Apartheid at school
Thank you, Mr. Bouchard, for defending a project that truly aims for equal opportunity for all. Quebec is pitiful with its three-tier system that only favors the wealthy and creates a gap between social classes from an early age. Our current model is not worthy of Quebec. When will we end social apartheid? A real shame for a nation that was once driven by an ideal of justice and social democracy.
Sylvain Lacasse, Lacasse Communications
A model to follow!
In Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean, there is practically no private education anymore. And the public sector looks very dynamic! A Quebec model to follow! We already had two levels (public and private), now we have reached three, with the selective public. It’s too much, it lowers the public network even more, and the teachers of the public are all the more losers. Long live the Finnish model!
Nelson Gregoire, Laval
In defense of privacy
Sorry, I don’t share your point of view. Abandoning private schools or even their partial state funding would be just another manifestation of the race to the bottom advocated by our egalitarian left. Why drop everything that works well? We don’t have the luxury. We don’t need to take another step towards mediocrity.
Paul-Andre Milette
Sell the house to pay the private?
All children should receive an education of the same quality. So why continue to fund private schools? Mr. Drainville does not have this ambition and always seems overwhelmed by events. I am a grandmother of three little girls and the parents cannot afford to send them privately. Do I have to sell my house in order to give parents the money they need for a quality education?
Sylvie Gariepy
The key to success
If private schools are so sought after (there are waiting lists, etc.), it is because they offer discipline, rigor and encouragement to excel, values that correspond to those of a good number of parents who are ready to real sacrifices so that their young people have access to such a framework. If these schools choose their students, they must give the best of themselves to obtain this diploma which will crown years of effort. Motivated teachers, students eager to succeed, but above all the support of parents in the educational progress of their children, this is what the school system must tend to, public or private.
Mary Beauchemin
Excellence and fairness for all
In a so-called regular class, a weak student monopolizes more than his fair share of resources (the teacher), leaving the others to fend for themselves. The average student would also have benefited from better support to achieve excellence. As for the strongest, the optimization of its full potential is achieved through program enrichment. He needs challenges to be motivated. Equity does not mean that everyone has 50%, it means that everyone reaches their full potential. The solution is not in a dysfunctional classroom where the major learning disabilities and the more gifted are mixed. It’s unmanageable.
France Boucher, Sherbrooke
A hard pill to swallow
I’m not sure if I’m interested in sending my child to a school for all that has a group of less motivated students who can potentially pull my child down. This is the main reason why the International School and private schools are popular with parents who care about the academic success of their children. You’re going to have a lot of trouble selling that universal school pill, especially in high school, to parents who have the option of sending their children, who are doing well in school, to better schools.
Marc Lefebvre
Lack of public resources
In my opinion, children who have particular problems cause a race to the bottom in public school classrooms. We lack the resources to help them. Parents who can therefore choose not to put their children’s education at risk by sending them elsewhere than in classes where teaching is disrupted by an increasing number of students who prevent children without problem to learn in a normal and enjoyable way.
We talk a lot about the poor teachers and poor educators who suffer from these problem children. I have a lot of empathy for them. But we seem to forget that the other students in the class who are in school to learn also suffer great harm.
Before considering eliminating schools that sort students according to their abilities, it should be ensured that students with special needs are separated from those who are able to learn in a more normal way. This would most likely free up more resources to deal with children who have needs rather than sprinkling specialists in all classes.
It is wrong to claim that in society, there are all kinds of people who mix and that we have to put our children through this from an early age. They will meet people who have problems soon enough when they become adults. There is an age to learn certain things. In primary and secondary school, it’s time to prepare for the future, not to put up with people who have behavioral problems and slow down the group. A bright student may drop out when he finds the day long and boring because the teacher has to focus on problem students.
There could be larger groups for students who are more fluent. This would free up resources to have smaller groups for students with special needs. Everyone would win. Until public school is fundamentally changed to take care of students who do not have learning or behavioral difficulties, the three-tier system should remain.
Andree Charest