Ablaze Academy (Homeschool)

 
Michael Swanson
 
Avatar
 
 
Michael Swanson
Total Posts:  2462
Joined  26-02-2005
 
 
 
12 November 2006 23:53
 

http://www.homeschool.com/resources/AblazeAcademy/crest_s.jpg

Ablaze Academy (Homeschool)

St Marys, Georgia

 
PBlanton
 
Avatar
 
 
PBlanton
Total Posts:  808
Joined  06-11-2005
 
 
 
13 November 2006 00:01
 

Wow! Now that is a cool looking CoA for a school! I think I like it better than all the others that have been displayed in this section so far.

Take care,

 
 
Joseph McMillan
 
Avatar
 
 
Joseph McMillan
Total Posts:  7658
Joined  08-06-2004
 
 
 
13 November 2006 00:37
 

Yes, but unfortunately…

http://www.mcmaster.ca/ua/opr/identity/med/coatofarms.jpg

 

McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, granted by Lord Lyon in 1930.  See http://www.mcmaster.ca/ua/opr/identity/coatofarms.cfm.

 

What exactly is it that home schooling is supposed to offer that public school doesn’t?  Values?  Ethics?  Hmmm.

 
Michael Swanson
 
Avatar
 
 
Michael Swanson
Total Posts:  2462
Joined  26-02-2005
 
 
 
13 November 2006 07:52
 

Joseph McMillan wrote:

What exactly is it that home schooling is supposed to offer that public school doesn’t?  Values?  Ethics?  Hmmm.


Well, for one, there is no relentless bullying.  There is self-paced studying.  Smart kids can load up on college courses before the high school would let them.  I could go on, but that is for another forum.

:mullet:

 

I respectfully ask that you review your differencing standards concerning other arms presented, such as Brentwood, TN.  Are not the maple leaves sufficent here?  If not, then we need to revisit your other judgments.

 
Joseph McMillan
 
Avatar
 
 
Joseph McMillan
Total Posts:  7658
Joined  08-06-2004
 
 
 
13 November 2006 08:31
 

Michael Swanson wrote:

Well, for one, there is no relentless bullying. There is self-paced studying. Smart kids can load up on college courses before the high school would let them. I could go on, but that is for another forum.

:mullet:

I respectfully ask that you review your differencing standards concerning other arms presented, such as Brentwood, TN. Are not the maple leaves sufficent here? If not, then we need to revisit your other judgments.


Brentwood’s arms have a connection with Brentwood, England, don’t they?  What is the connection between "Ablaze Academy" and McMaster University?

 

Also, the artwork is clearly lifted directly from a McMaster source, which is theft of intellectual property.  If they had redrawn the arms I might have been less critical.

 

On the non-heraldic issue, I wasn’t trashing home schooling in toto.  Merely observing that this is not the best advertisement for some of the virtues some promoters of home schooling tout for it.  As you say, however, that’s an argument for another place.

 
Michael Swanson
 
Avatar
 
 
Michael Swanson
Total Posts:  2462
Joined  26-02-2005
 
 
 
13 November 2006 08:36
 

Joseph McMillan wrote:

If they had redrawn the arms I might have been less critical.


Brentwood TN was a sister city, but I found they never asked permission to use the arms.

 

Yes, the lifting of the artwork is not so nice.  On the other hand, the arms as blazon, and not as emblazonment, seem to be properly differenced.  Surely they could say they are "honoring" McMaster, which is what other academic institutions say when they copy another’s blazon even closer than Ablaze Academy has.

 
Madalch
 
Avatar
 
 
Madalch
Total Posts:  792
Joined  30-09-2005
 
 
 
13 November 2006 16:49
 

Michael Swanson wrote:

I respectfully ask that you review your differencing standards concerning other arms presented, such as Brentwood, TN.  Are not the maple leaves sufficent here?  If not, then we need to revisit your other judgments.


Apart from the theft of the artwork (as Joseph pointed out), if one were to use arms based on those of a founder, inspirer, or namesake, one would normally -add- difference marks.  Removing marks (such as the maple leaves) makes it looks like McMaster is using a differenced version of Ablaze’s arms, rather than the other way around.

 
Michael Swanson
 
Avatar
 
 
Michael Swanson
Total Posts:  2462
Joined  26-02-2005
 
 
 
17 November 2006 08:58
 

From Ablaze, who thought I was a representative of McMaster University:


Quote:

Dear Mr. Swanson,

We apologize for our infringement on McMaster University.  We did not know that their arms was copyrighted.  We had googled "coat of arms" and saw the crest and did not know that it belonged to anyone.  We are a small non-profit school located in St. Marys, Georgia.  The reason we chose this coat of arms to represent our school, was that the meaning of the arms represented what we believe our school represented.  Please extend our apologies to McMaster University.  We will be re-designing our arms (logo) as soon as possible.

 

We are sorry for any inconvenience that this has caused.  If you need to contact me, please feel free to telephone me at our toll free number ([omitted]).

 

[omitted]

President

Ablaze Academy

I’ll write them back and clarify.


Joseph McMillan wrote:

What exactly is it that home schooling is supposed to offer that public school doesn’t? Values? Ethics? Hmmm.

Yes.

 
Michael Swanson
 
Avatar
 
 
Michael Swanson
Total Posts:  2462
Joined  26-02-2005
 
 
 
20 December 2006 16:32
 

Madalch wrote:

Apart from the theft of the artwork (as Joseph pointed out), if one were to use arms based on those of a founder, inspirer, or namesake, one would normally -add- difference marks.  Removing marks (such as the maple leaves) makes it looks like McMaster is using a differenced version of Ablaze’s arms, rather than the other way around.


McMaster University wrote a cease letter to Ablaze, and Ablaze contacted me to help them with their arms, and then replied to the university.  I guess after some more exchanges Ablaze replaced the usurped shield with a computer, but someone at McMaster University mistakenly sent an email to Ablaze meant for his attorney saying "You have finally beaten them into submission."  I spoke with the University official, and he apologized, but my opinion of this university has plummeted, for they went way out of their way to bash this tiny homeschool after it had promised to replace the shield in an email and took steps to do so, but couldn’t remove all copies in an instant.

 
Linusboarder
 
Avatar
 
 
Linusboarder
Total Posts:  732
Joined  20-08-2006
 
 
 
20 December 2006 16:47
 

What were you saying about bullying in an earlier post?

That seems pretty low, beaten them into submission? Even if it wasn’t meant for the public eye it shows a lot of the (lack of) character on the university officials part.

 

While it wasn’t right for the home school to use those arms, or more specifically artwork, they were taking reasonable steps to rectify the situation. This whole ordeal has left a rather sour taste in my mouth, and I am sure it has for the home school too.

 

In the school’s best interest though, at least they will no longer be associated with McMaster University

 
Donnchadh
 
Avatar
 
 
Donnchadh
Total Posts:  4101
Joined  13-07-2005
 
 
 
21 December 2006 02:16
 

i agree with Colin. what the homeschool did was wrong, but i doubt it was out of malice; it might have been an honest, albeit ignorant, mistake (like the one a fellow student did with my arms) but to be so braggadocios about it… well… that is disgusting… especially in light of the fact that the school was making "reasonable" steps to fix the problem.

indeed Colin… who is/was bullying who here and what values are really represented in comments like that be it private or not? very bad indeed.

 
Michael Swanson
 
Avatar
 
 
Michael Swanson
Total Posts:  2462
Joined  26-02-2005
 
 
 
21 December 2006 22:23
 

While I agree that the homeschool using the McMaster shield should "cease and desist," it is important to consider how to address the problem.

When one reports someone who is using someone else’s arms (call him the "usurper") to a university or corporation, there is a standard procedure followed by the trademark attorney. The first thing they send is a cease and desist letter, followed by additional communication which outlines their legal position and possible legal action. This procedure is the same no matter if the usurper is a much larger corporation, a Mom and Pop candy store, a small church, or a 3rd grader with a webpage. The procedure is meant to deal with all usurpers including entities of great power and sophistication, and the procedure does not include fact finding about the motives or knowledge or age or situation of the usurper.

 

The procedure of the trademark attorney described above is basically amoral. The university or corporation attempts to protect itself without regard to optimizing the outcome to all parties. Its only concern is self. It does not take into account the possible harm caused to the usurper (from its legal threats or uninformative appeals to power), it does not consider whether the usurper can quickly comply to avoid legal action, it does not consider how the usurper might be improved by education or explanation about heraldry, etc. Behind the scenes, the university acts from a paradigm of power and not moral deliberation, with self-protection and self-preservation driving its self-assessment of its own actions no matter how small the threat or vulnerable the target.

 

Ethical action should be the first course of action. If someone finds a usurper, they should send them an email explaining that they have copied something and how the situation can be rectified. For example, if you (as heraldry enthusiast) find an old church has copied a design, but has no knowledge of this because it happened 50 years ago, an informative email may be all that is needed to correct the issue. It will achieve the same end, but the means are ethical and not amoral. It will also achieve an educational purpose and will not cause stress to the pastor and legal expense to the church. (On the other hand, if Microsoft steals a design, the gentle approach might not be the best bet.)

 

In conclusion, I discourage the practice of automatically reporting a usurper to the corporation or university. It is immoral to do so because this action triggers an amoral chain of events, devoid of moral deliberation, that could lead to unnecessary harm to innocent or ignorant parties. We should ask, before reporting, as Socrates would, "Who will this action improve, how will it make them more just?"

 
Michael Swanson
 
Avatar
 
 
Michael Swanson
Total Posts:  2462
Joined  26-02-2005
 
 
 
15 January 2008 12:01
 

http://www.homeschool.com/resources/AblazeAcademy/default.asp

Update: New arms are being used and were designed by the school staff.

 
Donnchadh
 
Avatar
 
 
Donnchadh
Total Posts:  4101
Joined  13-07-2005
 
 
 
15 January 2008 12:42
 

well, it is, interesting. if it didnt have the globe itd be even better imo. but congrats to them for doing it over and doing better than a lot of academic institutions.