Open letter to my prospective political representatives

I’ve grown to feel completely disenfranchised as a Canadian citizen, at all levels of government. I’ve tried voting with my head. I’ve tried voting with my heart. Every election, I feel as though my vote is wasted. So, now I’m trying something different.

With the civic election next month, and with what will hopefully be a federal election in the next few months, I’ve decided to base my vote on a single issue.

The candidate that puts forth the best set of policies and plans to most improve bicycle infrastructure will get my vote. I don’t care what party they’re with. I don’t care if they’re new to politics or are a 40 year veteran.

Show me how you will make bicycles a safer form of every day transportation. Show me the infrastructure and support you will create. Show me the legal strategy and social policies that will make it possible, even preferred, to use non-motorized transportation on a regular basis.

Then you’ll have my support, and my vote.

Nonscholae.org – responsible net policy

James Farmer just pushed the Nonscholae.org website, which was born from the “learning to swim” discussion in the edublogosphere a few weeks back. From the site:

nonscholae.org is a site devoted to the responsible use of blogs, instant messaging and other social software in schools.

Non scholae sed vitae discimus
We learn, not for school, but for life – Seneca, Epistulae

We believe that these tools and resources should not be blocked or banned from schools. As educators, we should be familiarising learners with these technologies, supporting and facilitating their responsible use and equipping our students with the skills to keep them safe and savvy in the online world.

I’m hoping the obscure latin name doesn’t throw some of the target audience. It’s clever, but I had to check spelling on it 3 times as I wrote this post…

James Farmer just pushed the Nonscholae.org website, which was born from the “learning to swim” discussion in the edublogosphere a few weeks back. From the site:

nonscholae.org is a site devoted to the responsible use of blogs, instant messaging and other social software in schools.

Non scholae sed vitae discimus
We learn, not for school, but for life – Seneca, Epistulae

We believe that these tools and resources should not be blocked or banned from schools. As educators, we should be familiarising learners with these technologies, supporting and facilitating their responsible use and equipping our students with the skills to keep them safe and savvy in the online world.

I’m hoping the obscure latin name doesn’t throw some of the target audience. It’s clever, but I had to check spelling on it 3 times as I wrote this post…