Monday, in the middle of the ski lift to reach the top of the Bromont ski mountain, a 9 or 10 year old boy sitting to my right beamed with happiness. Was it like getting to the top and tackling the steep slopes? Or the joy of living life to the fullest? Probably both, I told myself. I asked him if he was eager to start school, the start of the school year being the next day, believing him to be a victim of the teachers’ strike like other children his age.
He looked at me with a big smile and told me how happy he was to be skiing on this educational day. He added that, in any case, the start of the school year was in no hurry for him, since despite the strike, he had not missed a single day at his private international school. So, he deserved an extra day off since he didn’t have any work to catch up on. On the contrary, he told me.
I said to myself: how lucky this child is to perfect his knowledge while enjoying life! I also wondered why all children did not have access to all these privileges in a beautiful spirit of social equity. But this is not a good question to ask since we are talking here about public schools and the consequences of the strike on their educational interests.
However, looking, on this Tuesday morning, at the so-called “flexible” measures put forward by the Ministry of Education, I do not see any measure intended to balance the chances of success for all children, who have very variable degrees. late, and to give them the same intensive support privileges during this difficult time for them. However, they deserve an intensity of aid adapted to their current great needs.
In my opinion, we are still talking about social inequities, and we will talk about them for a long time if we rely too much on the goodwill of all parties involved, children, parents and teachers. It takes time, a lot of time, to allow children to re-motivate themselves, to regain a taste for school and to provide the required effort. We are still in the early stages regarding the help on this subject to be provided to them in the post-pandemic, and we have just added another layer with the prolonged strike.
We would have liked to see firmer, even mandatory, measures if the national priority is truly to achieve educational success for all. We would have liked, at least for a few months, to have the possibility of using educational days, spring break and certain free time to provide maximum support to children in greatest difficulty.
Academic success is not magic. It takes a lot of daily support to get back up to speed at school, and it’s urgent to offer it to all the children who need it. Of course, we can count on the many organizations offering help or tutoring in academic support, and the good news is the funding announced by the minister to help them.
The School with a capital E, on the other hand, must renew itself — and specialize when necessary — with more respect, resources and specialists. But unfortunately, there are not many of them knocking on the door. We hope that the measures announced are only the beginning of an in-depth renewal of the school system in Quebec which will bring more equity and obligations to succeed.
We will finally have to learn lessons from what has happened in recent years, both the good moves and the improvisations, to avoid prolonging the academic distress and failure of too many children. Education is a priority in Quebec: let’s make it known loud and clear, and let’s put all the resources into it.