Language Police to Force Children to Speak French During Recess

[viper37]

And a nice piece about Texas:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/30/education/30punish.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1322514998-TL1MNi0hJ6B5nMK0h31OVg

Well as the article makes clear this sort of thing is not a statewide policy.  Our state government is very weak and most policies are made by local governments.  That makes something like say, a drive to stop corporal punishment, have to be done on a district by district basis.

doesn't matter, it's still in effect, and AFAIK, all of the US is considered a civiliez country with a modern education system, unless Grumbler specifically excluded some parts of Texas from that modern education system

[Jacob]

you're still in school, subject to the school's rules, and have obligation to attend sports&cultural activities or do your homeworks under supervision, if need be.
I can't call that "spare time".  Spare time, is when I do what I want.  If I'm still subject to the dress code of the school and have a precise schedule to meet, I can't call that "spare time".  Just like phys-ed is not spare time.

Yes to some of it, but when I was in high school I was never obligated to attend any kind of sport or cultural activity on my lunch break, time between classes or during my spares (which is what the time when you had no class scheduled was called).

Occasionally, if there was some full day arrangement it would eat into non-class time somehow, but I never had any rules on how I disposed of my non-class time when I went to high school

Thus: 

[Valmy]

doesn't matter, it's still in effect, and AFAIK, all of the US is considered a civiliez country with a modern education system, unless Grumbler specifically excluded some parts of Texas from that modern education system

Well there is no doubt grumbler would have no problem with that characterization of much of Texas

[Jacob]

Walking between classes is spare time.

not really.  If you're caught chatting instead of walking to class, you may have a warning.

Your school sounds horrible.

[Oexmelin]

De Laussat left c.a. 1831.  French was still a vibrant language in Louisiana at the time.

Nitpick: Laussat left in 1804, not long after the ceremony which transfered Louisiana to the US (and not long after the ceremony which had previously transfered it back to France...). And yes, French was very vibrant both in 1804 (due to the influx of planter-refugees from Haiti) and in 1831 (due to the arrival of the new wave of French immigrants, the «Foreign French»). The turning point was set in the late 1840s, with the end of the Civil War marking the decline of political control by Francophones, despite rising number of French immigrants (there were still more from other parts of the world, who decided rather to learn English... hmm...).

[Jacob]

Not that it makes that policy less stupid, mind you. But it makes it less of the usual hysterically «OMG those racist Québécois» than what the NP delights in reporting.

That's kind of what I figured. Something mildly silly but ultimately inconsequential, reported in the Post to whip sensitive souls into frothy indignation.

[Valmy]

I presume you meant the 1860's there Oex.

[Oexmelin]

I presume you meant the 1860's there Oex.

No, it is just that I wasn't very clear. Francophones retained control over political structure until the end of the 1840s, and their political decline continued slowly until the Civil War. Then it accelerated, despite the growing number of francophones (I don't have the numbers with me here, unfortunately).

[Malthus]

Not that it makes that policy less stupid, mind you. But it makes it less of the usual hysterically «OMG those racist Québécois» than what the NP delights in reporting.

That's kind of what I figured. Something mildly silly but ultimately inconsequential, reported in the Post to whip sensitive souls into frothy indignation.

The whipping into frothy indignation appears to be happening entirely within Quebec. The Post is merely reporting on it.

To my mind, what is more hilarious than the silliness of the policy, is the hysterical tone of the response to it.

'It may be silly, but you guys did it too, in the 19th century, and worse. Moreover, it is a nothing of a nothing, blown out of purportion by outsiders - and in any case, we did a survey, most parents approved, and just to be sure we got input from our Cabinet Minister ... '

[viper37]

Your school sounds horrible.

might explain the high drop-out rate.  I believe that sports&cultural activities weren't mandatory in public high-school, I just can't remember.  I know I played soccer and I watched over the computer lab, I just can't remember if I was required to.

[Ideologue]

What?  Really?  That's pretty draconian.  When are you supposed to talk to people?  (If you're not supposed to talk to people, is there significant point to being made to go to a building to be talked at?)

During lunch break, if you had no activities planned, it was ok.  But during recess, that was the time to go to your locker, change books, get to the other classroom.  Chatting was ok while walking, but very quietly, and absolutely no stopping in the corridors.

At my private school, you were required to have activites 3 days out of a 7 days schedule.  So I worked at the cafeteria the other 4 days of the schedule.

The private school you mention in the second paragraph is the same school as the school in the first paragraph?  Because that would explain it.

[viper37]

The whipping into frothy indignation appears to be happening entirely within Quebec. The Post is merely reporting on it.

Tim is one of us.  He hides it very well, but secretly, he is teaching in Quebec.
Unless there's another thread started by a Québécois.  Because otherwise, you're wrong, as usual when it comes to Quebec.

[viper37]

The private school you mention in the second paragraph is the same school as the school in the first paragraph?  Because that would explain it.

yes.  Breaks were shorter too.

[dps]

If you are arguing that Quebec is the cultural or educational equivalent of Louisiana in the 919th C  or Massachusetts at the turn of the 20th, I'd have to say I think you are totally full of shit. 

Well, grumbler, to be fair, we don't know yet whether or not present-day Quebec is the cultural or educational equivalent of Louisiana in the 919th century.  We'll have to wait almost 89800 years to find out for sure.

[Oexmelin]

The whipping into frothy indignation appears to be happening entirely within Quebec.

Where's the froth? Where's the indignation? Is Viper the spokesperson for Quebec?