letter to the editor

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Dear Editor,

New Brunswick is not a bilingual province. The dual system of education, which now exists in this province, continues to fail because it keeps the two linguistic groups working in isolation from one another. Eventually, this system will be unaffordable.

There is a solution to this issue, provided our political leaders have to courage to set up a truly bilingual education system with more than 95 per cent of the graduating students in New Brunswick being able to speak fluently in French and English.

The truly bilingual system of education would have all students in New Brunswick taking their first years of education in the opposite language system. All students would be given instruction in second language conversation only. For the remainder of their schooling in grade 12, they would continue a maintenance program in the second language. In grade 12, all students would have to take an oral provincial second language exam, which they must pass to receive a New Brunswick graduation diploma. It should be noted after 10 to 15 years of this format, the two education system would easily be able to merge into one education system.

This truly bilingual system of education is based upon certain facts such as:

1. Students learn to converse best around the ages of two to three.

2. Students can easily learn a second language without an accent if they learn it early in life.

3. Young students are not susceptible to prejudices against learning a second language.

4. Students who must be able to be fluently bilingual will do so if they require it to get their diploma.

My proposed system is based upon my experiences in a 31-year teaching career in Alberta, England and New Brunswick. I have observed two of my nieces becoming fluently bilingual early in life. I studied French from grades two to 11 in the New Brunswick school system, earning a provincial mark in the top five per cent of the province, and I am not able to speak French.

Reg Killoran

Bathurst, NB