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The following comment appeared on the editorial page of the March 15 Telegraph- Journal. In light of the current controversy over French as a Second Language, we are reprinting it here in its entirety for the benefit of our readers.

During Friday’s announcement on French immersion, minister Kelly Lamrock made a point of observing that the defining issue isn’t second language education, but education.

Here’s what he said:

“We rank last in Canada in the areas of literacy, math and science; we are falling short of our goal of providing all students with a firm foundation in French as a second language; we are creating classrooms where class composition issues are exacerbated through streaming; and we have limited opportunities to offer our younger students enriching opportunities in the areas such as art, music and physical education. If we are ever to achieve self-sufficiency in New Brunswick, all of this must change...”

We agree completely — and we’d like to see the minister turn the same degree of forensic scrutiny on literacy and numeracy that commissioners Jim Croll and Patricia Lee have brought to bear on French proficiency.

In an editorial board meeting with the Telegraph- Journal, the French second language commissioners frankly admitted that there are many instructors teaching French who should not continue to do so, unless they can improve their fluency and teaching skills. We suspect this trend holds true of many teachers’ math and literacy skills as well — but since no one is tracking program results, or evaluating the strengths of individual teachers and schools, there’s no way of knowing yet where remedial efforts are most needed.

The idea of testing teachers is likely to rouse the ire of the profession. But how outraged can teachers be? The student outcomes produced in New Brunswick are abysmal.

The hard work teachers perform needs to be applied in more productive directions, and New Brunswickers need to start figuring out where those directions lead.

The time has come to refocus New Brunswick’s education system on effective education — even if that means scrapping existing programs or mandating retraining for educators who are employed in provincial schools. Don’t stop the reform efforts with French; and don’t be dissuaded by those who fall back on professional outrage to mask a paucity of skill or talent.

* * * Develop a detailed plan for new French programs On Friday, Education Minister Kelly Lamrock brought the debate over French second language education to a resounding close. Having reviewed an independent commission report that documents, in detail, the widespread failure of New Brunswick’s core French and early immersion programs, Mr. Lamrock announced that both courses would be discontinued.

The Minister must now implement the policy in the most effective way possible.

If the government wants better results from new educational programs, it needs to address a variety of systemic weaknesses. These are also outlined, in detail, in the FSL commission report.

The Telegraph-journal’s editorial board met with commissioners Jim Croll and Patricia Lee just before their report was made public.

They laid out a series of concerns that went beyond the weaknesses of individual educational programs — concerns such as funding, staffing, and the skills brought to bear on French education in New Brunswick’s classrooms.

Unless these concerns are addressed, and addressed effectively, Intensive French and Late Immersion will not greatly improve student results.

The commissioners made a point of asking government for substantial commitments to retrain teachers already working in the system and to improving training programs for would-be educators.

That’s because a shocking percentage of instructors teaching French in anglophone classrooms aren’t sufficiently qualified to do so, because they lack fluency in French or in teaching.

On Friday, Mr. Lamrock made promising commitments in these areas. But the Department of Education has not yet indicated how it will assess the classroom strength of second language teachers, or how it will monitor the results of Intensive French and Late Immersion.

The minister needs to develop a detailed implementation plan. If the program changes the commissioners have proposed are worth adopting, the government must invest the resources required to make the system work well.

Five years from now, there should be little debate over whether the right decisions were made. A majority of anglophone students should be achieving the French proficiency levels the government has set as its benchmarks.

Then, New Brunswick can move on to the next level of reform — raising the proficiency goals to a standard that will prepare students for a bilingual workplace.