PQ balks at money for Dawson
Joseph Facal, writing in the Journal, explains why Quebec should refrain from financing a new pavilion at Dawson College, because it attracts too many young people to education in English. This is also the PQ view of the matter.
I don’t see anything about where this new Dawson pavilion is meant to be built. With so much education going online now, wouldn’t it make sense to focus on improving that, rather than putting up new buildings?
Douglas 23:38 on 2020-06-11 Permalink
Without a doubt this dinosaur writer voted yes to separate both times and has been living in bitterness about it since.
Montreal is a multinational city in a continent and country that speaks English.
More of his brethren and him need to learn English.
Uatu 07:34 on 2020-06-12 Permalink
Dawson wouldn’t build unless there’s a demand and that is coming from Franco youth since like Facal says the Anglo population is diminishing. No one is forcing anyone to go to school in English. It’s their choice and I wish Facal and the PQ would have faith that young people aren’t weak minded idiots who would abandon who they are at the drop of a hat. You can go to school in English and still be a proud francophone.
Margaret Black 07:51 on 2020-06-12 Permalink
There are many classes, especially in the health care programmes, which cannot be done online, They require labs and simulation clinics. This is the training for the next wave of front line medical workers. Also, this is space needed for students in the existing, crowded enrollment structure – not for any proposed expansion of numbers.
Kate 08:00 on 2020-06-12 Permalink
Margaret Black, this is what Dawson has replied Friday: it needs the new space for the existing student numbers, not to expand and educate more people in English.
Ian 08:00 on 2020-06-12 Permalink
These are unrelated matters, the Ministry limits the number of classes a CEGEP can offer and is historically unlikely to grant new programs or program expansions to an English CEGEP. This is why students get turned away – the CEGEPs would be happy to expand the course offerings to meet demand, it’s the Ministry saying no. New buildings aren’t so there is room for new students, new buildings are required to accommodate existing students – space is always at a premium in any school. That, and you should see the state of some of the older buildings – bad ventilation, patchy floors, walls, and ceilings, water infiltration…
Ian 08:09 on 2020-06-12 Permalink
//edit
Darnit, too slow. Like Margaret & Kate said, this isn’t about expansion. As a former university lecturer Facal should be well aware of this, this is rather intellectually dishonest of him. I wonder if he went to CEGEP?
steph 08:39 on 2020-06-12 Permalink
Why does the ministry limit the amount of people the CEGEP can educate? Isn’t an educated population a better population?
Michael Black 08:51 on 2020-06-12 Permalink
Maybe a better question is whether there are limits on the French language CEGEPs? I don’t know.
JaneyB 09:16 on 2020-06-12 Permalink
Indeed, why must they build? There’s plenty of empty retail and office space around there and more to come thanks to covid. Everybody wants to wear a hardhat and cut a ribbon.
dwgs 10:44 on 2020-06-12 Permalink
Speaking as someone who runs a lab at a university, there are plenty of reasons for a custom built facility. There may be specific electrical, plumbing, ventilation, lighting or space needs. Doors might need to be oversized, you might need specialized fire suppression systems for sensitive equipment, freight elevators, a loading bay, everything needs to be universally accessible for the handicapped… When you try to retrofit an existing space, especially something designed for retail or commerce you often end up with a dog’s breakfast that costs more than building from scratch. Trust me when I say that admin people in education squeeze a penny harder than most.
Daisy 12:34 on 2020-06-12 Permalink
Yes, there are limits on French cegeps too. Every cegep has what is called a “devis” which they aren’t supposed to go over. This is mentioned in the TVA article linked by Kate in the comments.
Alex L 14:47 on 2020-06-12 Permalink
@Douglas: Facal is indeed a dinosaur, I agree on that.
But if we expand your categories, at one end, and take your words at the letter, the most spoken language in the Americas is spanish, and the most spoken language in the world is mandarin chinese. Should we all then learn spanish and mandarin?
Diversity is a positive thing and hegemony should be avoided, even in languages.