What should we think of a society whose calculation of risks has become so important, so paralyzing that it prefers to look away when a rare astronomical phenomenon invites itself into its courtyard and its routine is regulated like clockwork?
The Legault government has accustomed us to this strange dance which has made it take several steps sideways and steps backwards since it came to power. Think about the third link, the curfew, the health contribution to the unvaccinated, the voting reform and so many other thorns in his tired side. The Minister of Education has shown us in recent days that he also knows the steps of this distressing dance.
Bernard Drainville may have walked on the paint, going so far as to plead in favor of maintaining supervised and safe outdoor activities after they had been discouraged by his own ministry, the die was cast. The extremely cautious guidelines transmitted to the public and more especially to the school network have got the better of one in two school service centers (CSS). These will be absent on April 8 when a total solar eclipse will occur in the skies of Canada, the United States and Mexico.
Worse, among the schoolchildren whose CSS chose to keep their doors open despite the warnings of public security adept at hyperbole, several will only keep from this solar eclipse the memory of a class plunged as a precaution into the twilight, desks turned pitifully towards the wall waiting for the eclipse to finish its magical course in the sky.
What could have been an opportunity to celebrate science and pedagogy, our decision-makers will have made a mountain of. Swollen to catastrophic proportions, this Everest of precautions and confusion will have made us question our abilities to manage such events. Our schools have, however, repeatedly demonstrated their resourcefulness in managing the extraordinary, thinking outside the box and following agreed timetables, with parents and grandparents providing support.
True, the phenomenon calls for intelligent management of the risks of burns to the retina in the event of unsafe observation. But let’s not forget that there are suitable glasses and indirect observation methods with educational virtues as undeniable as they are varied. It is also true that the eclipse will complicate things by encroaching on the end of classes and the return home. But an educated, curious and equipped society should overcome such obstacles.
In 2017, much was made of Donald Trump’s sparings during the solar eclipse that crossed the United States. Dressed in his presidential clothes, he had defied the ban to – very briefly – look at the phenomenon with the naked eye, which had the good fortune to please his supporters (finally a free spirit!) as much as to his detractors (but what a fool!). Fortunately, a fine work of scientific education had done the work admirably upstream, so that millions of Americans had followed this spectacle without risk.
Quebecers are certainly not stupider than Americans. However, we must admit that our relationship with risk has become more complex. Here as there, moreover, since several American schools have also chosen to close their doors on April 8. Let’s not be mistaken, our societies are not intrinsically more risky. They are simply more allergic to these risks.
In this society of heightened risk, we value the multiplication of brakes, especially for our children kept under cover. Not without danger, believes the Canadian Pediatric Society, which issued guidelines in favor of “risky play” last month, a first in its annals. It must be said that unstructured play improves self-esteem, promotes autonomy and facilitates social interactions, making it a good antidote to the problems of today’s children, whether stress, anxiety, unhappiness, being overweight or being sedentary.
Since the foundations of the risk society were laid by sociologist Ulrich Beck in the mid-1980s, our risk tolerance has become more complex as technologies have multiplied. To the brakes added along the way, we have therefore added steering wheels, which our decision-makers are holding with a vigor exacerbated by the shock of the pandemic.
This escalation has helped to fuel a spirit of centralization — and control — of our needs and the risks associated with them. Minister Drainville offered a good example with this saga which sends a very bad message to our youth. In the name of safety at all costs, his government has blamed science for precautions that have been overvalued to the detriment of human and educational experience. Science is already struggling to make itself heard and understood in the public space. She didn’t need anyone to say anything on her behalf.