CEGEP gets in hot water
CEGEP de la Gaspésie has provoked a response from not only the CAQ government but also the opposition parties since it’s come to light that it holds classes in Montreal in an unmarked building, in English, to international students, and for profit. The government has rushed in and demanded more of the classes must be held in French.
Where there’s demand there will be supply. But instead of commending the CEGEP for responding to market forces, the CAQ’s going to have to bow to Quebec sensibilities and close this loophole down.
Daisy 09:48 on 2020-02-05 Permalink
Is the mission of cegeps to respond to market forces in India and China?
Kate 12:18 on 2020-02-05 Permalink
I don’t think it matters where the students are from. They are people who want education, and what this CEGEP has done is similar to the EMSB’s adult ed services – they raise money by teaching skills or knowledge in demand, which will tend to make the students more employable while bringing in funds for the overall operation.
I’d say it’s win-win unless the CEGEP is shortchanging its main student body in the Gaspé, but I doubt they are, because teaching people in Montreal in English is unlikely to affect teaching in French hundreds of miles away. In fact, the revenue from the Montreal operation probably benefits those students.
The government should investigate to make sure nobody’s pocketing the profits personally, but they’re not interested in that, they’re only interested in the scandalous issue of teaching people in English.
Ian 18:37 on 2020-02-05 Permalink
I find this all very peculiar. I know a thing or two about how CEGEPs decide what to teach in their Cont Ed classes, and they need approval from the Ministry of Education for curriculum, staffing, program approval, everything…
It’s not like a couple of kids decided to set up a lemonade stand on the wrong block…
Ian 19:22 on 2020-02-05 Permalink
…the scandal expands: https://www.ledevoir.com/societe/education/572223/cegep-anglophone-la …clutch your peals, Marie-Victorin is doing it too. Apparently there are some loopholes around being considered bilingual and providing an AEC instead of a DEC.
I bet these folks don’t even have to take gym to graduate! Shocking! /s
One of my favourite quotes from the article –
« Il faut qu’ils [les étudiants aux programmes en anglais] soient en contact avec le français, c’est important, sinon ça crée un ghetto », a réagi Pascal Bérubé, du Parti québécois.
Hear that kids? English leads to ghettoization. Imagine, slums of downtrodden English speakers, crippled by their linguistic error, unable to get along with the rest of the world. They probably even wear whatever kind of hat they want, the poor fools.
…and in case anyone was wondering what Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois thinks about people that speak English:
« Quand on laisse le réseau collégial se développer de manière désordonnée et chaotique, quand on laisse des logiques de compétition, de marchandisation, s’installer dans le réseau collégial, […] ça ne sert pas les intérêts des Québécois et des Québécoises », a insisté Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, de Québec solidaire.«
I guess it’s like that old Mordecai Richler line, “…when thousands of flag-waving nationalists march through the streets roaring ‘Le Québec aux Québécois!’ they do not have in mind anybody named Ginsburg. Or MacGregor, for that matter.”