And no doubt

you have all seen this most recent proof of the child-centered-ness of our provinicial politicians.

[cross-posted to Living in interesting times.]

More evidence that

the N.B. Ministry of Education is peddling backwards: in the U.S.A., according to the New York Times, reliance on standardized testing is on the way out:

A commission convened by some of the country’s most influential college admissions officials is recommending that colleges and universities move away from their reliance on SAT and ACT scores and shift toward admissions exams more closely tied to the high school curriculum and achievement.

For a government that practically boasts a line of action figures (Kelly “You won’t like me when I’m angry” Lamrock, The Invisible Shawn, Jack “The Flash” Keir, Ed “Elastic Man” Doherty, and all their rubbery friends), they sure are mired in the past.

That being said,

here is an interesting article from the most recent issue of University Affairs: “The rise of the monoglots: Fewer and fewer universities require students to master a second language. Some think that’s a shame,” by Léo Charbonneau, University Affairs (Aug.-Sept./08).

À bientôt

Folks, given that the recent squirmishes have subsided — with a sort of détente rather than a victory, it’s true — this blog is probably going into a hibernation phase. No doubt things will heat up again, certainly in the lead-up to the next provincial election, but who knows? perhaps sooner. And when that happens I will in all likelihood dust off the old keyboard. But for now there is little to say. Or little I want to say, anyway.

I am going to leave this blog up as an archive — it is an artifact of a particular struggle at a particular time and place and as such it represents a little corner of history, however modest. And I may post, from time to time.

If you really miss me, drop by my other education blog, Living in interesting times. Also, coincidentally, about a N.B. Liberal disaster, this time involving post-secondary education. Those wacky politicians, eh? What high jinx they get up to! Crazy kids.

As always, you can read about FSL in New Brunswick at the Citizens for Educational Choice website, and Immersion delayed is immersion denied. And keep your ear to the ground: CEL will be around as long as we need to be.

Like Batman, only bilingual.

When Bad Research Leads to Bad Policy: The Case of New Brunswick

Shamelessly lifted from Matt and Diana: “This opinion piece was in response to EFI policy development in NB. It was written by Philip Oreopolous who is an Associate Professor of Economics, University of British Columbia and a University of Toronto Research Fellow, Canadian Institute For Advanced Research. It was written just before the decision was announced on August 5th.” Download PDF.

To stay on the theme of birds for a moment,

I think it is safe to say that we have all learnt something these past months.

Too good to languish in the comments

Eric just posted the following comment in response to the previous post on humour:

Why did the chicken cross the road?

Kelly Lamrock: Because the chickens on this side of the road were causing streaming which hurt our test scores! For this reason, we are eliminating chickens and will provide each child with an egg in grade 6 from which some might produce their own chickens. Children who do not opt for the egg will receive chicken manure.

Donald Arseneault: The chicken had to cross the road so we could establish a Uranium mine on the chicken’s property.

Kelly Lamrock: People who oppose the chicken crossing the road are missing the hidden X factor! You often have to cross roads in fantasy football.

Victor Boudreau: Because the other side is not paying its fair share of taxes! The Liberals will increase the taxes on both sides as well as introducing a road crossing fee.

Kelly Lamrock: Following a court ordered consultation, I have decided to compromise and just make the chicken cross halfway. We’ll just hope that no cars come by.

Mike Murphy: Because it is more efficient to have separate systems! We’ll have chickens on that side and ducks on this side.

Shawn Graham: What did Kelly say?

Just sayin’

At least one way of measuring the freedom of any society is the amount of comedy that is permitted, and clearly a healthy society permits more satirical comment than a repressive, so that if comedy is to function in some way as a safety release then it must obviously deal with these taboo areas. This is part of the responsibility we accord our licensed jesters, that nothing be excused the searching light of comedy. If anything can survive the probe of humour it is clearly of value, and conversely all groups who claim immunity from laughter are claiming special privileges which should not be granted.

Eric Idle

You know what’s really

Liberal caucus, learning to carry a tune

getting on my wick? All these apologists who think that whatever disasters the Liberals propagate, they should be forgiven as long as they appear “contrite” and “rueful”, as long as they “learn.” Of course, Graham and Lamrock set the tone themselves and their supporters are only too happy to take the hint. This from the government that wants to give merit raises to government bureaucrats. That wants performance-based contracts. That wants to “measure outcomes” and impose repercussions for anyone who doesn’t “produce”. And we are supposed to wryly shake our heads after each cock-up and say indulgently, “Well, I bet they won’t do that again! Kids, eh? But did you see how abashed they looked? How cute is that? Look at Shawnie with his hands in his pockets, and little Kelly, shuffling his feet.” The ever-consistent Marcelle Mersereau writes, “The Graham government has survived its first serious crisis. There have been lessons learned from this exercise that will not be quickly forgotten.” Not very reassuring from someone who herself seems to have forgotten the serious crisis of last fall, for starters.

Me? I say, “spare the rod.”

[Cross-posted to Living in interesting times.]

It’s … Alive??

Today’s Dilbert

seems particularly apropos, for so many reasons …

[cross-posted to Living in interesting times]

Matt Litvak

has taken the lemons we were handed today and made lemonade. Thank you, Matt, for your much-needed perspective. It is crucial in any political battle to pace oneself. You are a balm (bet you aren’t told that very often!).

Which is not to say, any Liberals out there who may be reading this, that FSL will not be an election issue, because you can bet your little red blazers that it will.

After we have had our lemonade.

Here,

courtesy of Immersion delayed is immerision denied, is the government’s press release and here is its revised FSL plan (download PDF).

Disappointing

is the only word I could think of that doesn’t have four letters. I am listening to the press conference from Fredericton. The mandatory intensive French programme is still in place, and early immersion will be less effective as it will only start in grade three. As far as I can tell that is the only bone thrown to the critics: the retention of some form of early(-ish) immersion. The rest of the original Lamrock plan remains, and the Minister is still trotting out much of the same disinformation: that poor and aboriginal children are clustered in core, without acknowledging that EFI is frequently not offered in the rural areas where those children often live (a situation that will continue with the new gr. 3 entry point as the Minister explicitly said that there are no plans to expand early immersion to rural schools); that students in K-2 need to develop language skills in their mother tongue; that intermediate French is bilingualism. Still fixated on testing, teacher “accountability” and “rewards”. There is to be a new “Ministerial Advisory Group” and more “stakeholder” meetings. Nothing about increased FSL resources. In a nutshell, lots of rhetoric but the result is a mishmash that will make few happy, neither the entrenched anti-EFI people in the DoE and elsewhere, nor those who blame immersion for streaming, nor those who want children to have the opportunity to develop advanced language skills. And significantly, our system in N.B. will still remain out of step with K-12 education in the rest of the country, making moving to and from the province difficult.

Lots of rhetoric, LOTS of self-congratulation, but no mention of the primary causes of the woes in N.B. education: our lowest per-capita spending, per student, in the country, followed closely by a centrally controlled, un-democratic DoE.

Unintentionally hilarious moments: both Graham and Lamrock repeatedly congratulating themselves on overseeing a province-wide debate on education.

So yes, disappointing. Very disappointing.

[Cross-posted to Living in interesting times.]

Details for Tuesday, August 5th

From CEC:

There will be a press briefing at 11, and at 12 a public announcement which will be open to the public.  The main event, with Graham and Lamrock, will be at the Centennial Bldg, with public overflow a block away at the Crowne Plaza (Lord Beaverbrook Hotel) being simulcast.

I expect there will be many interested parties in attendance, and I hope as many of you who can attend will.

Link to government media advisory.