Quebec wants to close a yeshiva

Quebec wants to force an Outremont yeshiva to close: open for half a century, the institution offers mostly religious instruction, takes no government funding, and has refused to teach the official curriculum.

I can see both sides of this. It’s a traditional way of life and something will be lost if Quebec succeeds in enforcing strict educational uniformity on absolutely everyone. But this issue strikes at something we’re not all in agreement about, which is how much a child is the creature of its family and of its birth culture, and how much it is of the society and state in which it lives. Arguably, the yeshiva is preparing these boys to live life well within its terms, but what happens to any who later choose to leave the life of strict orthodoxy? How well will they be prepared for life outside? (Which is, of course, the last thing their parents want.)

In other educational news, the Charest government is apparently pondering making kids attend three years of private English school before allowing them into public English education. I don’t see who this helps except, of course, anyone operating one of those private schools. The article only hints at the byzantine twists of logic necessary when you try to justify denying access to education on any basis.