“Many of my students don’t know any French-speaking artists, don’t read in French, never watch TV in French, and we’re in a French-speaking CEGEP!
Imagine, then, what place Quebec culture occupies in the education of Francophones and allophones who study in English. »
When I read this quote from teacher Marie-Lou Bouchard, I heaved a huge sigh of discouragement.
Then when I read this other quote, in a report by Émilie Dubreuil from Radio-Canada, I literally had shivers down my spine: “If we don’t apply Bill 101 at Cégep, we’ll run straight towards assimilation. We are going to disappear culturally”.
ASSIMILATION?
For the past few weeks, we have been hearing a lot about the future obligation for students in English CEGEPs to take three courses in French. As Minister Jolin-Barrette wrote on Twitter: “The common language in Quebec is French. Thanks to PL96, all students enrolled in a college program in English will now take three courses in French to obtain their DEC.”
I can’t believe there wasn’t an outcry when the president of the Fédération des cégeps declared that 35% of his students would fail because… they don’t master the French.
Doesn’t it make you scream, you, to know that every year, in Quebec, thousands of students leave the school benches not knowing enough the language of Michel Tremblay?
Doesn’t it insult you to know that young Anglophones (who are supposedly exemplary bilinguals) are incapable of understanding texts in French?
How can these students listen to a song by Roxane Bruneau, read a book by Dominique Fortier, see a film by Renée Beaulieu, understand a joke by Mariana Mazza if they don’t speak French?
Last Sunday, Minister Nathalie Roy unveiled her cultural recovery plan. The CAQ will invest 226 million for the next three years, to bail out a sector seriously damaged by two years of pandemic. We are going to invest millions for international outreach.
Here is what we can read in the plan: “Quebec culture already enjoys an enviable international reputation. In full reopening of foreign markets, it is imperative to increase our efforts so that Quebec works can continue to amaze beyond our borders and conquer new audiences.
Can we also “wonder within our borders” and “conquer our own audience”?
We celebrate and underline these days the twentieth anniversary of the album Aquanaut by Ariane Moffatt. If I walk into an Anglo CEGEP, how many students will know who she is, do you think?
In this column, I often talk to you about the song Mommywhich Pauline Julien sang, on the assimilation of French speakers to English.
Can you believe that his great–nephew, Frédéric Julien, is a literature professor at Cégep Édouard–Montpetit? As he told Émilie Dubreuil of Radio-Canada: “We train citizens, human beings who we teach to love a language and a heritage. »
He is of course in favor of the application of law 101 in the cegeps. Because he is afraid that the song Pauline Julien sang will become reality.
“Oh mommy, tell me why it’s too late, too late”.
Reference-www.journaldemontreal.com