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December 2013 VOL. 2 NO. 3

Spirit Week?

Last week was Random Acts of Kindness Week at Garneau. The event was a twist on the traditional spirit week of twin day or pyjama day. Activities in-cluded free hugs, students passing out handmade flowers, and cutesy Post-it notes stuck to many of the school’s lockers. However, the week was hindered

by a lack of participation.

See SPIRIT WEEK on P3 to read the full article.

Photo: Sabrina Bertsch

Wi-Fi, Wi-FiEVERYWHERE

by HENRY HE

On Monday 25 November Marc Garneau CI students woke up, came to school, and were welcomed by 25 new wireless routers. The extended service was evident from the addition of slick white routers installed on the ceilings of select classrooms, but more importantly from the sudden ability to access the Internet on the upper floors - something students never imagined possi-ble before. The Reckoner set out to find the story behind the surprising change.A Model School Marc Garneau is one of the schools that the Ministry of Education calls a model school. The Model School Inner City pro-gram looks at a number of things to deter-mine if a school can be considered model, assessing factors such as overall school results and also the socio-economic area in which schools are located. The program had some special funding this year that would allot a certain number of routers to each model school, and because of Gar-neau’s size we were able to get 25 new sites with routers at no cost to the school. The MSIC program provides a number of other perks, including a Science Centre for which we don’t have to pay entrance fees, among other benefits. More information about the program can be found on the TDSB web-site. The installation was done according to a map and survey of factors like the different types of walls to determine the best places to have the routers provide maximum cov-erage. The 3rd floor and the perimeter of the 2nd floor were chosen because com-puter labs were already in the middle. The 1st floor already had good coverage over-all, since the superintendent had helped fund the Wi-Fi in the cafeteria two years ago when the timetable changed to accom-modate students who worked during their spares. The Toronto District School Board re-mains in charge of the maintenance of the network, as a part of the Board’s IT infra-structure.Reactions A sample of students and teachers were interviewed about their opinions. David Lu, Grade 11 student: “About time! From the student’s point of view, this is great! It lets students use the Internet without mobile data just about anywhere in the school. I was able to conduct a mock computing competition with increased ease and coordination. One thing is now that everyone’s using it, the service is a little bit choppy, but hopefully that will be sorted out eventually.” Mr. Jay, Tech Department Head: “I think the availability of Wi-Fi certainly allows many of my students to bring their own laptops to class. It also improves access to online resources, as well as access to sites like Edmodo and Moodle.”For better or for worse? Some students thought the new addi-tion was a benefit to the school. As David Lu puts it, “no matter what, Wi-Fi will be abused, but it’s still better to consider the positive benefits the service brings over the negative possibilities. The number of people using their phones in class now that Wi-Fi is available has remained around the same. People that text in class will con-tinue doing it.” Others disagreed. Grade 12 student Zameer Bharwani believes that “it’s hardly made a difference for my classes because we’re either not allowed to have our de-vices out or we always have an assignment to work on. I think it’s probably for the worse, since it’s just another distraction.” ■

Embracing ourDiverse City

by DEIFILIA TOAt lunch on Friday 13 December, Marc Garneau students participated in the Diverse City display run by Ms. Mun-ro’s Grade 11 leadership class. The event was a class project, and its goal was to promote diversity and equality in the school. As part of the display, there were ‘prayer flags’ up on the wall, all drawn by the leadership class. These flags were to represent the 5 pillars of equity, namely: racism, sexism, homopho-bia, classism, and ableism. Ms. Munro stated that the flags were called prayer flags because they are targeting the is-sues, and that they symbolize “prayers for a better world”. Students were also able to participate in the interactive display by writing something about themselves on a foot-print. All the footprints were gathered and put up on the wall together, sym-bolizing the diversity within the school walls alone. MGCI’s art therapist also assisted with the booth by providing the idea for the tealight jars at the display. Candles shone inside decorated jars, emphasiz-ing the importance for Garneau to be able to “shed light on the issues” and focus on finding a solution. Maria Kashif, a Grade 11 student who helped run the event, commented that Diverse City was a successful event. “Our goal was to bring the school to-gether and learn to embrace the diver-sity of the community. It went rather well; people came, wrote on the foot-prints, and participated.” Aside from the colourful display set up in the entrance to the cafeteria, for-mer MGCI student and current record-ing artist Junior Lavagesse performed a lively rap for the students. The rap fo-cused on the importance of leadership, and the significance of being a part of the change. Lavagesse ended off his performance by saying, “I used to be a student here as well, so I know what you feel like. Be a leader for yourself. I’m liv-ing my dreams, and it feels bigger than life.” Aside from running this event, the Grade 11 leadership class ha been lead-ing workshops that focus on the five pillars of equity for students at Valley Park, and for the Grade 9s at MGCI. ■

Different Faces, Same ProblemsMr. Melville is a social science teacher at Garneau who has

recently reached his 26th year of work at the TDSB. To learn

about his time at MGCI and his thoughts on education,

The Reckoner had a chat with him.

See 25 YEARS on P4 for the full interview

LET’S DOAlie Teachman examines the decline of Canadian math proficiency on P3.

Wireless routers have sprouted up around the school. Photo: Henry He

The doors of the Marc Garneau CI li-brary were opened at lunch on Tuesday 10 December as a crowd of students en-tered to witness the school’s first ever Spoken Word Poetry Café. Organized by the Social Justice and Equity Committee, with help from Mr. Pearce, the committee’s staff advisor, the event included poetic performances from eight students. Advertising had be-gun two weeks prior to the event with organizers using posters and social me-dia to reach out. Their most popular method of commu-nication, however, was word of mouth, a concept a concept that effectively re-flected the intention of this whole event. When asked why spoken word was chosen as the main focus, Maria Ka-shif, co-president of the Social Justice and Equity Committee, said “We chose spoken word simply because it is pow-erful – it is direct. Spoken word poetry is a unique way of self expression and it helps people understand each other – it brings them one step closer to accept-ing and tolerating one another, which is what we want to accomplish. Even a small step is still a step.” “While we wanted to bring people to-gether using the power of spoken word, we wanted to do it simultaneously with

advocating for important issues like rac-ism, poverty, human rights, and sexism. We wanted to inspire and empower peo-ple,” added Maheen Sani, co-president of the Social Justice and Equity Com-mittee. The works of the participants revolved around themes like the rich and the poor, discrimination, double standards and varying expectations between men and women, as well as the all-encom-passing topic of human rights. When asked about her poem choice, Selina McCallum said that “this poem tells me that despite darkness all around, you must fight it with all your might. Do not give in or give up. This poem in-spired Mandela to believe in freedom. It inspires me to look beyond hate and revenge and see the goodness in people. I hope it inspires others too.” Aside from the freedom that this café awarded to the participants, it was equally as rewarding for the audience, made up of about seventy students who each paid a dollar for entry. Maria said, “This event gives students an opportu-nity to showcase their talents while con-currently expressing their perspective on important issues. While people at-tending the café get to have fun at lunch by seeing something that may inspire

and motivate them.” Ameera Seiyad, an audience member, had only positive things to say. “The fact that this was only the first spoken word event was amazing, especially since it was very inspiring. It helps us as the au-dience not only to get a sense of poetry, but also allows others to express them-selves,” she said. As a new initiative taken by the Social Justice and Equity Committee, many felt that the first Spoken Word Café was quite a success. Maheen said, “I think it went amazing! We had a huge turn-out, amazing performances, and an ex-tremely supportive audience. We hope to do another Spoken Word Café next semester and hope to have even more new and great performances.” “This event allowed me, as well as other students of MGCI, to express our-selves and to inform others about how we feel about certain issues. It is these kinds of events that serve to unite and connect people through sharing ideas and views,” said Selina. The performers included: Adil Ahmed, Saffiya Dakhli, Selina McCallum, Nida Shaikh, Hanan Abdella, Ezana Micheal, Annana Rafa, and Michelle Nyameke. ■

Spoken Like a True Performerby TAKHLIQ AMIR

THE MATH

ARTWORK

by MARA GAGIUon P2

Mr. Melville poses with his pin commemorating 25 years of service to the school. Photo: Sabrina Bertsch

www.thereckoner.ca

December 2013P2 VOL. 2 NO. 3

LIFE

The gorgeous red-winged eagleSoared high above the massive world,

Exploring, searching,Looking for anything edible

In a heartless forest.

It landed on the highest perchOf an old hardwood tree,

Its bead-like eyes narrowedAs it sought its next prey.

It focused in on a tiny squirrel,An inconsequential being

Amidst a substantial existence,Nearly invisible in the expansive forest.

The intimidating eagle spread its great wings,And with one mighty swoop,

Caught the squirrel in its sharp cutting beak.

The triumphant bird returned to its home,Pride swelling in its heart

As it dropped the foodIn front of her tiny child.

Even eagles have soft spots.

ASK THE RECKONERWhy do my pickup lines not work? I un-derstand that most of them are a little too direct (Nice legs, wanna cruise in this

jacked up Chevy with me?), but even the subtle/cheesy ones aren’t garnering much positive attention. So should I change my ways, or would you like to get all jacked up in the bed of my Ford?- Country boy with a pickup line

You’re almost there, champ. Maybe we can take a lesson from nature’s gentle giant, the elephant. An animal of acute emotion, known to mourn its dead, and which flourishes a tendrilous trunk which says “Come, let me love you. Come into my tender embrace.” Evidently the elephant has much to teach us on the subject of affections and how to gain them. To court the female elephant, the male elephant en-gages in something known as “mate-guarding”, where he will follow the female around and defend her from other male elephants. Similar to the chivalry so cherished in ages past, mate-guarding is an age-old, tried-and-true method. Next time you see a pretty girl you want to get to know a little more, perhaps try “Nice legs, wanna cruise in this jacked up Chevy with me so I can protect you from rival males?” or “Hey beautiful, would you like me to fight threats to your safety using my abnormally long teeth?” Good luck.

Two years ago I was diagnosed with major depression. Sui-cidal thoughts, eating disorders, the whole deal. Needless to say, it was hell on Earth for me, and though I did seek help from professionals, none of it really did anything for me. Lately, I’ve been getting more and more suicidal thoughts, the intensity of which (quite frankly) frighten me and I just don’t know what to do anymore. Obviously I know you’re not professional psychologists or anything, but what should I do? It’s gotten so bad that I just know I’ll end up commit-ting suicide one of these days. Please help me. -xx

Don’t steal away so soon. It’s great that you’ve reached out in the past to seek help, and it might be a good idea to reach out again. What made you unhappy then might not be what’s making you unhappy now, so talking to someone about it could elucidate things a lot more than you think. There are lots of great, anonymous resources in the city–try Oolagen, or Kids Help Phone, CAMH, or any of the services listed here. And even closer to home, guidance is a wonder-ful resource at your disposal. Otherwise, have you considered joining some clubs to meet new people, or trying out some new sports? There’s really nothing quite like the feeling of an endorphins rush after knitting the final stitches to a fluffy winter scarf, or coming back from an early morning run. Spend some time with your pet, or practice your instrument for a while. It’s really good that you’re aware of these feelings, be-cause acknowledging them is a big step to recovering from everything that’s affected you in the past. You’re right, I’m not a professional psychologist by any means, but I want you to know that I’m proud of you for seeking help. You know yourself best, so know that calling 911 is important if ever you feel at risk of doing anything dangerous to yourself or others. Better safe than sorry, right?

I am crushing on a celebrity. It is taking over my life. Please help!!!- Lovesick Fangirl

I’d be lying if I told you I don’t have posters of movie stars and boy bands hanging in my bedroom. I’ve done it all—followed them on Twitter, watched interviews on YouTube, and read articles on seventeen.com. Unfortunately, the worst thing about crushing on a celeb-rity is that they’re unattainable. Let’s do the math: there is a 1 in 600,000 chance of be-ing struck by lightning. But there’s an even lesser chance of winning the lottery: 1 in 30,000,000. And if you’re dying to date Justin Bieber, your competition is the 57,000,000 other teenage girls worldwide that are also vying for his at-tention (I’m basing this number off the number of likes on his facebook page). Therefore, you’re probably more likely to become a mil-lionaire than to date Justin Bieber. Which is basically the same thing. So don’t waste too much time on it. You can have your fangirl fun, but don’t fall too deeply in love because unre-quited admiration is never fun. If you think you’re in dan-gerous waters, avoid your celebrity crush. Or go the other way and spend a lot of time watching and listening to him—you’ll eventually get sick of him, crazy as it sounds. Find someone else to spend time with; somebody that’s real, and somebody that actually wants to get to know you and your personality. Most importantly, don’t let your celebrity crush get in the way of any current relationships you have. It’s okay to com-ment on their svelte figure or dreamy eyes now and then, but never compare your celebrity crush to your real signifi-cant other. It’s irrational and pointless, and can seriously hurt their feelings. The important thing is to remember is that your desires will probably never be realized. You can crush on a celeb-rity for fun (I’ve yet to meet anyone who doesn’t) but stay realistic and remember that there’s a wonderful person out there that will make you smile way more than the boys of One Direction ever could. ■

If you seek counsel from The Reckoner like the individuals above, send us a question at

www.thereckoner.ca/ask-thereckoner

The Eagleby TAKHLIQ AMIR

illustration by CATHY ZHANG

My father hunched over the kitchen table. The television screen flashed before me, but I wasn’t paying attention. Instead, I watched as he worked away, cutting pieces of fruit and fill-ing a huge Tupperware with fruit salad for my grandfather. My grandfather stopped remembering us a couple years ago. Recently, he has been refus-ing to eat. He once mentioned enjoying the fruit salad my father made for a family gathering. Since then, my refrigerator has been filled with container upon container of fruit salad, each a carefully crafted masterpiece. At this very moment, while politicians debated over world issues, while wars raged on, and while climate

change melted our polar ice caps, my father was doing the single most important thing in the universe. He was making fruit salad. It's two in the morning. It has been three hours since my father began making the fruit salad. This is quite possibly an operation more complicated than neurosurgery, perhaps even more intricate than disarming an explosive. My father is extremely meticulous in his craft. The care he puts into a task such as this one may lead some to call him foolish. These people would be ignorant and simplistic. I was one of them before I watched my father at work. I was always upset that my grandfather no longer re-membered me, and I was confused as to why

my father seemed fine about it. Watching him now, I knew. It did not matter that my grand-father did not remember me. While he forgot the carefree moments we once had, he also for-got the sorrow and hardships of his life. It is only important that he now lived a life of bliss. I’m not joking when I say that my father’s Tup-perware of fruit salad is monumental in the his-tory of our universe. If people cared as much as my father cares, then the most complicated of world issues would be solved. If people loved as deeply as my father loves, then wars would end. And if people took the time to masterfully craft fruit salad as my father does, perhaps even the ice caps would stop melting. ■

Death is a comedian. You’re walking around one day, indifferent to the masses of people who die daily, and then something changes. Maybe you almost get hit by a car. Maybe you hear a story on the news that tugs at something in your chest. Maybe a friend or relative dies. All of a sudden death is everywhere. Two weeks ago I found out my friend has cancer. She underwent emergency surgery and the doctors say she’ll be okay. She might even get to go home in a few days. Many doors have closed on her in the last two weeks but she’s alive, and that's what counts, right? Since that day I’ve seen death lurking ev-erywhere. In the special folio in my morning paper that raises cancer awareness with heart-warming pictures of sick children. In the eyes

of my friend as she tells me that her Grand-father has just passed away. In the squeaky toy lying on my floor just after my parents tell me my dog has cancer and may not be here in six months. Each time you think you’re in the clear something else comes up. Hopefully not as bad as the last one but there are no guarantees. What I try to keep in my mind are all the wonderful things that these friends and family and pets are. All of the smiles they’ve brought. All of the hugs they’ve given. All of the lasting impressions they’ve left on the people around them. We remember people for the lives they live, not the way they end them. When death is joking with me I remember that it is not death that has the last word; it is life. ■

A Tupperware of Fruit Salad

Connectedby MARA GAGIU

On the Subject of Death

by MICHELLE YEUNG

The Reckonerof Marc Garneau C.I.

EDITOR IN CHIEFKASRA KOUSHAN

NEWS MANAGER &DEPUTY EDITOR IN CHIEF

SABRINA BERTSCH

LIFE MANAGERVASILI MANIKAS

EDITORIAL MANAGERALIE TEACHMAN

DIRECTOR OF PRINT DEVELOPMENT

SUSIE LIU

BUSINESS MANAGERLILY SONG

MEDIA MANAGERJACKIE HO

DIRECTOR OF WEB DEVELOPMENT

QUINCY LAM

STAFF MEMBERSABIGAIL CHAUANANNA RAFABOBBY CHIANG

BOSHEN CUICATHY ZHANG

CHRISTINA CHENCINDY CUI

CINDY ZENGCLAIRE HAMILTON

CLARENCE LAMDAVID HAO

DAVID TANGDEIFILIA TO

ERIC SUFAHIM MOSTAFA

FARZEEN SALEHEENFRIEDA RONG

GABRIEL IPHENRY HE

INDRANEEL SARKARJOY WANG

KAARTHIC PULOGARAJAHKAI HUANG

KEVIN JIANGKHADIJA AZIZMARA GAGIU

MICHELLE YEUNGNAWAL ALIM

NICHOLAS BLAKENOOR MAHSHELA QIU

SOPHIA SONGTAKHLIQ AMIR

TIANYI MATOM WEI

VAIBHAV SINGHVALIANT CHANWANRU ZHANG

YANING TAN

APPRENTICESADELA LAMCINDY ZENG

DAVID LIDAVID LU

EMMA WHEATONEVA LIU

JENNA WONGKASHIFA AHMED

MORRIS CHENNICHOLAS VADIVELUPARNIKA GODKHINDI

REBECCA WONGRILING CHEN

RYAN LINSHERRIE CHENG

SOPHIA LIUTIANYU LU

UPAL RUSHDEE-HAQUEYILIN ZHU

ANONYMOUS

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EDITORIAL

December 2013 P3VOL. 2 NO. 3

Do you have a response to an article in this issue? Make your voice heard! Contact us at editor@thereckoner.ca.

Like this Article to Change the World

On the weekend of 7-8 December 2013, students at MGCI participated in World Vision’s international 30 Hour Famine event. Participating students abstained from eating for 30 hours in order to raise money and awareness for those affected by hunger throughout the world. Begin-ning in 1971, and held in 21 countries, the 30 Hour Famine is a well-established event, and as such is each year accompa-nied by glossy posters, slogans, “famine kits”, merchandise, and many other tools to spread the word and encourage people to join. However, while it’s important to get people to care, it’s also important not to let the purpose of such an event be sug-ar-coated and trivialized by cute t-shirts and catchphrases. Regardless of good intentions, attempts to make the event seem fun like “Just imagine… your mom, your dad, your siblings, your friends, your grandma, your grandpa, Justin Bieber… all hungry” on the World Vision website instead made light of a serious issue. The gravity got lost somewhere in between the Facebook likes and reblogs. And all of this brings into consideration the attitude with which we approach charity. Presenting charity and fundraising too casually and conveniently is a problem for several reasons. Not only can doing so downplay heavy issues, but it creates a mentality in charity work centred around the superficial aspects of a problem, the tear-jerking story and the one quick easy way to dry up those tears. By packaging an issue into a simple problem and a sim-ple solution, we are not thinking deeply about the implications of our actions or the accountability of the cause we sup-port. By approaching a situation only sen-timentally, instead of critically, we open

ourselves up to causing unintended dam-age and being taken advantage of. TOMS Shoes’ “one for one” model is an example of the unintended conse-quences of convenient, feel-good charity. The company’s policy to donate a pair of shoes to a child in need for every pair sold, at first glance, seems like a great way to help less affluent communities. How-ever, simply giving away shoes undercuts local producers, reducing the communi-ty’s independence and damaging the lo-cal economy. TOMS is making efforts to adjust the direction of their campaign, and has made it its goal to produce one third of the shoes they give in the regions where they donate, but this still produces a situation in which the local community is propped up by and made dependent on a foreign organization. TOMS partners with several humanitarian aid organiza-tions, providing shoes to go along with those organizations’ education initiatives in developing areas. The microfinancing projects that these partners also run are more effective than TOMS’ “one-for-one” policy or their goals for local production because they acknowledge the need for economic independence in order to pro-duce lasting change. A superficial approach to humanitarian aid also lends itself to being taken advan-tage of by sensationalist campaigns such as the notorious Kony 2012. Thanks to its catchy title and well-made video, the movement gained significant traction, re-ceiving 97 million views within 7 months, and over 3 million signatures of support-ers of the campaign. The video was later criticized for misrepresenting and over-simplifying the situation in Uganda, and for not addressing more important issues

such as rehabilitating child soldiers and supporting the local economy. By packag-ing its goals into the slogan “Let’s make Kony famous”, Invisible Children also offended native Ugandans to which the film was screened, which they viewed as elevating their villain, or even celebrating him. In addition, only 37.14% of Invisible Children’s money went towards directly protecting and rehabilitating commu-nities in Uganda. 62.86% was spent on fundraising, media, and administration, as well as the vague purpose of “mobi-lizing” people. Despite this, Kony 2012 received an immense amount of support and attention, even with its dishonest mission statement and vague outline of its distribution of funds. “Let’s make Kony famous” brings us back to the topic of being respectful when getting involved in fundraising and char-ity. Though fasting for 30 hours is a ral-lying community activity that is effective in encouraging people to fundraise for World Vision’s efforts to reduce hunger, we shouldn’t pretend that the experience comes anything close to the real feeling of chronic hunger. In a real famine situ-ation, in addition to the pain of hunger is the stress and fear of having no way to resolve the situation. Students who participated in the 30 Hour Famine al-ways had the reassuring thought that the only thing dividing them from a full fridge and pantry was the commitment they had made. By calling fasting for 30 hours “a life-changing experience”, by saying things like “Teens go hungry so others don’t have to”, and using phrases like “Find a Famine near you”, the idea of the real suffering in a famine and the meaning behind the wordwere dulled. It’s important to remember that, while our goal is to help, we are outsiders, and we do not fully understand the situation. Empathy is incredibly valuable, however pretending to be able to sympathize is un-acceptable. It’s promising that we are becoming more and more conscious of global is-sues, and that international aid and de-velopment are able gain as much support as it has, but we cannot let the gloss of a charity campaign distract us from think-ing about the consequences of our ac-tions and what our efforts are ultimately backing. So if you participate in future 30 Hour Famine events or participate in other charitable causes, dig deeper; not into your pockets, but into the causes you support. ■

Illustration: Cathy Zhang

Let’s Do the Mathby ALIE TEACHMAN

A Different Kind of SpiritBY TOM WEI

532 - 518 = 14. The most recent 2012 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) results have been published. And fourteen is the num-ber of points Canada has dropped since 2003, ranking our country thirteenth in-ternationally and bumping us out of our former seventh place position in the top ten. PISA is an international diagnostic test that surveys around 470 000 fifteen year old students in sixty-five countries. Last year in Canada 21 000 students from nine schools in each ten provinces were tested on their mathematics, sci-ence, and literacy skills with particular attention paid to math. Although still well above the international average of four hundred ninety-four, Canada’s results have been described as “on the scale of a national emergency” by John Manley, ex-politician and current CEO and president of the Council of Canadian Chief Executives. My inability to grasp the concept of radicals has certainly always felt like a national emergency. And now, with the realization that students across Canada are similarly struggling, I have to say that I agree with the classification. In the increasingly science and tech-nology driven world that we live in, math is an essential skill. One that is decep-tively easy to dismiss as inherent. There is a general attitude that people are ei-ther good or bad at math, and that this is something fixed. Those who are blessed with the talent understand concepts as if they simply diffuse from textbooks and into their brains. And those less fortu-nate – well there’s nothing they can do. But this is a crippling paradigm. No child is born with an understand-ing of calculus. Proficiency in math takes practice, more so than any other subject. It requires repetition and elbow grease. This is something that sounds obvious, but that many fail to understand. Stu-dents are unwilling to dedicate the time and effort to a skill that makes them feel so inadequate. This attitude leads them to drop any and all math courses that

they can, as soon as they’re able to. Only slightly above 50% of Ontario students take math in their senior year, severely limiting their career options. So, what is it that goes wrong – where does this thinking develop? Although PISA reflects the abilities of fifteen-year olds, the problem begins much earlier than that: in our elementary schools. Until middle school students re-ceive no specialized education in math. This means that the subject is taught by a core teacher whose background may be any number of things, but is most likely not mathematics. In fact, student teach-ers at U of T were given a Grade 6 math test as the beginning of their training, and a concerning number of the prospec-tive teachers struggled to recall even the most basic mathematical concepts such as volume and prime numbers. These are the people who will be teaching our youth. Not only do they lack mathemat-ical background, they lack confidence or interest, which is perhaps worse. It has been said that one year of poor instruction in math can take up to three years to correct. Math is a skill that builds on itself, each lesson growing naturally from the last. We can’t afford to give our youth a weak introduction to the subject. Students and teachers alike are avoiding the dirty work associated with creating a strong foundation. More time needs to be dedicated to teaching mathematics at the elementary level. More rigour needs to be introduced earlier on. Problem sets and higher level concepts should not be terrifying realizations in high school. As soon as I began grade school I was asked to keep a reading log. Every day I had to read for twenty minutes and record my progress, and all of this was signed off on by my parents. There was accountability, and it worked. I not only learned to read, but I learned to love reading. This same practice could be easily implemented with math. Twenty minutes a day could go a long way to-wards solving a national emergency. ■

by SUSIE LIU

A G

EN

TL

E P

SA

Oh look, what’s this colourful Post-it note doing on my lock- “If you were a booger, I’d pick you first.” It was Spirit Week at MGCI; the theme for the week beginning 9 December was “Random Acts of Kindness”, and random it was. Events of the week included free hugs in the cafeteria, handmade flowers passed out by the Spirit Committee, and posters offering tear away smiles. In ad-dition the Muslim Student Association volunteered to help teachers with atten-dance and caretakers clean up the cafe-teria, and the Mental Health Initiative made plans to give holiday cards to peo-ple in shelters. First things first: I am not an authority on kindness, and anybody who is reading this should know that I have never once been considered clement, solicitous, or magnanimous. Such is my utter lack of experience with kindness that I had to Google the usage of all three of the above words. My reaction to the prospect of en-couraging students at Garneau to be kind to each other, then, was one of skepti-cism. However, the Spirit Committee’s origi-nal plan seemed attainable enough: cap-ture photos and videos of students and

clubs performing random acts of kind-ness in school and around the commu-nity, then submit a video compilation to the Muslim Inter-Scholastic Tournament with hopes of winning in the short video category (because apparently in our day and age, “random acts of kindness” are both premeditated and incentivized). The Spirit Committee sent an email in November asking club executives to par-ticipate by engaging in their own random acts of kindness in the first Spirit Week of the year and recording them. Unfortu-nately, only five clubs out of the dozens in our school agreed to participate in the event, and our Spirit Convenor holds ex-ecutive positions in three of these five. Perhaps awareness among students would have been higher had posters been put up in the halls, or e-mails been sent to more students than just club execu-tives, or even if there was more of a push to have the clubs participate in the first place. After all, when less than half of the student population knows about a School Spirit Week, something needs to change. Let me clarify something: kindness is good. Actually, it’s great. But we can’t be satisfied with sticking a Post-it to some-one’s locker and thinking that we have connected. Spirit Convenor Khadija Aziz

commented that, “the free hugs really connected the student body with Student Council – which is great because we want everybody to know we’re there for them.” It’s not in question whether this past week has put a smile on student’s faces. The problem is that spirit is not derived from passively reading a sticky note, but rather from active participation amongst the entire student body. Khadija has stated that when only a small number of clubs agreed to partici-pate in the week, the event was no longer to be classified as a “formal” Spirit Week. But a better approach than simply back-pedalling and declaring the week “infor-mal” would be to more actively commu-nicate and engage clubs and the student body. That said, it’s not too late to show your spirit this school year; the Spirit Committee has said that they’re planning to host another, larger Spirit Week in second semester. Here’s hoping that next time, the student population will be bet-ter informed ahead of time, and we come out of that week with more than just Post-it note littered floors. Let’s show some heart, Garneau, because it is a sad day when what could have been a successful Spirit Week is demoted before it has even begun. ■

by JO

Y WAN

G

www.thereckoner.ca Please recycle

On the night of 29 November, students from Marc Garneau gathered for a night full of sleeplessness, entertainment, and fun. Eliminate Night gathered students to spend a night at school together, and ran from 5 in the afternoon to 7 in the morning. All proceeds from Eliminate Night went towards the Eliminate Project. The Eliminate Project’s goal is to pro-vide mothers in need with a vaccine that can prevent maternal and neona-tal tetanus (MNT) from harming their newborn children. MNT is a deadly and painful disease that kills nearly 60 000

newborn babies every year. The Elimi-nate Project wishes to raise the required $110 million to immunize 129 million mothers and their babies.The night raised $5000, surpassing the goal of $4000. The largest amount was raised by Grade 12 student Sabrina Bertsch at $1120. She commented that “I went all out for this and really hoped to make a difference.” Over the course of a single evening, Marc Garneau stu-dents raised enough money to immu-nize 2600 mothers and their future children. The school principal, Mrs. Golden-

berg, was present for the entire event, and said that she was highly supportive of the cause because she always does “her best to support kids of Garneau,” and that Key Club is “always working for a worthy cause.” To fill the long hours of the night, a variety of activities were made available to students. For students who wished to play volleyball and basketball at 3 in the morning, the gym was open the en-tire night. For those who liked to dance, there was one in the cafeteria. For those who wanted to watch movies, part of “The Avengers”, and all of “The Conjur-ing” and “The Grudge” were played. Thoughts on Eliminate Night were generally positive for a number of rea-sons. Deven Rasie, a Grade 12 student who attended Eliminate Night, said that of all the events available, his personal favourite was the dodge ball game that happened in the gym. He also men-tioned that “The night was good be-cause everybody had their friends to hang out with.” However, it wasn’t just the attendees who enjoyed the event. Key Club co-president Mona Adib re-marked, “Most importantly, it’s all about giving an exciting event for the students of our school, while supporting an excellent cause!” All in all, Eliminate Night was a chance to enjoy a sleepless night with friends, and at the same time, support a worthy cause. ■

December 2013VOL. 2 NO. 3P4

NEWSA Little Chat with a Familiar Face

25 YEARSFrom P1

How have you seen students, teaching, and education change over the years? In terms of students: different faces, same problems. And they’ve added tech-nology. Teaching has changed with the growth of technology in all the classes. When I first started it was mostly the chalkboard, computer screens that had the green font going across them, and as for the Internet – what was that? Stu-dents have always worked hard, just in different ways. Now that there’s so much information at their fingertips, they work harder trying to find the in-formation via technology instead of go-ing through the tediousness of books. The school has grown so much; the staff was small and we all knew one another. I came the year after the name change. I remember how dances used to be so important in this school and each de-partment had to supervise a dance. Ev-ery kid wanted to go. I remember the old school when we had no classrooms and walls were just sliding curtains. You could hear what was being taught – or

not being taught – right next to you.Why did you become a teacher? When I was in high school I actually had really good marks in the sciences and math. My guidance counsellor pushed me to go into the sciences, even though I had always wanted to become a teacher. So I went to university and found out that physics is hard. I dropped physics, got a conditional pass in chem-istry, and my career in the sciences died. I liked economics and switched into it. Then in second year, I thought it was really boring. I finished my degree in economics and math and went on to be-come a teacher, thus fulfilling a life-long dream.What do you think is lacking the most right now in the Ontario education sys-tem and how do you think it should be addressed? I think that society has come to expect education to be everything and to do ev-erything for everybody and schools can’t be like that. I think we need to refocus our schools on what is most important

to ensure the success of future genera-tions. There are so many programs and we try to address so many needs and it’s ineffective. We should focus on what we truly need to move forward in this coun-try.Where do we go from here? Burn all the schools down and we’ll go to the river where you can write your answers in the mud with a stick. Teach-ers should be experts in whatever sub-ject they teach and we should focus on getting the most excellent teachers who are passionate about teaching. They should enthuse children about learning and build a generation of well-educated Canadians that care about the country and progressing.Any final thoughts or messages? I can honestly say that I can’t think of another school that I would have rather spent the last 25 years in. To students: keep working because somewhere in the end it will be worth it. To teachers: good luck. ■

by SABRINA BERTSCH

On the second week of the coldest month of the school year so far, students of MGCI were invited to wear dresses to school – and many did. MGCI’s club The Girl Effect introduced Dressember to raise awareness on the is-sue of human trafficking. The idea was to capture confused students’ attention and spread the message through them when they asked why dresses were being worn in a cold month. In Canada, human trafficking is not a prominent issue as it is in some devel-oping countries. Men, women, and chil-dren in our country have no fear of being forcefully sold by their families. “I think it is extremely important for us to understand how privileged we are to not have to worry about our safety or whether or not we would be sold the next day to support our families,” said Arora Chen, co-founder and co-president of The Girl Effect in MGCI. “We should be reaching out to solve such problems, as it is a moral responsibility to be aware

of the issues and trying to resolve them with our power.” Many Garneau students including some boys and teachers wore dresses and orange ribbons to show support. Although Dressember is a month-wide event, The Girl Effect hosted it for three days for maximum participation. “I found it important to raise aware-ness for human trafficking because not many know about it. And in order to change something people have to know,” Tracey Frimpong, a Grade 12 student and Dressember participant, commented. “A lot of people wondered why many of us wore dresses and they seemed pretty into it.” Next year, they wish to encourage more boys to contribute and let people know the event is not only limited to girls. The Girl Effect Club meets on Wednes-days at lunch in Room 214. New mem-bers who are willing to work for equality are welcome to join. ■

Girl Effect members handed out ribbons and treats to Dressember participants. Photo: Sophia Liu

Dress for a Cause

by KHADIJA AZIZ

Garneau Eliminates MNTby DEIFILIA TO

Students occupied the night with activities such as playing basketball. Photo: Abigail Chau

Photos by Jackie Ho and Susie LiuFor more Humans of Garneau, visit www.thereckoner.ca/category/hog/

What do you think is the best thing about Garneau?

“You guys.” Laughs.“The amount of support that’s available. Like if I have a problem with the liter-acy test, they have classes for that.”“Lunch and spare, but lunch more than spare because everyone is outside. Sometimes spare is boring.”“Not mine, my spare is live!”“That’s ‘cause you guys just play poker.”“Yeah, but that’s why.”

“The clubs, activities.”“What clubs are you part of?”“I’m in the Spirit Committee. I also like the different shows and volunteer ser-vices.”

"Compared to other schools, this school is very multicultural. Many of my friends speak Urdu or Hindi, and some-times I learn a few words from them."

“I like how there’s so many people. There’s so many opportunities to make friends. I wish people were more outgo-ing and that there was more school spirit though.”