Canada's Summer Mcintosh competes in the final of the women's 200m individual medley swimming event during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the Paris La Defense Arena in Nanterre, west of Paris, on Aug. 3.OLI SCARFF/Getty Images
Old school
Re “Canada actually needs more arts graduate students. We’ve just been doing it wrong” (Opinion, Aug. 31): In the 1960s many universities, spearheaded by Carnegie Mellon University, introduced the doctor of arts degree, which was designed to better prepare arts graduates for the academic world than the traditional PhD. Other universities introduced the master of philosophy, basically a PhD without a dissertation, for the same reasons.
These efforts have not been successful as planned because, as suggested, arts graduate students still face the same problems that have existed for many years.
Peter Bartram EdD, Toronto
I was pleased to see both public goods and deliberative democracy highlighted in discussing curriculums for graduate students.
But given that a majority of the wider population would hardly be able to give the most basic textbook definition of either of these two important concepts, I think they should also be taught in junior high-school social studies.
Evan Bedford Red Deer, Alta.
Open mind
Re “In the wellness industry, your mental health is for sale” (Opinion, Aug. 31): I believe the reason people get taken by scams, charlatanry and misguided practices is the same reason as for the anti-vaccine movement, climate-change denial and general rejection of sound science: A lot of people have a poor understanding of science.
The solution: more emphasis on mandatory science courses in school curriculums.
Doug Payne London, Ont.
“Pseudoscientific assessments and treatments” are indeed a sad commentary on the desperation of the many searching for joy and purpose in life. However, many patients turn to these treatments because they have no other options.
When there is limited or no access to any type of traditional mental-health care, people can become more open to the snake-oil salesman. Getting an appointment with a psychiatrist in Ontario can be a hopeless experience.
Gay Chisholm Toronto
Dive in
Re “Why we swim? A meditative, transforming experience” (Editorial, Aug. 31): I will be forever grateful to the orthopedic surgeon who, on surveying my limp arm cut loose from the sling that protected it while I healed from a broken shoulder, declared: “Swimming is the best therapy.”
I winced. My childhood summers were spent on the shores of a beautiful Manitoba lake; the thought of being immersed in a public pool, with the scent of chlorine and all else that floats around in the water, was anathema to me.
He continued: “Only 10 per cent of people your age with your type of injury recover with full motion.” That was the rallying cry. I had my first indoor swim the next day.
My daily swims are my solace, my meditation, my therapy and a lovely, cheerful way to start each day, with a whole community of people who are also having the “transforming experience” of swimming.
Gilda Berger Toronto
My mother taught me how to swim when I was 8.
In 1949, she was extremely pregnant when we summered at the now-defunct Lakeshore Hotel (in what is now Sandbanks Provincial Park) and was forbidden to swim. So she sat on a rock ledge by the shore and, with me in the water, issued instructions from Puffin’s A Book of Swimming. Within weeks, I was a confident swimmer.
At 14, my first paid job was assistant swimming instructor with the Red Cross. Buoyed by teaching a life skill, I was set for a life of fulfilling jobs. In tough times, there was always the meditative relaxation of moving through water in swimming pools and natural bodies of water.
I still enjoy swimming and wish this for all Canadians. Swimming lessons should be in school curriculums in our nation, so richly endowed with clean lakes and rivers.
Frederic Carpenter Ottawa
Food for thought
Re “Today’s kids need mandatory home-economics classes to learn vital life skills” (Opinion, Aug. 31): Home economics was often perceived as a frivolous class that didn’t merit the attention of junior and senior high-school academic teachers. However, I found my students to be very attentive in food/nutrition and fabrics/textiles.
Both boys and girls enjoyed the hands-on atmosphere and often brought concerns about nutrition, cooking techniques or working with fabric. One administrator in a high-needs school praised the classes for those who “only came to class” on the days that home economics was offered.
Time spent creating and preparing meals with family is valuable off-screen time; a sharing time to pass on family traditions and words of wisdom. Bring back home-economics classes.
B.A. Edwards BSc (home economics), MEd; Edmonton
In addition to calls for students to be required to take home economics, there are also calls for “funded cycling education in schools” (”With the right tools, our cities can tame problematic e-bikes” – Opinion, Aug. 31).
Both contributors make what appear to be well-considered arguments. However, one thing is missing: What will these proposals replace? I doubt if the present school curriculum has much fluff on offer.
Peter Woolstencroft Waterloo, Ont.
In the 1990s, family studies was dropped by Ontario high schools and replaced by computer studies, focusing on keyboarding. It is ironic, then, that family studies is being reintroduced in Ontario and that typing notes on devices has been shown to be a less effective way to learn than doing so with pen or pencil (”In a world of screens, the humble notebook remains the best way to learn” – Opinion, Aug. 31).
What is learned, and how it is learned, are not always enhanced by technology.
Cheryll Duquette, adjunct professor, University of Ottawa
I’m glad Ontario is taking steps to improve the meal-preparation abilities of our youth, but other groups have been practising this for years.
Our Scout troop, a part of Scouts Canada (a co-ed organization), has practised self-sufficiency for more than 40 years. Our 11- to 15-year-olds do their own meal planning, shopping, preparation and cleanup, and they do this using a camp stove or sometimes over an open fire. They do it with the occasional bug in the area, and also in snowbanks at -20 C.
And they produce good meals: tortillas, goulash, salmon, stew, a roast or pork tenderloin in a Dutch oven (or even baked in a cardboard box). The world isn’t waiting for the education sector to solve the situation; other groups already have.
John Barker 23rd St. Bart’s Scouts; Sarnia, Ont.
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