The Chinese language has many dialects spoken yet Mandarin has always been the official language.

In Mandarin, there are two present types of writings: Traditional and Simplified Chinese characters. Traditional Chinese has been the official form of writing for thousands of years. And from it, the Simplified form was born.

In recent decades, China's effort in trying to make Chinese easier for both her youth and foreigners resulted in this push of Simplified Chinese. However, at the same time, Traditional Chinese is still studied and widely recognized.

The purpose of Simplified Chinese was meant for an easier reading (with less characters) and less pen-strokes in writing characters. It is the attempt of making Chinese more phonetic rather than having many words pronounced the same.

The two forms of Chinese have always co-existed peacefully for many years. The importance of Traditional Chinese lies in the fact that each character represents a very specific meaning. This is of extreme importance because it allows the reader to understand a written word even without the word being in context.

Simplified Chinese, although convenient, fails to incorporate meaning into its characters. Many words of same phonetic sounds are replaced by a single character that possesses the same sound but lacks in meaning. The major downfall of Simplified Chinese is that it lacks meaning. Currently, historical texts are in Traditional Chinese, (simply because one can read and understand based on the author's choice of words) however, if Traditional Chinese is to be replaced by Simplified Chinese, one would not be able to understand these texts/writings because words have lost their meanings, they simply represent a way of pronouncing the texts. As time progresses, this would result in the loss of history and culture.

UN's action to "unify" the Chinese characters and recognize ONLY Simplified Chinese will have devastating impact upon the Chinese language, culture, history. Internationally, Traditional Chinese would be forgotten and neglected, it would only be a matter of time before Traditional Chinese becomes the next "Latin". (the dead language) Along with this loss of language, would be a culture and history lost forever.

Although Simplified Chinese is an easier way to learn Chinese, but it should not be the only form of Chinese written language. It should be a convenience, not an absolute. By allowing it to become the "official" writing, the Chinese language would be in regression.

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Example of Simplified VS Traditional (provided by a fellow supporter)

The word Noodle in Chinese
Traditional: 麵 = 麥 + 面 (wheat + surface)
Simplified: 面 (surface/face/noodle)
*meaning in brackets

The Traditional form has two parts which helps to identify it as noodles. Simplified character only provides the pronouciation so the reader would be unable to determine the meaning without it's context.

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The above has been confirmed that the UN never used both Chinese forms. IN FACT, Traditional Chinese does not even exist in the UN anymore (except prior to early 1970's).

In truth, I am uncertain what will become of this petition. After all, it is a few decades late. Although, what saddens me, is the fact that Traditional Chinese has already lost its ground.

People signed this petition to fight against Traditional Chinese being abolished. YET, now that we know it's a fact, why should we not fight harder.

Some have claimed this to be a hoax. Others have supported and sent emails. I personally thank everyone of you who took time to come here regardless of your positions.

For news click here.

Updates to Ontario’s sexual education curriculum have been dogged with controversy since they were last proposed back in 2010 when Kathleen Wynne was Education Minister under then-Premier Dalton McGuinty.

Parents objected to the young ages at which graphic content and morally contentious topics were being introduced.

Then, as now, Ontarians want to send the strongest possible message to stop the delivery of contentious and age-inappropriate material to our children at school. We urge concerned parents and grandparents, as well as other Ontario voters to petition the Liberal government to drop the proposed changes by adding their signatures to this petition.

Please also share this petition link widely on social media and by email!!

What does this mean?

Your child will not be able to attend school in Massachusetts if you do not want them to receive a flu shot annually.

• Even if you are in compliance with all other vaccinations required for school, your child will not be able to attend school without receiving a flu vaccine by December 31st 2020.
• This requirement is not temporary or tied to the COVID-19 state of emergency. The requirement will apply annually moving forward.
• K-12 remote learners will still be required to comply with all vaccination mandates, including the new influenza mandate.
• This requirement applies to all schools at all age levels, public or private. There are no schools that are exempt.
• Currently, exemption law still stands however, medical exemptions are near impossible to obtain.

--------------------------------IMPORTANT UPDATE - May 23, 2010 --------------------------------

Bullying managers at Middlesex University have suspended two philosophy professors and several philosophy students for the crime of campaigning to save their own jobs and courses.

The suspensions come in the wake of international outrage at plans by Middlesex managers to shut down the university's world renowned philosophy centre. Students occupied the Mansion Building at Middlesex's Trent Park campus for 12 days in protest at the closure decision. Now the university bosses are threatening to suspend every student involved in this peaceful sit-in protest.

We must not let these bullies get away with trashing Middlesex University's academic reputation, shutting down successful departments and intimidating those staff and students who stand up to them.

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The abrupt closure of the Philosophy programmes at Middlesex University is a matter of national and indeed international concern. Not only does it flatly contradict the stated commitment of Middlesex University to promote 'research excellence', it represents a startling stage in the ongoing impoverishment of Philosophy provision in the UK.

The Centre for Research in Modern European Philosophy (http://www.web.mdx.ac.uk/crmep/) at Middlesex makes a significant and distinctive contribution to the teaching of philosophy in the UK. Its set of MA programmes is currently the largest in the UK, and Philosophy is the most prestigious and highest research-rated subject at Middlesex University.

The CRMEP is now widely recognised as one of the most important centres for the study of modern European philosophy anywhere in the English-speaking world. Building on its grade of 5 in the 2001 Research Assessment Exercise, in the 2008 RAE Middlesex was rated first in philosophy among post-1992 universities, with 65% of its research activity judged ‘world-leading’ or ‘internationally excellent’.

More importantly, work carried out at the CRMEP is characterised by a unique emphasis on broad cultural, artistic and intellectual contexts, and a marked sense of social and political engagement.

Middlesex Philosophy is one of only a handful of programmes left in the UK that provides both research-driven and inclusive post-graduate teaching aimed at a wide range of students, specialist and non-specialist. It also happens to generate a substantial amount of revenue for the University, currently contributing close to half of its total income to the University's central administration.

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To express support and to help with the campaign email savemdxphil@gmail.com or join the facebook group.

If you would like to keep up to date on the progress of the campaign then please visit:
http://savemdxphil.com/
or follow us on twitter:
http://twitter.com/saveMDXphil

For various past press releases (which include pieces in the Guardian, Guardian CIF, the Telegraph, and BBC World Radio) please visit:
http://savemdxphil.com/2010/05/09/press-round-up/
or join our facebook group where all publications and future events are discussed:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/group.php?gid=119102561449990&ref=ts

For more information on the financial arguments you can read our Finance FAQ -
http://savemdxphil.com/2010/05/01/faq-on-the-financial-situation-of-philosophy-at-middlesex/

PLEASE CIRCULATE THIS NEWS WIDELY - closure at Liverpool and cuts at KCL and elsewhere have been avoided and suspensions as Sussex have been reveresed due to protest. It IS possible to stop the demented venal idiocy of university management.

If you would like to show Dean Esche what you think of this decision then you can email him at e.esche@mdx.ac.uk, please send a copy and any reply to savemdxphil@gmail.com

What upsets me and makes my hand quake with emotion as I write this is the hoodwinking of the polity by our 'leaders'. They have chosen to major on the minors and minor on the majors.

So this is what we can do. We can sign a referendum. By our constitution, the people can show their disagreement with a new law or policy or in this case name change by appending their signatures to a public statement. 50,000 signatures are needed.

All you need to do is sign this petition and share the link with your BB contacts, on facebook, on twitter and on every related news e-report and blogs.

This is no disrespect to MKO but a strong message to 'them'. That we have had enough of this bad governance and platitudes. We know what we want. We may not have the power at this moment to stop them but it does not mean we are not aware of what they are doing. We want so many things. (The list is endless) but we will start with this. Revert the name to UNIVERSITY OF LAGOS. We are tired of being hoodwinked.

UNILAG is not just a name, it is a social Identity!

People who move to the UK need English language skills to access training, gain employment and participate in society. Enabling new arrivals and longer-term residents to fulfil their potential is essential. Migrants bring with them valuable skills, qualifications and experience which can lie untapped unless they have the chance to learn English.

The best way to achieve this is through publicly funded English language provision known as ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages).

Adequate and sustained funding of ESOL is not a luxury. It is an essential public service. This was recognized by Skills for Life, the national strategy for the improvement of adult literacy and numeracy. Thousands of migrants achieved levels of English which enabled them to join the jobs market, access training and participate more fully in their local communities. The strategy created a national curriculum for ESOL, training and qualifications for ESOL teachers and a research centre, the National Research and Development Centre. But now, the funding made available through the strategy is under threat and the good work begun by Skills for Life could be lost.

The government proposals indicate that:

- Full funding will be only be available for unemployed people on job-seeker’s allowance (JSA) or on employment support allowance (ESA), described as ‘active benefits’.

People on other benefits, described as ‘non-active benefits’, such as income support, or on low wages, and their dependants will have to pay the co-funded rate of 50% or the full cost of the course.

- Asylum seekers and people on Section 4 support will not be eligible for full public funding - they will be expected to pay 50%.

- There will be no public funding for ESOL in the workplace. Learners or employers will be expected to pay full cost.

- Since 2007, ESOL learners on benefits or low incomes have been able to get help towards fees from the discretionary Learner Support Fund for ESOL. We fear this will be unavailable in 2011-12.

- The Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) grant which provided support for 16 - 18 year old ESOL learners will be withdrawn.

- The weighting for ESOL and Literacy, which was reduced from 1.4 to 1.2 in 2009, is to be further reduced to 1.0.

We predict devastating effects on ESOL provision, teachers' jobs and ESOL students. We believe that people on low wages, women and asylum seekers are likely to be worst hit.

Turkish Community of Canada has learned from Nadine Segal (System Superintendent, Special Programs) that curriculum was based on Barbara Coloroso’s book Extraordinary Evil: A History of Genocide.

While Ms. Coloroso may be an internationally recognized speaker and author in the areas of parenting, grieving, teaching, school discipline, non-violent conflict resolution, and restorative justice, she is not a historian and her expertise does not include Ottoman history. She has repeatedly said that she was not a scholar and that scholars’ reactions to her book were not supportive. Canadians, of all backgrounds, have severe objections to basing history lessons on opinions of authors who themselves admit to not having any history education and not being scholars. In our belief, this course, with its current content, is a major flaw in our education system and it poses greater dangers for the future.

We understand that the course concentrates on the Holocaust and the Rwandan Genocide, and along with these two very dark periods of history, talks about the Armenian - Ottoman tragedy as a “genocide” as claimed by the Armenian Diaspora. Numerous respected historians, such as Andrew Mango, Bernard Lewis, Guenter Lewy, Roderic Davison, Norman Stone, Justin McCarthy, J.C. Hurewitz and the late Stanford Shaw dispute these Armenian claims.

Our schools and curricula cannot and should not be used for one-sided propaganda. History must be taught objectively with accurate account of essential historical facts. Accordingly, common sense would question the following: why the Armenian government and most of its Diaspora refuse to encourage any historical review which does not start with a genocide premise but instead seeks facts first prior to any such conclusion; why Armenian historical archives remain closed; why U.S. academics disputing claims of genocide have been intimidated through verbal and physical threats by certain members of the Armenian community; why, in Europe, Armenian lobbies have attempted to silence any debate by criminalizing all disputes of Armenian claims.

Our schools must consider the well-being of our children. Children of Turkish descent are already facing bullying, hate and racism in the school yards. Making one lobby group’s agenda the official curriculum of our schools will only increase the feeling of “vindication” of the bullies. We rely on our school system to provide a shelter free from hate-inciting propaganda and to not contribute to the divisions between ethnic minorities. TDSB and all other school boards across Canada should restrict themselves to teaching only what is either proven in a court of law or agreed upon, universally, by all historians. We demand that any reference to the tragic events of 1915, when many Ottoman Muslims and Armenians lost their lives, should be removed from the contents of CHG38M, until there is a scholarly agreement on how to categorize these events.

To that end, we would like to remind Toronto District School Board, its director, its chair and all of its trustees that in October of 2006, the Canadian government has endorsed a Turkish plan to convene an academic panel to study the events of 1915 comprised of Turkish and Armenian historians, as well as independent, third-party scholars. Cabinet Minister Peter MacKay, who was in charge of Foreign Affairs at the time, encouraged, in vain, the government of Armenia to participate in this committee.

Before the economic crisis, Washington school district budgets were hemorrhaging -- programs were cut, teaching staffs were reduced, and basic resources were drained. Now, $1 billion in new cuts to K-12 education could be made in the next state budget.

In the past decade alone there have been 19 studies looking at how to improve Washington’s education system. OUR CHILDREN NEED ACTION NOW.

We call upon our elected lawmakers to act this legislative session to pass a framework for a transparent and modernized K-12 finance system that at least:

***Ensures our students graduate high school qualified and competitive for continuing education, college, work and life.

***Increases teacher pay and creates a plan to entice, retain and support the next generation of great teachers.

***Replaces complicated staffing formulas with a transparent school funding model that funds basics like decreased class size, librarians, counselors, and support for struggling students.

***Makes early learning "basic" for our at-risk children.

We respectfully ask our elected officials to honor their constitutional obligation to prioritize and fund public education so our one million school children and their educators can succeed in the 21st century.

PLEASE TAKE A MOMENT TO ADD A COMMENT WHEN YOU SIGN about why you think this is important, your voice matters.

Want to do more? This grassroots effort needs you. Visit our developing website at http://wakidscantwait.com to learn how you can help.

You can also download and circulate a paper version of the petition here: http://wakidscantwait.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/paper_petition.pdf

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This petition was authored by two mothers from Spokane, the League of Education Voters, Washington Stand For Children and the Washington State PTA. To learn more about the authorship please visit this link: http://wakidscantwait.com