French in the Schools of Ontario

The Canadian Forum/Editorial/1920-12

French in the Schools of Ontario written by Joseph Stanley Will

Proportional Representation and the Winnipeg Election

From The Canadian Forum, December 1920, p. 70

The question of the French language in Ontario seems to be a difficult one to handle. There was a time in the history of the Province when it was grappled with fairly and frankly, but no one seems willing in this generation to touch it except with the uncouth antics of a caricaturist or the passion of a fanatic. Yet it would seem to be in the interests of all concerned to face the facts. For the moment leave out of account that the French language is the cherished instrument of diplomacy, of science, and of the arts. It remains that in the Province of Ontario one-tenth of our population is of French origin, from forty to fifty thousand of our children are studying French, French is an official language of the Dominion and the mother tongue of one-third of our fellow-citizens, who are contributing in no mean degree to the prosperity and happiness of the nation. Under the circumstances the people of Ontario might well be pardoned for taking a very warm interest in the question that concerns their welfare so intimately.

Good old Father Ontario will reply at once, however, and with some heat that he is paying somebody else to look after that matter and that, as he has vested his eternal interests in his parson, and goes to church on Sunday to cash his religious debenture coupons, and to see that everything is all right, so he has handed over to the system the educational interests of his children. He has the same confidence in the system, as he has in the church, and sends his children to school as many week days as possible in order that they may collect the educational interest on his investments. At this point, however, to everybody's confusion, in jumps the caricaturist, literary, political, religious, or social; and the greatest of these is the political, for he plays upon the passion of all the others and bedevils the general interest for the sake of a perverted personal gain. After that, it takes a strong man to save the situation. The Augean stables waited a long time for their cleanser; the educational mews of Ontario still expect their Heracles.

Too long in Ontario the French language question has been the victim of terrible arrière-pensées. Fanaticisms of all sorts have battened upon it, religious, racial, and educational, and politicians have fed upon these fanaticisms and lived by them. Yet this question, regarded rightly, has no place in politics at all. It is an educational question which concerns a mixed race to be sure, but which in itself has nothing to do with creed or with party or with race. It is a national question of the gravest import and it has been grossly mishandlcd. It can not be believed that were the people of the province once in full possession of the facts they would not demand for it an immediate and rational solution.

What is the question?

It is this. There are 600,000 children in Ontario attending our elementary and secondary schools. What part is French to play in their education? It does not matter that a certain number of these children are of French parentage and hear no English in their homes, the question remains the same. In the case of these children the question becomes complicated and acute because they must learn English. Everyone, including the French-speaking Canadian, accepts that statement. But this complication with all its possibilities of misunderstanding and friction imposes upon us the need for great sympathy and generosity so that the main purpose may be achieved, namely, the education of every child in the Province. Our ideals are the same whether we are of English speech or of French speech. The important point is so to train our children that as the demands of life meet them they will act with intelligence, honour and reverence. As one watches the development of our public life one may well ask whether our educational system has done what it might during the last twenty years to inspire youth with notions of right and generous conduct.

There are those who will say that the question is not quite so simple as that; so certainly will tortuous minds allow all sorts of side issues to confuse the simplest propositions. Perhaps the question would be more readily recognized if we said that it was a matter, first, of French as a subject of study in High Schools and Collegiate Institutes, and secondly, of French in bi-lingual schools, that is in schools where French is the language of a considerable proportion of the children. But this method of statement at once involves us in fog by bringing into play a set of terms that represents a system of which we desire to correct the imperfections and a conflict of ideals which it is desirable to harmonize. If the French language and literature have any value at all as a subject of study — and what sane man of English speech denies that after his native idiom the most valuable acquisition he can make is a knowledge of French — Ontario has incomparable advantages for the easy realization of a new educational ideal. The French-speaking Canadian possesses the qualities of his ancestral stock, its idealism, its emotionalism, its practical sense, and its devoutness. Nothing but good could come from an effort to understand him and to make the best of his great virtues for personal and national ends. For the purposes, then, of a common citizenship the question should be put in this way — what is to be the position of French in our schools?

[71] The position of French in schools of French-speaking communities should not be difficult to settle in a spirit of justice and enlightenment. The English-speaking inhabitants of the Province of Quebec enjoy every liberty in the study of their own language and literature. Until thirty years ago the French-speaking people of Ontario were treated in the same spirit of fair play. The time is about ripe now for a return to earlier sanity. No right-thinking person desires to see the French-speaking child deprived of the possibility of obtaining an adequate training in his mother tongue. Every provision should be made for teaching him to write and speak French correctly. Ungenerous treatment in this respect must continue to create nothing but hard feeling. On the other hand generous treatment will stimulate and assist the child even in the study of English which, of course, must be insisted upon. It is not necessary nor advisable that French be driven out as English is brought in. More rapid progress will be made by studying the two languages side by side than by the study of either one alone. But neither pupil nor teacher should be hampered by petty or stupid regulations applied in a rigid and tyrannous manner. Let results speak and let room be left for some freedom of action in the production of such results. During the last decade regulations have been in force for the purpose of bringing uniformity into the situation. The result is greater confusion than ever existed before.

The truth is that there is no uniformity in the training of children in either English or French in the schools of French-speaking communities in the province. In spite of regulations the greatest diversity prevails. In many of these schools little or no training is given in English and in many of them the training in French is most inadequate. Strangest of all, in Ottawa, where an honest effort is being made, and successfully made, to comply with the spirit of the law, the law itself has been invoked to produce so scandalous a situation, that the school population may be said to be houseless, penniless, and renegade, altogether beyond the pale, and incapable of self help because of the paralysing effect of the law itself, which is thoroughly punitive without being corrective.

We are not concerned with the question of instruction merely. The qualification of teachers is also of prime importance. Here again is need for the exercise of the greatest wisdom. Many of these French children in the past could scarcely have received any training had it not been for the devotion and heroism of many teachers who are not completely qualified so far as certificates show qualification. A change in this respect should be brought about gradually. The standard required of teachers in French schools should eventually be made uniform with that required in English-speaking schools. And every teacher of inferior grade should be expected within a reasonable time to take advantage of the opportunities that would be offered to enable him to qualify under, the higher standards.

But the large benefits possible from our unique position in Ontario would not accrue to our people without a change in the position of French in all the public schools so as to bring them in line with the suggested reforms in the public schools of French-speaking communities. Here one may be permitted to be brief. Provision should be made for the teaching of French in all our elementary schools. In the upper forms of these schools, children are at the proper age for the beginning of the study of language, and the introduction of such a provision would give an incalculable enrichment to their opportunities. At least it should be obligatory for the school board to provide for the teaching of French in any elementary school when requested to do so by a certain proportion of the rate-payers. Such a step would bring into the aridity of our present school system a breath of humanism that would change its aspect completely. It would have, in addition, the very practical value of furnishing some opportunity to the child to acquire a speaking knowledge of the language, at least by the time he had passed through a high school or a Collegiate Institute. With a long overdue rearrangement of the time-table, the ever improving teaching of French in our High Schools would be still further bettered and these schools would become more adequate to the needs of French as well as of English speaking children.

Sentiment in Ontario is undergoing a change. It is open to doubt whether the national mind of the people of the province was ever incorporated in our regulations concerning the teaching of French. It is unfortunately true that the mind of a certain section of our people is fairly well represented in our regulations. But the old truculence is passing away, the grip of old parties and of perverse opinion is loosened. The idea that the French in Canada are a minority without rights or even claim to consideration and, "Damn them, let them learn English if they want to be decent people," is giving place to a spirit of intelligence, understanding, and a desire for fair play. Ontario knows that Quebec has made use of opportunities which she herself has slighted. For a score of years Ontario has acted as if it felt few of the compulsions of culture, curiosity, or courtesy, with the result that it has enjoyed business while Quebec has enjoyed the virtues. The ultimate result, however, will be that Quebec will enjoy both the virtues and the business unless Ontario wakes up. That is the opinion to-day of many thoughtful and far-sighted citizens of the province. What, then, is our duty in this one matter of French in our schools? It is to readjust our regulations so that it will be possible for all children to receive an adequate training in English and French. The readjustment will embrace teachers' certificates, programmes of studies and time-table [72] arrangements, so that our motto will be realized of English for everybody, French for those who wish it.

J. S. Will.