Are failing bilingual programs wasteful to taxpayers?
We all remember in a speech to 2,000 New Brunswick elementary school teachers last spring when Justin Trudeau said "separate school systems are divisive and economically inefficient."
Well, we all know what happened next, in that, he ended up taking quite a bit of heat for his words, and eventually, he was forced to backtrack on them.
Now as painful as it is to state publically on this blog, could it be that he was, at least, right on the former after all? You know, the part where he adamantly stated that the policy was economically inefficient and possibly wasteful.
7 Comments:
There is a cost Canadians must incur in order to foster bilingualism amongst its school children. And this just happens to be one of them.
This policy doesn't foster bilingualism. A bilingual school system would see both french and english students at the same school. That was Trudeau's point: biligualism was meant to bring us together, not separate us.
Our current system is a parallel education system. There is nothing bilingual about it. Every program in the Dept of Education is duplicated across linguistic lines, which drives up costs.
To foster bilingualism in our children, we would have them in the same classes at the same schools. The Royal Military College has a true bilingual educational system. One week totally in French, the next totally in English. Anything less is just lip service.
It sounds like ellen is evoking fear in anybody who dares question the actual costs and setbacks of this policy. Typical.
ellen: you may regard it as a sacred trust, but that should not make it immune to scrutiny.
rob: very true. I always thought that our focus on dualitic policies has made our society more intolerant than tolerant. Why? Because in a divisive society ppl become more protective and insular. Which is why many from other cultures and lands have left this region before even barely setting foot.
anon: I just think she's touting the line without looking more deeply into the whole issue. Though to some, it may come across as fear mongering.
For the past decade, statistician Charles Castonguay has been predicting the demise of francophone communities outside Quebec.
Now, with census data showing a continuing slide in native French-speakers outside Quebec, he says it's time to cut off federal government life-support to the shrinking francophone outposts.
"It 's money down the drain," said Mr. Castonguay, an adjunct professor of mathematics and statistics at the University of Ottawa. "Not in Ottawa, not in [eastern] Ontario or New Brunswick, but outside of those areas, the strength of English is just overwhelming."
But the head of the organization that represents minority francophones says the government should increase its commitment, putting billions of dollars into bolstering French outside of Quebec.
"I hope that the census data sends a very clear signal to the government that we have to act, that we have to really have concrete investments, on the ground, if we want to make a difference," said Lise Routhier-Boudreau, president of the Federation of Francophone and Acadian Communities of Canada.
The 2006 census information released this week by Statistics Canada show that the number of people who speak mainly French at home declined between 2001 and 2006 in all anglophone provinces from Saskatchewan to Newfoundland.
In Newfoundland, the number of French speakers plummeted by 27%, followed by 12% in Saskatchewan, 10% in Nova Scotia, and smaller declines in Ontario, New Brunswick, P.E.I. and Manitoba.
Even in Alberta, where the number of French speakers grew, that increase of 3.3% did not keep pace with the province's overall 11% population growth between 2001 and 2006.
Similarly, the number of people who registered French as their mother tongue sank by 13% in Newfoundland, 10% in Saskatchewan, and also declined in P.E.I., Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Manitoba. Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia posted modest gains in the number of native francophones, but none kept pace with the overall population increase in those provinces.
In Newfoundland, there were only 25 babies up to the age of four whose mother tongue was registered as French on the 2006 census.
"There are places where it's almost catastrophic," Ms. Routhier-Boudreau said.
The statistics also show that, as they reach adulthood, francophones in all provinces outside of Quebec continue to switch over to living their lives mainly in English.
Looking at the critical age group between 20 and 34 -- when people typically get married and establish families -- there are 158,350 francophones outside of Quebec. But only 63% of them use French as their main language at home.
People who said they used both English and French, or French and another language at home, are not included in this figure.
The assimilation picture is rosiest for francophones in New Brunswick, where 92% of francophones aged 20-34 continue to speak French at home.
Things are bleakest in Newfoundland and Labrador, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta, where more than half of native francophones aged 20-34 no longer speak French as their main home language.
If you want to see why its so difficult to talk about the subject this is a good example. Ellen simply made an opinion, nothing typical about and no 'evoking fear' (I read it and certainly wasn't 'scared' of anything).
She also didn't say anything about a sacred trust or say that its above scrutiny, she simply said there is a cost, and nobody can deny that.
So the venom and criticism of that is pretty symptomatic of why the issue is so divisive, and why people think it fosters the bigots to come out and play, because so melodramatic responses to a simple claim.
I would agree with Rob, but if you want to see how facebook is taking over where blogs left off, there is a hugely long discussion on the specific policies of bilingualism at the New Brunswick group. It is a big issue and very important and needs to be addressed, and the government and educational system IS attempting to deal with it, but again, the silence of the public makes it hard, and the overreactions to simple statements makes the silence understandable.
You can force French on our English kids,or you can teach them useful things.The fact
But the failed idiot idea has been a great benefit to NB youth.
They get to travel to many places,work at many interesting jobs,get treated with respect,make good money,and best of all,never wind up working for government.
Keep up the great system.
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