There Is No Spoon

Now that Sassy Lawyer and MLQ3 have blogged about the Filipino child punished by his French-Canadian school Ecole Lalande for using a spoon and fork instead of knife and fork, I predict there's going to be a firestorm of protest in the Pinoy blogosphere.

A quotable quote from the principal Normand Bergeron:

“I don’t necessarily want students to eat with one hand or with only one instrument, I want them to eat intelligently at the table. I want them to eat correctly with respect for others who are eating with them. That’s all I ask. Personally, I don’t have any problems with it, but it is not the way you see people eat every day. I have never seen somebody eat with a spoon and a fork at the same time.”

Which points to how insular and ignorant he is about the rest of the world eh?

If you want to give Monsieur le Directeur Bergeron a piece of your mind, you can e-mail him here:

direction.lalande@csmb.qc.ca

(Edited to add)

Some interesting (and hilarious comments) on the West Island Chronicle article written by Andy Blatchford:

Marnie Dideles:
"To make someone as young as 7 years old feel bad about his own culture is detrimental to his self-image and his perspective of his culture."

Jacob Chermak:
"One thing to know Mr Principal, the world is small and filipino community is tight. Rest assured Filipinos across the world will hear of this. Best of wishes Mr. ignorant coward."

K Lee:
"The principal's comment "I have never seen somebody eat with a spoon and a fork at the same time” shows all of us that he's buried deep in the Twilight Zone, probably beyond recovery since he's already past that "learning stage" that he's talking about."

Raul Debuque:
"I am especially disappointed that the school principlal, M. Bergeron, a French Canadian who no doubt fights every day to assert his heritage and culture, would then turn around and practice the same sort of cultural negation that French Canadians so vehemently reject. Shame. "

Geneviève Perchotte:
"On behalf of all us francophone Canadians, I apologize for M.Bergeron' treatment of you and hope that you can forgive him and not allow this to damage your life in any way. Especially, do not think that all Canadians are like this. "

Erik Kujala:
"I am also concerned for that. Mr. Bergeron obviously has a limited perspective on other cultures and what it means when people come to this country. Nowhere is it written that when a person comes to Canada they must give up their identity or their ways. That would be a tremendous loss for all of us."

Allan Jarina:
"Mr. Bergeron, you make me sick. You're a putrescent mass, a walking vomit. I will never get over the embarrassment of belonging to the same species as you."

Rei Laue:
"I also felt slightly superior to my 45-year old Canadian classmate in a German language course when he admitted that he had never seen an Eierbecher (egg cup) in his whole life because they didn't use that in Canada. I smile as well every time my husband whispers "pocket billiards" whenever he sees a North American eating with only one hand on the table. "Taschenbillard" is the playful way of saying wanking in German, so Germans show both hands on the table when eating so that others don't have to guess what the hidden hand is doing...

...And to think this demonstration of racial superiority comes from someone who probably thinks an egg cup is a term that describes what he does with his other hand under the table while he's eating his dinner."

Alvin Chua:
"Um, I don't understand. Perhaps I'm just ignorant (being an uncivilized Filipino, heh) but what exactly is this singular eating implement? A spork? Are there pictures of it, that we may educate ourselves? (Sorry, but this just boggles the mind.)"