Santa's Apprentice

In the spirit of Christmas, I thought I would blog about my personal favorite Christmas cartoon! I have never seen or heard about this cartoon until just this year, it comes on YTV from 9:00 am - 10:00 am. This show is about an Australian boy named Nicholas who is an orphan doing an internship in Santa's workshop to become the next Santa Clause. I think this show is genius! Its a whole new different idea that no one has thought of coming up with and it is relevant to adults too! I always wonder where they come up with such creative ideas!

 

Previously I use to watch Frosty the Snowman or watch regular shows such as Family Guy or The Simpsons Christmas Specials but Santa's apprentice, this show just takes my views on cartoons to a whole new level. Each day there is a different crisis in Santa's workshop, whether it is temporary elf memory loss, Santa gets kidnapped, the reindeer become cannibals, or even setting up a date with Mr. and Mrs. Clause. Each day is more interesting and more exciting than the day before and really brings me back to my childhood. Now, my main interest in this cartoon is the theme song in the beginning.  The theme song alone is just so catchy, this song woke me up for the whole month of December. It was like someone was whispering sweet nothings in my ear! Kudos to the director and producer of this show seriously, this Christmas was worth waking up early for and its all because of Nicholas. 

 I am saddened that Christmas is over and that Santa's apprentice will not be airing for another year :( . So long Nicholas, see you next year buddy! 

I was unable to upload the theme song onto my blog so here is a direct link if you are interested in listening to it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2iwOh4SSqw

If you aren't interested in the song, here are some of the lyrics:

If your name is Nicholas and your heart is pure

You will be the next in line of this you can be sure

You'll be Santa Clause! 

Bribing Kids to Learn

Students in Africa willing to sit in a little hut for hours just to get learn. 

I recently read an article regarding the Toronto District School Board and their goals of paying needy kids to do well in school. The TDSB has been reaching out to Torontonians via Twitter to start a discussion of whether or not it is a good idea to pay disadvantaged students to attend school, get good grades and spend time mentoring others. Chris Spence, the TDSB’s director of education, tweeted: “Should we pay kids in our more disadvantaged communities to do well in school?"

Is this an April Fool’s joke? I feel like I am being Punk’d right now... Is Ashton Kutcher going to pop out and scare me right now? … Paying underprivileged kids to go to school, am I reading this correctly?

This issue raises a lot of questions for me. To start, how is it determined which kids are eligible for this “reward”? How is it fair to the rest of the students who work hard to get the grades they deserve? If they choose to pay certain kids to succeed, they should pay all the kids. If the kids are so needy to the point that they are unable to focus in school, then perhaps the school should contact Social Services to get governmental help.

I think this is a terrible idea! What this suggests to me is that we bribe students to succeed. Students should go to school just like the rest of us went to school simply because we want to make something of ourselves – to be successful. If students get paid to go to school now, they may expect everything else in life handed to them. What happens, when these students go to College or University and realize that they won’t be spoon fed anymore and that their professors actually do not care about their marks or their attendance for that matter? Will the TDSB be paying for their tuition too?

There are things in life you have to do because it is in your best interest. School is one of these things; you go to school and earn good grades because it will open opportunities for you. This suggested system created by the TDSB will only set these students up for failure in the long run because they will expect everything to be handed to them. If this system is implemented, I am certain that the College/University dropout rate will increase drastically.  

Here is an idea, maybe kids nowadays should learn some responsibility and get part time jobs just like the rest of us did back when we were in school. We don’t ask much from kids other than to go to and school and graduate to get a future so that they are able to support themselves.

Do these students not have the inspiration and common sense to get out of the poverty and situations in which they are living in by going to school? If not then why not educate them? Organize someone to go around these poverty stricken communities and teach students and talk to them about how they can change their lives, how they can improve their lives for the better and how they can contribute to society. Maybe something such as the “Canadian Dream” should be proposed to influence people into working towards a brighter future.

I don’t think people even realize the privileges that are provided to them. I feel ashamed to even think that the TDSB is considering paying students to go to school. What about 3^rd world countries who would love the chance of free education? They pay thousands of dollars to go to school some can’t even afford to go to school and here we are taking advantage and abusing the benefits and opportunities we have.

I can’t believe the insanity that is coming out of the school board! Paying students to get good grades, what’s next? Paying my dog with Kibbles because he didn’t bark today?

I myself am not sold on the idea of paying children to do their duties. Their reward is their education. 

Take The Car

What exactly does the Toronto Transit Commission really mean? It certainly does not mean respect, punctuality, dedication or affordability. It is no secret what little respect I have for the TTC. When I started university and started taking the bus a lot more than usual, I realized exactly why Torontonians are constantly complaining about the services provided by the TTC.
On my way to school, a commute that should generally take no more than 45 minutes takes at least an hour and half. This is because the bus that I take comes once every 30 minute. During rush hour, it can take up to 50 mins despite the schedule on the TTC website which indicates a 6 minute wait.
Above all, if any of the TTC staff is disrespected by a passenger, the passenger can potentially be fined and have a criminal record. I understand that disrespecting anyone is generally not right, however since when is it okay for the bus drivers to disrespect the passengers and speak to them in a condescending manner? One day I was commuting with my dog, it was his first time taking the bus and he was terrified. I had to pick up my dog and get on the bus. Unfortunately the 3 seconds it took me to pick up my dog was an inconvenience for the driver. I got yelled at in front of the entire bus for making the driver wait. Meanwhile he stopped the bus in front of Tim Horton's to fill his stomach with Coffee and Donuts. The ignorance and hypocracy of these driver's doesn't surprise me though. This is the way most of the TTC staff that I have encountered treat their paying passengers. This is the way the TTC works.
The TTC is also notorious for deceiving their passengers. Have you ever come across the many escalators that are "under construction" at the stations? They are usually under construction but you don't generally see any constructions workers during any hour of the day. At one point at the Sheppard and Young station, the escalator was not working for several months. A sign beside the escalator ensured passengers that the escalator would be running in two weeks and a date was provided on the sign. The escalator did not work until about a month after the initial date on the sign. Once this escalator started working, two more escalators on each side of the station stopped working and are now "under construction." This has been an ongoing issue since I started school back in 2008.
Lastly, $3.00 for one trip is far too expensive considering the outrageous services you receive. If the TTC provided a service that deserved the $3.00 charge, there wouldn't be a problem. The TTC is ridiculously over priced; why should we be paying $3.00 when we are given terrible service and broken promises?

The TTC affairs are run by people who do not experience the usage of it, the TTC just takes advantage of it's riders.Do you actually believe that all those who make decisions for the TTC actually take the transit as their main daily transportation? 

What A Joke!