "Crimson Tide". Now there was a bigass debate subject right there, not relating to us, but then again neither does euthanasia or gay marriage.

Ultranationalist russians have taken control of a Intercontinental Nuclear Ballistic Missile site—ICBM site— and threaten to fire on the US. (So there's the possibility of a few dozen missiles, with up to 10 warheads each—for a shitload of kilotons worth of TNT exploding on the USA)

Cold war scenario. (Pay attention, we're starting that in HIS)

USA @ DEFCON 3. They prepare their ICBM force as well, and hey guess what, they just so happen to have (presently) 14 submarines with 24 ICBMs/SLBMs, each missile with multiple nuclear warheads yielding up to the equivalent of 475 kilotons of TNT each.

Anyways, one of the US subs receive a emergency action message (the big motherfucker of orders a sub commander can receive and requires multiple people and pre-determined codes to authenticate) to launch a pre-emptive strike (hit them before they hit you) on the rogue Russian missile base, which is known to be fueling its ICBMs in preparation for launch. As the US sub prepare to launch, they are attacked by a Russian sub, and receive only a partial second emergency action message (EAM). We don't know what it says. Cancel the pre-emptive strike, or strike new targets, or whatever else.

A proper, authenticated EAM is the equivalent of a non-revocable, nuclear strike order that comes direct from the president.
The captain, following proper procedure, wants to carry out the first EAM, because procedure dictates that he follows an EAM until another supersedes it. A partial EAM does not constitute a properly formatted, authenticated EAM and therefore does not count in the captain's opinion.

Now the second in command wants to surface and receive that second EAM before launching to make sure that the second EAM does not tell them to stand down.

Time is a factor here. The Russians can launch in x amount of time. The US sub's whole purpose is to get their missiles to destroy the Russian missile base before the Russians launch, saving American lives.

If they take the time to verify the second EAM, and it doesn't say that the situation is back to normal, the Russians would launch their missiles and shitloads of people will die. But if they don't take the time to verify the EAM, and it said that the situation was normal, the US sub would have launched a nuclear strike, which would have been retaliated to minutes after missiles were in the air (that's how it works in the cold war), causing a nuclear holocaust, and again, shitloads of people die.

So really both persons are right. The results can be equally shitty, just like with many other things in life. The debate is about the "right" thing to do, responsibility-, and guilt-wise.

You receive a partial EAM, so of course, you'd like to know what it says, but if you take the time to do so, and it doesn't change the situation, you, who had power to prevent the deaths of millions, just failed. Then again, if you don't verify the second EAM, and it did tell you to stand down, you'd just launched a nuclear strike on a friendly nation, causing a nuclear holocuast, also killing millions.

Many ways to go about this debate.
You can debate it from the law aspect.
Military law and established procedures do justify the captains intentions, and he could be saving the lives of millions of Americans. (The people of the nation that he is bound to serve)

But valuing human life can justify the second in command's option of verifying the second EAM before executing the strike even if it means taking the risk of missing the opportunity to stop the Russian missile strike leading to the deaths of millions of Americans.

Or, you can even go at it clinically, and calculate which course of action results in the least amount of human casualty and just go with that.

Up until 1996, the three categories of people that made up the Most Powerful Men in the World were the President of the United States, the President of the Russian Federation, and a nuclear-class submarine captain. Any one of those people could launch an armada of missiles tipped with nuclear warheads at least a dozen times the yield of Little Boy to anywhere in the world.

During the Cold war, tensions were high. One launch necessarily meant retalitory strikes, and possibly nuclear holocaust.
A crazy sub commander could, with a little deception, trick his crew into firing their load (pun?) and fucking the whole world. 5 years after the cold war, they FINALLY fixed this "little" problem. Good job guys.

During the cold war, USSR and USA really did have enough weapons to the entire world up several times. (I'll be looking forward to attending the classes when Mrs. Duboscq gives us some stats)

I'm not scared of many things in this world, but this really scares the living shit out of me.

And hey, "new" trend: airburst nukes that send out EMP waves that'll fry all unshielded electronics. Just think about this: where is most of our knowledge nowadays? Internet. That'll be gone. Your cell phone? Paperweight. Microwave oven? Just a box. Electricty? In your dreams. Heck your car won't even start because even THAT has a computer in it—damn you might not even be able to get in it, electronic door locks, you know.

GAYFKM!? moments are common this time of the year...

Reading something today in The Montreal Gazette reminded me of something last year. Last year, the ministry nearly had a riot because of the final English exams.

Now, that PIECE OF SHIT, WASTE OF PAPER, TIME and BRAINS lasts 14 hours or so, and was insultingly easy.

For one, there was a hilariously stupid 5 hour preparation for a one minute powerpoint presentation, with the usual ministry FAIL-LOGIC at work involving choosing the "right" pictures, and avoiding the "wrong" ones, because otherwise, you'd fail. Also, a literary analysis on a cheap popular fiction work. (If they dare use Twilight one day, I'm going to tear them a new asshole)

Anyways, students and teachers went into WTF mode bigtime.

Reactions of two students


Montreal gazette today published an article titled "Grade 11 exam revamped".

Right off, it pissed me off, although unrelated to the topic of this post.

"Quebec's Education Department appears to have backed away from the controversial parts of the coming Grade 11 English Language Arts exam. "

First off. WTF do you mean, "APPEARS"? You shit-head journalist can't even be freaking sure if it's true? Last time I checked, the gazette isn't some tabloid. FACTS, not GOSSIP & RUMORS, you idiot.

Okay, moving on. The article says,

"Some teachers had sharply criticized the provincial exam format, arguing it was too easy and unwieldy—and far too long, requiring 14 hours of class time in May."

but later quotes the ministry saying:

"Davis said the changes to the exam format weren't a result of criticism from teachers. 'We reviewed certain elements to improve it even further.'"

What a load of SHEEIT! You can't even admit you screwed up. GOD, ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME!? I'm sorry, but FUCK YOU. They screw up, can't admit it, and dare to FUCKING LIE to make it seem like teachers liked it. Who the fuck you think you are, ministry? The teachers and students make the education system. You don't, no matter what a fancy name you may have, especially at your current rate of FAIL. You insult the students with that outrageous waste of time and brains, AND insult the teachers by saying that they had nothing to criticize about the exams. (For one thing, teachers can always find something to criticize.)

Relating to the powerpoint,

"Some teachers questioned whether all the schools had enough computers for the task."

Made me laugh out loud. It just so happens that, surprisingly, we DO have enough "computers" for the task. But clearly, quality before quantity went out the window when it came to computer acquisition at CSL.

Anyways, the article basically says that two controversial parts will be removed, namely the freaking powerpoint, and the talk competency eval.

"Staff assume the length of the exam will shrink as a result"

Believe me, you have no idea as to the impotency of the ministry.

Because through all this, the creme of the creme, or in this case the shit on top of the shit, is that all these reactions, as well as the article, is based on English schools and the ministry test, not the french schools. So really, we might still get 14 + hours of toil, or as usual, the ministry might overcompensate, and this year, lots of FAIL will be floating around.

You gotta give it to them

The reform really outdone itself with this one. For years, french secondary exit exam was an argumentative text. For the past four years, we've been learning how to write one. Guess what?

We're not writing one!

Instead, for the test that determines if we get the hell outta there, we're writing an open letter.

You can tell the french teacher is up there going: "OMFG, I've got 2 months to prep them, damn."

Again, we need to pull a miracle out of our asses.
I suppose it isn't too bad... oh only if it could be an open letter about the Quebec educational reform.

Here's how it might go. (Remember, you gotta kiss ass)

The Quebec educational reform is really the best thing to have happened to Quebec since the separation.

Now, the children are learning how writing some bullshit will give them a pass, causing them to think they're successful even when they have failed, because self-confidence is far more important than actually getting something right.

Because really, it doesn't matter if they didn't get the answer right, nor if they weren't even remotely close. All that matters is that they have questions that lead them to think profoundly about the problem, in the hopes that they will do better next time. Questions like: "What do you think your family values have affected the way you solved this problem?" and "What teamwork techniques did you use?"

So really, it doesn't matter if I crash my plane because I converted 22, 700 lbs of kerosene into 22,700 kg of kerosene, ran out of gas midway to my destination, and crashed and burned. Because in the few minutes it take for my plane to glide into a pasture of cow shit (or a drag-race track), I can scribble on the INSANELY closely spaced lines:

My family values taught me responsibility. I am responsible because I will most likely be the first to die from my mistake. The teamwork technique I used, one of non-communication, did not help at all. However, I will blame the conversion error on my co-pilot and never fly with him again.


=========================

As a side note, the reform has made it that if you show up to the exam, you get 40% right off. So, what I can't understand is that some Sec 4s managed to get 0. [No cheating involved I believe]

If you can do something, do it; if you can't do something, fail at it epically, eh guys. If you keep it up, we're going to make some t-shirts with "Watch how I fail" stamped on the back.


=========================

Also, you gotta give it to Winner. (Wener)

"Listen up people, because this will help you accomplish a dream that you've had for a long time: getting the hell out of here." -Mr. Wener, during meeting for CEGEPs.