Snippet 1 -- Education

Public education is terribly under-funded, the Ford government appears to be far from committed to its long-term health, and this dispute is more about the future of schools than the salaries of teachers. As such, it’s particularly irksome that the government rejects the unions’ demand for more money to be invested into public education, but is willing to pay up to $48 million a day to compensate parents.

Michael Coren, Maclean's

POLL - Should Religious Schools Receive Public Funding?

I would like to draw your attention to a poll that I have placed in the side bar to the right of this Blog.

The question is;  Should religious schools receive public funding?

Please note that this post is totally anonymous, i.e., by clicking on a related button, your identity can not be discovered, not even by myself.

Later, the Poll may be used for further discussion.  

Education 6 - GCSE and the Chinese Language

Foreign language learning is an interesting subject at the best of times, notwithstanding the misunderstanding between a foreign and a second language.  But, I find the examination of foreign language courses quite thought-provoking.

For some time, I have been studying language schools in the U.K.  At least, those progressive schools that include the Chinese language within their curriculum.

As with many European schools, the emphasis of ‘academia’ and ‘language’ is to resist change for various reasons.  In the U.K., French and German are popular with both teachers and students because of the relationship of their shared origins.  In other words, they are easy.  But, if one raises one’s head to look, globally, it is not difficult to notice the increasing Chinese presence.  Business is beginning to notice this but, unfortunately, many schools have not ... yet.

All schools teach the French language, just as they did 60 years ago when I was at school.  Interestingly, not as a foreign language but, just because ... “we always have”.  The German language may be introduced in sixth grade for the same reason, together with Spanish (For some obscure reason).  But the slow acceptance of introducing Chinese is narrow-minded.

Originally, the Chinese language was not part of the GCSE and, fortunately, that has changed.  But, recently, I have noticed that some schools are teaching the Cantonese dialect instead of Mandarin.  Cantonese was the language of Hong Kong and may be heard in most Chinese restaurants, but even in Hong Kong today the CCP mandates the use of Mandarin.  Therefore, one wonders if some schools feel that their students will rarely visit China preferring, instead, to visit the local Chinese restaurant.

There is something to be said for the influence of the Confucius Institutes.