Gregory Charles’ cry from the heart for education has raised quite a debate. Many of you have supported his ideas (or not) to improve education, in the wake of Sunday’s file by our colleague Alexandre Pratt.
Posted at 9:00 a.m.
Smart and sensible
I would vote for him, whatever party he represents, he understood common sense. It’s smart and sensible.
Danielle Tessier
Let our teachers do the talking
Today, the first quality of a teacher would be to be entertaining. It seems to me that this is without taking into account the multiple objectives of the education program at each level and the challenges presented by the integration of students with learning difficulties and who do not all benefit from the presence of classroom. The decompartmentalization of subjects and levels could help to energize project-based teaching, promote mutual aid among students and the development of each in a safe environment that is attentive to everyone’s needs.
Outdoor class, gardening, dancing, singing, music, plastic arts, theatre. Let’s stop assuming that all students have the same tastes or strengths and adapt the requirements accordingly. The teachers will create the projects and any assessment will be qualitative and detailed as to the level of knowledge and skill of the student.
There will be moments of direct explanation if necessary for the group or for a single person and no official evaluation before the fifth year. Let our “teachers” do the talking, there is so much to say.
Elaine Hebert
I would embark with enthusiasm
So interesting to be offered new avenues of reflection on our world of education!
I have been an active part of it for 50 years, teaching at secondary school, in school management, in teacher training and I would embark with enthusiasm and hope on this Gregory project!
Please think of me when this school materializes! Our children have such great needs and so little hope of flourishing!
Thank you for making us dream !
Lise Devey
Not because he is famous…
Another good example that it is not because you are a famous personality that you have good ideas and that they should be published. Most of his ideas are based on his life, so on anecdotal facts. In addition, there is no scientific argument to support his statements.
Jean-François Dubé, primary school teacher
ideas to explore
Gregory Charles presents good ideas, such as teaching history and moving the school calendar. These are ideas to explore. But free education must be maintained. If public school becomes expensive like private school, many families will not be able to follow the train.
Pierre C. Tremblay, ex-teacher
No jargon
We should read more sensible people like him. No jargon. It may not be easy to set everything in motion, but there is food for thought… School in August, I say yes… No school in January, yes, yes… More complicated for the parents, but it’s is like everything, we adapt.
Carole Vinet
He could start his own school
Mr. Charles’ solutions seem to me inapplicable in today’s world, except for a section of the population whose families have the will, the financial and cultural means, to offer their little Gregory all the luck he inherited. He could, however, create his own school and benefit a few lucky ones.
He will thus be able to consolidate himself in his positions and would only be accountable to the parents (he will however have to comply with certain requirements which are not insurmountable). It would be better than to upset the education community with a project that will give birth to a mouse and that he comes out bruised from this experience, not only him, but also the others that he will not be able to convince.
Christian Nadeau, Strategic Management and Business Architecture Advisor
What costs nothing is worth nothing
My parents paid for my college and they wanted their money’s worth, from the teachers but also and especially from mine.
I worked as a psychologist in a school for 29 years. One day, I started asking the students for payment (drawing, text, crafts) and noticed that they were getting more involved and progressing better.
Mr. Charles is right to say that what costs nothing is worth nothing, air, water, we waste them because they cost nothing. Price water consumption and you will see fewer people washing their driveways with large amounts of water.
Jean Bazinet
Decline and disinterest of citizens
Gregory Charles is right. I have been teaching elementary school for almost 20 years. I witnessed the collapse of the system and also the total disinterest of citizens. Education has never been a priority in Quebec.
I had hoped in the CAQ, but they limited themselves to setting up 4-year-old kindergartens. A very bad decision which has further harmed schools in chronic lack of qualified teachers.
As a result, teachers work even harder and are constantly asked to replace colleagues on leave. Not to mention the lack of premises created by these same 4-year-old kindergartens.
Anne-Martin
To be debated by open-minded people
wow! I vote for Gregory right away! The challenge (to review our education system) is at least as colossal as that of reviewing health, which Mr. Dubé is currently tackling (and for which I am confident). Mr. Charles brings up a series of excellent questions and suggestions which, while not all should be applied as is, should be discussed by people with an open mind (i.e. not with a traditional view union for the protection of rights and seniority). Thank you for this excellent article.
Eric Bergeron
So refreshing!
Would we agree with 100% of his ideas, maybe not, but to create a debate, to move things beyond-copy-paste-crumple-nobody-touch-to -my-vacation, it would be for the benefit of all. It takes a lot of political will and accepting to break the nose, clearly we are far, but we must not be afraid to stir the cage a little, a lot. Young people need it, too many of them have learning disabilities and anxiety, and it’s all because we’re trying to follow one method out of millions of people… How can we think that’s winner, decades of dumbing down begin to rot future adults and workers.
Juliane Papineau
Let’s put the money on new approaches
I read with great interest the ideas of Gregory Charles concerning education. It’s innovative and very refreshing. Let’s not put all the money on the architecture of new schools, but on new approaches outside the conventional framework of education. It would also breathe new life into our unloved teachers. For that, should the union dogma be renewed a little?
Jacqueline Roy
Great idea
Hello, I will soon be 80 years old and I was educated by nuns, school was very serious and well supervised. I sincerely believe that Greg brings a great idea and that he must present it to the head of Education, it’s brilliant, fascinating. Capturing the attention of our children through the story among other things is a necessary approach for those who do not like school.
Claudette Vezeau
Titanic reform essential
Education in Quebec is under the boot of an institutional oligarchy: universities, Superior Council of Education, deputy ministers of the MEQ, organizations like ADEREQ, not to mention the corporatist union ideologies.
It means embarking on a titanic reform equivalent to that undertaken in the 1960s by Prime Minister of Education Paul Gérin Lajoie.
No political party has had and still does not have such a reform on its agenda, which is nevertheless essential.
Sarto Lefebvre
We got there!
I have a 13 year old teenager and I so agree, the school system must change! But unfortunately, few political parties have the courage to take the necessary actions to make the necessary changes in 2022. We are there! I see that my boy is not as stimulated and interested in school as he should be. The current formula is simply not suitable for boys.
Melanie Fortin