The main goal of French immersion schools is to ensure that graduating children master both French and English and become bilingual. Some argue that being bilingual is a positive trait that has many benefits (explained further on), but others argue that children from immersion schools do not gain complete fluency in French and make grammatical errors by using an English structure with French wording.
Learning French through immersion enables children to learn more about French culture, its origins and its history. Later in life, it also enables bilingual individuals to integrate themselves more fully into French-speaking environments while traveling or if relocating to a new country. Critics worry that promoting French culture means denying or diminishing the importance of a person's original culture, whether English or another.
Bilingualism is a highly sought-after skill in certain jobs. It can mean a higher salary, a better chance to travel through work or to be assigned on special projects as well as the potential to look for employment in more than one country. Furthermore, after learning a second language, a child is more likely to be able to learn additional languages, again increasing eligibility for future employment. Bilingualism has often been linked to higher cognitive skills, which are highly regarded by prospective employers.
When, like a child who is in a French-immersion program, parents speak French, they can support their children by practicing at home and helping with homework. Unfortunately, many parents of French-immersion children do not have a high enough level of understanding to help their children study French and learn about the subjects being taught in French. That could be an incentive for a parent to learn the language, but it is mostly a disadvantage to monolingual parents who cannot support their children as much as they might want.