I attended two French Immersion schools in B.C. between 1988-1996 and this article doesn't line up at all with my (admittedly anecdotal) experience. I'm not your typical French Immersion defender, I hated French Immersion as a kid. I attended hybrid schools where only maybe 1/4th of the school was French Immersion and the rest were English and it made me and my French classmates targets for bullying. The parents of t…
I just think it's nonsense that Canada has two official languages... and that's from a quebecer. Two countries with each their own language would save everyone involved so much money. Also, bilingualism to me is divide and conquer: how can we (as in the people) change anything if we can't even understand each other ? The status quo can't go on forever.
In some parts of Canada (Ottawa at least), there is no shortage of French immersion programs if parents want them, and I at least haven't noticed any type of segregation.
When my son started school, we were concerned about enrolling in a French immersion program because he has had speech and language development issues. We were also worried because neither my wife nor I speak French so we weren't sure if we could help him if he had trouble. During the registration we were encouraged to try French immersion anyway and to switch later if he ran into trouble. The school board provided speech and language therapy for him and so far he is doing fine. There is an English stream at his school and the kids from both play together, go on field trips together, etc...
I should note that starting this past year, all kids entering kindergarten are taught in 50% English and 50% French. Only after two years of kindergarten do they have the option of early French immersion starting in grade one.
http://www.ocdsb.ca/programs/ele/fi/Pages/default.aspx
It's funny, because the reverse issue exists within Quebec. I can't say how much better (or worse) it got recently recently, but I know that 15 years ago English classes in primary and high school were very, very underwhelming. I'm lucky enough that my school had an advanced curriculum available, but I have friends that didn't have this chance and even today they wouldn't be able to have a basic conversion in English…
Billinguism is a lie we've been fed for so long. So much money wasted, so many missed opportunities, no way to unite as a whole to change anything since the vast majority of canadians on either side of the fence just listens to his own language's media. The only issue is, you might not like my solution out of it.
For a USA-ian, it is interesting to see similar issues for language immersion (in Canada) and US voucher-based charter schools, each relative to the local traditional schools, with a tendency for students from higher-income families to attend immersion (in Canada) or voucher-based charter schools (in the US), and for traditional schools to retain students from lower-income families, allophone/ESL students, and a high…
The United States of America declared independence in 1776, becoming the first independent, foreign-recognized nation in the Americas. This is why we are called "Americans", despite the many subsequent independent countries also residing in the Americas. Every country has a unique name for their nationality, that is ours.
See, whats funny to me about this, is that you've gone and given yourself the title of "Americans", whereas the people who were there before you, and had established civilizations, are given the title "Native Americans". That doesn't make any sense. How about instead, Native Americans can drop the Native qualifier and Americans can start calling themselves "Foreign Americans". That's much more logical, and historically consistent.
(Also, "independent, foreign-recognized nation in the Americas"? What about the Six Nations? They were certainly recognized as nations by the British)
> Good school districts in the US aren't usually good because they're better funded or because the teachers are really amazing (those things may or may not be true) but because a variety of factors (including housing costs, commutes poorly served by public transit) result in much higher average teachability Good school districts are generally good because they have a higher proportion of students with educated parent…
Being educated in classrooms where there aren't constant severe disruptions, where there's a much lower chance your kid will fall in with a crowd so bad that they end up in jail, where a higher percentage of their peers all expect/are expected to attend college, and so on, absolutely improves your child's educational (and other) prospects. Peers matter a ton . By high school peer expectations to study and maintain a…
Where “good peers” means that the other students have quiet space to do homework, enough money in the family that everyone isn’t constantly stressed about losing their house, access to office supplies and books, a comfortable bed to sleep in, access to fresh vegetables instead of highly processed food, good health insurance, are not located next to a superfund site or living in a house filled with lead paint, haven’t had their fathers dragged off to prison for small-time drug offenses, don’t need to be taking care of younger siblings because their single mother works 2 jobs, don’t get treated suspiciously by shopkeepers, aren’t harassed by the police all the time, don’t need to go through metal detectors every day on the way into school, have the resources to pay for extracurricular music lessons and private math tutoring, go to a school where the teacher turnover is low and the school can afford to maintain the facilities and provide materials, .....
For a USA-ian, it is interesting to see similar issues for language immersion (in Canada) and US voucher-based charter schools, each relative to the local traditional schools, with a tendency for students from higher-income families to attend immersion (in Canada) or voucher-based charter schools (in the US), and for traditional schools to retain students from lower-income families, allophone/ESL students, and a high…
The United States of America declared independence in 1776, becoming the first independent, foreign-recognized nation in the Americas. This is why we are called "Americans", despite the many subsequent independent countries also residing in the Americas. Every country has a unique name for their nationality, that is ours.
> The United States of America declared independence in 1776, becoming the first independent, foreign-recognized nation in the Americas
Quite a number of native nations were recognized by each other and even European powers. The US was the first post-colonial, recognized independent state, but the post-colonial part is significant.
I attended two French Immersion schools in B.C. between 1988-1996 and this article doesn't line up at all with my (admittedly anecdotal) experience. I'm not your typical French Immersion defender, I hated French Immersion as a kid. I attended hybrid schools where only maybe 1/4th of the school was French Immersion and the rest were English and it made me and my French classmates targets for bullying. The parents of t…
I just think it's nonsense that Canada has two official languages... and that's from a quebecer. Two countries with each their own language would save everyone involved so much money. Also, bilingualism to me is divide and conquer: how can we (as in the people) change anything if we can't even understand each other ? The status quo can't go on forever.
This is hardly a uniquely Canadian issue. I looked at public schools in SF and was amused to find there were Mandarin and Vietnamese only public schools that would not accept my English speaking children because they didn't speak Mandarin/Vietnamese. Again, public schools, in the USA, where English was not an option. And the English schools had long waiting lists, go figure.
I just think it's nonsense that Canada has two official languages... and that's from a quebecer. Two countries with each their own language would save everyone involved so much money. Also, bilingualism to me is divide and conquer: how can we (as in the people) change anything if we can't even understand each other ? The status quo can't go on forever.
This is hardly a uniquely Canadian issue. I looked at public schools in SF and was amused to find there were Mandarin and Vietnamese only public schools that would not accept my English speaking children because they didn't speak Mandarin/Vietnamese. Again, public schools, in the USA, where English was not an option. And the English schools had long waiting lists, go figure.
> This is hardly a uniquely Canadian issue
If you think you gave a good comparison, you clearly lack context. The situation is completely different... it's not really about education, it's about national unity.
I did French immersion in English-speaking Canada, and I'm very grateful for it. Learning another language and culture introduces you to another way of thinking, and learning a 2nd language young makes learning a 3rd and 4th much easier. And it's not as though I invested any more time in school than my unilingual counterparts... Just meant we had 1 less 'required' optional course, they still had to make the time up.
It's funny, because the reverse issue exists within Quebec. I can't say how much better (or worse) it got recently recently, but I know that 15 years ago English classes in primary and high school were very, very underwhelming. I'm lucky enough that my school had an advanced curriculum available, but I have friends that didn't have this chance and even today they wouldn't be able to have a basic conversion in English…
Billinguism is a lie we've been fed for so long. So much money wasted, so many missed opportunities, no way to unite as a whole to change anything since the vast majority of canadians on either side of the fence just listens to his own language's media. The only issue is, you might not like my solution out of it.
I think you're confusing with having a united Canadian identity/culture/nation (à-la-PE Trudeau).
Also, nowadays, you probably want to speak more than two languages, or at least have some understanding of more than two languages. I'm always amazed by how many people in the US speak either French or Spanish or both (although, sure I have a very biased experience, being in tech circles). Tear down walls, speak multiple languages, it's 2017 and we have a global economy, adapt.