The Cannon October 2021

THE CANNON SkuleTM’s Newspaper since 1978

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OCTOBER 2021 Volume XLIV

What I Learned From Hacking Google Chrome GEORGE LIU Cannon Webmaster I’m just a regular engineering student.

I mean, sure, I like watching random educational YouTube videos, using computers, and programming for fun, but I mean, hey, that’s why I’m in ECE. I’m not a hacker; nor do I have the skills to even remotely consider myself one. Yet despite that, I managed to do what I thought I could never do. *** The idea sprung near the end of the last school year, just before I was about to be swamped by finals

season. I was thinking about how browsers like Firefox and Chrome could improve privacy.

I remembered hearing somewhere that a design flaw in browsers allowed malicious websites to infer the browser history of unsuspecting visitors.

It worked because any website could apply different styles, such as different fonts or colours, depending on whether a link was visited or unvisited (in other words, whether it was in a user’s history). Then, they could check which links were Hacking Chrome continued on page 3

CREDIT: GEORGE LIU

OPINION

Why You Shouldn’t Vex Anti-Vaxxers JOAQUIN LIM Cannon Writer Canada has one of the highest Covid-19 vaccination rates in the world, including 86.8% of the eligible (12+) population in Toronto having received at least a single dose of the Covid-19 vaccine. With the necessary health & safety protocols and precautions being taken, Toronto has been able to come out of lockdown and open

most of its businesses and institutions to the public. To the general populace, the vaccine has been a major asset in our return to a somewhat normal lifestyle like before the pandemic hit.

This is a major point of controversy, however, for some small, yet highly vocal, insular communities.

These people who are openly against the vaccine are often met with harsh pushback, which tends to reinforce their beliefs and

It’s Fun to Run Errands! page 7

further radicalize them.

“Anti-vaxxers”, as they are often referred to, can be defined as individuals who are wholesale against the government’s administration of vaccines, or at the very least, against mandating them to the public. There are a variety of reasons as to why people might choose to identify as “antivax,” ranging from sociopolitical factors, to even Anti-Vax continued on page 3

Why the ANA Collapsed pages 10-12

CREDIT: DAVID LOCKE

The Strangeness of Strangers page 15

2 • THE CANNON

OCTOBER 2021

THE CANNON Masthead EXECUTIVE TEAM EDITOR IN CHIEF MARKETING DIRECTOR

Diana Li

LAYOUT MANAGER

Neha Marfani

PHOTOGRAPHY/ GRAPHICS HEADS

Dina Castelletto David Locke

WEBMASTER

George Liu

Letter From The Editor Greetings Skulegans, Been a bit since the last edition and since you’ve heard from me, but that’s because our team has been working extra hard through midterm season to get this out to you guys! This was originally supposed to go out in October, hence the spooky-themed centrespread. Forgive me for that.

Reading Week is coming up soon though, so hopefully we’ll all get the break we deserve! Fun fact for the 2T4s and 2T5s: a Reading Week in the Fall Semester didn’t exist for Engineering prior to 2020. So even if you’re feeling down, just keep in mind that it could’ve been worse!

A week-long break like that is also a good opportunity for some reflection that you probably didn’t have time for prior! Reflection is the theme for this issue, and you can find articles reflecting upon a variety of topics such as: having fun in day-to-day errands, the concept of strangers, trying something you expect to fail at, the horrors of capitalism, and the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.

As always, feel free to check out our website or issuu to view past editions, follow our socials, join our Discord server if you’d like to get involved, or just shoot me an email.

Good luck on any midterms you have left or finals coming soon!

SENIOR EDITOR Nafilah Khan

PODCAST LEADS Minha Khan Tudor Sigmund

About STATEMENT

CONTRIBUTORS WRITERS

Ruknoon Dinder Andre Li Joaquin Lim

The Cannon is the official (serious) newspaper of the University of Toronto Engineering Society. Established in 1978, it serves the undergraduate students of the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering. Submissions are welcome by email to cannon@skule.ca. Advertising and subscription information is available at the same email or from the Engineering Society at 416-978-2917.

SPECIAL THANKS

Jacqueline Chang Andrew Wuebbolt

DISCLAIMER

The views expressed in this newspaper are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of the Engineering Society unless so indicated. The editors reserve the right to modify submissions to comply with the newspaper’s and the Engineering Society’s policies.

CONTACT The Cannon 10 King’s College Road Sandford Fleming Building Room B740 Toronto, ON M5S 3G4 cannon.skule.ca cannon@skule.ca @cannon.news

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OCTOBER 2021 Hacking Chrome continued from page 1 visited simply by checking the style of each link in code. It was a serious enough threat that major browsers had long fixed this issue.

I remember sitting at my desk seriously doubting if I could find a similar bug. Professional hackers would know so many more advanced techniques and tools than I would. Given that Google Chrome is such a popular browser, I didn’t think that I’d find anything new, especially since so many security researchers were working on finding these bugs.

I’ve no idea why, but I decided to press on and find ways in which visited links exhibit different behaviour than unvisited links that are detectable using code. I could then exploit this property to create an automated script to probe a user’s browser history.

Anti-Vax continued from page 1 their religious beliefs.

For instance, the growing prevalence of alternative media sources such as YouTube commentators and pundits, who foster cult-like echo chambers, is a possible source for why anti-vax sentiments continue to grow. Within these communities, influencers are able to profit of off misinformation by peddling miracle drugs or essential oils, while at the same time discouraging or even finding ways to get exempt from getting vaccine shots.

It is often the case that these beliefs are ideologically rather than logically driven, meaning that individuals who hold these beliefs come to their conclusions first (that vaccines are

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I spent hours figuring out different combinations until I remembered a recent video introducing the Web Animations API. It then hit me that I could craft styles that used a transition animation on visited links but not on unvisited links. Then using the Web Animations API, I could determine which links had the animation and thus deduce which links were visited.

I typed up a proofof-concept and tested it on Google Chrome on Windows. When I checked the page, I just froze. I tried it again on Linux.

And then Microsoft Edge.

It worked.

I was thrilled to have found a bug, yet I was absolutely terrified. It wasn’t just the bug’s existence that bothered me, but also that it worked on Microsoft Edge. The thing is that Google Chrome relies on the Chromium engine, which powers almost all major

browsers except Firefox and Safari. This meant if a vulnerability worked in both Edge and Chrome, it was likely a Chromium bug. Thus, its effects aren’t limited to just Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge, but also everywhere Chromium is used, including Opera, Brave, Vivaldi, and Chrome OS. Even more troubling was the fact that someone like me who knew very little about hacking could find a bug in such a critical part of the web.

I didn’t know what to do, much less about reporting bugs; and knowing that a company could sue me for disclosing a vulnerability disturbed me.

But researching Google’s policy, I felt relieved as they actually rewarded people for finding bugs through their Vulnerability Rewards Program. More importantly, their rules seemed to protect security researchers who did this kind of work.

Even once I got to the page where I was supposed to actually report the bug, I couldn’t help but think about how I should describe it−I didn’t even know what went in a bug report, let alone one for a security vulnerability.

Even just reading previously published security bug reports showed a level of technical depth that I simply didn’t have. But somehow, despite all that, it turned out to be a medium-severity security bug, and I was rewarded $5,000 for finding it. *** I’m still shocked about finding that vulnerability, but I know that if I hadn’t tried, I definitely would have never found it. I’m well aware that there is survivorship bias for me to say this, and I know it is a cliche, but I stand by the fact that people miss 100% of the shots they don’t take.

I just wanted to say

that because I think so many people are skilled in their own ways, but don’t let themselves recognize it. I was, and maybe still am, one of these people.

But I guess even if people don’t see it in themselves, I hope that people don’t let it hold them back from trying things even if they think they won’t succeed.

One of the things this experience reminds me of is how A Graduate School Survival Guide: “So long, and thanks for the Ph.D.!” describes great Ph.D. students as “delusional.”

Although the author spoke only about Ph.D. students, I think it applies to everyone: the people who accomplish things they never expect are the ones who are delusional enough to still be trying, even if the odds seem stacked against them. And I, for one, would be happy to keep trying, even if it means I’d have to be a bit delusional−and hopefully, you would too.

inherently bad) and work backwards from there to derive the evidence to support these claims.

These fixed positions can oftentimes be traced back to a fundamental distrust of the government. It can be easy to view the government as a whole as some faceless entity or “bogeyman,” and this line of thinking can lead to people being more apprehensive or critical about its decisions, especially when it affects them personally. In the eyes of the anti-vaxxer, it is very likely that they might dislike the vaccine mandates because they dislike the idea of the government telling them what to do. It is also quite likely that when antivaxxers are approached by someone around them, who is instantly combative towards them and attacks their beliefs

from the onset, they might view these people similarly to how they view the government.

As a result, anti-vaxxers will descend further into the insular communities, where they are welcomed and safe, thus further validating their beliefs and radicalizing them in the process.

The point that I am trying to make, essentially, is that when you are talking with an anti-vaxxer, antagonizing them is not going to suddenly make them take the vaccine.

Instead, you should try to educate them by actually listening to their arguments and clearing up any misconceptions they may have. Being condescending or dismissive of their arguments will put them on the defensive and make them less likely to

hear you out. I will caveat this by saying that if you, yourself, do not have a decent understanding of the vaccine, or at the very least can’t give a clear reason why you should take the vaccine, then you probably you shouldn’t even be discussing this topic with an anti-vaxxer in the first place; at that point leave it to someone who is more equipped for that sort of conversation.

Though many of you will already have heard this phrase numerous times by now, I’ll say it again, Attack the idea, not the individual.

They could perceive their denial of the vaccine as a means for them to attain some measure of control against the government, where they believe they have none. Even if you think this sounds iditiotic or something that doesn’t really matter, you also

have to consider that for some people, this means everything.

As hard as it might be, try to understand why anti-vaxxers might think this way. It might even allow you to improve your own arguments and appeal to the right points.

Regardless of whatever I said before, one idea that I want to leave you with is that most people who are against the vaccine don’t actually want to hurt or endanger people out of some sadistic or cruel desire to do so. Think of them as people and treat them as such, rather than as the embodiment of anti-vax beliefs. In spite of this, always keep in mind the health and safety of the general public by not giving credence to antivax talking points and pushing back in a cordial and appropriate manner.

4 • THE CANNON

OCTOBER 2021

OPINION

A Pandemic, Some Construction, and the Neverending Quest for a Good Night’s Sleep

CREDIT: HTTPS://ABOUTMANCHESTER.CO.UK/ MANCHESTER-IN-UKS-TOP-10-NOISIEST-NEIGHBOURS-LIST/

ANONYMOUS Ah, sleep.

The wonderful state that all of us desperately need but many just don’t get enough of. During my high school days, I didn’t get enough sleep; sleeping roughly six hours each day. I honestly don’t know how I even functioned back then; I didn’t even drink any caffeine to supplement myself. But maybe I did in fact function suboptimally, at least in part due to sleep deprivation; after all I do have such vivid memories of falling asleep in class back then.

It definitely didn’t help that I had class at 8am every day, and that my

commute would often take over an hour. I’d have to wake up at 6am, struggle to get out of bed and try to get some breakfast in occasionally, and then run out of the house by 6:40ish to catch the train that would hopefully not be delayed. I spent the vast majority of my train rides catching up on sleep, even when the majority of them had no seats, so I would try to balance myself on a door or pole to close my eyes and try to relax for just a bit. I also have memories of 11th grade when I would just come home directly after school to knock out for 6 hours from like 4-10PM, and that would be my sleep

schedule for the day. Not particularly great.

Needless to say, as with many other things, I tried to fix my sleep schedule when I first came here to U of T. I need 8 hours to function properly, 7 hours after 8ish the day before is salvageable for a single day, but 6 and under is too little. If I only get 6, I need a lot of caffeine to even function, but still find myself having to supplement my sleep with caffeine in order to energize myself through some rough times for coursework. I had a borderline addiction to caffeine during my second and third years, which is likely the reason my sleep

schedule got as messed up as it did. Even during first year, I’d find myself skipping 9am lectures just to sleep in, as if I went I would probably be too exhausted to understand anything properly. But during second year I found myself staying up later and later every day to do more work, I found that I functioned slightly better at night with fewer distractions. I’d end up skipping most 9ams and many 10ams as well during this period. My high school friends and I would regularly stay up as late as 4am, and have long late-night conversations that would only keep us up even later.

But then the pandemic and lockdown came around, and I was completely spoiled in terms of sleep schedule.

When more than half of your class hours are asynchronous, suddenly you don’t have as many classes scheduled in the morning anymore. I took advantage of this to the extreme, and the earliest class hour I had in all of third year was a single 11am lecture in the fall semester. Now instead of shifting my sleep schedule around my classes, my classes schedules were shifted around my sleep Construction Noises continued on page 5

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OCTOBER 2021 Construction Noises continued from page 4 schedule. Everything was perfect, in fact my general wellbeing and marks seemed to have improved from this as well. That is, until, the thunders began to roar.

Well, not literally thunder, but more like drills, hammers, and other heavy machinery. All at 8am. Ruining everything I had going. Yep, because, for some reason, even though the lockdown forced everyone to stay in their homes for the vast majority of the time, and not go out for work or school or the like, it seems that EVERYONE wants their construction done during these times. And it’s been driving me insane ever since. I swear I’ve gone 18 years of my life without hearing a single sound of construction equipment in my own home, and now suddenly that everyone’s stuck indoors, yeah now THAT’S when all the construction needs to happen!

When my friends asked me why I went back to Toronto for third year, when it was guaranteed to be all online, well the real reason is that I was losing my mind at my parent’s apartment because a neighbor decided to start renovation of their apartment like three weeks after the lockdown started. And this neighbor seemed to particularly enjoy how angry and miserable my parents were when they would constantly go to him to complain, thus the 8am drilling became routine.

And the worst part is that it isn’t consistent: they’d always start with the loud stuff really early and then radio silence later in the day. In this particular case, I’m pretty sure the neighbor was in fact messing with us, and that’s why I went back to Toronto for my third

year. My sleep schedule was further ruined during this summer, and my well-earned break after ECE second year wasn’t as relaxing as I would have liked.

But of course when I come back to Toronto and live near campus, UofT decides to make the entirety of it a construction zone. You can still feel it to this very day; Front Campus is a giant hole, Hart House is closed occasionally, and SF still has scaffolding everywhere. But oh boy, my escape from the clutches of 8am construction noises simply brought me right back to them. At the very least, since these were not internal renovations, I just developed a habit of waking up at 8am just to close my window shut to get rid of most of the noise, and then plop right back into bed. That worked well enough, and to be completely fair if the vast majority of its students weren’t on campus, it makes sense for UofT to choose that year for all of its renovation plans.

And now that I’m back

in Toronto in a new place for this year, I find myself in a familiar situation yet again. Construction noises, drilling at 8am, except now at my new apartment the contractors are working on Saturdays too.

Whenever I’d complain about all of this to someone, the natural response is “Just fix your sleep schedule lol.” Trust me I’ve tried. Going to bed earlier when I’m not tired amounts to nothing.

Melatonin either doesn’t work, or works too well such that even with 8 hours I feel tired, and end up sleeping upwards of 12 hours, making me wake up at the same late time as usual. Same result from pulling an all nighter; I feel like I need more sleep to recover and I end up waking up late anyways.

And even when once in a blue moon I do end up waking up early naturally, I’m so accustomed to staying up and working late that I don’t feel tired at a normal time anyways.

After a bit of Googling earlier this summer, I discovered a condition called Delayed Sleep Phase

Disorder, which is exactly what it sounds like; a person’s internal clock is delayed compared to that of the average person such that they both sleep and wake up late. Of course, you shouldn’t ever rely on a questionable selfdiagnosis, but since this condition is in fact real, I do feel more justified in my frustration. This semester the vast majority of my class hours are online and asynchronous once again, with the earliest class time being 12pm, so I would like to work on my own schedule yet again.

But I cannot due to the constant construction at 8am waking me up after only 4 hours after my 4am bedtime, and end up sleep-deprived, cranky, and not at my best self.

The amount of hatred and ill will I feel at those moments when I’m woken up and unable to sleep should never be put on paper. Yet I’m definitely not the only one who’s been feeling this over the past two years. If these politicians and health advisors keep forcing lockdowns, why don’t they

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put some sort of regulation on home renovations while the lockdown is still in effect? Loud noises are annoying to everyone, especially during work meetings or for young children. And the whole arbitrariness of the start time as well; if they just don’t drill after like 2-3PM, why can’t they just do the quiet stuff first and then the loud stuff later if I know for a fact they work 8-5PM? It’s simple human decency. I’ve tried blasting my air conditioner for white noise, and even putting on headphones with noise cancellation to the maximum setting, and yet these noises are still too loud for me to go back to sleep. Yes, I’m a very light sleeper. There is still research being done on what exactly causes light vs heavy sleepers, but I will always be envious of those who can sleep through such noises that have caused me so much agony over the past two years.

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OCTOBER 2021

Not a Peep ANDREW WUEBBOLT External: CAFE Peeps® are divisive.

Many people simply adore the marshmallow chicks. Others despise them. It’s hard to find anyone who does not take either of those two extremes. Either way, the marshmallow treat typically consumed around Easter has (and is still creating) a very colourful legacy.

Before talking about Peeps® in particular, it is valuable to begin discussing the general marshmallow.

Around 2000 BC, the ancient Egyptians would squeeze the sap from the marshgrowing mallow plant (Althaea officinalis) and mix it with nuts and honey to create a treat reserved for the gods and Pharaoh. This delicacy also had the medicinal capabilities to soothe sore throats and colds, although likely in different forms. This original recipe likely stayed relatively the same for many centuries.

In the 1800s, this recipe made its way to France where candymakers combined the mallow with sugar and egg white then whipped it into a more familiar marshmallow treat [3].

Interestingly enough, doctors were also using this recipe and whipping it into a hard meringue. It was then sold in bar form as a lozenge. Customers loved the marshmallow, or guimauve as it was known then; the only issue was that it took too long to prepare. By the late 1800s, candymakers had designed the starch mogul system which allows marshmallows to be made faster by using corn starch molds.

In 1910, an American

CREDIT: HTTPS://AGRANDELIFE.NET/ EASTER-MINUTE-IT-TO-WIN-IT-GAME/

immigrant from Russia, Sam Born, started innovating the American confectionary scene.

He introduced “French Chocolates” to New York City and invented how to produce chocolate sprinkles.

Eventually, he was even given the keys to San Francisco for creating the Born sucker machine, an invention that allowed the sticks to be mechanically inserted into lollipops. By 1923, he had opened up a shop in Brooklyn with the name

Just Born to highlight the freshness of the products he sold.

Less than 10 years later, despite the Great Depression, Just Born expanded by moving its operations to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in the United States. Just Born continued to grow through the acquisition of other smaller confectionary companies and successful brands of its own. In 1953, they acquired Rodda Candy Company, and with it,

the small marshmallow treat known as Peeps®.

Initially, Peeps® were handmade in a process that took 27 hours to complete. For Bob Born, Sam Born’s son, this was way too slow so he created a new machine for the process. “The Depositor” as it was called, was able to pump Peeps® out in about 6 minutes from beginning to end.

This machine pumped out Peeps® all the way until 2014 when it was reluctantly replaced with

an updated one.

Today, an average of 5.5 million Peeps® are produced each day which is about 2 billion Peeps® each year, enough to circle the earth twice. The Peeps® brand continues to grow today with products aimed at other holidays such as Halloween and Christmas, but they are still definitely well associated with Easter where they are the number 1 non-chocolate Easter candy sold for more than 20 years.

While some want nothing to do with Peeps®, others show a keen interest... some might even say an unhealthy obsession for the sweet treat. There is a World Peeps® Eating Championship held annually in National Harbor, Maryland, USA. Others use the treat with an artistic flair, with creations ranging from Not a Peep continued on page 7

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OCTOBER 2021 OPINION

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It’s Fun to Run Errands!

NAFILAH KHAN Senior Editor “How was your day off ?”

“It was great; I enjoyed running errands!”

“Enjoyed?”

This conversation happens more often than you might imagine amongst my classmates and myself. Just a disclaimer: in case you have not guessed, contrary to many individuals, I LOVE running errands! It’s fun for me, and I’ll explain why.

During the school year I don’t have “free time” often. However, when I do have a couple hours, I really enjoy running errands.

According to the Cambridge Dictionary, errands are “a short journey either to take a message or to take or collect something,” for those of you unfamiliar with the exact terminology. I find them to be a break for me from all my studying and assignments. The change in environment really recharges me—I’ve often noticed that when I return to work after running errands, I function more effectively.

The Cambridge Dictionary defines a chore as “a job or piece of work often boring or unpleasant but needs to be done regularly.” I would like to take this moment to highlight the words “boring” and “unpleasant”— individuals who consider running errands a chore

CREDIT: HTTPS://WWW.PEXELS.COM/PHOTO/ HAPPY-WOMAN-BUYING-GROCERIES-IN-A-CONVENIENCE-STORE-4177735/

often associate boredom and/or unpleasantness with that experience, which causes many individuals to consider running errands a distraction from what they want to be doing.

I know that for myself personally, an example of a chore is mowing the lawn. Whenever I do need to mow the lawn, I try to finish the job as fast as I can (safely of course) so that I can get back to doing whatever I was doing prior. This mindset never allows me to enjoy mowing the lawn; meanwhile the task I paused to complete this chore keeps roaming around at the back of mind, and making the

experience miserable.

However, I don’t have this mindset whilst running errands. Even though I know that I need to get back home and study, I don’t feel the need to make my errand experience miserable by thinking of it as something boring that I need to get over with— i.e. a chore. This might be because I like to think of running errands as a sort of scavenger hunt. I associate the experience of running errands with something I do enjoy: playing games.

A scavenger hunt?

Yes! I use gamification to make my errand running experience more engaging and fun. For

example, before going into a grocery store, I look at the time and tell myself that I need to be out of the store within a fixed time limit, say for example ten minutes.

If I do leave the store within ten minutes with everything that I initially planned to buy, this is equivalent to me beating a level in my ‘running errands’ game. Likewise, the next time I go to the same store to get the same things, I try to challenge myself even further, by cutting my time limit to nine and half minutes and so on. If I return home with everything I had planned on getting, I consider the level complete. However, if I

missed something and/or failed to get home within the time I had challenged myself to, I consider that level a failure.

Gamifying running errands as a scavenger hunt makes me feel more accomplished by the end of it, which then motivates me to hit the books and study! In fact, I’ve come to realize that I can use this analogy for pretty much ANYTHING I don’t enjoy doing, including mowing the lawn!

So if you too are not a fan of something, try making it a game, and perhaps you might not dislike it as much as you thought you did!

eat it at enough meals in a day that they have created a monstrosity of a a mosaic of Jesus Christ main course, Peepza (yes, to statues of dinosaurs Peeps® as a pizza topping). made of Peeps. Still, People have even created others clearly cannot Peeps®-infused vodka.

These do not even touch upon the crazy flavours that they come in which include: fruit punch, pancake-and-syrup, and even root beer float.

Given marshmallow’s

colourful history, it almost seems fitting for an equally as colourful treat to come out of it.

One may never know why these chicks are so popular. Whether adored

or despised, their rise to fame has definitely made Peeps® a household name that does not seem to be going anywhere soon, to many’s chagrin and delight.

Not a Peep continued from page 6

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OCTOBER 2021

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10 • THE CANNON

OCTOBER 2021

Why the ANA Collapsed - My Thoughts After Following the Afghan Conflict for 11 Years RUKNOON DINDER Cannon Writer The speed of the Taliban’s advance since the American withdrawal has surprised both the media and internet alike.

Journalists are rushing to explain their success, usually pointing to morale or corruption. While those are undoubtedly important, they do not paint the full picture of the Afghan National Army (ANA) defeat. A great book will eventually be written on the “Fall of Kabul,” but since this development is so new, no comprehensive explanation exists so far.

This post is my attempt to draw together the reports, expert opinions, and literature on this topic to explain what happened.

An Army on Paper The manpower of the ANA in May was nominally 352,000, but Kabul could only prove 254,000 of those troops actually existed. Among those troops, 8% of the army (the commandos) were doing 70-80% of the fighting. The ANA was largely two armies: a mobile element capable of offensive operations, and a large auxiliary corps for internal security.

While the structure of the Taliban was similar - the Taliban “Red Unit” being a cut above all other Taliban forces—the ‘average’ Talib was more battle hardened and motivated than the average soldier of the ANA. Having spent two decades fighting the world’s pre-eminent power, the Taliban’s battle-hardened militias found the resistance of ANA auxiliary units to be a cakewalk. Insulated from the worst fighting,

CREDIT: HTTPS://TWITTER.COM/HRYTWEET_/STATUS/1428162593944793088/PHOTO/1

the brunt of which until very recently was borne

by Afghan, American, and Australian SOF, the “C divisions” of the ANA, in contrast, were almost completely useless for combat purposes.

Dispersion of Force Having never before conducted operations without significant foreign support, the ANA high command had very little understanding of operational art (the maneuver of units before

they are engaged in combat). While the ANA unarguably had excellent tactical leadership in some units (the commandos, as of 2017, had never lost a battle, its operational leadership was abysmal.

Long after the US abandoned “surging” as a strategy, the ANA leadership elected to disperse all its units—including its mobile, offensive-capable commandos—across the country in isolated outposts. This strategy

mirrored that of Bashar al Assad in 2013, with the same catastrophic result: despite outnumbering the enemy ‘strategically,’ the dispersed government force was cut apart and defeated in detail by more concentrated Taliban columns.

While the Taliban had only limited experience in managing large-scale conventional operations prior to American withdrawal, they had enough to beat the low standard offered by their

opponents. The Taliban plan involved four major offensives as revealed by the timeline of their victories: one in the southwest towards Zaranj, one in the northwest towards Herat, one in the North to take the Tajik majority provinces, and a major spearhead from their stronghold of Helmand province all the way to Kabul. On its face, it appears as if their advance ANA continued on page 11

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OCTOBER 2021 ANA continued from page 10 was also unnecessarily scattered, but their fourpronged offensive was a recognition of operational reality: the Taliban, like the ANA, had “A” and “B” units. The bulk of its local fighters were not mobile, either because of tribal alignment or because of a lack of rear services required to transport them. They had to attack everywhere in order to mobilize the entirety of their force, either to win or to pin the local ANA down and prevent them from reinforcing the rest of the country. This was the basic conclusion drawn by General Milley] in the wake of the Taliban’s advances.

Morale The ‘best’ ANA units were unquestionably better than the best Taliban units. Trained by the United States Special Operations Forces (SOF) and often shadowing them, the Afghan commandos are regarded as some of the best special forces in the region. Although the average Talib—owing only to greater combat experience—is better than the average ANA soldier, Taliban marksmanship and infantry skill still leave much to be desired and the edge is not night and day.

Where the Taliban excel, however, is in morale.

In the past two months, fear has conquered more than slaughter with half a dozen cities surrendering without a fight and entire divisions of ANA defecting or surrendering. The ANA was demoralized by the American withdrawal, and by the emptiness of their ideology. It is not entirely clear what stake the average Afghan had in the recognized Afghan government. It had failed to provide courts, law, and order. Its only true constituency is a class of 10,000 profiteers living

in Kabul off of foreign money.

The Taliban, in contrast, has a coherent vision that appeals to Afghan youth because of recent history.

Contrary to popular belief, the Taliban are not a tribal movement but an anti-tribal revolutionary movement. They blame the 40-year division of their country on Afghanistan’s squabbling warlords and tribal elders, and want to replace those elders with the Sunni ulema. They want to replace tribalism with a single identity based around Sunni Islam, in the same way that Ismail Safavi united the

in weeks. The answer is simple: Afghanistan has moved past its warlords.

After their repeated failures to build a state, the warlords have lost all public confidence and are supported only by their old patronage networks.

The Inner Game of Command Napoleon once said that “in war the moral is to the physical three to one.”

There are two forces at work here. I have already discussed the impact of troop morale and the willingness of soldiers to fight. Less researched is ‘the morale of the

commanders “blinked” instead of holding fast.

According to American generals, the entire Afghan command “blinked” the last week of July. Realizing the situation was hopeless, they belatedly ordered a panicked retreat back to areas of consolidation. The worst of the rout—the fall of Kandahar and Herat— happened only after.

Strategic Hopelessness The last weeks had seen high level defections from the government to the Taliban, including generals and governors. As with the Afghan Communists, collapse has come from

“

It is not entirely clear what stake the average Afghan had in the recognized Afghan government. It had failed to provide courts, law, and order. Its only true constituency is a class of 10,000 profiteers living in Kabul off of foreign money.”

disparate ethnic groups of Iran under Shi’a Islam (though the Taliban would never speak favorably of Shah Ismail). The War on Terror has seemingly proved the Taliban right: the Afghan government, strongly supported by most tribal elders and the “powers that be” in Afghan society, has totally failed to govern. Even the Tajiks - historical enemies of the Taliban - now accept their rule. The media has stirred up hopes that warlords getting back in the business like Dostum and Khan would stem the Taliban tide, but [they were quickly defeated]. Some are left scratching their heads, wondering how men who held the Taliban back for years in the 1990s were now defeated

commander.’ Tactical ‘coup d’oeil’ and operational art are only half of the art of war. The other half is the commander’s inner game.

Paraphrasing Ulysses S. Grant: no one knows how strong his enemy is. In any battle, both commanders are scared and uncertain.

Often, victory goes not to the stronger side, but to the one who stays engaged longest, he who “blinks” second.

The Taliban understand this far better than the ANA. Their elite Red Unit are not known for their infantry skills, but for their zeal and ferocity.

Taliban commanders have often attacked frontally in the past few weeks, and certainly attacked numerically superior forces, but in almost every case the government

within. Why, then, could the Communists hold out for three years after foreign withdrawal and the ANA only three months?

The answer lies in politics; unlike the Communists, the present Afghan regime had totally failed to build a state.

Paraphrasing Gilles Dorronsoro, states and especially Afghan states have always been built on financial motives. In order to collect taxes, you need to police the population and institute the rule of law. With foreign aid being the lion’s share of the Afghan budget, the Afghan establishment had no incentive to institute the rule of law. Thus, foreign aid had actually stymied Afghan state-formation.

• 11

The Afghan elite were aware that even if the ANA successfully stabilized the front between North and South, there was no hope of victory as Kabul was dramatically behind the game in providing security and order to the population.

Defying expectations, the Taliban focused the bulk of their efforts in the North, whose population was traditionally hostile to them. This ended up being brilliant, as it undermined the consolidation strategy.

By quickly capturing their enemies’ traditional base of support, they stole what hope remained in the Afghan brass. By August 10th, the “consolidated” Afghan state consisted of little more than Hazarajat and Kabul. As Sun Tzu advised, they did not fight the enemy’s army, “they fought his plan.” By robbing the Afghan elite of their master plan for victory, the Taliban threw them into despair and took several cities “without fighting.”

The Big Question: Iranian Intervention Almost no one expected things to go so badly for the ANA. Russian intelligence predicted far more moderate gains, while the US held out hope that the massive ANA could hold on for years. Iran secretly backed the Taliban despite their sympathy for the Shi’a Hazara, probably expecting the situation to degrade into a “second Syria” (a civil war between the minorities and majority) that they could influence. Heads are no doubt rolling in Iranian intelligence, as the past few weeks have been a spectacular humiliation: Iran’s loyal Hazara allies are now alone facing the storm of the rest of Afghanistan.

Whether Iran will ANA continued on page 12

12 • THE CANNON ANA continued from page 11 intervene depends on internal Iranian politics.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has no choice but to push for intervention: up to 20,000 Hazara fighters joined them in the Syrian Civil War, and the force has a record of success in its interventions in foreign civil wars. The civilian government, however, is dealing with a financial crisis owing to COVID, the oil glut, and American sanctions: another intervention is something they can ill afford.

If Iran intervenes, it will need to do so in a self-financing way. The IRGC makes money on drugs, but it’s slipping hold over Iraq and the devastation of Syria, plus the more competent enemy they find in the Taliban mean they may not have the wherewithal for a full intervention.

OCTOBER 2021 Far more likely is a limited intervention, or an agreement with the Taliban to let Hazarajat be.

Summary Though outnumbered at least two-to-one in May overall, the Taliban concentrated superior forces at every point due to the ANA’s dispersion.

The Taliban’s forces, down to the village militiamen, were battle hardened from years of fighting the United States, while most of the ANA had never seen serious combat and never expected to. Even when inferior in material terms, the Taliban were able to eke out victories because the demoralization and inexperience of enemy commanders led to premature retreats and surrenders. The Taliban knew the value of delivering a strategic ‘coup de main’ to the Afghan elite, and, by capturing the North where some elites (namely Massoud,

Dostum, and Khan) had expected to build a ‘consolidated’ state, they deprived the ruling class of all hope of victory and gained numerous cities and divisions through defection. Kabul had failed to articulate a theory of victory to its remaining supporters: how does the government plan to win and build a state when it has failed to do so for 20 years? This failure is due largely to an addiction to foreign money which deprived Kabul of an incentive to establish law and order, and therefore a reliable tax base. The Taliban, in contrast, have an anti-tribal ideology that promises to resolve all of Afghanistan’s ills, create a unified national identity, and end the longstanding division of the country: today even the historically hostile Tajiks are willing to give it a shot.

Overall, the Taliban’s victory is more than the victory of a ‘drug

cartel’ over a corrupt, demoralized army as it has often been explained in the press and media (due to no fault of the journalists involved: this situation is so new and still developing). Instead, it is the victory of a smaller but motivated, aggressive, and concentrated force over a larger but dispersed and hopeless one. Just as importantly, the Taliban’s advance would have made Sun Tzu proud, conforming to his principles of “fighting the enemy’s plan” and thereby “winning without fighting.” By recognizing how the Afghan establishment planned to win (consolidating a minority regime in the North) and concentrating the bulk of their forces there to deprive them of hope, they threw the Afghan regime into despair and secured the defection of high level civil and military officials, along with their cities and

troops.

Afghanistan is a complex place and the very reductive commentary around the current tragedy inhibits our chance to learn from the mistakes that have been made there.

Simplistic analysis like “it’s just the graveyard of empires”, or “Afghans simply can’t be helped”, or (as the more extreme ‘pundits’ have suggested) “they just hate us” are not just meaningless, they actively work against an understanding of what happened here.

Similarly, there has been a spate of articles and posts here promoting the former Deputy PM and Ahmad Massoud Jr. as heroes for heading off to continue the fight against the Taliban that ignores the long history all the actors have, and that for the most part there aren’t really good guys and bad guys like some Hollywood movie.

thing to look forward to this year. For the first time ever, CAFE introduced the liaisons! By becoming a liaison, all you have to do is post the marketing ads we made on your social media. Of course, we will not let your help go unrewarded. Liaisons can be entered up to two times for the monthly $15 raffle by commenting on CAFE’s posts and reposting our stories.

One of the biggest projects CAFE has is our magazine, The Engineer’s Bite. If you have not seen our magazine up till now, you better take a look at all our past issues as well which can be found on our website! Our amazing magazine team puts together a magazine twice a year with a different theme and design each time. Sometimes there

are even little Easter eggs in our magazine, that if solved will be rewarded handsomely. If I were you, I would keep my eyes peeled for the next edition of The Engineer’s Bite.

If you are interested in being part of the magazine, the good news is that you can! Every semester we will release the theme of the magazine a little earlier and allow article submissions!

Our magazine team will read each and every one of your submissions to decide what would be the best article to be featured in our magazine!

And just like that, our annual Kickoff Meeting came to an end. Thank you everyone for coming out, and we hope to catch you in person next year!

CAFE Kickoff Meeting JACQUELINE CHANG External: CAFE The Canadian Association of Food Engineers (CAFE) always likes to start the year off with a bang, and we did just that at our 2021 Annual Kickoff Meeting! Although due to COVID-19 restrictions, we were not able to hold our kickoff meeting in person, that did not stop our audience from hopping on our Zoom meeting to learn everything about CAFE. If you missed our kickoff meeting, do not fret because this article will cover everything that happened during the event!

The kick-off event began by describing the upcoming events for this year, something everyone

looks forward to at CAFE! Each term, CAFE holds three big events that range from hobbies & interests all the way to professional development. Not to mention, we do not limit our events to just UofT students, so invite your friends from other universities to our events! The first event following the kickoff will be the “Dining Out With COVID-19 Case Competition” where competitors in teams of 2-3 will design a solution to a case and be judged by food engineering industry professionals! The grand prize will be $500, so I would keep my eye out for the next annual case competition event! Our final event of the fall term will be the PEY and Industry Mixer! Food engineering professionals

will be there, so be sure to use this chance to take a look at the article for the PEY and Industry mixer to learn more!

To start off the winter term, CAFE will hold a cafe (funny, I know)!

Come out and enjoy some delicious food and drinks from the food engineering club. Following that, will be the annual Design Expo Hackathon. Unlike other events, the Design Expo will be held over a weekend, making it the longest event of the year. If you want another chance to win a grand prize and design a solution to be judged, keep an eye out for more information. To end off the year, CAFE will be holding a plant tour where you can learn where the delicious food that you eat comes from.

Events are not the only

cannon.skule.ca

OCTOBER 2021

• 13

STICKNOON’S STICKTHOUGHTS

Freedom RUKNOON DINDER Cannon Writer IT IS A FINE DAY in the Libertarian Oceania.

Archibald Elbert Winchell rose from his bed bleary eyed, but well rested and focused on the coming day. As he rose, his bed servant, a lovely girl of thirteen whom he had contracted out from her mother, a mine worker, rushed to signal the other servants to begin the day.

In truth he liked the girl, but he was contractually obligated to give her the lash if she was too slow about her business—and, after all, contracts were everything.

She returned with a small group of other contracted servants— calling them indentured was rather gauche, not to mention old-fashioned— and proceeded to wash him down and then dress him. After he was fully clothed he stepped out on his balcony and looked over his holdings.

When Archie was a young lad, in a time he barely remembered, men of means such as himself were encumbered by a thousand petty rules and regulations governing everything one could imagine. The government stole half of Archie’s father’s fortune, or so the old man claimed. When Archie went over the books, he found the old man had exaggerated, but even five percent of his income was a theft beyond belief. What cowards they must have been, to accept such a yoke.

Stretching on before him was a plantation of size and efficiency that would stun the old masters of the south: coca plants for cocaine production and poppy fields stretched from horizon to horizon.

Heroin and crack cocaine were Archie’s products.

He’d doubled his profit margins in the last year by cutting his product. A few dozen people had died, he heard, but the motto of the new society was their guide: caveat emptor.

In that spirit, Archie waited patiently for his food to taste to sample each of his items. Archie had all of his food examined, and then tasted. He’s lost two servants this year to e-coli, another to metal shavings in the food, and a third to dysentery. A shipment of canned tuna had been improperly soldered with lead, but Archie caught it in time.

As an informed buyer, he did what was appropriate when he purchased poisoned, contaminated, or otherwise inedible food: he took his business elsewhere.

There was much to do, but first, he had to review the fees and cut a check to the local police squad.

There were three of them, and Archie made sure that he was a good patron, and so his boys would deal with any issues on his land discreetly, and would turn a blind eye to his... excesses.

After a breakfast of steaky, fatty bacon, foie gras, horsemeat, a touch of shark fin soup, and whale tartar, he rose for the day in earnest.

His automobile was one of the finest available, with a sixteen cylinder engine and open mufflers.

To think, when he was a boy, the government told people what equipment to have in their vehicles!

Why waste money on a seat belt when he had no intention of crashing?

With a handful of his own trustee guards, he first toured the plantation slowly, stopping to speak

with the overseers one by one. The work was back breaking, and this year alone he’d lost six of his employees to accidents of various stripes. Most of them hadn’t chosen to purchase health insurance with Archie’s company scrip, even though his price was quite reasonable. The poor unfortunates often didn’t have enough legal tender or credit to pay the door fee at an emergency ward, but that was not Archie’s concern; every man had a right to healthcare, if he could afford it of course.

Doctors have a right to get paid, after all.

Outside his walled compound, Archie drove fast. Speed limits were a distant memory, and his contracted police ignored him no matter what he did. It was a short drive into town, to his office.

He spent the morning reviewing memoranda and reports from his mining operation. Archie ran a tight ship in his asbestos mines, increasing his margins by forgoing safety equipment and primarily hiring children, who were better suited to underground operations.

He had a dozen lawsuits from grieving mothers, but it was no matter— contracts were contracts and his were ironclad.

Even more so when reviewed by Archie’s panel of employed judges; the contract forfeited the right to a state court in favor of individual arbitration.

Archie received the accounts, and visualizing the gold he was collecting (fiat currency was long abandoned, greenbacks were near worthless, and most trade took place in checks, IOUs, and company scrip) Archie loaded his pockets with

some of his own scrip and a few gold coins, and went out on the town.

While strolling down the main avenue past the drug dealers, strip clubs, and brothels, he strolled into his favorite gun store to overlook the new wares. He had his eye in particular on a new rocket launcher. Such weapons were freely available to own, but only men of means such as himself could purchase them. It was for the best; not only did the old government perform a background check,something that mystified and horrified Archie,they let just anyone who passed one buy guns as they pleased.

Foreigners, blacks, even women. Archie vividly remembered when the change came and the old government fell. His mother wept when she was forbidden her work as a physician and all her credit and bank accounts cancelled, but later on she grew happy and content.

Outside, a familiar pimp offered Archie the chance to peruse the new wares. None were to his liking, so he passed and willed away a few hours at a gladiatorial game; they used to call it “football” before the machetes were introduced. To Archie, it seemed like feet had little to nothing to do with the ball.

After some absinthe and laudanum, Archie met with a few similar men of means. It was time to settle down and he was in the market for a bride.

The girls sat meekly while Archie and his negotiating partners dickered and haggled over them. The girls didn’t strike his fancy and the offers were poor—they all wanted stock in his drug trade— so he’d have to come back

another day.

Near sunset, Archie returned home. There had been more injuries; a twelve year old runner mowed down by a tractor, a broken leg, and a knife fight arranged by two of the overseers who’d grown bored. He would fire them, of course.

His friends in the police would deal with the troubles. The contracts left him no liabilities, but he was kind enough to see that the injured were transported to the edge of his land, where they would need to arrange further travel to the emergency wards themselves. Their chances were poor, but alas, Archie had no responsibility to them. To even contemplate it would be to submit himself to slavery!

After a lovely dinner of ostrich eggs and giraffe filet, he retired, calling his bed servant to join him. He was tired from the day and had no plans to make use of her talents, but he’d grown used to her presence. He could marry her if he chose, and was sure she’d be grateful, but marriage was for making contracts. It was understood that the girl and her successors would remain, discreetly, and his new wife would say nothing or be cast out of his house without a penny. So it was.

Archie did not awake again until he felt thin legs straddling his waist and fire about his neck. A silk cord from one of his window treatments was wound around his neck, burning. The girl’s eyes met his and before his throat closed, he managed to gasp out, “Why?” And she said, “I got a better offer.”

14 • THE CANNON

OCTOBER 2021

Excitement ANDRE LI Cannon Writer

It is some street breeze After an afternoon snooze A stream of sunshine Into a long-abandoned palace A lakeshore wood is an escapement cave A higher institution is a casino Toward the basement is the pre-gambling assembly With vintage friends, and all whites and blacks An accelerating descend A restrained heart after 400 million second To open, to close To see, to leave A passage to be remarked A present to be revealed Some unpleasant quietness into the hall Like the time has never been moved Boredom and tiredness would never be forgiven But, identity Your face is like your old face Can our faith still be our faith?

Speech is tangible vocabularies Yet stress is the intangible burden A frozen palace, a harsh reality One to win, the other to lose Black percentage on a white paper The winner never takes all But the loser always takes nothing Gambling drives people crazy Greediness even makes protons break So please let the time pause, my lord Direct me back to that summer woods If there is a solution to restructure our bonds I noticed a glimpse of darkness And a mirage from the sea Where Santiago brought back a whole giant marlin Let me escape from the palace An institution should have human instinct Some street breeze, and embrace the nature And the last glare of the sun upon my head Please let me escape from the palace There will be no more power to battle One day ends, but like tens and hundreds of years Black and whites, all will combine into grays

CREDIT: HTTPS://WWW.UTORONTO.CA/NEWS/CONSTRUCTION-BEGINS-HISTORIC-U-T-CAMPUS-REVITALIZATION-PROJECT

cannon.skule.ca

OCTOBER 2021

• 15

OPINION

The Strangeness of Strangers

CREDIT: CANNON EIC

MINHA KHAN Podcast Lead Returning back to campus this Fall semester has led me to think a lot about strangers and the way we interact with them.

Consider how many people you pass by each day as you walk to campus and from building-to-building between classes. All you get of these people are infinitesimally small glimpses into their lives.

You may catch the tail end of a dramatic story being shared between two best friends, hear the laughter following the punchline of a joke you didn’t hear, or glimpse a couple sharing a moment. Downtown Toronto always seems to be in motion.

There’s a lot of busy people canvassing the city making their way through their day.

Before I got my driver’s license and could drive, I would take the bus and think about how being in a bus full of people was like being in a bus filled with potential friends. It’s cheesy, but the space between you and a stranger is only a few sentences. If you think about it, the word itself that we use to describe people we don’t know–‘strangers’– has the root word “strange” in it. The first definition of “strange” on Google is, “unusual or surprising in a way that is unsettling or hard to understand.”

Isn’t it telling how even in our use of language we predispose ourselves to keep distance between ourselves and people we don’t know?

How many people do you see around campus that you don’t know or haven’t talked to but you keep crossing paths with them? Do you ever think

of what it would be like to know them on a more personal level?

I think a perfect metaphor for this phenomenon is the subway. You pass by the throbs of people that are all trying to get someplace in particular and you co-exist together for a short span of time.

Some people you only witness for a few seconds and others for a half an hour while you share the same subway carriage.

My favourite moment on the subway is sitting in a train and having another train, travelling in the opposite direction, pass by. You can catch a quick glimpse of everyone else in the passing carriages, but the trains are travelling so fast that you can’t fully process who you saw.

On the walk to Queen’s Park station, there’s a homeless man who will sometimes lie on top of

the vents where gusts of hot air blow through.

During rush hour, masses of people will walk by him, curled up on the vent. This observation is not surprising or extraordinarily specialwhat else are the people meant to do besides walk by? Although this behaviour is considered normal now, there must have been a point in time where it became the norm to walk by someone in need and accept their fate to be out of your own hands. Somehow, at some point in time, we started to believe that this is just how life is. We can look at the Canadian system as an example of societal shift of belief.

Prior to the 1980s (after which the focus shifted to business from social obligation), the Canadian government was highly focused on finding housing solutions for those

without homes to the point where the term “homeless” itself was not everyday language. The term “transient” instead was used.

Whether it was a belief that came with getting older, or a paradigm shift that took place on a bigger societal scale at some point in history, this now solidified belief that there are some people that simply can’t be helped was not pre-existing.

The point I’m trying to make with the above example is that although some beliefs or perspectives may seem like they are set in stone, most seemingly widespread perspectives originate from some starting point. I wonder where the starting point for that defamiliarization from strangers takes place. And if we’d be remiss to keep it that way.

16 • THE CANNON

OCTOBER 2021

OPINION

The “Inverted Classroom” and Why I Hate It TUDOR SIGMUND Podcast Lead After having finished a whole year of online learning, it seems to me that the one buzzword that professors cannot stop talking about is the “Inverted Classroom”.

Well what is the Inverted Classroom? It is an idea where instead of learning course content in a physical lecture hall then going home to solve problems on your own related to the content, you instead learn the content on your own at home and come to the scheduled lectures where you solve problems with the help of the professor and your classmates.

The inverted classroom to me personally is super beneficial (when done properly of course). When learning a concept for the first time in lecture, it can be quite difficult to grasp what exactly the professor is explaining with the concept, and the information may go in one ear and out the other. With the inverted classroom model, you can spend as much time as you need watching lecture videos, or reading through the assigned readings until you sort of get an idea of what is really happening. Then once

you get to the scheduled lectures, you can use that knowledge and expand upon it by going over harder examples with your professor that allows you to fail and learn from your mistakes in a way that the traditional classroom model does not allow.

Gone are the days of going over homework problems with no guidance of where you made a mistake and what you can do differently the next time you approach a similar problem. That is of course, when the inverted classroom model is done correctly. More often than not, it is not.

Professors in many courses seem to believe that the inverted classroom model refers to you watching videos on your own before lecture, then, during lecture, the professor goes over the same material with you, again, and then you go home and struggle with your homework on your own. Fantastic, right?

Absolutely not.

This method of applying the inverted classroom model adds all the negatives of the inverted classroom model (forcing students to watch lecture videos before their lectures), without any of the positives (working through questions with

the professor).

It infuriates me that professors think that just presenting the information twice is how the inverted classroom model should be applied.

I personally get nothing from seeing material thrown into my face over and over again. But what do I learn from? Going over practice problems.

Making mistakes, figuring out where I went wrong and what I can do differently next time I do said problem. Maybe it’s how my brain has adapted after the countless years I’ve spent playing video games where I’ve had to adapt my strategy every time I die in a game or fail to beat a level, or maybe it’s how our brains are actually meant to learn. I really wish professors would correctly implement the inverted classroom as it would allow students more time to learn from actually solving problems and going through the material practically, not just theoretically.

The worst part about the poor implementation of the inverted classroom model is that professors always seem to have the same excuse for why they implement it this way “Oh, well I don’t know if students are watching

the videos before class so it’s unfair to them if I don’t cover the material”.

No. It’s unfair to me, the student who takes the time before lecture to sit down and watch the videos, at a painful 1x speed (because Lord knows my brain does not function at a faster speed) and who actually does what you tell the students to do. It’s unfair to the group of us who learn by doing, by making mistakes and by being shown the process of getting to the correct solution after making mistakes.

If professors are going to cater their lectures to students who don’t follow their instructions, what’s the point of me even following the instructions anymore? The inverted classroom model works if professors say “You didn’t watch the videos? Well that’s too bad.” in lecture instead of spending the majority of the lecture reviewing content again.

Why? Because it forces students to actually watch the videos before attending lecture and that way students follow instructions. When all students watch the pre lecture videos or read the pre lecture notes, discussion blossoms and actual learning can take place. But if professors

don’t make it appear to students that it’s mandatory to watch the videos before coming to lecture, then why would anyone waste their time on the content anyways?

We’re all busy with other courses. And life.

In the end, I think the most important thing to say is that the inverted classroom model works.

Allowing the students the opportunity to solve questions and learn in a group encourages making mistakes and learning how to solve problems correctly. While I do believe that the model works, implementation needs a new remapping by many different courses and course coordinators.

If you want to say your course uses an inverted classroom model, don’t come to lecture and teach me the same things you taught me in the videos.

Show me something new, show me a trick that I may not have picked up on if I wasn’t paying attention, or give me some impossible problem that has the most elegant solution but I wouldn’t think of it without a hint from the professor.

If you’re going to repeat video material in lecture, don’t call it an inverted classroom, just call it a double classroom.

CREDIT: HTTPS://TEACHING.WASHINGTON.EDU/TOPICS/ ENGAGING-STUDENTS-IN-LEARNING/FLIPPING-THE-CLASSROOM/