May 16

Social 10-1

Most of today's class was spent dealing with the short 20 minute video called "The Story of Stuff". I really appreciate the degree to which you watched this video critically, and the conversation that we generated afterwards. Annie Leonard from the Story of Stuff Project has uploaded other videos to YouTube, so if you're interested in watching some more videos, have a look at the ones below. Also, have a look at the upcoming important dates below.

• Unit 3 WRA II Essay is on Tuesday, May 17th in the Blenheim Room (go directly there tomorrow morning)
• Unit 3 WRA I is on Thursday, May 19th
• Unit 3 Final Exam is on Tuesday, May 24th (the study guide will be posted tomorrow)
• TNC Dossier Assignment is due on Wednesday, May 25th

And here's another...

Social 30-1

We finished off the FLQ Crisis video from Friday at the beginning of class today. Here is the video that I forgot to post on Friday. It connects nicely to some of the themes that we addressed today in class with regard to anti-terrorism legislation that was passed in Canada and the United States after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. In Friday's video we looked at the FLQ crisis, this is the interview on the steps of Parliament that features Trudeau's "just watch me" speech. It's an interesting little debate that is waged between Trudeau and the reporters over the issue on giving up/losing civil liberties in order to ensure security.


We watched a video from the CBC News in Review on the September 11th attacks today prior to talking about anti-terrorism legislation in Canada and the United State, because in order to fully understand why this legislation was passed, you need to see the context in which it was passed. The value conflict between ensuring security, peace and order in society versus individual freedom and civil liberties could be a potential topic on Part A of your Diploma Exam (it was on the January 2010 Diploma). Liberal democracies around the world, post-9/11 have had to deal with the issue of the extent to which they must ensure security and the balance between security and civil liberties. It would not be difficult to use a quotation that relates to this issue ("They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."--Benjamin Franklin) and then have the essay question: "To what extent should we embrace the perspective(s) in this source?" Would you be able to write an essay on that topic? Think of the source material that I've given you on the FLQ crisis, the Emergencies Act, the Anti-Terrorism Act, the Patriot Act and the no fly list, and think about other ways you could prepare for this as a potential essay topic. Speaking of writing assignments, please remember that you have your Unit 3 WRA I (source analysis) tomorrow. Your Chapter 10 Test is on Wednesday, here's the study guide (there's more democracy-related questions on the test than authoritarianism/dictatorship questions). Please finish off the activities in the FLQ Crisis booklet (the document analysis fill in the blank exercise). At the back of the booklet there is information on the Emergencies Act which you MUST read over!  I also gave you some handouts on the Patriot Act. We'll be dealing with this on Thursday again. Tomorrow, you have your Unit 3 WRA I (3 source analysis). If you have switched to Social 30-2 you will be writing a WRA III (3 speakers question).