The other day at lunch I was working in my biology classroom, listening to some of the music I got from my three-month exchange in France. It wasn’t going too badly, but I was getting tired of using the earphones, so I decided I would listen to the music without the headphones. It wasn’t like the two other people in the room with me knew any French, so it couldn’t be that distracting to them.
I’ll tell you right now, was that ever the wrong decision to make. One of the people got up from his “workstation,” gave me a dirty look, and left the classroom immediately afterwards. Somewhat bemused by his reaction, I asked his friend, now the only other person in the room aside from me, what the hell the kid’s problem was.
“He doesn’t like listening to music that isn’t in English,” was the reply.
From what I could glean, this… person felt that those of us who listen to non-English music are either from Quebec or we’re hippies who are trying to promote bilingualism in Canada. He believes that Canada should be an English country, and that we should go back to being an only English country, and that we should not promote different cultures by allowing music that isn’t in English (among other things). He especially thinks French is bad, because for some reason or another, he thinks that English-only schools are getting worse and worse due to the fact that the French-only or French-Immersion (bilingual) schools are stealing up all the government funding.
I was actually even more perplexed by this kid’s thinking than I was originally by his reaction to my playing music (from France, not even from Quebec). First of all, the reason we value French is because of the absolutely enormous French population in all of Canada, not just in Quebec. Heck, it’s the largest minority we have—does it not make sense that we would make French one of the main languages (and the other official language) of Canada? Because it does to me. As for the exclusively English schools getting less and less funding, that’s mainly because there are fewer children going to those schools than there are going to exclusively French and bilingual (especially bilingual) schools. And it’s not only because you can get a better job if you know both languages. It’s because learning a second language automatically makes you a more worldly, and a smarter person.
Think about it. A language is another outlook on the world, which makes you more tolerant of different opinions and ideas, and makes you able to communicate with a wider base of people. I don’t care what you say, not everyone speaks English. And they shouldn’t be expected to if they’re from a different country, either. They have their own languages. And it’s those languages that make the world so great. Not to mention, compared to some of those other languages, English is pretty new. So why should we use English as the language default?
Whatever. That fact aside, this kid just blew my mind. His standpoint still doesn’t make sense to me. I mean, God, just because he was a moron who didn’t pass French (it’s mandatory to take it at least once in a Canadian high school) doesn’t mean he has the right all of a sudden to hate everything about it. Stupid kid.
I hate English Elitists.