The Emerging Immersion

I don't know if folks still say this, but not that long ago old people (like 40 year olds) used to complain about media never giving any good news. Now, all I hear is how slanted the news is, and it is, but in my view, it's slanted towards the freaks that complain about it. But I digress.

Here, is a genuine good news story in the Wall Street Journal, by Joel Millman, about Louisiana, and Lafayette in particular, regarding our French Immersion program in local schools. The program employs many instructors from West Africa, Canada, Belgium, and France to teach the French language to Louisiana children.

From the article:

For decades, it was forbidden to use French in Louisiana's public schools. Many a Cajun family remembers a grandparent who came home from school in tears after being punished for not speaking English, a language few spoke at home. But in the 1960s, Cajuns successfully adapted African-Americans' civil-rights efforts to gain minority status. Benefits included a mandate to teach French in all public schools. Foreign governments—particularly France and Belgium—pitched in, subsidizing their teachers' passage to Louisiana.

Photo by Gak