Language Police to Force Children to Speak French During Recess

[jimmy olsen]

What a fucked up country. 

http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/11/24/no-recess-from-french-as-montreal-schools-to-scan-playground-chatter/

No recess from French as Montreal schools to scan playground chatter

Graeme Hamilton  Nov 24, 2011 – 11:28 PM ET

MONTREAL • The playgrounds, hallways and cafeterias of Quebec's largest school board will soon be French-only zones as authorities move to silence other languages, even during recess.

In a bid to ensure its 110,000 students master French, the Commission scolaire de Montréal has announced a new code of conduct declaring French de rigueur at all times during the school day.

Diane De Courcy, the board's chairwoman, said the approach will be persuasive not punitive.

"There will be no language police," she said. Instead, monitors who overhear children using their mother tongue during recess will simply remind them of the rules.

"If they are automatically switching to another language, [the monitor] will gently tap them on the shoulder — not on the head — to tell them, 'Remember, we speak French. It's good for you.'

"It will be enough to deliver a clear message that French must be spoken, and when we speak it often, we become very good at it."

She said the policy, which will come fully into effect in September, is needed to improve the French performance of students, who increasingly come from immigrant families.

The school board's statistics show 53% of its students have a mother tongue other than French. A poll this fall of 811 parents found 70% agreed with imposing French at all times.

Quebec's Charter of the French Language, Bill 101, requires children of immigrants to attend French-language schools. This has led to generations of allophone Quebecers – those whose mother tongue is neither French nor English – who are perfectly at ease in French. Up until now, the rules have applied inside the classroom only.

But fears French will be swamped by English are not easily assuaged.

This year, the separatist Parti Québécois committed to extending Bill 101's provisions to the pre-university colleges known as CEGEPs if elected, which would prohibit adults from attending the school of their choice.

Pauline Marois, the PQ leader, has even toyed with the idea of applying Bill 101 to toddlers attending subsidized daycares.

Julius Grey, a prominent Montreal civil-rights lawyer, said the school board's proposal is a clear violation of students' rights and would not withstand a court challenge.

"In order to justify it you have to show it's necessary in a free and democratic society, and it really isn't. They have no studies at all. They just have an idea about spreading a message," he said.

"That is quite a weak basis to violate rights."

Mr. Grey noted the rule could even apply to a couple of francophone children who wanted to practise their English in the schoolyard before a test.

"Bill 101 works when it is not pushed to illogical extremes," he said. "All laws are subject to common sense. The applying of Bill 101 beyond common sense is rather a recipe for keeping tensions going than for ending them."

But Ms. De Courcy said she has heard little but praise for the plan, which would also apply to children of old-stock Quebecers who "massacre" the language.

"We are not infringing on children's freedom," she insisted.

And she has received support from Christine St-Pierre, the Liberal cabinet minister responsible for language.

"I think that children who attend school in French must, in the hallways, speak French among themselves," Ms. St-Pierre told La Presse.

"To say that things must happen in French in the schoolyard sends a clear message: You are learning French.' "

[The Brain]

There will be no language police.

[Darth Wagtaros]

That means there will be.

[Martinus]

It's funny that usually it's the shitty non-entities like Quebec that come up with crap like that.

I for one have never met a Quebecois I didn't consider deserving of a bullet in the brain. Neil, see to it.

[Habbaku]

I for one have never met a Quebecois I didn't consider deserving of a bullet in the brain. Neil, see to it.

That says more about you than the Quebecois as a whole.

[HVC]

"Remember, we speak French. It's good for you." lol. that's just creepy.

[Razgovory]

I expect the usual suspects will eventually show up and say it's just anglophone Canada blowing something out of proportion or perhaps outright slander.

[Martinus]

I like how these cretins have a minister responsible for language. What a bunch of fucking faggots.

[grumbler]

"There will be no language police," she said. Instead, monitors who overhear children using their mother tongue during recess will simply remind them of the rules.

The Ministry of Truth is happy to hear this.

And, there are no American tanks in Baghdad.

[Razgovory]

I like how these cretins have a minister responsible for language. What a bunch of fucking faggots.

You really like that word cretin don't you?

[Capetan Mihali]

What a fucked up country. 

the plan, which would also apply to children of old-stock Quebecers who "massacre" the language.

Good thing Grey Fox made it out before these new laws go into effect.

[Habbaku]

I like how these cretins have a minister responsible for language. What a bunch of fucking faggots.

You really like that word cretin don't you?

He identifies a lot with it.

[Habbaku]

What a fucked up country. 

the plan, which would also apply to children of old-stock Quebecers who "massacre" the language.

Good thing Grey Fox made it out before these new laws go into effect.

[Razgovory]

I like how these cretins have a minister responsible for language. What a bunch of fucking faggots.

You really like that word cretin don't you?

He identifies a lot with it.

It's a medical condition not really found in the West anymore.  Perhaps it's more common where he lives.

[Grey Fox]

We barely enforce those we already have.