Rights and Entitlement

For some time, francophones in the Kennebecasis Valley have been pushing for a new school to be built in their area. The following letter published in the Jan. 21 edition of the Telegraph Journal, would appear to a reference to that.

It's only natural that francophones in the valley desire a community French school. Who doesn't want a school or hospital next door? The truth is that many students, French and English, travel much further to attend class in many areas of the province than the trip to Saint John.

Bilingualism was never supposed to create duality in government, but we have de facto dualism in education and fledging duality in health.

The French-speaking residents of the valley should be lobbying their school district for a new school, not the politicians or provincial government. They could ask Donald Arsenault, the former minister, to explain the new French school in Balmoral, even though the area's existing schools are less than full. Whatever resources are spent in the valley will be at the cost of some other area, just as the school in Balmoral was. The sense of entitlement is alive and well in our province, and it's often "all about me regardless of the cost."

We should fully accept dualism in education and have separate systems, with each being funded on a per-student basis to ensure equality. This would allow different groups to invest the education dollars where they think it will be most beneficial.

It troubles me to see the population decline in the rural anglophone communities, but it saddens me even more to see the population decline in traditional Acadian villages.

Language is not culture, and we do ourselves a disservice when we allow this lie to exist.

The letter is signed Tom Hickie, in Fredericton. Well, where do I start?

Mr. Hickie seems to think it natural that students must travel far to attend school. That is unfortunately the case in many areas of the province. However, many factors enter into the equation.

For example, in the area from St. Anne de Madawaska to Edmundston, there is only one English school, St. Mary's Academy, which is located in Edmundston. Given that English students in that area are few and the vast majority are in the immediate area of Edmundston, it makes perfect sense. But try doing the same thing with French students. It can't be done because there are too many of them, and it makes sense that the youngest attend school as close to home as possible. Unless the student population goes down significantly, the smaller schools should stay open.

In the Acadian Peninsula (the eastern part of Gloucester County), many schools are on the chopping block due to a decline in student population. All we're waiting for is a final decision. But in the Kennebecasis Valley, the opposite is happening. If there are enough students there to justify it, there should at least be an elementary school.

Further on in his letter, Mr. Hickie eventually agrees that duality is necessary in the school system so each language community can oversee the educational programs of their respective students. However, his suggestion that parents lobby the school district rather than politicians is, to say the least, misguided. School districts do nothing more than manage the schools assigned to them. To build a school, you need provincial government approval.

Mr. Hickie seems to think that everyone knows the situation of the school in Balmoral. I'm not one of them. It can't be denied that when funds are allocated to a project, they cannot be used for anything else. But governing means making choices. Mr. Hicks may be right in saying too many people have an exaggerated sense of entitlement. But why should it be "all about me no matter what the cost"? It could be "according to the taxes I pay."

"Language is not culture ..." This is an interesting philosophical debate to which I unfortunately have to limit myself to presenting my vision. Ann Duncan is an Associate Professor of Education (Counselling) at the University of Tennessee at Martin, and teaches courses that address multicultural issues in education. She offers a series of definitions of culture at this site. If you look at these definitions, you will find the following common themes:

• Culture includes assumptions, beliefs, practices, attitudes and perceptions;
• Among others things, culture is expressed through behaviours, patterns, symbols, institutions and values.

If culture includes perceptions and beliefs, we must admit those perceptions and beliefs are usually stored and communicated linguistically. Even a painting or drawing follows a creator's thought process which, arguably, is influenced by culture. In turn, his or her cultural influences include the language understood and used by that person. Even deaf people who use sign language have a culture which is indelibly marked by their mode of communication.

We often hear about a statement or text whose meaning gets "lost in translation." Since languages were never created with translation in mind, there is no process to make sure two languages develop in a way that is complementary to each other. Therefore, there will sometimes be concepts that cannot be easily rendered into another language, so the translation can only be approximate.

In fact, a good example of this is the English word "entitlement," which we see quite a bit in Mr. Hickie's letter. In French, we speak of "something one has by right." I translate the phrase with a definition because French does not seem to have an expression which reflects the word "entitlement." Unless, of course, we stick to specific fields such as law and insurance.

Language shapes culture and vice-versa. That is perhaps the best evidence to show Mr. Hickie's last sentence is wrong. Language and culture may not be, per se, the same thing. However, they are so inextricably linked that one could not fully operate without the other.