We talk a lot about education these days. The same observations are made, namely the decline in the quality of French, the decline in the quality of teaching, the exhaustion of teachers. And we report the same causes: lack of teachers, lack of training, lack of support staff and rehabilitation professionals and… the three-speed school.
This fixation on the three-speed school fascinates me, moreover, insofar as it only concerns secondary school, whereas the problems begin long before. It is moreover in my opinion the consequence much more than the cause of a deeper problem.
There is a lack of speech therapists, occupational therapists, specialized educators (TES); however, a primary school principal confided to me one day that she had never had so many resources in her school.
The reality is that demand has exploded.
I have been a pediatrician for 30 years and I have never heard of attention deficit disorder with or without hyperactivity (ADHD) in my training, and I studied in Quebec. Now at least 75% of my time is focused on my patients with ADHD and other neurodevelopmental disorders. My colleagues have similar practices throughout Quebec.
And contrary to popular rumour, it’s been a long time since we’ve had children sent to us who are just fidgety.
We receive elementary school children who become disorganized in the classroom and who sometimes need physical control and, believe it or not, sometimes police intervention.
The reality is that children have changed.
All the actors who work with children (in education and health) will confirm it to you: behavioral problems linked to difficulties in self-regulation have exploded.
Learning is not easy. There are prerequisites: having the ability to be attentive, to concentrate, to make efforts, to persevere despite difficulties, to recognize one’s mistakes, to agree to correct oneself. We must learn to bend to the rules, whether we like them or not, and accept authority. And it may seem surprising, it is these same skills that allow the development of harmonious social relations.
A child who fails to self-regulate well will often have difficulty with managing emotions, adapting to change, tolerance to frustrations related to failures and refusals. Without self-regulation, difficult to maintain concentration, to provide sustained mental effort. This often results in lower self-esteem, low self-confidence and probably more anxiety (of performance among others).
Of course, all these children with self-regulation difficulties do not become disorganized. But they mobilize a lot of resources, time and energy, which will not be available to other students struggling with sometimes heavy issues, but which do not disrupt the functioning of the class.
You have to look reality in the face. Learning is built over a lifetime, but the foundations begin in the early years and should be completed long before high school. It’s so true and sad that I’m sure we can predict from the middle of primary school which students will fail to succeed in a regular school career.
I believe that we will not be able to do without a more in-depth debate, because in my humble opinion, in the current conditions of the school network, to think about reforms at the secondary and CEGEP level is to try to build on very fragile foundations. It’s not even catching up anymore, it’s tinkering.