In her editorial of January 16 about the citizen action Let’s talk about education (“School at the heart of the debate”), Marie-Andrée Chouinard showed why the time had come to engage again in a collective reflection on “the priority of priorities”. We must indeed, she stressed, “rethink the school in the light of contemporary realities and challenges, take stock of our failures and our great successes, imagine the education of the future”. This is also our opinion. However, the Minister of Education, Bernard Drainville, has clearly indicated that there is no question of holding the slightest public debate on education.
The education system is in bad shape, the media regularly report many problems. The new Minister has clearly identified some of them, but he does not seem to have taken cognizance of the solutions solidly substantiated in the reports of the Superior Council of Education or of the proposals made by various organizations and individuals from civil society. He wants a high-performance system, a term he does not define. As for us, we want a system that promotes an emancipatory, equitable, inclusive and democratic school.
What kind of citizens does the school form today? Have young people who have completed secondary school acquired sufficient knowledge and skills to understand the world in which they live and contribute to its improvement? Have they developed their ability to think and react critically to dominant discourses? Shouldn’t this be at the heart of the school’s mission rather than the emphasis on success? Besides, what kind of success are we talking about?
This is why we support the Let’s Talk Education citizen action and invite everyone who cares about education to come and discuss it at forums to be held in 18 cities across Quebec between March 10 and June 3. In Montreal, two forums will be held, March 10 and 11 and April 14 and 15. You can register now on the Parlons éducation website.
A workshop for young people, available on the website (www.parlonseducation.ca), suggests that high school and CEGEP students as well as university students prepare collectively for these forums and come to them, because their voice is important.
During these forums, the following five themes will be discussed: 1) the mission of the school; 2) educational equity; 3) the social and cultural inclusion of all school populations; 4) enhancement of staff skills; 5) the democratization of the school system. The Parlons éducation citizen forum participation document is available on its website for anyone interested in preparing to discuss it.
Let’s talk about education is only the first step in a process that calls for reform, if not in-depth transformation, of our education system.
* Also signed this letter:
Françoise David, feminist and political activist, Montreal
André Dudemaine, artistic director of Terres en Vues, society for the dissemination of Aboriginal culture, Montreal
Lahcen Elghazi, French didactician, language teacher, UQAM
Djaouida Hamdani Kadri, language teacher and associate professor, UQAM
Louise Harel, former Parti Québécois MP and member of the Ordre national du Québec, Montreal
Albert Lalonde, activist for climate justice and the political rights of children and young people, Montreal
Virginie Larivière, spokesperson for the Collective for a Poverty-Free Quebec, Quebec
André Leblanc, art historian and author, Montreal
Martin Lépine, French didactician, professor and vice-dean of the Faculty of Education, Université de Sherbrooke
Pierre-Olivier Maheux, historian, Lévis
M’hammed Mellouki, education researcher and writer, Quebec
Patrick Moreau, CEGEP literature professor, essayist and editor-in-chief of the magazine “Argument”, Montreal
Salomé Mercier-Nicole, union consultant for labor relations, FIQ, Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Rouyn-Noranda
Hélène Paradis, secondary school teacher and associate theater producer, Quebec
Béatrice Picard, actress, member of the National Order of Quebec, exceptional citizen of the National Society of Quebec, Laval
Odile Portuguese, bachelor of the Montreal Conservatory of Music and emerging mezzosoprano, Montreal
Maryse Rondeau, president of the Association d’éducation préscolaire du Québec (AEPQ) and lecturer at UQAM
Mélanie Rudel-Tessier, director of Del Busso publisher, Montreal
Marjorie Villefranche, Secretary of the Board and General Manager of the Maison d’Haïti, Montreal
Stéphane Villeneuve, daycare educator, Préville