Roberge moves goalposts — but at what cost?

Teenagers today are faced with increasing uncertainty about their futures. Anxiety and depression seem prevalent like never before. CEGEP provides a valuable transition between high school and university, offering a diversity of faculties and programs that help young adults at a crossroads find and shape their future career path. Their marks, aggregated in the all-important R-score, are critical in determining entrance to university.

With all the challenges young people face, students in English CEGEPS are now being put under additional pressure and a potentially competitive disadvantage, thanks to requirements created by Bill 96. As reported by the Journal de Montréal this week, Dawson College is struggling to fulfil these new obligations.

To get their diplomas, students will be obliged to pass three of their regular core courses in French or take several additional courses in French as a second language. This is forcing CEGEPS to hire new teachers and/or have existing teachers improve their French to offer the course material in that language. It remains to be seen how many teachers of other complementary courses could lose their jobs, squeezed out by the need to fulfil the quota of French courses. Adding to the hurdles, all students — except “historic anglos” — will be required to pass a uniform French test to graduate.

In response to the Journal story, French Language Minister François Roberge proclaimed that, if anything, Dawson's worries reveal that some English school boards must work harder to improve the quality of French of their high school graduates.

Roberge is off base, and not for the first time. Of course, in Quebec it's to everyone's benefit to master French. English schools already churn out bilingual students with extensive French programming, if not immersion. However, mastering sciences or mathematical concepts or writing essays is difficult enough in one's mother tongue.

For many CEGEP students, even if bilingual, taking courses in a second language — in addition to the already compulsory French-language courses — will more than likely affect their R-score, potentially compromising future opportunities. A single percentage point drop in any course could be the difference between acceptance or refusal into competitive university programs leading to the career of one's choice.

Language isn't everyone's forte. Many who are exceptionally gifted but may struggle with language fluency could ultimately see their dreams dashed. Furthermore, standards for acceptance in university programs better serve the public if based on academic ability relevant to the field of study — not someone's mastery of French while in CEGEP.

To be licensed to practise any profession in Quebec, Bill 101 already requires an appropriate knowledge of French for that profession. But creating linguistic complexity in CEGEP at a time when overall marks are so crucial could result in denying some people greater educational opportunities — and society access to the best professional talent.

I would rather have a structural engineer or surgeon who is the best at their craft than someone who had better language skills as a teenager.

The late teens are stressful enough. Educational choices and success during these years could greatly influence the rest of one's life. It is beneficial for students to willingly take advantage of French courses in English CEGEPS. But these coercive blanket measures will undoubtedly compromise results for many students.

Inevitably, lower overall marks in English CEGEPS will lower their competitive standards. The same can be said about the government's tuition hikes for out-of-province students, which will dissuade enrolment in English universities. This government seems to not recognize that lower academic standards at the post-secondary level weakens Quebec society as a whole.

Consequently, Roberge may also discover to his horror that more and more French CEGEP graduates — having gained a competitive advantage from having studied in their first language — will start applying to Mcgill.