Dear Mr. Bernard Drainville, Minister of Education, I am addressing you directly, because the situation requires it. As I write these lines, summer is dressed in its finest clothes and the cicada is singing late at night. I am far from school and yet I am bored — not that I find the time long, because I am busy recharging my batteries, but rather I am seized by the desire to meet my new students, my new colleagues, etc.
I wonder if there will be a special education technician. A psychoeducator. A special education teacher. Will there be a competent teacher in my children’s class? A teacher who is not legally qualified? An adult? A retired person who has returned? A TikTok influencer who feeds his ego during recess?
The school world is full of imponderables. On the other hand, there are certainties that we cannot escape in the short term. For example, I know that it will be scorching hot in my classroom during the heatwave that will hit in mid-September, that the windows will not open any more than last year and that there will be no air conditioning. There will also be reports on the teacher shortage. Everyone will propose their solutions to put an end to it and will wonder why class composition is still a major issue despite the strike that had this issue in its sights.
Oh, I forgot! I won’t be able to leave food on my desk for fear that Ratatouille will come and eat my dinner.
These are things that we see coming, and it is almost impossible to stop them in the short term. I know full well that problems that have been plaguing our system for years will not be solved by shouting scissors. That is why I am thinking about the future. Simple, right?
Insecurity
If, by some misfortune, I were to become Minister of Education, I would tackle the pile of files from the bottom, leaving the experts to persist on the first files while many of our children miss out on the most important ones. Why start at the end? Because that is where the hunger is!
There is one problem that could easily be erased from our list. to-do “It’s an open secret that food insecurity is becoming more and more present in our society, and our schools are unfortunately feeling the effects. So, before implementing reforms, wouldn’t it be more effective to ensure that those who are suffering the repercussions of these changes are ready to receive them?
Sowing a seed in infertile soil is doomed to failure: the seedling needs soil with essential nutrients to bloom properly. Same with learning! An empty or poorly nourished belly will not be optimal during M’s explanationsme Caroline, which is likely to add to the school’s many challenges. Let’s make this challenge a thing of the past. Simple, right?
A beginning
There is a food measure for children from poor families: these children have access to a school dinner based on their parents’ income. It’s excellent – no, not the meal, but hey, it’s a start.
On the other hand, this service begins more than a month after the start of classes and ends the first week of June. I have trouble understanding the reasons for this procedure and, above all, the pretext of the people in charge behind this logic. What if it was your child?
Don’t children feel their stomachs growling in September? Especially since we know very well that the first weeks of the school year can be crucial in setting the right conditions for learning. And what about the end of the year? Do children eat so much during the year that they no longer need it when exam time comes around? I am now writing in the present tense to correct the imperfect. Pluperfect, right?
I ask you, on one knee and with all due respect, Mr. Bernard Drainville, if it would be possible for the service to feed our students to be based on the first day of the school year to the last. I am not asking you to put an end to the three-speed school system (for now), a file that is at the top of the pile. On the other hand, ensuring that our children eat properly is a start on the long road to equal opportunities.
This type of spending to fill the belly is worth thinking about. Hunger justifies the means. Simple, right?