Since the turn of the last century, the largely undefended boundary between Canada and the United States has been an example to the world of peace and shared prosperity—something Canadian schoolchildren are taught to cherish, and that leaders of our two countries must praise when they meet. For generations, trade has flowed ever more freely across the line, while we venerated its relative invisibility—when we want to cross for a day of shopping or a road trip, we do that most Canadian of things: we line up.
Ricky, on the Brooks article from yesterday, here in Canada, I have felt the same divide. I come from a working class household. My father only has a high school diploma, although there is nothing wrong with his abilities (he was given a barrage of intelligence and cognition tests after an accident had left him in a coma for several days, and the verdict was that he could be anything he wanted to be); and my mother had a one-year teacher’s college diploma from the days before a university degree was needed to teach public school. Two of my siblings, eldest and youngest, married spouses from the middle class. Eldest sibling-in-law is a successfully employed Ph.D. and supports his family more than adequately. Youngest sibling-in-law did not get a career from his B.Sc. and has joined the working class in order to provide for his family. If I complete this program, I will be the first person in my immediate family to earn a university degree. It has been a very difficult road to get my education. Throughout our teens and young adult years, my siblings and I had contact with peers in the middle class, and we agreed that they have no concept of what it is like to not know if the bills are going to be paid for the next month – if they are worried about bills, it is the smartphone or cable bill, not the hydro or rent. Even now, some of my classmates seem to worry about finances but then talk about getting an expensive pet or go on an expensive vacation; and then I realize that we are really not on the same page financially, since anything like that is completely out of my reach.
Roscuro – Did you not need a university degree to become a nurse in Canada? Nightingale can be an LPN with a “trade school” education, which is equal to an Associates degree. She will begin classes in the fall towards a Bachelors in nursing, to be an RN.
Kizzie, I am a nurse now, with a two-year diploma from a community college – they are called RPNs (registered practical nurses) in Ontario and are a unique classification not only in North America but also throughout much of the world – we are regulated by the same body as RNs and can do pretty much anything an RN can do, but we work with stable patients. I was able to transfer my classification in West Africa, because it so happened that particular jurisdiction also had nurses with two years of training; but Practical Nurse qualifications do not transfer well internationally, since most NGOs and other aid agencies want RNs. So, that is why I’m getting my university degree to be an RN. However, my classification may again be unique, since the Ontarian legislature has recently passed a bill allowing RNs to prescribe and diagnose. How that will look is still being decided on by the regulating College, but it is an interesting time to become an RN here.
I should note that RNs prescribing and diagnosing does not mean that they are being made NPs (Nurse Practitioners) as that classification, which requires a Master’s degree, is already in Ontario.
Ricky, I thought of your opinions about the enterprising nature of immigrants when I recently met a nurse who has contributed an immense amount of research and education not only to Canadian nursing programs, but also worldwide. She is now a Canadian citizen, but she was born and began her nursing career in India.
One of the few things I agreed with in the Hillbilly Elegy is his description of cultural divide and the adaption problems for young people trying to the professional or business class. The sandwich shop may have been a poor illustration and Brook appeared a bit condescending but his point was correct. Often intelligent working class youth will prefer to stay with what is comfortable and familiar rather than attempt income mobility. Its often the reason working class kids choose teaching over other professions — its the one they are most familiar with.
The brain drain Ricky referred to yesterday and the refugee article from roscuro both point to the movement of initiative and intelligence to Canada. Some of the brain drain is Canadians coming back (the same thing occurred under Bush Jr) but some are Americans, legal immigrants, students, and illegal immigrants. All these groups bring positives to Canada. Even the illegal immigrants are mostly professionals, and other people of means. Travelling to the Canadian border to make a refugee is not a cheap trip.
I was definitely raised working class. My dad had such jobs as janitor at a private school, and he retired as a stock clerk at Motorola. Yet we have some innate intelligence, including some scary smart family members, and five out of seven of us have graduated from college.
Where I have always felt it obvious I’m a “wannabe” in professional settings is that my bottom teeth obviously needed orthodontic work, which I did not receive, and I have a fairly pronounced overbite. I’ve always been glad it’s my top teeth that show when I talk, but it’s clear to anyone who looks closely that I was not raised by a family with easy money. I don’t really feel “comfortable” around people with money, either. Not intimidated, definitely not jealous, but just like our mindsets are so different that I can’t relate and would rather be somewhere else.
Cheryl, I have the same issue as you. Dad didn’t really believe in orthodontics.
I have known some nice rich people over the years, but my wife and I prefer to live around, work with and go to church with middle class people, with a few poor and a few rich sprinkled in. Many kids now are “brand conscious”. Forty five years ago, any male in my high school who gave any indication he was even aware of the “brand” of someone’s clothes would quickly be on the receiving end of what would now be called a “homophobic slur”.
Brand consciousness — my male students from the projects will spend 100s on shoes, debate shoes, and spend hours online looking at shoes. Its about status in a world where noone practises deferred gratification.
In my day, we were more class conscious, we would deliberately scruff up and dirty any new overly shoe someone wore to impress.
HRW @ 10:20, What a post! You not only tempted me to agree with Krugman which has never happened in my entire life, but in doing so I would also have probably said something completely offensive to Trump voters. Unlike Jesus, I am unable to quote an appropriate Bible verse in response to the temptation.
Working class background here, too. And yes, I’m baffled by the huge menus in Starbucks. 🙂 I usually have to ask the person I’m with what I should order and what such-and-such is, how can I order “just” coffee, etc.
ugh — those were horrible. Dress for the occasion. Once boys play “rep” hockey they are required to wear a suit coat and tie before and after games. This continues into the pros — Canadian hockey players arrive at a game extremely well dressed and the European and Americans have adopted the “dress code” also.
I’ve watched hockey all my life so I’m used to seeing the players walking into the arena in a suit. One player once wore a track suit instead. His teammates threw it in the shower — told him to get a real suit. When you are paid more than million spend a few dollars on a good clothes.
Play the video in this link — you’ll love the always political incorrect Don Cherry call players who don’t dress well “thugs who will steal your hubcaps”. He also connect the lack of ties to losing.
Wandering Views 
I have to confess that I was wrong in the exact same way that Douthat was wrong:
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Dreher comes to the defense of Brooks and stresses the importance of the point Brooks was trying to make.
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Ben Shapiro with the Tweet of the day.
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Hmm. Big Trump seems to be denying the existence of his own son.
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The long read – a Canadian perspective on our, somewhat, new border issue: http://www.macleans.ca/down-on-the-border/?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Promo&utm_campaign=macleans&utm_term=q3&utm_content=society
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The Riot Effect:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/still-living-with-the-riot-effect-50-years-later-1499812338
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Ricky, on the Brooks article from yesterday, here in Canada, I have felt the same divide. I come from a working class household. My father only has a high school diploma, although there is nothing wrong with his abilities (he was given a barrage of intelligence and cognition tests after an accident had left him in a coma for several days, and the verdict was that he could be anything he wanted to be); and my mother had a one-year teacher’s college diploma from the days before a university degree was needed to teach public school. Two of my siblings, eldest and youngest, married spouses from the middle class. Eldest sibling-in-law is a successfully employed Ph.D. and supports his family more than adequately. Youngest sibling-in-law did not get a career from his B.Sc. and has joined the working class in order to provide for his family. If I complete this program, I will be the first person in my immediate family to earn a university degree. It has been a very difficult road to get my education. Throughout our teens and young adult years, my siblings and I had contact with peers in the middle class, and we agreed that they have no concept of what it is like to not know if the bills are going to be paid for the next month – if they are worried about bills, it is the smartphone or cable bill, not the hydro or rent. Even now, some of my classmates seem to worry about finances but then talk about getting an expensive pet or go on an expensive vacation; and then I realize that we are really not on the same page financially, since anything like that is completely out of my reach.
LikeLiked by 5 people
Roscuro – Did you not need a university degree to become a nurse in Canada? Nightingale can be an LPN with a “trade school” education, which is equal to an Associates degree. She will begin classes in the fall towards a Bachelors in nursing, to be an RN.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Kizzie, I am a nurse now, with a two-year diploma from a community college – they are called RPNs (registered practical nurses) in Ontario and are a unique classification not only in North America but also throughout much of the world – we are regulated by the same body as RNs and can do pretty much anything an RN can do, but we work with stable patients. I was able to transfer my classification in West Africa, because it so happened that particular jurisdiction also had nurses with two years of training; but Practical Nurse qualifications do not transfer well internationally, since most NGOs and other aid agencies want RNs. So, that is why I’m getting my university degree to be an RN. However, my classification may again be unique, since the Ontarian legislature has recently passed a bill allowing RNs to prescribe and diagnose. How that will look is still being decided on by the regulating College, but it is an interesting time to become an RN here.
LikeLiked by 3 people
I should note that RNs prescribing and diagnosing does not mean that they are being made NPs (Nurse Practitioners) as that classification, which requires a Master’s degree, is already in Ontario.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Ricky, I thought of your opinions about the enterprising nature of immigrants when I recently met a nurse who has contributed an immense amount of research and education not only to Canadian nursing programs, but also worldwide. She is now a Canadian citizen, but she was born and began her nursing career in India.
LikeLiked by 1 person
One of the few things I agreed with in the Hillbilly Elegy is his description of cultural divide and the adaption problems for young people trying to the professional or business class. The sandwich shop may have been a poor illustration and Brook appeared a bit condescending but his point was correct. Often intelligent working class youth will prefer to stay with what is comfortable and familiar rather than attempt income mobility. Its often the reason working class kids choose teaching over other professions — its the one they are most familiar with.
The brain drain Ricky referred to yesterday and the refugee article from roscuro both point to the movement of initiative and intelligence to Canada. Some of the brain drain is Canadians coming back (the same thing occurred under Bush Jr) but some are Americans, legal immigrants, students, and illegal immigrants. All these groups bring positives to Canada. Even the illegal immigrants are mostly professionals, and other people of means. Travelling to the Canadian border to make a refugee is not a cheap trip.
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I think HRW is correct on both points.
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Or, at least I agree with him. 🙂
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I was definitely raised working class. My dad had such jobs as janitor at a private school, and he retired as a stock clerk at Motorola. Yet we have some innate intelligence, including some scary smart family members, and five out of seven of us have graduated from college.
Where I have always felt it obvious I’m a “wannabe” in professional settings is that my bottom teeth obviously needed orthodontic work, which I did not receive, and I have a fairly pronounced overbite. I’ve always been glad it’s my top teeth that show when I talk, but it’s clear to anyone who looks closely that I was not raised by a family with easy money. I don’t really feel “comfortable” around people with money, either. Not intimidated, definitely not jealous, but just like our mindsets are so different that I can’t relate and would rather be somewhere else.
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Cheryl, I have the same issue as you. Dad didn’t really believe in orthodontics.
I have known some nice rich people over the years, but my wife and I prefer to live around, work with and go to church with middle class people, with a few poor and a few rich sprinkled in. Many kids now are “brand conscious”. Forty five years ago, any male in my high school who gave any indication he was even aware of the “brand” of someone’s clothes would quickly be on the receiving end of what would now be called a “homophobic slur”.
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I hadn’t checked in on Sweet Meteor O’Death in a while:
https://twitter.com/smod4real/status/882644221647175680
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More from the meteor:
https://twitter.com/smod4real/status/882100620139741184
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Will Ricky agree with Krugman —
https://mobile.nytimes.com/blogs/krugman/2017/07/12/we-dont-need-no-education-2/?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur&referer=http://m.facebook.com/
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Brand consciousness — my male students from the projects will spend 100s on shoes, debate shoes, and spend hours online looking at shoes. Its about status in a world where noone practises deferred gratification.
In my day, we were more class conscious, we would deliberately scruff up and dirty any new overly shoe someone wore to impress.
LikeLiked by 1 person
HRW @ 10:20, What a post! You not only tempted me to agree with Krugman which has never happened in my entire life, but in doing so I would also have probably said something completely offensive to Trump voters. Unlike Jesus, I am unable to quote an appropriate Bible verse in response to the temptation.
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I guess Texas isn’t really completely full of Yankees just yet.
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Working class background here, too. And yes, I’m baffled by the huge menus in Starbucks. 🙂 I usually have to ask the person I’m with what I should order and what such-and-such is, how can I order “just” coffee, etc.
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DJ, Isn’t that the place where “tall” means little and medium and large are in some foreign language?
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HRW, I don’t care about the brand, but do you know where I can get some green pants with white stripes up the sides?
http://people.com/sports/espy-awards-2017-russell-westbrook-best-male-athlete/
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I was initially baffled but have settled on “tall blonde” as my order. It sounds better than my “medium black one sugar” order at Tim’s
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ugh — those were horrible. Dress for the occasion. Once boys play “rep” hockey they are required to wear a suit coat and tie before and after games. This continues into the pros — Canadian hockey players arrive at a game extremely well dressed and the European and Americans have adopted the “dress code” also.
LikeLiked by 1 person
HRW, Westbrook’s clothes are as funny and absurd as Trump’s Tweets.
http://ftw.usatoday.com/2016/10/russell-westbrook-nba-fashion-kilt-season-opener-thunder
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I’ve watched hockey all my life so I’m used to seeing the players walking into the arena in a suit. One player once wore a track suit instead. His teammates threw it in the shower — told him to get a real suit. When you are paid more than million spend a few dollars on a good clothes.
Here’s NHL players at an award show. Check out the rookie of the year and his suit. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_cGIysgrfM
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Play the video in this link — you’ll love the always political incorrect Don Cherry call players who don’t dress well “thugs who will steal your hubcaps”. He also connect the lack of ties to losing.
LikeLiked by 1 person