A disappointing observation

The current situation on the ground sadly reflects the collective neglect and apathy: dilapidated buildings (inadequate ventilation and mold, lack of maintenance and basic infrastructure), the shortage of qualified, supported and valued teachers (knowing in addition that 40% of teachers will leave the network by 2030), staff retention (a recent statistic shows that 30% of teachers leave before even having five years of experience), the problem of "non-legally qualified" teachers as reinforcements, the lack of specialists, the paralyzing bureaucracy and rigidity, arbitrary cuts, the school segregation of a three-tier system (public, private and special purpose), failure rates, demotivation and school dropouts... The list is long.

• 56% of boys go to CEGEP, compared to 75% of girls

• More than a quarter of students are considered to be “disabled or have difficulty adapting or learning”

• Lowest high school graduation rate in Canada

The numbers actually say very little. Learning and motivation problems also underlie broader issues of societal importance.

Social issues

The problem of education is also our problem! That of the parents and that of society. Don't they say that school begins at home, and that it takes a whole village to raise a child?

We have sanctified work, performance anxiety in the carpet to run after the job at 100,000 . So we drop our children between the four walls of the school, between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m., thanking the daycare service. We leave schools a large place to raise our children… Sarah Wilson, an author engaged in mental health issues, explains that we are all “permanently overstimulated; we are the very image of efficiency and dynamism, always on the move, always doing”. Everyone is “chasing their tail”!

We have also allowed screens to invade homes. Specialists have also noted an increase in language disorders with screens taking the place of parents.

We have established principles of positive education that are not very encouraging, leaving the system to take care of the safe arrival of our cherubs. Testimony of a teacher: "Those who contact us the most are the king parents, who believe that everything is owed to them and, above all, that their child can do nothing wrong. As his parent excuses, the child now believes he can do anything (...) Everything is too easy. And when we fail, we pass the same. (...) We send him to the next level hoping that he will mobilize. To compensate, we give him remedial courses." So there are all these students who "pass" year after year without mastering the subject, so as not to make school boards, school management and teachers look bad...

Personal and collective tragedy. Quebec society has softened and lost its role in transmitting values that allowed us not only to raise but also to educate our children.

Reviewing pedagogy ?

Some will say that we need to put schools back where they were before and teach more. What is academic success? What is the real mission of schools? To meet current challenges, the government has increased teachers' salaries at the beginning of the profession and launched several school construction and renovation projects, but what about pedagogy, learning, and teaching?

Making our students into learned dogs is not necessarily the best remedy, because we then forget the role of critical thinking, art, nature, sports, personal development, emotional management and health, and everything that should contribute to growing our little humans so that they become accomplished, conscious, responsible and happy adults. Know-how and know-how, as fundamental building blocks, have a very large place to take, at school, as at home.

For Albert Einstein, "the essential role of the teacher is to awaken the joy of working and knowing." Beyond the theory of relativity, the genius had understood many essential things. In a world that is undoubtedly becoming more complex, the pleasure of learning, which has escaped somewhere between the cracks in the floor, must also return to school benches. A virtuous circle, which would put the teacher and the student back in their respective places.

Let's talk about education

Who better than students, teachers and parents to talk about education? This is an opportunity to be heard to create the future of education in Quebec. The forums start this week, until June. You can register here and check the dates according to your place of residence. You are invited.

The initiative is the work of four movements: Stand Up for School!, School Together, I Protect My Public School and the Movement for a Modern and Open School.

"We find that there are an incredible number of problems in the public education network and that there has been government inertia for a very long time. We have had 16 Ministers of Education in 20 years for such an important service.

In each city where a Let’s Talk Education forum will be organized, five themes will be addressed:

• rethinking the school's mission

• build an equitable education system for all students

• encourage social and cultural inclusion

• Promote the professional skills of school staff

• democratize the Quebec school system