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Home My WebLink AboutThe Lucknow Sentinel, 1984-03-21, Page 6• S; L aclonfw rage 6 Advertiaingis accepter !onion Of. the adve ., r`gyp.•, ,•r.� ?65.14111e. vernnient Wing inaugurates' a, new it !ill be distr b farmers,, there spaperTsax..ma relations departments; and opposition critics They, allow readers; to tnwlfigen There'll be Amer ofk that in t7 strictly to the :government line i short, a publication by the ; , government. So, ,take heart farmers. Some publishers and' their .staff members will soon he jointing you in your °curren °economic woes while the ininistry of agriculture and food undertakes projects to :spend dollars in. every way but good. from the. Mind. sides. • - —fir OV i,1.co9iclu'sH rjNe�wa. ,it will stiff self`glo cation: governiane a d for the Exeter Times Advocate. ,r5 Seasonal thaw w lChee xy. There are. no.. vows more profound than those which are spoken at a - marriage.- , ceremony: "For 'richer for poorer, ' :sick- ness,5anihin health, till death; do its part": In: the days of the pioneers, these Words were a lifetime- de nmikment and not mere idle promises to be abandoned to selfish fancies, greed and the `lust" which often arises to .. weaken .the bonds of matripionyt The vows . were a . guarantee that there would be an • "ever after", not the impossible'- `.`happy ever after" which concludes all our dreams of a perfect •life, but the fulfillment of man's true purpose; to begat those of his kind, to, • live in harmony with his neighbour and what was almost essential to the early Canadians, to survive in a strange and hostile .environ- ment. On a Summer's day in 1846, Charlie Grant and Maureen Brady were Married in the Roman Catholic Church not farm from Redtrees in the township of Albion. A dutiful Irish ; community, turned out to witness the event but when Charlie turned his head to look at the congregation; he saw none of his own people seated on the rough pews. In spite of all that had been said to smooth TO THE EDITOR, NIIIIIIIINININIIIMW To the editor: , With reference to the letters of Russel Irvin (February 22) and Jo -Ann Todd (March 7), Has it occurred to any of your readers that French. Immersion classes are undermining the English language educational system of Ontario? Max 'Maiden, Official Languages Commis- sioner, refers in glowing terms to immersion classes,spreadutg-like wildfire in Canada. As he says, French,imtnersion classes had their "Ong in Montreal. This Was one of the et fs of Bill 101` of Quebec. English speaking residents of Quebec have two choices - learn French or leave the province in "search of a lob. If French immersion is practical in Quebec, surely in the rest of Canada French speaking students should be offered English immer.i classes, as there is undeniably a "real neediciroperson4o be &tent in English in order for all employment doors to be open to the individual. However, we have no • I! • orr Caitnpbelk % • played in, theme, rise of Godµand Mach ''m coutsle,had been tciastetf quite a few times • mon's music :t~ ld not have been _. ore evenvlbefore.. their rrival. !t only neeae apgroriate .t4 MacCittiiMon: and':his'iipes to ;announce t away the religious differences, the -prejudice, between Catholic and Protestant° remained. The ceremony was .devoid. of. finery. Charlie was dressed in an , ill fitting suit, complete with a stiff collar which was so tight he had difficulty in :repeating the •words spoken by the priest. Maureen although neat, did not have a wedding gown. Mostof the .people were dressed in their very best; the men in plain, rough clothes and the women in dark dresses .with woollen shawls over their heads. The atmosphere of the church was a fixture of the camphor odour of clothes osets and ,the eternal' smell of the barn. c'1 When the knot was finally tied, the air was rent by thesound of the pipes and MacCrim- mon, dressed in full Highland regalia, entered the church and paced slowly up the aisle. For a moment therie was hostility on the face of the priest, as if the sanctity of the church had -been violated. But it isnot written exactly which instrument is to be English immersion classes, instead we have French immersion for English speaking children, at a cost of hundreds of millions of the taxpayers' dollars each year. Those parents who opt for French immer- sion for their children in public school should not be lulled into thinking that the children will'revert to English later on. Mak Yalden has stated 'that learning a language is not like learning to ride a bicycle. The language must be practised continuously or it will be lost. Mr.'''talden is now•piessuring universit- ies to provide French lecturers for immer- sion students so that they may retain their acquired skill. The value of ittmmer$ion classes is a contro- versial "subject. Mr. C. Paul Olson and George Biirns of The Ontario Institute for Studies in -Educa- tion published their findings' after ayear of research on, the subject of french immer- sion. A summary of thesefindings appeared in Vol. 12, No. 5, December 1981 or "Orbit 60". Some of their comments are, quoted below: ' ' . 1. French immersion programs 'are dispro- portionately over represented with higher IQ and upper socio=econot'rtic. background child- ' -"Amazing Grace how sweet the°sound the world that the, ,community of Redtree ' Which saved-. wretch\lik Mane " :AVIS .,.pteaent i rf ill force, to' honour the' MacCrunrnonin played to. a ,.hatshe�ad ,•-native,,son Charlie Grant and his 'beautifu ence, who appreciated :they sktl1: o the Irish bride, Mari*reen. master. The Ir -.fish;, being Gaelic Thare fpeo le, , . ' re, was haISR iness on, the faces' of th p e.:.•, , not so far removed in. their ,I Iusic from? the;_'", newlyweds, °but the priest sand the two Iris Scots, and the pipes are appreciated by both people who were with him, were afraid t nations. ,itiingle with a .peogte ,from whom the Charlie Grant was filled. with appreciation, usually kept their; distance.: Tt didn't tak for MacCriimmon's efforts: ;'In spite of every- : long, for them'.to be; reassured that only th thing, he had not been completely forgotten . joyous celebration.,of a wedding would.be th by the Friends of Skye. 'topic; of conversation .at this place and time Maureen was not well known in the Albion . The Reverend Duncan 'McLeod saw th Township, so only , the , folks- where she priest Standing shyly at the ' edge of th lodged, the priest and. of course MacCrim- throng, and taking the opportunityto mak mon, went with them to their new stonehis acquaintance, he grasped a bottle o house near the .old Sixth tine. They had whiskey, and two, glasses from one of th intended the wedding to be celebrated with atables-and strode over to his .brother of th quiet meal and were taken completely by ''loth. In a congenial manner, he handed th surprise when they arrived at their home, • priest a glass and poured out two generou The clearings around the house were tiled nips; • with people, long tables had been set up, "I .give ye a toast to the happy couple - fires were burning and meat was` roasting fine vintage.blend of, Irish 'arid Scots." upon spits. From the joviality of the crowd This brief meeting between the two me and the singing which came from- various quarters. it could be assumed that the happy Turn to page 71 • ren. { 2. Teachers in the program tended to `track' out children who didn't do as well as other Immersion children. 3. Immersion programs are elitist. , 4. Non -immersion teachers expressed concern about being left with a somewhat skewed mix of students because either poor students were bounced out of itlime'ision or the potentially best students were enrolled in the immersion track of the school: It would ,appear frorii the- above that the public at large, through their taxes, whether municipal, provincial or federal, are paying hundreds of millions of 'dollars annually for something ,which is of bene -t to only the 'chosen few. . , It does seem that a great -many English • speaking people have swallowed the propa- ganda of the primarily French speaking party in power in Ottawa and have set about with great earnestness to have their children learn a language which••the chances arethey will never use, to the detriment of their own language. The English language 'is "the world's new lingua franca and a key to getting ahead in almost every country." French ranks fourteenth in word usage. While the whole world 'isrushing t� learn the English language those Canadians who are pushing for French immersion classes are REPLACING English language educa- tion with a French language' education, Is this reallywhat you want for Canada? Yours truly, • Pauline D. Leitch Director - Ontario Region. Alliance for the Preservation . - of English in Canada. Poetry contest A-11,000 grand prate will be offered to a upcoiiing poetry contest sponsored by th World of Poetry newsletter. There are 1 prizes in all. totaling over $10,000. ` We want. • to encourage new poets especially those who have never entered poetry contest before," says Contest Direct or Joseph Mellon. "We expect oumefforts t produce exciting new discoveries!'. For a free brochure of rules and prize write, ftrd of Poetry. 2431 Stockton Blvd. Dept, C., Sacramento, California 95817•