An unofficial AU advocate at large, Jason never misses a chance to recount the merits of an Athabasca education. Jason’s studies began alone in front of a rustic rural fireplace in December of 2003 and carried on through various brick and mortar college classrooms yet always with Athabasca as part of his journey. In 2014 he completed his BA in Sociology and in 2022 graduated with an MA in Cultural Studies. To this end, his columns seek to explore edifying moments of learning how to learn within the challenging ideological terrain of that great bugaboo facing students everywhere: the real world!
This morning the first thing that captured my senses was a baby crib shaped like a shark’s mouth. A Quebecois TV announcer was discussing this odd family product. It occurred to me that, the night before, I’d been watching ’Pirates of the Caribbean’ on the French channel. Not because I speak more than a lick… Read more »
Like a shadow, a Biblical feeling passes over me as I thin apples in my orchard on a bright summer afternoon. I think back to Sunday school and the book of Matthew where it says “every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire” (Matthew, 7:19, New International… Read more »
Like a shadow, a Biblical feeling passes over me as I thin apples in my orchard on a bright summer afternoon. I think back to Sunday school and the book of Matthew where it says “every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire” (Matthew, 7:19, New International… Read more »
Standing in the shower reading the label on my hair conditioner, it occurred to me, as I’m sure it has to many other humans, that at some level we are the guinea pigs who hair care products are tested on. At a common sense level the hair conditioner chemicals are harmless, of course, yet there… Read more »
This article originally appeared February 19, 2010, in issue 1807. It seems doubtful that any teacher in Canada would deny that an important aspect of education is to mould young people into well-rounded adults. A holistic approach combining practical with interpersonal knowledge is generally espoused by well-meaning educators as well as by parents. Yet there… Read more »
A few days ago I lost my wallet and it was turned into the flower shop here in town. Then, a helpful RCMP constable delivered it to my door. After thanking those involved I started thinking of what had seemed like a fortuitous outcome to my own carelessness. Did the person who returned my wallet… Read more »
In my elementary school the seventh grade was the last before entering high school. This was a fact our teachers ceaselessly reminded us of. One of the sternest warnings we received was about what a sociology text might call ?the rigidity of bell structures.? In other words, tardiness was not tolerated. I still recall my… Read more »
In my last article I described how Israeli settlers overcame the dichotomy of school smart/life smart by forming communal farms known as kibbutzim. In the lands of Palestine, which are currently occupied to varying extents by the state of Israel, education has taken a different turn. Perhaps nowhere else can postmodern social theory be better… Read more »
The concept of ?school smart? as compared to ?life smart? permeates every corner of society and the schooling that takes place within it. From elementary school onward, students feel a conflict between what they will actually use in the ?real world? and what they are being taught in class. It is interesting, then, to find… Read more »
When we as Canadians learn about our education system we usually start with what we call the colonial period. For us, this historical era entails the French and then British presence in our part of North America. In other parts of the world as in Canada, colonialism also involved the domination of indigenous cultures by… Read more »