Eliteism and French Immersion

Today I read that some Toronto parents are concerned that their children are being denied the opportunity to be placed in French immersion classes because their children are not "gifted".

The two biggest lies, and there are lots of lies in this field, in education, is that only gifted students belong in French immersion along with the lie that students must score well in math to take computer science courses.

Learning a langauge has absolutely nothing to do with being gifted. It is based on need. I know many people who speak multiple languages who have never graduated from high school. I have a friend who is fluent in Vietnamese, Mandarin, English and French, who never took a course other than English in his life.

French immersion is a sham. A total farce. Students are held up as some sort of model of special education when many of them can barely order a meal at the St. Hubert in Montreal. A supposed French immersion teacher I know ordered a meal, in French, from a deli in Montreal and the waitress did not understand one word he said. A French immersion graduate I know, now lives in California where she wishes, every day, that she had learned some basic Spanish.

Various Canadian governments spend 100s of millions of dollars to teach people French, while far more Canadian youth learn Mandarin and Cantonese over the dinner table at home.

Speaking French in Canada is completely irrelevant except to people working in the Quebec provincial or municipal civil service.

The entire program in Canada to teach anglophones French is completely useless. I took 10 years of French education in school, but learned more Spanish by living in Mexico for 4 months LOL.

Learning a second or third language is important. It does not require secondary school immersion programs.

Ditch the French immersion and teach the kids how to communicate effectively, independent of English or French.