Dans ce billet, je réagit à trois vidéos YouTube de cette année qui m’ont profondément aidé a élaborer ma vision de que l’éducation devrait être, non pas seulement ce qu’elle ne devrait pas être. Je me permet de publier ce premier brouillon rédigé aux petites heures, avant de le reviser, question de suivre le thème du billet, celui de la créativité.

I’m doing an early, draft release of this blog post. I really want to share this now rather than wait for perfection. It’s me being creative . When I get more sleep, I’ll revise for mistakes.

There are three YouTube videos posted this year which, after watching, is helping me redefine what education should be, not just what it should not be.

• A Vision of Students Today: “If students learn what they do, what are they learning sitting here [silently in straight rows facing a speaker at the front of the room?]“
• Ken Robinson on creativity: “Creativity is important as literacy and we should treat it with the same status. … If you’re not prepared to be wrong, you will never come up with anything original… We are educating people out of their creative capacities.”
• Jeff Hawkins on brain theory: “We have an intuitive, strongly held but incorrect assumption that is preventing us from seing the answer: … that intelligence is defined by behavior”.

So after watching Jeff Hawkins, let me ask you: what are the intuitive strongly held beliefs about intelligence & what education should be that is keeping us from making a better education system?

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Selon la loi provincale, la ville d’Ottawa peut exiger des entrepreneurs jusqu’à 85% du coût de la nouvelle infrastructure. Mais Ottawa exige moins de 50% et le reste est payé par les citoyens.

Ottawa elected a rookie “zero means zero” tax increase mayor in 2006, even though all the incumbent councilors (who ran for office again and got re-elected) knew better than to make such a promise. Now the mayor is imposing his agenda with an iron fist and the city is scrambling to find service cuts everywhere to fit his agenda.

I sent the following e-mail to my city councilor.

Bonjour Diane,Can you tell me if I got this calculation correctly?Page 333 of the 2007 capital budget.

The revenue from development charges continuities was 80,8M$.

If the rate is currently less than 50% the cost of the new infrastructure, than a max increase to 85% would bring in an extra 57M$ a year.

How much does the city need to cut in order to reach the Mr. O’Brien’s zero means nothing target?

À la prochaine,

Julien

It sounds too good to be true. 57M$. I have to be missing something.

I’m anxiously waiting a response.

I think part of the solution will come by changing our thinking about education, making creativity as important as literacy. Ken Robinson makes a compelling case.

Donna Dillman fait une grève de la faim afin d’obtenir un moratoire sur les activités minières pour l’uranium dans l’est de l’Ontario et j’écris au premier ministre pour indiquer mon support.

Premier Dalton McGuinty
Main Legislative Building, Room 281, Queens Park
Toronto, ON
M7A 1A1

Dear Mr. McGuinty,

I am writing to you to indicate my support of Donna Dillman’s hunger strike calling for a moratorium on uranium mining in Eastern Ontario.

This crisis represents both a challenge and an opportunity. The challenge is the ever increasing world energy demand while preserving ecosystem integrity, bridging the conflict between settlers and First Nations and maintaining healthy communities. The opportunity is a sane energy policy, one focused on energy efficiency, renewable forms of energy and the capacity of taxpayers to sell back to the grid. May I refer you to an article in the May 31st 2007 edition of The Economist which reported a study by Vattenfall, a Swedish power utility. The study reviewed abatement costs of energy efficiency and production measures. It found that, at a macroeconomic level, energy efficiency measures would produce savings and economic growth whereas energy production measures would not.
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Amory Lovin’s Winning The Oil Endgame is available for download in PDF form. The Rocky Mountain Institute kindly asks for your name and e-mail address in return, but I think it is a fair deal given Amory Lovin’s work.

Le New York Times écrit qu’une étude, mandatée par les autorités locales de la santé, a trouvé un haut niveau de concentration de substances toxiques et cancérogènes dans les poissons, l’eau et les sédiments en aval des sables bitumineux

Jim Harris écrit que les verts ont dépassé le NPD dans un sondage récent du Strategic Counsel.

Je garde une certaine réserve dans mon optimiste car le Strategic Counsel a tendance à nous donner un bon pointage dans les sondages, comme j’indique dans ce sondage.Comme  Jim Harris fait remarquer: c’est une première.

Quand: Mardi 27 novembre 2007
Où: Centre Communautaire Richelieu-Vanier
300 Av. Pères Blancs

Route d’autobus: #5 va directement au Centre Communautaire
Taxi: Certains conducteurs connaissent l’avenue sous le nom de “White Fathers”
Accès fauteuil roulant: Je crois que c’est accessible, mais veuillez confirmer avec moi
Plus d’information: Julien Lamarche, (613) 237-0976, julien.lamarche@gmail.com

Nous cherchons des gens pour remplir les sièges de l’exécutif et du comité. Si vous êtes intéressés alors veuillez m’envoyer un courriel afin de discuter les positions et le temps requis.

Nous voterons aussi sur des amendements sur la constitution. Si vous avez des suggestions aux amendement veuillez contacter James Wisener (cfo@ottawavaniergreens.ca) avant le 12 novembre.

Donna Dillman fait une grève de la faim jusqu’à ce que Dalton McGuinty impose un moratoire sur les opérations minières pour l’uranium.

From Mike Nickerson:

As Donna moves through the fourth week of her hunger strike, (started October 8th) some of us are starting to worry. What of Donna’s four children and three grandchildren? Does she not sense the tremendous loss they would feel if there is no progress toward a moratorium on uranium mining and their
mother/grandmother comes to harm?

For thirty years Donna has looked out for things that might hurt her off-spring. Saying NO to uranium mining is more of the same. The danger she sees in uranium poses a far greater risk than falling off a fence or playing with sharp knives. It is a threat to her children and grandchildren and, is an example of what threatens all children and grandchildren. I am moved to tears as I read some of the letters of admiration and gratitude that are flowing in,
thanking Donna for making her stand.

Letters supporting Donna’s call for a moratorium on uranium mining can be sent to:

Premier Dalton McGuinty
Main Legislative Building
Room 281, Queens Park
Toronto, ON, Canada
M7A 1A1