Hard to believe, isn't it? Andrew is in Mrs. Stephens afternoon kindergarten class at Pinegrove PS in Oakville. Pinegrove seems like a good school, it offers a french immersion programme starting in Grade 1, and Andrew will begin next year. They only "immerse" the kids in French for half days, with the balance of instruction being in English. It seemed to Heidi and I that would be sufficient to obtain most of the benefits of French immersion, without handicapping his abilities in English, for which total immersion programmes are often criticized.
Truth is, I am indifferent to the french immersion part of the school. It is nice to have, and I wish that I had better french instruction when I was going to primary school. However, the main reason that I like Pinegrove, or any school which offers french immersion for that matter, is because these schools tend to have a great deal of parental involvement.
Everything that I have read, and everything I have learned from participating in the Royal Commision on Learning discussion group over the past several years tells me that we cannot rely on institutions to ensure that our children receive the best possible education. Teachers do the best they can, given the constraints of the system; but children tend to do well despite, not because of their teachers. The common thread among successful schools is parental involvement. It's more important than technology, its more important than the phonics/whole language debate, its more important than restrictive union practices which reward teachers who are educated or who have been on the job for a long time despite the fact that these factors don't produce excellent teachers.
So Andrew has embarked on, what we hope will be, a long stint in the education process. So far he likes it, and Mrs. Stephens says that he is a terrific student. Of course he is.....all children entering the schools are terrific.