To respond to the current shortcomings of the Quebec education system, the community would have everything to gain from calling on an outside eye to concretely improve, change and correct the system in which children evolve, sometimes poorly.
This is the point brought by Mathieu Graton, in replacement of his ex-spouse and mother of his son Benjamin, Patricia Paquin, Friday evening on the set of the show The world upside down.
Invited to take part in a discussion on the inclusion of different children in regular classes, the comedian was very critical of the management of the Ministry of Education in this file. “It would take new ideas, not from the government, not necessarily from the teachers, although you include them in the discussion, but it takes an outside eye to everyone there, because they are always trying to negotiate their working conditions. It takes ideas,” he said.
“You don’t want your child not to be in an inappropriate class”, also underlined Mathieu Graton, citing as an example the time when his son had received a bad diagnosis and which could have affected his whole life.
“It’s hard when you don’t have an alternative to their [aux élèves en difficulté] offer than to be the worst in the class or to be with a “gang of bad guys“. Something is missing in Quebec for these people. It is neither of the times that will fit with their status, ”he said.
Former Québec Solidaire MP Émilise Lessard-Therrien, who was part of the panel of debaters, for her part pointed out the problematic composition of the classes and of the system which tends to become a three-speed system (private, schools vocation and the regular). “We no longer have classes with students who have different skills. Students with learning disabilities find themselves overrepresented in certain classes,” she said, recalling that the composition of a class had an effect on the retention of school staff.
For Marie-Claude Savard, who was also part of the debating team, more emphasis should be placed on school teams, ie staff and parents, to support teachers.
Richard Martineau and Guy Nantel also took on debating positions this week, while Dany Turcotte sat in the guest seat, where he promoted his new documentary The Last Closet – Aging Happyon the aging of LGBTQ2+ seniors.
Me Jean-Sébastien Boudreau, co-owner of the Productions Midor agency, returned to the set to participate in a discussion on the public readings offered by drag queens.
The world upside down airs Fridays at 8 p.m. on TVA.