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GUEST EDITORIAL — The following is part one of a multi-part guest editorial by New Brunswick Education Minister Kelly Lamrock in response to the ongoing controversy over the government's announced plans for teaching french as a second language in New Brunswick.

Education minister Kelly Lamrock

When I was appointed Minister of Education, I knew I'd taken on a huge challenge. Our government had promised to do more than just manage the system. We had promised to build the best education system in Canada — one that would someday give our kids the ability to read, write, understand math and science, and to solve creative problems as well as the children anywhere in the world.

The task in front of us all was indeed a daunting one. National and international assessments have consistently scored New Brunswick's education system as last, or close to last in literacy, math and science, relative to other provinces in Canada. In fact, we are the equivalent of over one full school year of instruction behind the leading provinces in this country. We knew that to drastically change results would mean drastically changing the system. I promised myself that I would not avoid taking on issues that were hard or seen as untouchable. Change can't be about what makes adults feel comfortable — it has to be about what helps all kids learn.

This has been the toughest decision I've faced since I was elected. I'd bet many of my colleagues felt the same way looking at this debate. We've heard from lots of New Brunswickers, and we've heard lots of different opinions and experiences. We've learned from every single one of them, and we've shared them with other MLAs.

We heard from parents who never had a chance to learn French delighted at hearing their Early Immersion student speaking French. We heard from parents who believe that being bilingual is the best route to a job, or part of being a New Brunswicker, and don't want to risk losing the programs that have worked for the kids they know. We heard from parents who want to retain a choice in when or whether their kids learn French at all.

We also heard from parents who lived in communities that didn't have access to early Immersion. We heard from parents whose kids struggled in Immersion and got lost in a Core French class filled with other kids who have struggled. We heard from parents who sang the praises of Late Immersion and Intensive French.

We also heard from teachers — those who have taught Immersion well and seen kids do well in their classes, and those who have felt the frustration of teaching classes where they couldn't do their best because of streaming. We heard from teachers who told me the A.I.M. method might save Core French, and those who swear that they've never seen progress as rapid as Intensive French.

We've listened. Sometimes we've written them back with questions to see if they could tell us more. What was it about a good experience that worked for them? What would have changed a bad outcome? If they saw the experience another child had, what would be a way to help both kids succeed?

Anyone who listens to New Brunswickers will know that there's no magic consensus. There's no safe, easy answer. But if we're to really change our system — to go from being a province where kids don't read, write or do math as well as other Canadians, to one where they do it better than anyone else — politicians will have to do more than wait until we discover some perfect safe place for us to land.

We have to listen to all the arguments. We have to understand the full range of what matters to parents. We have to listen to advice about what system will best meet the learning needs of all kids. And then we have to choose.