Date: Tue, 11 Mar 1997 08:13:28 -0500

From: "Christopher R. Coolidge" ccoolidg[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]ZOO.UVM.EDU

Subject: Re: All purpose arguments



For an example of failure of language programs, we need to look at my

former home province Quebec and their continued insistence in shoving the

French language down immigrants' throats(including Anglo-Americans; only

English speaking CANADIAN citizens are allowed access to English public

schools). Then they bemoan that immigrants are taking away all the good

jobsa from their children. I mean, who's more marketable; a Vietnamese

immigrant who speaks both English and French(of course he would have

learned English because he's using Quebec as a stepping stone to get into

the States as soon as he can pass the much stricter U.S. immigration

requirements), or a Quebecois who speaks English very badly? And even

though the Office de Language Francais is a black hole that sucks money

and does nothing but bicker about how big foreign languages are allowed to

be on public signs, the Quebec government still throws money at it. You

wonder why I'm impatient about wasting money on programs that don't work.

maybe it's because I've lived in Quebec all those years...