In Quebec, CEGEP Garneau wants its students and teachers to speak English for a whole week, for a week of English.
The CEGEP decision is aberrant. It denotes such a lack of judgment among those who adopted it that those responsible for this political and educational horror should be removed from office.
The Minister of the French Language, Jean-François Roberge, who does not see why we should feel offended by such a week, has shown that he does not have the necessary judgment to occupy his position.
Fortunately, the first reflex of François Legault and his Minister of Higher Education, Pascale Déry, was to condemn the Cégep initiative.
But it is still very little.
I am sure that there will be several teachers and students from CEGEP Garneau to applaud this English assimilation initiative.
French decadence
The problem in Quebec is not promoting English, but promoting French.
In several French-speaking CEGEPs, students already express themselves better in English than in French.
The causes of this decline in French are multifactorial.
As always, most immigrants are more attracted to English than French.
In Quebec itself, overtourism is driving the Anglicization of the city.
American media and electronic platforms promote American cultural imperialism. Meanwhile, the cultural offer in French in Quebec is increasingly pathetic.
English courses in high school and even at CEGEP are usually better than French courses.
Would an English-speaking CEGEP do the same with French?
Those who feel that Garneau CEGEP has made a good choice should ask themselves whether, for example, McGill University or the English-speaking Dawson CEGEP would offer their students a week in French during which professors would be invited to teach in English and students to express yourself. themselves in French.
Although in this case, given the minority situation of the French in America, it would not be a bad idea. But such a proposal would provoke a huge outcry in the English-speaking community.
The leaders of CEGEP Garneau who accepted this proposal for the week in English are colonized peoples who are not aware of themselves. The same goes for Minister Roberge.
Nobody says that foreign languages, including English, should not be taught.
But there is a limit to how much it can be squashed to make room for English.
I hope that the CEGEP Garneau students will protest.
I hope that the CEGEP management cancels this week of English assimilation promotion, or that otherwise, students will boo the professors who venture to teach in English in their courses, as the CEGEP management suggests.
To show their discontent, students will only speak French during their mandatory English classes.
However, I fear that the opposite will happen, in defiance of Quebec’s elected officials, in defiance of older generations, and because cultural Anglicization is already well underway among many students.
