CampusIntel

I am concerned that the majority of Canadians have been misinformed about the rehabilitation and deterrence of young offenders. Many Canadians still support “tough on crime” strategies (an increase in tougher laws and longer minimum sentences) even though criminologists, sociologists, psychologists, clinical psychologists, those who work with young offenders, those who work at rehabilitation centers, etc., have found getting “tough on crime” in order to make an example of those who commit violent crimes does NOT serve as a deterrent. In fact, it has been found that this strategy only serves to increase rates of crime and violence.
               

Largely, I blame the media which often pushes for tougher sentences for young offenders and is capable of increasing support for this argument by making crime seem more prevalent and brutal than it is though over-reporting of violent atypical crimes. Studies such as the Corrections and Conditional Release Statistical Overview from 2006 however shows violent crime has actually been steady since approximately 1991 and in fact the total number of offenses committed by young individuals are at the lowest they’ve been since 1986. Furthermore, property offenses are actually the most frequently recorded offenses committed by youth and have also seen a reduction. From 2003-2004 homicide and related offences accounted for only 0.06% of all youth cases, sexual assault 2.3% and major assault 6.7%.

Even if violent offenses committed by youth increase, tougher sentences will not be a deterrent. Implementing such a crime strategy would mean we are adopting methods from the United States which will not benefit Canada. With 714 people being incarcerated for every 100,000, the US has the highest incarceration rate of all the Western European Countries; it is blown off the charts with New Zealand in second place with only 168 per 100,000. What’s worse is, after all of this, the US has still not been able to reduce rates of crime.
              

Incarcerating youth for longer periods of time will not help rehabilitate them, it will only tell them they’ve done something wrong and society will punish them for it. Although some may argue this is the impression we want to leave, it doesn’t help situations. Most youth know murder and assault (violent and sexual), etc. is not acceptable. Those few who do not fully understand this may have mental illnesses preventing them from seeing reason (making punishment useless), or they could have been abused at a younger age, growing up to believe these things to be common practice or acceptable in certain situations. Abuse can alter an individual, it can cause them to lash out or seek refuge in those who influence them the wrong way, or turn to drugs which are often found to be a contributor to violent crimes. When individuals respond to young offenders with violence and disrespect, they will return the favour.

This being said, getting “tough on crime” is not the answer it is just a part of the problem which a large portion of us buy into because of fear and the desire for vengeance. Even publishing the names of those individuals who have been convicted for violent offenses will only hurt their chances of being rehabilitated. Who will hire or trust those individuals enough to give them a second chance after their names and faces have been flashed across every media outlet in the country? How will they be able to start over? How will they get a job or an education or a home? Where will they turn when they are trying to change their life? Try to get on the right track when no one will give you a chance. A return to a life of crime and dependence is inevitable for these individuals.

If Canadians want to fight crime they need to fight it at the start by providing help to troubled and at-risk youth. Studies have shown that individuals (youth in particular) benefit dramatically from programs provided in the community. The Compendium 2000 on Effective Correctional Programming argues programs for youth delivered in the community proved more success than those given in custody. Other studies have argued the same for cognitively based programs delivered in the community. As youth are influenced by family, peers, and the environment they need direction on how to make pro-social choices in the real world, otherwise they will be unsuccessful when faced with making these decisions.
               

In the end if you believe crime could affect you or your loved ones I urge you to do the research I have suggested is out there, and do it with an open mind. One should never blindly accept anything someone says, but after a critical look, if the research adds up, and is consistent the majority of the time…sometimes it’s a good idea to trust it in spite of your fears and doubts.

Photosource: junoawards.ca

The 2010 Juno awards were held in St. John’s, Newfoundland last night. Here’s the top info.

The ceremony addressed the past year’s young superstars’ induction into the international spotlight. Like Stratford, Ontario native Justin Bieber, who at age 16 has monopolised tweeny-pop in less than a year’s time. Despite his international success including being the youngest male solo artist to have two albums in the Billboard Top 200, Bieber fell short on all three of his Juno nominations.

It seems where Bieber disappointed the judges, fellow overnight success Drake proved more substantial. The new Canadian rapper captured the Best New Artist award, and also won the Juno for Rap Recording of the Year for his song “So Far Gone.” It didn’t look like there were any hard feelings between the running mates, though, when Drake laid down a few rhymes for Bieber’s performance of “Baby.”

Michael Bublé was the biggest winner with four Junos. His hit album Crazy Love earned him both Album and Pop Album of the Year. He also took home Single of the Year for the song “Haven’t Met You Yet,” and the Juno Fan Choice Award.

Respect was paid to 70s Canadian rock super-group April Wine in honour of their recent induction into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. Frontman Myles Goodwin accepted the honourary Juno by listing all 13 April Wine members past and present.

Metric won two Junos with Group of the Year and Alternative Album of the Year for their work Fantasies. Artist of the Year went to K’naan, who also received Songwriter of the Year for his international hit “Wavin’ Flag.” Click here for a complete list of 2010 Juno winners.

There were also a variety of performances that struck high, and low, chords of the broadcast. Lowest was Drake’s f-bomb laden rendition of “Over.” It assumedly severed traditional and new-age Canadian audiences. Whatever, props Drake, you got two Junos without even having a record out. Billy Talent rocked out to new single “Saint Veronika,” that lead to singer Ben Kowalewicz struggling to achieve respectful screamo-rock tenure. He looked like he was trying to purge a Satan fetus rather than rattle a microphone. But, the band was tight.

Then the goodies. Blue Rodeo was out in full Canadian-Country garb laying down a usual flawless performance. However, I’m reserving best Juno performance award for K’naan, along with Drake, Justin Bieber, and Nikki Yanofsky, who dazzled the audience with the Young Artists for Haiti hit “Wavin’ Flag.” A wildly catchy song written by a talented young artist, K’Naan effectively moved the audience in a way no other performer did.

As a high school graduate of 2000, it’s coming around to that time of life — time for the 10 year high school reunion.  I’ve got to be careful about what I choose to write here, because I think I might inadvertently get myself de-invited. 

I while ago, I got the official (via Facebook) invitation for my 10 year high school reunion, set to go down this summer.  Good on the former students for organizing, apparently the school was ZERO help.  So with the class of 2000 set to ride again, I pose the following query for your dissection: The whole Facebook thing seems to have eliminated the need for high school reunions, hasn’t it? 

I mean, wasn’t the whole thing with the reunion to see and catch up with people you lost touch with over the last X amount of years, and catch up?  So, now with pretty well every human being on the planet having a Facebook profile, and certainly most of every grad class that ever, well, grad-ed (even those who took a little extra time)… well, haven’t we all been doing that very same catching up, and keeping IN touch with each other already, via Facebook, or email, or whatever?

For those who just wanted to see who got fat, who’s bald, who’s rich, who’s still on drugs, and/or who you think you have it better than, well, there’s an app for that all the magic of those mysteries can be solved with a few clicks on incriminating Facebook posts.  So that’s out.  Even if you just want to creep on pictures, and see every move everyone’s made over the last decade, well, that’s at your disposal too—as long as you’ve got that all important “Friend Request” approval.  You don’t even need to leave your house for that.      

And for those looking to show up and prove some point about what you made of yourself and how you’re back to extract revenge on all the people that picked on you by rubbing your accomplishments in everyone’s face, well, if you didn’t already know… YOU’RE THE REASON NO ONE WANTS TO GO TO THESE THINGS. 

Here’s a few direct quotes from people in the reunion group that I cut and paste from our reunion page; all examples of things I don’t want to deal with, nor conversations I want to become involved in, if I were to attend:

“I think this past year was my best looking year”

“I’ll be at the grad reunion and be the shocker of it all”

“I neither got fat nor skinny. I got out of my Goth period and grew my hair long.”

“I wasn’t the smartest student…and some people may have thought I wouldn’t do much in my life… well I am happy to say I’m doing pretty good.”

So basically all the things that make you point out how late it is, or pretend you’re getting a call on your phone that didn’t ring, or remind yourself of what you left on the stove, or plugged in, or what’s burning down, or whatever else you can conjure up to exit that convo A-S-A-P.

Now, of course there are good, positive reasons to go.  There definitely is no replacement for seeing people in person when compared to online social networking.  There are a few good people that I would enjoy seeing, and hanging out with again.  Rekindle some old friendships, and re-connect with those who have managed to hermit themselves from technology.  Was there anyone that became famous in our class?  Hmm, might be interesting to find that out. 

Of course, there’s going to be people who’re only going to go if ______ goes, and then there’s a stalemate, and then no one goes.  And some people live really far away, and just can’t go.  I’ve been fortunate to stay good friends with the people of that group I care to keep in touch with most; and at times, I think that’s probably all I really need.

Look, high school wasn’t that bad for me, compared to some of the tortured stories I’ve heard from others.  I had some good times, and some good friends, tried to be a good dude, and also tried not to fail classes and get stuck there.  I think I learned a few things in class here and there, but math DID turn out to be useless just like we all contended; outside of calculating tips at restaurants of course.  I definitely had my insecurities, embarrassments, and jerks and idiots that I wish I never had to have dealt with; but I got out relatively unscathed.  Some stories I’ve heard are certainly of the kind of psychologically damaging material that has people paying shrinks to keep them from climbing to the top of a bell tower and opening fire.  I don’t recall crossing anyone in that manner, so I think my odds of getting shot are fairly low.  I can think of a few people whose odds are probably not in their favour though… remind again why we all want to get together with each other again?

So if we all know that eveyone’s got their issues buried somewhere down deep, can we just all agree that this thing’s not an opportunity to get revenge, or to continue being an idiot to people, or to take that last shot at love with the girl/guy you liked but were too shy to talk to, or whatever agenda you’ve been stewing in the crockpot for waaaay too long, and can we all just hang out like civilized adults that weren’t only brought together by the social bindings of a mandatory public education system?  Can we all just pretend that despite the social awkward life period of us all once being acceptance-seeking (just me?) adolescents that were forced to congregate in the same building for 5 consecutive years, that we actually want to be in the same place with each other this time for some reason?

 Or maybe should we all just go buckwild; have one side of the room for people who want to start fights, gloat, and get embarrassed by asking out the person you always wanted to date that still doesn’t want to date you roll the dice on a crack at romance, and the other side for all the people who are over themselves and their issues, and just wanna hang out and have a good time?      

Again, I hope I haven’t just lost my invitation.  I know I sound cynical, but surely I’m not the only one with these thoughts running through their heads. 

My invitation status is currently set as “Maybe Attending”.  Do you think I should go?  Why or why not?  Did you/are you going to yours?  Why or why not?  What’s your best high school reunion story?

read more of Dave at Serenity Now… The SDC Blogs http://davecunning.wordpress.com

Last summer Toronto based poverty advocacy group The Stop Community Food Centre initiated an informative campaign called Do The Math. The project informed Ontarians of the dismal state of social assistance in the province, with the main argument that Ontarians receiving welfare and other social assistance are unable to provide themselves, and often their families, a healthy diet. Many of these people are forced to rely on food banks and soup kitchens for daily meals, where basic essential nutrition is hard to find, The Stop officials insist.

The response to the Do The Math campaign was good. Over 4,000 Ontarians sent postcards to Premier Dalton McGuinty, asking for positive action regarding the nutrition dilemma. But The Stop is still agitated that little has been done to help with low-income Ontarians to achieve a more-equal status in comparison to their neighbours off social assistance.

Usher in The Stop’s latest poverty awareness campaign, the Do The Math Challenge. Beginning on April 6, ten of Toronto’s prominent activists, government officials and celebrities picked up a food hamper from The Stop. The mission is to live off the hamper’s bounty, which usually lasts a person 3 to 4 days, and the city’s food banks for as long as possible, but at least a week. Participants include journalist/author/activist Naomi Klein, singer for Polaris Prize winning punk band Fucked Up Damian Abraham, musicians Rosina Kazi and Nic Murray of Toronto band LAL, and Toronto Ward 21 councillor Joe Muhavic and family, among others.

The purpose of the Do The Math Challenge is to create social awareness about the plights of poverty in Toronto, which are not exclusive to nutrition concerns. The Stop advocates for better treatment of impoverished, marginalised citizens in all sectors of contemporary city-life. It uses the dismal issue of under-nourishment among social assistance users as a vantage point on Toronto, and Ontario’s, many poverty triggered problems.

Follow all the participants with updates of how the challenge is affecting them here. Take action in the fight for equality in Canada.

So today I had a nice little rant about how although I’m only 23 I have to have the next 7 years of my life planned out within the next few months…This may seem odd to you or about right depending on the perspective and circumstances you’re coming from…so I thought I’d write a bit about this overwhelming task as it might serve as some advice to people as well as a way for me to get all of my thoughts out.

As I may have mentioned before my career aspirations have lead me to the area of clinical psychology, for this job I need to obtain a bachelors degree in psychology, a masters and a PhD in clinical psychology. This in itself is a daunting task as you might imagine…but wait…it gets daunting…er?

You see, here’s the thing, as some of you might have already found out (or will be finding out very soon), the world isn’t set up in a well planned out and helpful way as it was in high school or any school setting before that…people don’t tell you everything you need to know to do the things that you want to do or accomplish the thing you wish to accomplish. What I mean by this is, I was unfortunately utterly unaware of the process involved of much of the tasks I have to go through in order to finally obtain the end goal of my PhD in clinical psychology.

So, welcome to my headache:

-I started off doing my undergrad in criminology 5 years ago; around year 3 of this 4 year course I realized I wanted to go into clinical psychology…simple enough right? Well, there are a few catchs here. First, upon making this decision I realized I would first have to do a thesis. This was fine, as I had already decided to do one a few years earlier, which was good since I needed an A- average to be able to do this and had been working towards this already.

-One of my profs thankfully decided to mention in class one day, that in order to do a thesis you first have to find a supervisor who will oversee your thesis project (something I might not have known until too late had this never come up in class). This meant I would have to search the department to find a professor who I wanted to work with and who was willing to work with me as well as had the same research interests/goals as myself. This also meant I had to find this individual by around March, 3 months before my application for the thesis course had to be in and 5 months before I would actually have to start the course.

-As you might realize I was very thankful someone had told me this before March…even if it was already January….So, I developed a general idea of a thesis, searched out profs and thankfully got one in time.

-In the end I graduated a year later having completed a 4 years honours degree in criminology with a specialization in sociology and a minor in psychology; completing this all with an honours thesis and still maintaining my A- average. Sounds pretty nice right? Well, that’s what I thought.

-Around the same time I heard about the thesis though I had heard about the GREs as well. These are some of those general testing things some crack-pot thought up to make it harder for students to make it though their education years (thanks).

-So, I started studying for the GREs (general and psychology specific) which I needed in order to get into clinical psychology after finishing my undergrad (as I had planned to take the year off to work and save up money for grad school). This was all fine until I went to sign up to write the course. Turns out the psychology one was only offered about two or three times a year, one I had missed, the next was in two weeks and I hadn’t studied hardly enough for it, and the third would get me my grades too late for most grad school application deadlines. Frick.

-Around this time I had started researching and writing grad schools to find out which ones I wanted to go to. After sending out countless notes trying to get a straight answer from anyone as to if I needed to go back for a psychology degree or if my crim one was fine I finally got my answer. Yes, I would have to go back. Double frick.

-So, I reenrolled to upgrade my minor in psychology to a major (so long year of work). I also found out I needed a minimum of an A- to get into grad school…which thankfully I have, but now must be sure to maintain…but I would also have to do another thesis as my crim one also wasn’t good enough for the clinical psychology master program. Triple frick.

-This meant I went though the process of finding a professor again. Unfortunately in psychology labs fill up fast and I was cutting it close when I started emailing in February.

-Now, I have found my professor and am on my way to completing my second undergraduate degree. Good.

-However, the hard part now begins. I now must write the thesis, write my GRE (specific and general), maintain my A- average, pay for this all so am working part-time, finish my classes in time to apply to Grad school asap (i.e. Sept 2011), and on top of this find funding for grad school research…which is a whole other headache…

-In order to find funding, I must first decide what schools to apply to, decide which professors I wish to work with, meaning I need to also decide what kind of research I want to specialize in for the next 4-7 years of my life and potentially focus on for my career, obtain agreement from professors in each school I am applying to to work with me if I get in and then apply for funding before actually applying to the school to increase my chances of getting in.

-All of this because with two undergraduate degrees, two thesis, an A- average and funding, writing the GREs (and hopefully getting good grades) I may still only be just over the bare minimum of other applicants wishing to pursue clinical psychology…apparently finding time to volunteer is a beneficial part of the application…

See, I don’t think people realize how HARD and f’ing demanding it is to be a student, there’s not just the idea of studying and going to classes and getting good grades, you have to be 10 steps ahead of everything else without knowing what steps to go though! On top of this, the people I need information and help from are “too busy” often and put my priorities on the back burner and think that’s ok because they don’t have any knowledge as to what students go though, that their lives are actually more demanding than someone who has a secure job! When I have to email professors, employers, schools, etc. multiple times and do follow ups and re-explain things, by the time I get the information I need it’s a month later and I’m cutting it too close to deadlines. People don’t seem to prioritize very well in this world and they sure as heck don’t put students or their requests at the top of their priorities. This is a shame because as a student you need things done NOW and not a month later or when they remember it; and this isn’t because student procrastinat it’s because deadlines happen very early and if you’re not prepared because others aren’t giving you the time of day or respect they would give to others then you look bad and this can effect a heck of a lot more than people realize, it can mean waiting another year to finish your degree, it can mean not getting a position in a school or job, or not having the correct information, it can mean missing deadlines and even having to rethink your whole career. For me, nothing can go wrong now, for the next 7 years if I miss a step a lot gets screwed up, something as simple as getting a bad grade on the GRE or missing the deadline for applications or not being able to get into that one course I need to finish my psychology degree can mean my life is put on hold for another year.

I guess what I’m saying in the end is, people need to respect students more, get their priorities straightened out and work hard because as far as I’m concerned there’s a lot of slackers in this world and unfortunately we depend on them for too much. And finally…do students another small favour…if you have information that can help them out…tell them!

I’ve never really been one to watch the Olympic games in all honestly, I found them boring as a child, I’d much rather have seen what Bugs Bunny was up to or tuned into Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles…you know, things with real passion eh? However, this year I actually sat down and watched the opening ceremonies, and from that moment on I was stuck on the Olympics.

            I don’t know how many other people across Canada alone got the ‘Olympic fever’ but this year for some reason I got it bad. Every morning as I got ready for work I would turn on the TV to the same channel and the journalists would wake up with me. Every evening I’d come home from work or class and I’d tune in to see what events had taken place and what was going on that night. I’d receive texts from my Mom periodically each day updating me on our metal count and what races we’d won in. It was just something outside of my own little world of crazy school and work life that I could sit down, relax and be excited for…and it didn’t hurt that I could actually do school work while watching it (I mean really, I was mostly interested in the Canadian athletes, or on occasion those athletes they did those little pre-game life stories on), so during other athletes’ runs I’d read my textbook…you know how student life is.

            I started looking forward every day to events I would watch in the evening and have people come over to watch anything really, curling, skating, and of course hockey! It didn’t really matter what we watched, we just loved seeing our athletes compete and really took pride in the metals won as though they were our own (I love living vicariously though athletes…makes me feel like I never have to go to the gym).

            The day I found out that the Olympics were ending however a wave of sadness washed over me briefly, I thought to myself, who will wake up with me in the morning? How will I deal with the lack of texts from my Mom? How will I decide what to watch on those nights when there’s no good shows on TV? But I made it though, and although the closing ceremonies were emotional for me, I held to one thing…we kicked butt in both women’s and men’s hockey!

I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one who has gone though this, and maybe if you’re reading this you haven’t experienced such a wave of irony and dissatisfaction, but chances are you will feel it after reading this post so…umm…sorry?

            I have recently found myself having feelings of dissatisfaction and resentment towards the way the world works…now let me narrow that down a bit since I’m sure there’s many ways the world “doesn’t work”. What I mean is the whole goal of life society has for us. When we’re young we’re put in school until we’re 18 or so, this preps us for the ‘real world’ but what we’re really getting ready for is deciding on our career, in order to accomplish most of these career aspirations we need to go to more school (university, college, etc.) once we’re done that we make our way into the working world, trying our hardest to make all of that education we received work for us and using it to gain experience and entrance into the jobs we think we want. Once we get there we work our whole life to save money so we can retire and enjoy the last few decades before we die. Do you see my problem?

            We work our whole life towards a career that we’re often times doing just so we can make money to retire to enjoy life…so why does our society have things set up so that the only life we’re given is used to work 8 hours/day 5 days/week for the majority of our life so that we can only enjoy the last bit of it when we’re old and tired and possibly not capable of doing anything we want to do anymore?? Why are we spending the best years of our life working so hard towards something that’s just the means to an end??

            Hopefully you will excuse my ramblings here, but these realizations are really quite frustrating. This is the reason why I want to be happy in my career, because I’m going to be doing it for the majority of my life and if you get to the point where it’s not fun you’re going to be miserable for so much of it until you retire! Unfortunately, so many people are not happy with their career. In my opinion, people aren’t happy because so often they’re rushed into a career they may not like because at age 18 they have to make decisions as to what they want to do the rest of their life so they can study and prepare for it (as now it takes at least a masters to get most jobs) or they’re rushed into it because they need the money to pay for the basic necessities of living!

            So, where is this all coming from? Well, as I said before, this is the reason I want to enjoy my career, the problem here is the job I think I want requires me to be in school at least until I’m 30 (why so late you may ask? First, because I need to get a PhD for the job I want and second because I changed degrees 3 times as out of high school I had no idea what the real world was like and so no idea what I wanted to do in it). Once getting out of school it’s another thing, trying to gain experience so that I can actually work in the setting I want to and making my way up the career latter to get to the top so I can make the big bucks and retire ‘happy’…right? Well, it doesn’t end there, my other frustrations lie in the fact that the 7 + years of schooling I still need to do is taken up by things like research and studying of a vast array of topics so that I can find my niche. While I understand why this may be important to some, the fact that it’s standardized this way leaves the people who already know what area they wish to specialize in frustrated as they have to complete a large assortment of classes they don’t need in the end for the career they want which also may bring down their overall marks making it harder for them to get into the school they wish to go to. And of course most of the jobs won’t end up taking into account how much you know about any one particular subject, but instead just look at the initials at the end of your name and the letters on your transcript; because to the world, it’s not important what you think you can do or how passionate and good you are at it just as long as you have the degree.

In a way university has a tendency to kill people’s passion for the work they want to do because it’s too generalized. This is why I often regret not going to a community college as they at least specialize in certain careers and help you get on your way in only a few years. The problem with this is the career I want isn’t really part of the community college curriculum, and even if it was unfortunately people don’t seem to value a two year degree (which indecently focuses more on your degree and gives you hands on experience) over a Masters or PhD (which generalizes and worries far too much about research and book learning).

In the case of clinical psychology (my end goal) I understand the need for a large amount of knowledge on various things however there’s more to it than getting the right letter grades and universities don’t seem to take much other than that into account. All this pressure and frustration is enough sometimes to make me want to give up and forget about the PhD and just do some job that doesn’t require me to be in school for the majority of my life so that I can just start paying off my student debt, but I keep thinking if I end up doing a career that’s less satisfactory to me in the end I’ll just end up depressed and needing to seek counselling.

            Isn’t that ironic?

Here is a small list of some cool shows coming up in March or April. Check one out for something to do!

SNFU – March 19 @ Sneaky Dee’s, Toronto. SNFU started playing in the late eighties in California. Early skate-punk with fast licks and catchy lyrics.

Forgotten Rebels – March 13 @ Casbah, Hamilton AND March 20 @ Alexander’s, Brantford. The Forgotten Rebels were around during the first wave of punk in the late seventies. Heavy garage sound, basically just distorted Chuch Berry tunes if you ask me – which is a good thing. And, they have a new album coming out this spring.

The Specials – April 19 @ Sound Academy, Toronto. This show will be amazing. The Specials also started in the late seventies, playing ska in the UK. Rocksteady-reggae that heatseekingly catches the ear. If you don’t know ‘em, try ‘A Message To You, Rudy’ on Youtube.

Gogol Bordello – April 20 @ Sound Academy, Toronto. Gypsy-punks. ‘Nough Said.

Also, Germ Attack from Ottawa just released a 7-inch, and they are releasing a new LP, Cruxshadow, in March. Speed-Street Punk that has been evolving in Ottawa for almost ten years now. The thing about Germ Attak is they have really well-done recordings, and they are seasoned musicians, so they know what they are doing. I recomend, and will have to pick these up sometime soon.

Word. Thanks for reading, reply with a comment about a show I’ve missed. See you in the pit.

Around this time of year you should be thinking about or have already started the steps towards your undergraduate thesis if you’re planning on doing one next year. If you haven’t however, don’t panic, truth is, you’re probably not alone or in the minority.

            When I started my undergraduate degree, I had no idea what was involved in the preparation for it, and it may vary depending on the university that you are going to, however, some things other than dates and deadlines should be relatively similar.

            I am writing this blog as profs don’t realize that it’s not common sense to know when and how to start preparing to write an undergrad thesis if you’ve never done it before. So, hopefully I can give you a bit of a nudge in the right direction…and if nothing else, at least provoke you to inquire at your department as to what you should be doing and when you should be doing it.

 Either way, these are a few important steps I learned during my experience:

 1. Choosing a thesis supervisor: To do this go to your department’s website and look for the faculty list. Then comes the fun part…look at every professor’s profile and see if their interests match yours. Make a list of all the professors and their profiles that you like and once you’re done here’s a great tip…have you ever heard of the website rate my professors? No? Well it’s fantastic! Basically, it’s a website that lists schools across the country and the professors at these schools and students can go in and rate each professor and describe why they’ve given them those ratings (based typically on average easiness, helpfulness, clarity, overall quality and there’s even a hotness rating…oh how bold). So, go to this website: www.ratemyprofessors.com and search each of the professors you found an interest in. This can give you a good idea as to how each will work with you and if they’re worth pursuing.

 2. Choosing a topic: Make sure it’s a topic you’re going to enjoy…or at least have a high tolerance for (i.e. make sure it’s something you wont get sick of quickly), as chances are you’re going to be spending the majority of your year researching and writing about it. This topic should also be similar to the interests of each professor you want to work with. For instance, if the prof you are writing has an interest in female offenders, try and find a specific topic you’re interested in related to female offenders and include this in your email to the prof. Keep in mind that some professors will have research projects on the go already and will want you to help with these for your thesis, make sure you’re ok with this first or thank them for the offer, but explain you’d prefer to work on a topic more inline with your interest/one of your own. Also, the topic you chose should be narrowed down immensely! I revised my topic about 5 times before I actually came up with the one I ran with. The professor will help you to do this likely, but be prepared to cut a lot of the fat off that idea (what a metaphor for a vegetarian!).

 3. Start preparing early: I say this as, like I said you will likely be revising your topic at least quite frequently, also, you should start looking for your supervisor/professor in Jan or Feb of the year before you start your thesis…i.e. for writing your thesis this coming Sept, you should be emailing professor at this time (the earlier the better). Some professors will not want to be contacted so early and will ask you to email them again at a later date, but chances are you’ll be well prepared for when they do want to discuss it. Furthermore, you want to have the first choice of professors and contacting them early can give you that edge. For many professors, they will want to hear from you early on to start prepping you for the next year.

 4. Set deadlines for yourself/be organized: This is super important and will likely be done with the help of your supervisor/professor. A lot of people start researching their thesis in the summer before they actually start it. This can save a lot of headache during the year and help you start out on a smoother pace. Also, if you have to go back and restart or revise anything, you’ll be able to know this earlier on (and believe me this happens more often than not so don’t worry or be too frustrated if you have to start over a few times). Leave enough time to re-write your thesis a few times and have more than one person read it over first to ensure that others outside of you and your supervisor will understand what you’re trying to say/what you’ve found.

I’m going to assume most people have at least pondered the idea of working at the government at least once in their life. I mean, lets face it, it pays really awesome, they get a ton of vacation time and they have some great benefits and a wide range of places to work at within the departments and across Canada. I also am going to assume that a lot of students have had very few chances or none at all to work at a desk job or at the government. I say this because up until about 2 years ago, all my friends I would do every year was complain about our summer jobs and how we’d always get stuck in retail doing hard work for minimum pay at all hours of the day/week. We used to dream of the day we’d get to work in an office in front of a computer all day and get weekends off…yes, we actually wanted the 9-5 jobs…

            Of course, you may have read a blog I wrote a while back talking about how the student life and the ‘real world’ lifestyle are very different and how the student is so efficient that they have to slow down a lot when they start working outside of school. Well, my perspectives on that topic really came from working in the public service. Now, I’m not going to say that all jobs in the government are boring or demand very little attention/hard-work because honestly, some of them are very hard and stressful, and it really depends on where you work and what’s going on in the department at the time you’re there…Also, it helps if you have a higher status and are not just working at entry level positions with a lot of other people trying to work their way up. However, I have spoken to a lot of students and people around my age who have reiterated my concerns about working in the government. It can get boring and not really tap into your strengths or skills.

            This being said, I do not want to discourage anyone from perusing a carrier or job in the government as, like I said, not all jobs will be the same. I DO however, want to warn people as to what they may be getting into and also maybe give some insight as to how to avoid getting stuck in this position and also how to get your foot in the door in the government.

Advice for getting in:

-If your school provides you the opportunity to do a field placement and there is a placement available in the government, I would say take it. Do everything in your power to get into a placement position that has opportunity for advancement. This is how I got into the public service, and honestly the majority of entry level positions I see are filled with placement students.

-With this advice in mind however, there are other way I know of getting into the government, these are: applying though FSWEP (Federal Student Work Experience Program), by either going to jobs-emplois.gc.ca/fswep-pfete/index-eng.htm or Googling FSWEP and filling out the VERY long form (don’t worry there is an end to it and after filling it out once, it’s just a matter of updating it from year to year). You could also go on the government of Canada website at www.jobs.gc.ca and search for jobs in your area. Keep in mind however, that most job postings will be posted internally, so another way would be to try and find someone working in government already who can update you on any jobs and can take your resume around to those looking to hire.

-Finally, it’s a great idea to start looking for jobs well in advance. Actually, if you’re looking for summer employment, you really should have been looking back in Dec or Jan, however, it’s never too late…so get moving!

Advice once you’re in:

-You will have to do some dirty work once you start working in the government, and by this I mean, boring and tedious tasks…sometimes reading about your department or catching up on the latest developments in the area you work in. Other times, filing documents or photocopying things for your employers.

-Do all of these tasks in an efficient manner, and ask for work when you’re done, do not wait around for your supervisor to give you something to do. Doing this shows initiative and if they have nothing more for you to work on they can possibly hand you over to someone else in your department to help them, this provides you with more exposure to others and to different work.

-Keep close contact with all those you work with and get to know them and spend as much time with them as you can. Research people who work in your department so you know who the “big wigs” are and try to rub shoulders with them any opportunity you can get. There are often small events that are held from time to time and if you receive emails for these events, ask your supervisor about them and see if you can get the chance to go and mingle, or go with your supervisor and ask them to introduce you to some people.

-Those you get close with will often be more than happy to forward you any job opportunities they hear about or provide you with references and contacts for future employment. Also, if you’re on the inside, like I said you’ll likely be given more chances to apply internally to jobs.

-All of these strategies will hopefully lead you to a higher position or one that taps into your strengths more than the entry-level ones, and at the very least, all of this exposure should provide you with a wealth of knowledge on various tasks which can promote your capabilities to those you work with, which may lead them to providing you with more difficult, demanding, rewarding and meaningful tasks.  

 Good Luck!