Maëlys McArdle

Blog

  • Education without a Vision

    Education without a Vision

    In the short span since I last graduated in 2007, annual tuition for full-time science students at the University of Ottawa had jumped from $4,786.65 to $6,342.08. A 32% increase. I don’t ever remember paying less than $5,500, but I’m going by the tuition posted on the University of Ottawa website for that year and program.

    As a point of comparison, minimum wage in Ontario increased by 7% over the same period, or from $9.50 to $10.25. It used to be that you could work during university and come out of it without significant debt, if any. Now it is expected for students to be saddled with debts greater than the average Canadian annual salary.

    Yet even as university education is becoming less affordable, it is becoming more necessary. The undergraduate degree has displaced the high school diploma as the minimum barrier of entry to white-collar work. The Master’s degree meanwhile has filled the void left by the undegrad, and I see it as a requirement on more and more mainstream jobs.

    We rank amongst the most educated citizenry of the world, and it’s as if we don’t know what to do with it. Employers are raising the education requirements for job postings because the work pool can sustain it, even though the jobs themselves haven’t changed.

    In fact, many employers seem to be more enamoured with the idea of their staff having a university education than the contents of that education. How many jobs have you seen listing an undergraduate degree as a requirement but with little care as to which one? Is the employer better served because the person who fills spreadsheets all day has a Philosophy degree? How many stories have we heard from new graduates where the continuation of their role at a company wasn’t dependent on their competency, which they had satisfied, but whether they had obtained a diploma by a given date?

    It’s as if the undergraduate degree has become no more than a license to apply for white collar work.

    We’re caught in this cycle whereby we get educated because the market demands it, while the market demands it because we get educated. Unless something gives, students are going to eventually fork over $20k/year for tuition for nothing more than the privilege of avoiding automatic rejection by HR software.

    I’m not saying that education is without value. It’s that that value is rendered meaningless when all that is cared about is a piece of paper rather than what it symbolizes. When competency takes second place to technicalities. When computers reject people not on a basis of qualifications, but rather if they had the right set of letters beside the field written “education.”

    Most desk jobs out there should be open to people with high school diplomas. If you have the right experience and competency from years working in the field, you should be able to apply for a position without fear that a computer will dump you for having the “wrong” university degree.

    More educated Canadians is a good thing. But I believe that how our society has come to exploit this fact is to its own detriment. We need to figure out what education means to us, and develop a vision for how we can harness it the best way possible.

    Charts from the Canadian Federation of Students.

  • Back in University

    Back in University

    I made some baked maple doughnuts today.

     

    This was also my first day of university. I got my books, my student card, and checked out events on campus. Tomorrow will be an introductory session for my department and classes start on Wednesday. I’ll also try to get some work done.

    With that, the amount of time that I’ll have to devote to experimenting with food will likely be drastically slashed. From 8:30am until 6:00pm six days out of seven, I’ll be either at work or school. For that seventh day, I’ll spend half a day at my work place.

    If I have time in-between classes, and all my homework is done, I’ll either telecommute to work or spend some time on this creative endeavour I’ve been meaning to get to (I’ll leave the details of said project for another blog post.)

    Anyways, given the expected cutbacks in culinary exploration, I figured this would be a good time to share what have been my favourite recipes over the past little while.

    First on the list would be the cinnamon sugar pull-apart bread. The best way to describe it is to say that eating it is like picking away at a huge Cinnabon.

    Next on my list would be the soft cinnamon sugar pretzels. I’m not a big fan of pretzels, but this to me didn’t taste like the ones I had before. It tasted more like a doughnut from Suzy Q. I have more pictures about my effort to make them here.

    Third up would be the New York style cheesecake recipe with a shortbread crust.

    Then there are the Oreo-stuffed chocolate chip cookies.

    Finally, a simple but delicious recipe for peanut butter cookies.

    As a funny aside, it was interesting to see how I’d grown since the last time I had my university ID photo taken. The anxious me who had just turned 18, living at home, and relieved at having made a friend during the campus tour. Then the me of today, confidently navigating the adult world as a sea of kids take their own first steps in the path to personal freedom.

    Whatever happens in these next few years, it ought to be interesting.

  • Apple Pie Pancakes

    Apple Pie Pancakes

    The other day, I spent a few hours at Chapters looking through their cookbooks.

    I’ve been trying to find a guide to teach me how to cook, rather than hand me recipes. I don’t like the recipes found in most books because they tend to call for a bunch of expensive ingredients I’d only ever use the once. This just doesn’t work for me. I’d much rather the ability to look at what I have on hand, and figure out from there how I can combine them to produce something edible.

    The exception for me has been baking and grandmother recipe books, which tend to reconstitute the same few set of ingredients in imaginative and delicious new ways. If you dear reader have any recommendations on good learning materials, I would love to hear them. Tina suggested the cooking show Good Eats with Alton Brown, which I’m absolutely loving.

    Anyways, back at Chapters. I was paging through a bunch of books and stumbled on a really neat recipe idea: apple pie pancakes. So I promptly took a photo of the page with my phone and went home to give it a shot.

    It did not turn all that well. It was supposed to be a pancake with apple pie filling on top, but I ended up with it all mixed up together. The way they did it in the book was to cook it all in a single pan, so I decided to rework the recipe and use two pans.

    I wrote directions for myself and tried it again this morning. Much better: delicious and pleasing to the eye. I’ve included them below, but can be summed up as made apple pie filling, dumped it on a pancake.

    Apple Pie Pancakes RECIPE

    This makes two servings. Approximately 450 calories per serving.

    Summary: First, we’ll prepare two bowls worth of stuff. One bowl will contain the apple slices, the other, the pancake batter. We’ll then dump the contents of these bowls into separate pans and allow them to cook. Once the contents of both pans are cooked, we’ll combine the two on a dish and serve.

    Ingredients:

    • 1 Apple
    • 1 Egg
    • 1/4 Cup Milk
    • 1/4 Cup Flour
    • 4 Tbsp Butter
    • 2 Tbsp Sugar
    • 1/2 Tsp Cinnamon

    Apple Slice Bowl: Take two tablespoons of sugar and put it in the bowl. Add 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon and mix it well with the sugar. Peel an apple and cut it into slices, then throw the slices in the bowl. Mix the apple slices with the cinnamon sugar concoction so that all the slices get coated.

    Batter Bowl: Add 2 tablespoons of butter to the bowl. Microwave the bowl for 15 seconds to melt it. Add the 1/4 cup of flour, and mix it with the butter until it forms a paste. Add the egg and mix it until it’s a single consistency. Add the milk and mix it again until it’s uniform.

    Pan #1: Put the pan on medium-low. Add 1.5 tablespoons of butter, and wait for it to melt and bubble. Then add the apple slice mix including any cinnamon sugar left in the bowl. Stir and flip the slices occasionally.

    Pan #2: Once the first pan has been cooking with the apple slices for a few minutes, set the element for the second pan to medium-high. Add 1/2 a tablespoon of butter on the pan, and move it around to coat the entire surface. Wait a few minutes for it to melt and bubble, then add half the batter. Wait for it to solidify, then flip it. Take it out and put it on a plate when it becomes golden with brown spots on top. Add the second half of the batter and repeat.

    Finishing Touches: Add the apple mix to the top of the pancakes and serve.

  • Snickerdoodle Ice Cream Sandwich and Cinnamon Biscuits

    Snickerdoodle Ice Cream Sandwich and Cinnamon Biscuits

    I made a snickerdoodle ice cream sandwich today. I used the snickerdoodle recipe from Betty Crocker, substituting 3 tsp of baking powder for the cream of tartar and baking soda. I also substituted vegan buttery spread for the shortening and butter. This latter substitution wasn’t for any culinary reason; I just always buy that stuff rather than butter.

    I was quite happy with the results. I also made two attempts at cinnamon biscuits. I used a recipe from a card I found tucked away inside one of my books. The first turned out like little bites. I had rolled the dough in a rectangle and cut thick (inch long) pieces.

    For the second go-around, I rolled the dough a square and cut it up thinner.

    Cinnamon Biscuit Recipe

    Ingredients:

    • 2 Cups Flour
    • 3/4 Cup Milk
    • 3/4 Cup Sugar
    • 1/2 Cup Butter
    • 1/4 Cup Vegetable Oil
    • 1 Tbsp Vinegar
    • 1 Tbsp Baking Powder
    • 1 Tsp Cinnamon
    • 1/4 Tsp Baking Soda

    Instructions:

    • Put the vinegar in a measuring cup. Then put in the milk to the 3/4 line. Leave for five minutes.
    • Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl. Mix it.
    • Add in the vegetable oil and the vinegar/milk concoction. Mix it all in until it has the same consistency.
    • Put flour on a surface, and place your dough on it. Roll it out until it’s about 40cm long and 20 cm wide.
    • Put the butter in a bowl, and microwave it for 45 seconds.
    • Lather the now melted butter on the rolled out dough.
    • Mix together the sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle it on top of the melted butter.
    • Set the oven to 400F.
    • Slather a bit of butter on a cookie sheet to grease it.
    • Roll up the dough.
    • Cut up the roll in 2-3cm pieces. Put the pieces, exposed face up, on the cookie sheet.
    • Bake until lightly browned, about 15 minutes.
  • What Killed the Linux Desktop

    What Killed the Linux Desktop

    Miguel de Icaza wrote an interesting piece today sharing his thoughts on what he thinks is the lack of penetration by Linux in the desktop market. He points to development principles that have hurt backwards and cross-distribution compatibility, making the operating system less likely to function as well as the likes of Apple’s OS X.

    I think he raises some very valid arguments, but I also believe he’s missing the elephant in the room. I would summarize my explanation as to the lack of adoption as people take the path of least resistance. 

    That means using whatever comes on the system they bought. How often do casual users go through the trouble of switching operating systems after the fact? That’s a lot to ask from regular people. If the benefits are there, some may make the jump – but there’s a really high threshold you have to reach before they’ll be willing to overcome their reservations on the matter.

    Meanwhile, what motivation do computer manufacturers have to include it by default on their end? The path of least resistance is to keep using what’s worked. That means Windows. There’s a financial risk to deviate from that.

    I think as the hybridization of tablets with laptops go mainstream, there’s an opportunity for Linux to hit the desktop market by way of Android. If everyone’s used to laptops that behave like the mobile operating systems of today, it won’t be such a big jump to then have desktops that use Android. I think the rise of hybrids will have the effect of making mobile operating systems more desktop-y, making it more suitable as a workstation product.