(Montreal) General education at CEGEP is “boring” and needs to be updated, says the Fédération étudiante collégiale du Québec (FECQ) on the occasion of the 30e anniversary of the development of this training.
“Current college students weren’t born when we decided on the training specifications for them and for us, it’s nonsense not to adapt the training over time,” says Maya Labrosse, president of the Federation, during an interview with The Canadian Press.
“We can’t go on like this, waiting years before revising a training that is given to so many students,” she continues.
The Federation is not asking to abandon the core of general education, centered on philosophy, literature, the second language and physical education, far from it. However, she argues that between 1993 and today, the world in which college students evolve has changed drastically, too much to leave the training of young adults stationed in another era.
Critical thinking and technologies
“Basic training can stay, that’s for sure, but you have to see it from another angle, explains Mme The brush. It’s possible to talk about philosophy and see the same principles of critical thinking as in current courses, but to see it in a course related to science, related to artificial intelligence. »
“We are in an era where we talk a lot about technologies and people want us to think critically about the issue and philosophy courses can precisely be an integral part of the issue. »
“It’s okay that things evolve over time, argues the president of the Federation, and there is a reason why we want it to evolve; it’s that the rest of society is changing too and you can’t just let a course be frozen in time and wonder why students aren’t interested. »
An “uninteresting” training, according to the majority
It is not a caricature to qualify the training as “boring”: 53% of college students consider general training “uninteresting”, according to 2021 data cited by the FECQ. This statistic has repercussions on success and dropout, insists its president. “Not to increase the percentage of people who find it interesting, we think that has an impact on success and on academic motivation. »
The Federation therefore proposes, in the words of its press release, “to offer a variety of course choices for each area of general education, like what is already in place in the English-language college network. The objective is to enable the student population to choose literature and philosophy courses that notably present content adapted to their interests, while providing the same essential skills. »
In addition to these skills, however, there are new realities that must be integrated into college training, it is argued, in particular “digital skills, inclusiveness in physical education courses, the place of complementary courses in the course” .
A worrying mastery of French
As for the literature course, the Federation does not play ostrich and asks to review the notions of written French in these courses, because, it admits, “the mastery of the linguistic code is a concern within the college student population and becomes an obstacle to the success of this one”, can we read in its press release, which underlines in passing that more than 90% of teachers in general education see the shortcomings in the mastery of French as “a challenge in their teaching”, an understatement if ever there was one.
Maya Labrosse believes, however, with good reason, that it is getting late at the college level to tackle these shortcomings. “We have to correct that beforehand. There is work to be done at primary and secondary level to improve mastery of the French language from primary school onwards. »
Despite everything, she adds, since they don’t arrive well enough trained in French, “there comes a time when, in college, students have to pass a uniform language test that includes grammar.” And the institution has a duty to do everything to bring them up to speed, she believes.
Hence the dusting demanded in literature. “If the work has not been done before, we must ensure that these students, who arrive in the uniform language test, are able to pass it and that requires training in literature which is motivating and which is interesting. for the student population if we want them to arrive after their third college French course and successfully pass their uniform test. »
Opening of the Minister
The Federation and its affiliated student associations therefore sarcastically underlined this 30e anniversary, on the one hand by holding a party, but also by sending greeting cards to the main decision-makers in higher education, first and foremost Minister Pascale Déry.
In a missive to The Canadian Press, the Minister of Higher Education first said that she had “the opportunity to discuss it with the FECQ at the end of January, which shared with us its wish to make general education more attractive “.
Without making any promises, Minister Déry underlines that she has started the machinery of the State to see things more clearly by the next school year. “A working group made up of teachers and pedagogical advisors was mandated to precisely evaluate this component and submit recommendations to us. We will await the conclusions of the report, which is scheduled to be submitted in the summer of 2023, before making a decision. »