(Saint-Hyacinthe) Wearing a uniform in high school, addressing teachers formally, mandatory training for bullying students and their parents… Some sixty young caquistes are debating proposals on Saturday to bring more discipline into schools. Education Minister Bernard Drainville is cautiously welcoming their proposals, refusing to make a clear commitment.
“You’re going to be tossing around ideas, and some of them are going to get a reaction. I think you know that. But I don’t have a problem with that,” he said in a video broadcast at the opening of the Coalition avenir Québec (CRCAQ) Commission de la relève congress, which is taking place in Saint-Hyacinthe under the theme “The school we love.” Mr. Drainville was unable to attend due to a long-planned engagement.
“I want you to know that we are ready to take questions, we are ready to take suggestions,” he added. “You’re going to shake us up a little bit, no stakes, be bold. I’m not saying I’m going to agree with everything, but I like the idea of young people putting forward innovative ideas and new proposals. We’ll see what we can do with that.”
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
The members of the Coalition avenir Québec (CRCAQ) Succession Commission are meeting in Saint-Hyacinthe for their annual conference, under the theme of “The school we love”.
Premier François Legault will attend the convention, where he will deliver a speech and answer questions from activists. This political event caps off a hectic week for him with the forced resignation of Pierre Fitzgibbon, who monopolized the attention at his caucus meeting in Rimouski. He had to quickly make an “adjustment” to his cabinet, on the eve of the National Assembly’s return on Tuesday.
The youth wing of his party deplores a loss of “decorum” in schools which harms learning and penalizes the majority of students. It wants to “establish a culture of civic-mindedness” there.
How? By making the formal “vous” towards teachers and school staff “the norm from the 5th grade onwards.”e primary school year”; by generalizing the wearing of uniforms in secondary schools; and by involving young people “in school tasks”. At least, this is what the Commission is putting into play at the congress.
“The next generation is proposing to take a step back to bring back a healthy climate in the classrooms. It’s time to ring the bell for the end of recess!” said CRCAQ President Aurélie Diep. She considers that “discipline, respect and civic-mindedness” are “basic conditions for a stimulating school.”
“As a student teacher, it really makes me sad to see all the stories that come out in the media. Violence and bullying towards other students, insults and even physical violence towards teachers, we can’t tolerate that. The first victims in all of this are the majority of students who want to learn. […] And until we resolve this problem, it is clear that teachers will continue to leave and people will not choose the profession.”
For the CRCAQ, students guilty of violence and bullying, as well as their parents, should be “required to attend mandatory training aimed at repairing their actions and changing their behavior.”
“Education begins at home, and parents are responsible for their children’s actions. Parents must also be involved,” explained Aurélie Diep.
Another proposal: the government should give teachers and school staff “the necessary powers to enforce the code of conduct of their establishment by imposing the sanctions they deem appropriate, without fear of reprisals, including community work with a restorative perspective.”
Other topics are on the agenda. The Commission proposes “to establish programs for obtaining a secondary school diploma in 4 or 6 years and to allow the continuation of vocational training during secondary studies.”
She calls for more extracurricular activities in both primary and secondary schools because they contribute to perseverance and success in school. Participation in these activities should, she says, be “formally recognized by a certificate or an entry in the school report.”
“It annoys me a little when I hear politicians denounce the three-speed school system,” Aurélie Diep said in her speech. “As if it were desirable or even possible to impose the same speed on all students. The greatest successes of our education system in recent years are thanks to the diversity of choices for students and parents, the choice to go to public school, to go to private school, the choice to enter a particular program that corresponds to one’s passions.
At a CAQ general council last spring, young CAQ members demanded that the party commit to adopting a numerical majority, that is, setting a minimum age for accessing social networks. Their proposal was watered down, and the CAQ instead committed to setting up a special parliamentary commission on the subject. It was created shortly afterward, the result of an agreement between the government and the opposition parties.
The special parliamentary committee on the impacts of screens and social networks on young people will hold consultations from Thursday.