Letter of the day--Lamrock's portrayal of selfish parents 'offensive'
Published Friday April 4th, 2008
Appeared on page D8
To The Editor:
Education Minister Kelly Lamrock's attempts to prop up his flawed decision to terminate early French immersion involves portraying parents who choose it for their children as selfish individuals who are unwilling to share opportunities with others. That is both offensive and incorrect. Rather than presupposing our motivation to fight this decision, perhaps the minister should ask us. I think he would find that the vast majority of parents who choose early immersion do so for one reason alone -- they value bilingualism and want to provide their children with the best possible opportunity to learn French. Further, I think he would find that most of us are also troubled by the perceived lack of inclusion in this program, and would very much like to see resources dedicated to ensure that any child who wants the immersion experience can have it.
Many people engaged in this fight have no personal stake at all. They are concerned that choice is being taken from all parents, that this decision was made in an undemocratic way based on bad information and ignoring experts in the field, that it will not in any way solve the problems that have been identified, and that the outcome of all of this will be a weaker and divided province.
The minister's tactic to pit citizens against each other should be seen for what it is -- a blatant attempt to manipulate public opinion and deflect attention from the real problems with this decision. Is this a strategy that Premier Shawn Graham and the Liberal caucus are comfortable with?
Diana Hamilton, Sackville
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