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Opinion

In so many places, internal politics is the biggest theat to success.

Published

8 years ago

1 minute read

As it says in the image that has been floating around social media; “The biggest threat to innovation is internal politics and an organizational culture, which doesn’t accept failure and/or doesn’t accept ideas from outside, and or cannot change.
I have been discussing this issue in my various blogs and letters in different directions in regard to business and different levels of governments.
My most common targets are Red Deer’s municipal government and school boards. More specifically the tendency to treat the residents of Red Deer living north of the river as less than equal. No high schools and no new schools or indoor ice rinks and indoor swimming pools since 1985.
Many believe it is the culture that cannot change, a culture that is focused on the downtown and the south side of the river. Manifested by internal politics that involves people who overwhelmingly live on the south side of the river.
The results are glaringly obvious. Businesses are closing and/or relocating out of the city. Red Deer’s population has declined from 2015 in both the municipal and federal census of 2016.
A culture of always looking inward, protecting the downtown at the expense of the north side, treating an opposing view as unimportant. A culture of refusing to adapt with the times, refusing to believe the results of their actions. I like this photo.

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Education

‘Grade inflation’ gives students false sense of their academic abilities

Published on November 18, 2024

By

From the Fraser Institute

By Michael Zwaagstra

The average entrance grade at the University of British Columbia is now 87 per cent, up from 70 per cent only 20 years ago. While this is partly because the supply of available university spots has not kept pace with growing demand, it’s also likely that some B.C. high schools are inflating their students’ grades.

Suppose you’re scheduled for major heart surgery. Shortly before your surgery begins, you check into your surgeon’s background and are pleased to discover your surgeon had a 100 per cent average throughout medical school. But then you learn that every student at the same medical school received 100 per cent in their courses, too. Now you probably don’t feel quite as confident in your surgeon.

This is the ugly reality of “grade inflation” where the achievements of everyone, including the most outstanding students, are thrown into question. Fortunately, grade inflation is (currently) rare in medical schools. But in high schools, it’s a growing problem.

In fact, grade inflation is so prevalent in Ontario high schools that the University of Waterloo’s undergraduate engineering program uses an adjustment factor when evaluating student applications—for example, Waterloo might consider a 95 per cent average from one school the equivalent of an 85 per cent average from another school.

Grade inflation is a problem in other provinces as well. The average entrance grade at the University of British Columbia is now 87 per cent, up from 70 per cent only 20 years ago. While this is partly because the supply of available university spots has not kept pace with growing demand, it’s also likely that some B.C. high schools are inflating their students’ grades.

Sadly, grade inflation is so rampant these days that some school administrators don’t even try to hide it. For example, earlier this year all students at St. Maximilian Kolbe Catholic High School in Aurora, Ontario, received perfect marks on their midterm exams in two biology courses and one business course—not because these students had mastered these subjects but because the York Catholic District School Board had been unable to find a permanent teacher at this school.

The fact that a school board would use grade inflation to compensate for inadequate instruction in high school tells us everything we need to know about the abysmal academic standards in many schools across Canada.

And make no mistake, student academic performance is declining. According to results from the Programme for International Assessment (PISA), math scores across Canada declined from 532 points in 2003 to 497 points in 2022 (PISA equates 20 points to one grade level). In other words, Canadian students are nearly two years behind on their math skills then they were 20 years ago. While their high school marks are going up, their actual performance is going down.

And that’s the rub—far from correcting a problem, grade inflation makes the problem much worse. Students with inflated grades get a false sense of their academic abilities—then experience a rude shock when they discover they aren’t prepared for post-secondary education. (According to research by economists Ross Finnie and Felice Martinello, students with the highest high school averages usually experience the largest drop in grades in university). Consequently, many end up dropping out.

Grade inflation even hurts students who go on to be academically successful because they suffer the indignity of having their legitimate achievements thrown into doubt by the inflated grades of other students. If we want marks to have meaning, we must end the practise of grade inflation. We do our students no favours when we give them marks they don’t really deserve.

Just as our confidence in a surgeon would go down if we found out that every student from the same medical school had a 100 per cent average, so we should also question the value of diplomas from high schools where grade inflation is rampant.

Author:

Michael Zwaagstra
Senior Fellow, Fraser Institute
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Energy

Trump vows to reduce energy costs with his latest cabinet picks

Published on November 18, 2024

By

From The Center Square

By 

“With U.S. Energy Dominance, we will drive down Inflation, win the A.l. arms race with China (and others), and expand American Diplomatic Power to end Wars all across the World.”

With his latest cabinet nominations, President-elect Donald Trump promised to bring down the cost Americans pay for energy by expanding oil and gas production.

Trump named North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum as secretary of the Interior as well as chairman of “the newly formed, and very important, National Energy Council.”

“As Chairman of the National Energy Council, Doug will have a seat on the National Security Council,” Trump said in a statement. “As Secretary of the Interior, Doug will be a key leader in ushering in a new ‘Golden Age of American Prosperity’ and World Peace. ‘

“We will ’DRILL BABY DRILL,’ expand ALL forms of Energy production to grow our Economy, and create good-paying jobs,” he added. “By smartly utilizing our amazing National Assets, we will preserve and protect our most beautiful places, AND reduce our deficits and our debt!”

Trump said the new energy council will involve all parts of the federal government dealing with energy.

“This Council will oversee the path to U.S. ENERGY DOMINANCE by cutting red tape, enhancing private sector investments across all sectors of the Economy, and by focusing on INNOVATION over longstanding, but totally unnecessary, regulation,” Trump said. “With U.S. Energy Dominance, we will drive down Inflation, win the A.l. arms race with China (and others), and expand American Diplomatic Power to end Wars all across the World.”

As part of his Burgum pick and his nomination of fracking entrepreneur Chris Wright to lead the Department of Energy, Trump promised to get energy prices down.

“We will also undo the damage done by the Democrats to our Nation’s Electrical Grid, by dramatically increasing baseload power,” Trump said.

Trump also named William Owen Scharf as assistant to the President and White House Staff Secretary.

So far, Trump has pointed to the loyalty of his choices, saying how they endorsed him or helped him win reelection when announcing them as his choices.

“Will is a highly skilled attorney who will be a crucial part of my White House team. He has played a key role in defeating the Election Interference and Lawfare waged against me, including by winning the Historic Immunity Decision in the Supreme Court.”

Trump followed his electoral win with a flurry of cabinet picks, some expected and some that are sure to stir things up.

In particular, Trump’s picks of Robert F Kennedy Jr to lead the Department of Health and Human services, veteran and Fox News host Pete Hegseth to lead the Secretary of Defense, and former Congressman Matt Gaetz to lead the Department of Justice have sparked headlines.

More picks are on the way as Trump has to fill out positions across the federal government.

Whether Trump can get the Senate to confirm his nominees, especially the more controversial picks, remains to be seen.

Trump’s list of nominees so far include:

  • North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum as Secretary of the Interior.
  • William Owen Scharf as Assistant to the President and White House Staff Secretary.
  • Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as head of U.S. Health and Human Services
  • Former Congresswoman and veteran Tulsi Gabbard as Director of National Intelligence.
  • Former Congressman Doug Collins as Secretary of Veterans Affairs
  • Jay Clayton as Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
  • Former congressman Matt Gaetz for Attorney General.
  • Veteran and Fox News host Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense.
  • Veteran and former New York congressman Lee Zeldin as head of the Environmental Protection Agency.
  • U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., as Secretary of State.
  • Former Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Tom Homan as “border czar.”
  • Former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.
  • Former Congresswoman and current governor of South Dakota, Kristi Noem as Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.
  • Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to lead the “Department of Government Efficiency.
  • William Joseph McGinley as White House Counsel.
  • Steven C. Witkoff as Special Envoy to the Middle East.
  • Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla. as national security advisor.
  • Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee as ambassador to Israel.
  • Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y. as ambassador to the U.N.
  • Dean John Sauer as Solicitor General.
  • Todd Blanche as Deputy Attorney General.
  • Emil Bove as Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General.
  • Dan Scavino of the Trump campaign as Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief of Staff.
  • Susie Wiles, co-chair of the Trump campaign, as White House Chief of Staff.
  • Stephen Miller as Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy and Homeland Security Advisor.
  • James Blair of the Trump campaign as Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief of Staff for Legislative, Political and Public Affairs.
  • Taylor Budowich of the Trump campaign as Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications and Personnel.

D.C. Bureau Reporter

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