Proposal for education reform for the province of Ontario

[Pliny]

Perhaps decentralization might be a solution.

It might also help to depoliticize the issue.

Perhaps that's a better solution than the complicated one I'd proposed above.

A hundred years form now will any of us understand the English language as it exists today? Can the average Canadian or American relate to Shakespearian English?

Today's increased interaction of people and languages around the globe means that languages and cultures will change faster than they have in the past. The evolutionary pace will quicken.

Schools should deliver what their customers demand. It is that simple. Engineering the evolution of language and culture is not then an evolution but a scripted tyranny. Political meddling or "we know what's best" attitudes results in imbalances. If a "power" is going to engineer society it should not be political but based upon those who, without the use of political or legal force, have been successful in the society the are in, and they should never have or use the power of political or legal force. The "power" to engineer society then rests ultimately in the agreement of the people.

Anyone who thinks about what I have just said will probably realize that "economic" power may be the dominant factor in how society is engineered. This may be the case but as long as the economy is free and not controlled by political interests, the people will have the greatest input.

A very rich man that wishes to engineer society will be broke in no time and without the backing of political and legal force cannot impose his wishes upon the people. The people, with the economy remaining outside the domination of government and in the hands of the people, will then dictate the most efficient methods of communication.

Esperanto may very well be the language of the future but let's let nature take it's course and not attempt a politicized "leveling of the playing field".

It is, in my opinion, very naive of governments to be legislating language without realizing the frictions and resistance such politicized impositions will manifest. A tyrant can certainly enforce whatever he wishes so let's not make anyone a tyrant and let's not allow the vagaries of whimsical governments override the people's wishes. It is the people and the society they create together that must remain the helmsman. It is not because a group of people prefer speaking French or a group of people prefer speaking English that laws be made about language preference. They must mingle, interact and the results of their interaction will be what is most beneficial all around, just as the English language appeared out of indo-european interaction so will the future global language appear. We will all lose part of our cultures and languages, some more than others, but out of that comes our new more inclusive international culture. Some will resent the domination of some cultures and languages but it means, as long as there isn't the enforcement of law or politics in their domination there is no one to attack, except perhaps the the most dominant but they will have to use political force and will, that is - war, which should always be heavily frowned upon. They can stubbornly preserve their own culture but they then exclude themselves from the ever-changing and evolving global community.

We will come together at some point. Cultural and linguistic differences are petty in the grand scheme of things. Trying to make them "legally" permanent is only conducive to divisiveness and disunity.