Letter of the day | Cool the debate and look at the how to reach goals
To The Editor:
I believe that Education Minister Kelly Lamrock should be commended for his willingness to take the politically difficult road and for his determination to establish a language program that is fair in providing equal opportunity for all English-speaking New Brunswick school children.
As a retired professor of English in New Brunswick, I am vitally interested in the question of language. While it is widely held that the younger the child, the easier it is for him/her to acquire a second and even a third language, it is by no means impossible to achieve these goals at a later stage in life. There are thousands of cases to prove this point.
One need only look at the number of immigrants who come to Canada each year and in very little time acquire the necessary language skills for living in this country. I happen to belong to this group of "new" Canadians and learned English at the age of 13 and French at the age of 38 when I took an immersion course at university and went on to complete a Masters degree in that language.
The outright condemnation of the plan to postpone second language training to grade five instead of keeping it at the grade one level seems to me misguided, especially in view of the fact that the trial period of the grade five intensive plan has so far met with great success.
Added to this is the fact that this new approach is inclusive, and that it will give children a much needed grounding in their first language, which the test results of literacy in our province clearly indicate is desperately needed.
The Times & Transcript editorial of Friday, March 21 advises a period of time-out and calm reflection on this matter. I cannot agree more.
Letters threatening court actions and political retribution, in my opinion, do not contribute to the debate. Let us hear more of how the new plan will work. Minister Lamrock's effort to explain the government's position was most enlightening (Times & Transcript, March 20 and 21).
I also feel that unelected officials should for the moment hold their fire, until they too know more about this whole issue. Uninformed comments from these individuals do nothing to enlighten the discussion.
Theresia Quigley,
Riverview
(Via e-mail)
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but to learn a new language, and they are generally supported in their concentrated efforts to do
so. In so many ways, they are paid to do just that.
It matters not that someone is language professor, other professors, in fact a slew of them
have countered this argument. And statisticians have shown how flawed the Croll/Lee report
has been. Thousands of people in this province, from both linguistic groups, have made their
sentiments known. They cannot all be wrong.
What this letter does is to suggest a silencing of the masses, and that's bogus. The "unlected
officials" are in the know as well as anyone and no one should be silent on this issue.
Allison J. Ménard has presented a document which shows how flawed the Croll/Lee report is,
and that needs to be read and understood. The entire province is not made up of fools!
http://www.cpfnb.com/reports/BeyondHysteria.pdf
the paces, that is called Immersion, deep Immersion, concentrated. Basically, such persons
are adults, who, as history shows, are so eager to come to a land of opportunity, that will be
bent on learning in-depth. We cannot compare people, in such cases, to small children,
already living here. But, children living here already have the options, as a given, and that is
what we need to capitalize on.
Real progress is made when there is a meeting of the minds and concensus is reached.
It must be equitable. Minister Lamrock used the media to further his agenda, shown to be
flawed, pursuant to the Croll/Lee report. Even the ads used by Minister Lamrock are paid
for by taxpayers who, in this case, were not even consulted before he made his unilateral
decision.
If anything meaningful is to come out of any of this, doors need to be left open. What doors
were left open by Mr. Lamrock?
The fact is Ms. Quigley, it is our elected officials who need to learn more about the issue. Their understanding of the decision and rationale is minimal. Read the whole report linked to in the first comment and then see if you would write another letter supporting this decision in good conscience.
wonder about the validity assigned to everyday people, you know, the backbone of a
province or nation?
Parents and concerned citizens cannot be summarily dismissed on a whim. This issue of
great import, and all parties must be given voice. To do otherwise is to foster an aura
of significance applicable to some and not applicable to others.
Tomorrow's world cannot be built on yesterday's standards or rhetoric.
Oddly enough, the retired language professor above makes no mention of a program that provides equal opportunity for all French-speaking New Brunswick school children. Fascinating!
If people and languages are of equal standing, then ought we not provide equally across the board?
If so, doesn't the type of letter (of the day), as presented here, not make a case for only one side
of the equation?
If we are to have a balance, and if the programs are flawed, even, should we not produce
some kind of verifiable stats to substantiate any and all of it?