Adventures in British Columbia's Backyard
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Volume II . No. 7 TheMONDAY, MarkOCTOBER 20, 2014 FREE.99 Adventures in British Columbia’s Backyard Not your typical kayaking adventure By ELEANOR PARKER AND Sustainable Community Devel- MERIYA GMEINER-MCPHERSON opment in Belize, Ecological Self, Squamish First Nations Culture & Block break has always been Lifeways and Tectonics of West- a time of relaxation, adventure ern North America). However, and rejuvenation. Typically, it is a these courses may feel inacces- time to either get off the hill or chill sible to some students because out and do nothing for a few days. they are all Concentration level Fourth year Andrew Simon had and some include extra costs. a vision to break this status quo As Rose puts it, “you don’t have by designing a trip that satisfies to go halfway around the world not only our sense of adventure to change your life, all you have but also our thirst for learning. to do is look in your backyard.” Simon’s idea came to life this What seems to be lacking past September block break when at Quest is a habit of learning a group of 14 Quest students em- from our own community as barked on an kayaking journey a feature of more classes. Al- to circumnavigate the northern though some disciplines lend half of Galiano Island to Dionysus ELEANOR PARKER themselves readily to experien- Provincial Park. Behind Simon’s members of the Galiano Land in a standard university educa- pant Teddy Rose, the answer is tial learning, it is hard to imag- vision for the trip was the phi- Conservancy. Most important- tion. Nevertheless, second year obvious: “let’s imagine a school ine others such as philosophy losophy of place-based learning. ly, students acted as co-educa- student Bianca Wagner noted where place-based learning was or calculus being taught outside This pedagogy focuses on learn- tors by provoking thoughts and that, “we were able to put our the norm, and then if some- of the traditional classroom. Cre- ing from a specific locale and em- questions for each other about experience into an academic body brought up the alterna- ativity and progressive thinking ploys the support of local organi- their surroundings. “There is context.” This outcome aligns tive of, ‘well how about we sit would be needed to incorporate zations, agencies and businesses. something about the island that with Simon’s idea of what place- around a table and talk about a community-based experien- Within a few hours of arriving you can’t really know about un- based learning can accomplish. something, or read and look at tial component to these classes. on Galiano Island, students were less you go there,” noted second “The more we can relate very pictures on a power-point’, well In the meantime, Simon just busy catching crabs, visualizing year student Shane Degroote. complex issues to particular con- it would be a no-brainer. Why submitted a proposal to have their spirit trees and identifying The outdoors proved to be texts, the better for understand- would you ever do it that way the Galiano block break trip edible berries under the guid- a dynamic classroom. Eco-phi- ing these issues,” stated Simon. when you have the opportuni- become a full block class. The ance of knowledgeable communi- losophy was discussed around The success of the Galia- ty to do place-based learning?” class would include an adven- ty members. The teacher role of a campfire, students witnessed no trip provokes a reflection of It must be recognized that ture component similar to last this trip was not filled by a single forest restoration practices and our own learning style at Quest. Quest does offer a spectrum of block break’s sea kayaking trek, person, but by several, including visited the chairperson of an in- Should Quest incorporate more classes with experiential learn- and would take an active role in a local filmmaker, an eco-psy- tentional community. These ac- place-based learning into its ing components (i.e Visual An- addressing key socio-cultural-en- chologist, a dream specialist and tivities may be unconventional course plan? For trip partici- thropology, Antarctica Excursion, vironmental issues on the island. How High is Your Higher Learning? What Is All The Fuss About? A conversation around use and prevalence of study drugs at Quest Research ethics examined through the lens of Center, 10 to 35% of American ipants at Quest, 24% of survey re- one student’s denied research proposal By DORAH PRIETO or with people.” Mansfield decid- college students use prescription spondents had taken study drugs By NEDER GATMON-SEGAL Definition: The term ‘study stimulants for academic focus, at Quest at least once. Studies have ed to focus on First Nations youth drugs’ describes prescription with a notable increase in usage shown that numbers of study drug When I heard fourth year incarcerated in a Vancouver-area amphetamine and methyl- in the past 10 years. This study users vary significantly between student Conlan Mansfield’s public prison, specifically because their phenidate stimulants used for drug phenomena has gained at- schools, with the most users at pri- complaints about the Research presence in the prison system is non-prescribed purposes, spe- tention for study drugs’ use as an vate and “elite” universities. Of the Ethics Board’s (REB) decision to disproportionate to their relatively cifically for academic perfor- academic performance enhancer, 24%, 30% had taken study drugs deny his keystone research pro- small provincial population. Mans- mance enhancement. for various health concerns, and only once, 35% had taken them a posal, I was intrigued. The REB is field hoped to conduct interviews For Quest students, the de- for stoking an ethical debate. couple times per year, 13% monthly, in place specifically to review re- that focused on systemic issues, mands of academic life can be A study conducted by Cher- 6% weekly, and 16% daily. The ma- search proposals for projects such rather than strictly individual ones. stressful. Coping strategies vary well, the Oxford university news- jority of respondents used study as keystones and individual tutor For example, he would ask partic- from Halloween chocolate off-sales, paper, found that 7% of Oxford drugs for humanities courses. research involving human subjects. ipants if and why they started us- to running half marathons to, in- students had taken study drugs. Of the 54 respondents that had Mansfield’s situation piqued my in- ing narcotics, rather than simply if creasingly, using study drugs. Ac- In Cambridge that number rose to taken study drugs to do school terest further: I had never heard of and when they did. This, he hoped, cording to the University of Mich- 10%, with York University in Toron- work, 32 students desired con- the REB beforehand, nor had I ever would shed light not only on indi- igan Substance Abuse Research to at 20%. Out of 226 survey partic- centration or focus, 13 used them heard of a student’s research pro- vidual factors that had caused the Continued on page A2 posal being denied. Mansfield was youth to be incarcerated, but also stirring up outrage in some student on overarching societal factors social circles, so I decided to inves- that affected their life trajectory. Coast Mountain Academy: If Quest Were a tigate; what was all the fuss about? According to Mansfield, who High School I decided to start by going started the application process last Catching up with CMA in their second year of operation straight to the source. Mansfield spring, he was recently informed has been extremely outspoken by the REB that “the harms and Squamish has plenty of op- cation, this lack of local choice By KENDRA PERRIN about his denied research propos- risks to [himself] and to participants tions when it comes to K through meant making the eight hour al and the process underlying it. did not justify the benefits from the I knew that the little peo- 6 education. There are four public round-trip to independent schools He has had a busy work schedule research.” Mansfield detailed some ple in uniformly blue shirts who elementary schools, two Montes- in North or West Vancouver since being forced to change his of the specific concerns the REB occasionally ate in our cafeteria sori schools, one Waldorf school, every weekday. Understand- keystone project, touching on the voiced about his research. After belonged to a high school, and I and one French immersion school. ably, this wasn’t a feasible op- question, “what is suffering?” His ini- hearing the concerns from Mans- knew that high school had some However, “for high school there tion for every dissatisfied family. tial research proposal was to go to field, I wanted to confirm them with land on Quest’s campus. That was was only one option, and it wasn’t “Some local people, of whom a prison and investigate the idea of the REB, but this is where, as a jour- it, though. Coast Mountain Acad- a very good option,” explained Toran [Savjord] is one, concerned prisons, both “psychologically and nalist, I hit the proverbial brick wall. emy, or CMA, is an innovative, in- Quest’s President David Helfand, about their kids’ education, philosophically,” as a means of re- It is REB policy not to dis- dependent, university-preparatory referring to Howe Sound Second- thought — ‘this is crazy. Squamish ducing harm and inmate rehabilita- cuss individual cases with anyone school for students in grades 7 ary School, which, until recently, is growing so much, there are so tion. “Specifically,” he emphasized, other than university employees, through 12. Only in its second year was the only secondary school many little kids here, and, in anoth- “from the perspective of the peo- even if said individual provides of operation, it now has 66 students.