Say a few things about yourself!

[cormiermax]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

French immersion is a complete waste of money and should be scrapped. It is an ego exercise for the parents to let them brag to their friends at parties that Sarah and Josh are in French immersion. The amount of money wasted is horrendous.

Complete French is better.

[Hali87]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

French immersion is a complete waste of money and should be scrapped. It is an ego exercise for the parents to let them brag to their friends at parties that Sarah and Josh are in French immersion. The amount of money wasted is horrendous.

Well, not really. Now I can speak French. I certainly wouldn't be able to if I hadn't been in immersion. It's also potentially very advantageous to have a large bilingual population in Halifax, because it opens up new job prospects that would otherwise be unavailable.

[someone123]

Originally Posted by cormiermax

Complete French is better.

What is Complete French? The only real distinction I know of is between kids who start in primary and kids who start in some later grade. It is way better to start early. In my experience most kids who start in Grade 7 or later aren't very proficient in French and forget a lot of it quickly if they don't continue their studies.

The BA comments are interesting. I think people who are intelligent and driven to work hard can succeed in just about any field. The problem is not so much that BAs are worthless but that the degrees are not in and of themselves tickets to good careers. Some people have unrealistic expectations about that.

[cormiermax]

Originally Posted by someone123

What is Complete French? The only real distinction I know of is between kids who start in primary and kids who start in some later grade. It is way better to start early. In my experience most kids who start in Grade 7 or later aren't very proficient in French and forget a lot of it quickly if they don't continue their studies.

The BA comments are interesting. I think people who are intelligent and driven to work hard can succeed in just about any field. The problem is not so much that BAs are worthless but that the degrees are not in and of themselves tickets to good careers. Some people have unrealistic expectations about that.

Full French school would be learning completely in French, immersion is an awkward hybrid that really works poorly.

[someone123]

You just mean that students should take all courses in French, with the possible exception of English class?

I can't remember how many French-language classes were required for immersion. I don't even think it was possible to take that many even if students wanted because not everything was offered in French. I remember planning out schedules with other students in June so that we could be sure to have enough students that the courses would actually be available in September.

[Hali87]

Originally Posted by someone123

You just mean that students should take all courses in French, with the possible exception of English class?

I can't remember how many French-language classes were required for immersion. I don't even think it was possible to take that many even if students wanted because not everything was offered in French. I remember planning out schedules with other students in June so that we could be sure to have enough students that the courses would actually be available in September.

In elementary (I started immersion in primary) pretty much every class except for English, gym and music were in French. In Jr. High it was about 50/50 (mostly by virtue of having a wider range of classes; cooking and design related classes for example were in English). Then in high school it dropped to about 1/3; other than French Language Arts I remember taking bio, law, drama and Canadian history in French. Conversely, grade 10 was the first year my math class was all in English, I don't think I'd call it a difficult transition per se, but it was an odd one. Many mathematical conventions (basically the format in which numbers and equations are written) are different in French than in English.

[worldlyhaligonian]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

French immersion is a complete waste of money and should be scrapped. It is an ego exercise for the parents to let them brag to their friends at parties that Sarah and Josh are in French immersion. The amount of money wasted is horrendous.

I know what you are saying and, in a sense, it is private school that is publicly funded. I don't know if its a "waste of money"... you sound like an anti-stadium person. Its public money, it doesn't really matter how its spent because it continues to flow in. Dumping money into a reactive healthcare system is more of a waste of money in my opinion, or doing a half ass job in providing transportation options (e.g. painting stupid bike lanes instead of real separation between people and cars).

Bilingualism a huge advantage for Canada. Many people in Canada might not think French is important, but in the context of international business it is the Canadian advantage (disadvantage being our leadership). Trust me, people don't give a shit about Toronto here in Europe... because its not the centre of the universe. If you can't speak more than English outside of Canada, you're basically irrelevant. French or Spanish are highly valuable in today's labour market. Chinese is valuable, but its one country and more insular / willing to learn English.

The US should adopt Spanish as a second language, the market access opportunity is massve.

[beyeas]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

PS - Say hello to Cupido for me Beyeas. Most of the physics of medical imaging is pretty routine, but the physics behind MRI can be right out there! I don't think that I could have understood how selective (and/or) partial filling of K-space can affect image brightness and contrast in MRI without Cupid. Cheers!

Actually Cupido just retired! He went out on top though, having just opened the new oncology centre.

Now the residents next year are going to be stuck with schmo's like me teaching them about partial fourier techniques Actually... just got a paper accepted in MR in Medicine that involves a variable density k-space approach for functional neuroimaging. Keep an eye out for it. LOL

[MonctonRad]

I actually saw Cupid myself a couple of months ago, he was up in Moncton helping us commission our new 1.5T GE MRI unit at the Moncton Hospital. I didn't know he was about to retire though. He will be missed.....