Shafting Canadians Of History And Heritage

In the "I'm not surprised" category or more succinctly "duh", history is not being taught well in Canada. It is rather ridiculous to have the provinces determine the curriculum. Then again, we still have inter-provincial barriers.

It's always fascinated me how Canadians blast Americans for knowing nothing about Canada with a straight face. By all indications, we don't even know ourselves. We should think twice before casting dispersions on countries.

Is this not a form of arrogance?

One of my personal favorites is how the problem of obesity (which by the way is not considered to be a crisis my some scientists) in the United States gets press here, yet Canadians have their own issues of obesity too. So what do legislators and special interest in both countries do? Rather than reintroduce gym as a core class in schools, they want to tax stuff like sodas. That's called missing the point.

I got an idea. Since people are not active enough let's ban all the stuff that allegedly keep us inactive as well as some sugar-based items. Computers, PS3, Fun Dip, ice-cream and maple sugar cones.

Sheesh. Our nannies and their misguided ideas.

An excerpt from the Globe and Mail article I linked to:

"...We (Dominion Institute) believe that all provinces and territories in Canada should change their graduation requirements by insisting on not one but two courses in Canadian history before leaving high school. Currently, only Quebec requires two history courses to graduate."

I'm sure many would be surprised that Quebec would honor its end of the Canadian bargain on this front.

Here's a neat summary of the whole thing:

*Four provinces failed and deserve the F they received;
*No province received an A;
*Only four provinces - Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba and Nova Scotia - require Canadian history as a mandatory course in high school. The others do not;
*Most provinces simply offer courses in “social studies,” catch-all courses that generally ignore Canadian history (with the notable exception of British Columbia).