An interesting question to ask might be: What percentage of children in French immersion are the children of unionized public school teachers ?  I suspect the answer may not be the same percentage as the general population.  Other question, what percentage of french immersion schools are in middle to upper middle class or greater neighborhoods ?  How about most ?

The purring belly of the beast might answer a few interesting questions.  Frequently, self service usually trumps professed social egalitarianism. After all, this is a fundamental human trait for better and for worse. It is those who will never acknowledge that the emperor can walk without clothing who give me cause for concern. .

Well my kids went through French Immersion from kindergarten to grade 8 and the reason I put them into FI was because they were reading long before they went to school and I wanted a challenge for them. While they qualified for the Gifted/enhanced learning program in Peel I felt that was a joke. If you were gifted in one area on a superior level that qualified you, so you might be a gifted writer but fail math badly but you would still qualify. I knew after I sat in on one of those classes it was not for our family. It seemed to be more about kids that did not fit in rather than challenging the mind. I wanted a well rounded education for my kids as they were gifted across the board and had many interests including sports. Their high school education took them to a school for the arts and I am pleased to say that one of them graduated from Waterloo engineering with Distinction and used his French during his co-op terms and the other one graduated with a BSc from Western. In peel we have many choices although it would be taboo to call them a charter school concept. You see it is definitely the privileged that get to attend the international business and technology programs , the school for the arts, the school for elite athletes, and the international baccalaureate program. I feel absolutely 100% satisfied that I put my kids In FI. How else could I give them the gift of being able to communicate in a second language. I am a big big fan of FI and if you look at the provincial standards FI students do on average 10% points better than the English stream.

The problem could possibly with the schools where the kids are enrolled to. If the faculty and ambiance of the school can provide with the best of facilities, where is the room for deprivation of knowledge? Sunnybrook School in Toronto is one such school which provides the students with the best of what they have. They teach with the help of technology and provide excellent classes in French.

My comment to the G&M (3:42AM, Feb06) is below. “clean break” (6:03 AM, Feb06) further amplifies my points and applauds Wente for “tackling another sacred chunk of the Canadian Orthodoxy of political correctness.”  cb calls FI schools “charter schools in disguise; just have the courage to call them that.” Took me a whole day to read and digest all the comments so far.  I would suggest that this story and the comments flowing would make a good assignment for a good long political science essay (with policy implications).  Some analysis of the vile comments about Wente would be an interesting side story. I think, as cb infers, she hits some very sensitive, defensive, vested-interest nerves.

FLIGHT FROM TOTALITARIANISM

So many policy issues arise — both from Wente’s article and the comments . . .

In my opinion, the most vital issue relates to parents feeling trapped in this force-fed egalitarian experiment called public education. They have few routes to escape.  Maybe they might afford to enroll in private schools, or can afford and have the commitment to home educate.

But, through political federal funding becoming available to nurture French Immersion programs, options do arise.  Regardless of the questionable competency of this program, many parents who generally embrace the “traditional” expectations of schooling (academic rigor, teachers on task and not burdened with discipline problems, etc.) now prefer the FI choice when available.

The state monopoly systems in our provinces have grown oppressive and self-serving.  Parents will increasingly become more demanding of greater variety and specialization for their children’s education. 

Especially with the Moore decision (Nov 2012) from the Supreme Court of Canada unanimously awarding $100,000 to cover past fees for private education for a dyslexic student, the calls for more differentiated schools will rise. 

It’s time to terminate the one-size-fits-all totalitarian experiment of centrally planned “public schooling”.

The likelihood of more court cases by parents seeking safe and effective education for their children — in their lifetimes — is predictable.

Your point is bang on. The problem is lack of choice. When I read Wente’s column, my reaction was, huh? Since when is FI considered prestigious?

Then I realized it’s not prestigious where I live - Edmonton - because we have open boundaries and amazing school choice. When you can pick from Spanish, German, hockey, ballet, performing arts, all-girls, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, academic, etc, all within the public school system, there’s little incentive to choose FI unless you’re really into French. Especially with immersion programs in about a dozen other languages available.

My kids and my sister’s kids each go to the top-ranked academic school in their respective cities, both of which espouse the same teaching method (direct instruction, phonics, etc). The difference is her Calgary school is private and she has to pay $20k a year per child because of lack of school choice in public schools. Ours is public, and we pay $70 a year a child. High demand, open boundaries and competition for students means there’s now about a dozen schools offering the same program, all within the public system so most parents who want this instructional focus can get it.

Here in Edmonton, FI has its dedicated following, but the really hot schools are the hockey schools and the Cogito academic schools, which are proliferating.