“Why isn’t my French good enough for jobs”
Posted on by
The Editor,
In response to an April 11th letter to the editor entitled “Why isn’t my French good enough for jobs” by author Katelyn Myra.
It is extremely encouraging to witness a young citizen standing up for her rights.
For several decades our governments, both Federal and Provincial have been promoting French immersion for English speaking students as being necessary to succeed and advance in higher paid positions within the job market, especially Government.
Katelyn and thousands of others have heeded the advice and worked diligently to achieve a high level of proficiency in the second language, only to be advised by someone over the phone when applying for posted positions that their proficiency isn’t good enough.
This must also be discouraging and insulting to the French teachers since it reflects poorly on their ability to teach the language.
According to the present standard of testing it appears that nothing short of mother tongue French is good enough regardless of their English proficiency.
Why should English speaking parents continue to encourage their children to enroll in French immersion at the expense of a quality English education if in the end it is of little use other than to greet a Francophone friend or neighbor in their language?
It is a known fact that many students who after several years of hard work and frustration graduate with a poor level of proficiency in both languages which further hinders their ability to compete in the job market.
Could it be the way that the second language training is being administered or was it purposely designed to fail from the beginning?
All other young New Brunswickers who are experiencing the same discrimination as Katelyn should be speaking out against this expensive and apparently worthless language program.
Ronald Bubar
VP Anglo Society of N.B.
The Editor,
In response to an April 11th letter to the editor entitled “Why isn’t my French good enough for jobs” by author Katelyn Myra.
It is extremely encouraging to witness a young citizen standing up for her rights.
For several decades our governments, both Federal and Provincial have been promoting French immersion for English speaking students as being necessary to succeed and advance in higher paid positions within the job market, especially Government.
Katelyn and thousands of others have heeded the advice and worked diligently to achieve a high level of proficiency in the second language, only to be advised by someone over the phone when applying for posted positions that their proficiency isn’t good enough.
This must also be discouraging and insulting to the French teachers since it reflects poorly on their ability to teach the language.
According to the present standard of testing it appears that nothing short of mother tongue French is good enough regardless of their English proficiency.
Why should English speaking parents continue to encourage their children to enroll in French immersion at the expense of a quality English education if in the end it is of little use other than to greet a Francophone friend or neighbor in their language?
It is a known fact that many students who after several years of hard work and frustration graduate with a poor level of proficiency in both languages which further hinders their ability to compete in the job market.
Could it be the way that the second language training is being administered or was it purposely designed to fail from the beginning?
All other young New Brunswickers who are experiencing the same discrimination as Katelyn should be speaking out against this expensive and apparently worthless language program.
Ronald Bubar
VP Anglo Society of N.B.