We recently learned that a French exam delays the entry into the labor market of one out of five future professors in Quebec universities. This test, which assesses the mastery of the language of students in education, is far from unanimous. Some students would even like its level of difficulty to be lowered because, in its current version, to pass it, “you really have to be an expert in the French language”.
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We are getting used to this type of absurd claims. A year ago, almost to the day, let us recall that the Minister of Higher Education Danielle McCann took the time very seriously to consider the possibility of allowing the use of the Antidote correction software during the uniform French test at the college.
Love and respect for the language…
As we know, the language of Miron receives the volley of the century in Quebec, and more particularly in Montreal; the 2021 census data is categorical and must continue to resonate. But obviously, it’s not just his presence that draws back, it’s also the love and respect we have for him.
While it is inconceivable to imagine students in electrical engineering, law or even English language teaching asking for accommodations, it is openly that future French teachers question the relevance of a test that aims – it should be remembered all the same – to assess their ability to act as an authority on the matter.
What these young students tell us is that if Quebec needs “expert” judges of the Criminal Code, “expert” budget accountants and “expert” dentists in the treatment of cavities, French teachers ” experts” of the French language, we can very well do without it.
- Listen to Rémi Villemure at the microphone of Richard Martineau on QUB radio:
Interchangeable?
No offense to those who argue that the French language is a special hill in our world, it is now interchangeable. Yes, to tell the truth, if it breaks our heads, there is always English, the cool language, that of the future and which is learned through Netflix propaganda and nonsense that parades on TikTok .
Could we come back to the French language and culture?
Languages may be just tools of communication after all. And since our era is one of performance, speed and “the absolute monarchy” of technical intelligence over the life of the mind, as the philosopher Alain Finkielkraut wrote to Antoine Robitaille in the late 1990s , it would be high time to catch up with the peloton and enter into modernity.
The capitulation of these young students is revealing.
The French language is no longer up to date. She should perhaps think about giving up being the one of culture and to do this, embrace the virtues of nonchalance. Obviously, it will never be able to dethrone English, but there are still advantages to abandoning yourself to the course of the world.
It’s less exhausting than rowing against the current.
Besides, it seems that we don’t even feel pain when we fall asleep forever. But is that what we want? Fall asleep forever?
Photo archives, Pierre-Paul Poulin
Remi Villemure, Author and MA student in History