On Wednesday, April 6, the Minister of Higher Education, Danielle McCann, tabled Bill 32 which will require Quebec universities to adopt a policy of freedom of education. This project, which is currently the subject of comments in the parliamentary committee, follows the recommendations of the Independent Scientific and Technical Commission on the recognition of academic freedom in the university environment under the chairmanship of Alexandre Cloutier. This winter, I gave a lecture at UQO entitled ” Cancel Culture and Freedom of Education”, in which I proposed an ethics of pedagogy for the orientation and application of a policy of freedom of education. My argument is as follows.
Over the past two years, Quebec has experienced controversy around the culture of cancellation and free speech of university teaching. Two opposing positions. The first is that of students or others who forbid the use of words in lessons, as a result of a “consciousness of present or past social injustices” and of school leaders who are inclined to acquiesce in this prohibition. The second position is that of academics and others who legitimately denounce censorship and defend academic freedom.
One observation is necessary. If there has been debate, it has generally taken place in a context of polarization. Rightly or wrongly, each camp remade history by diminishing or amplifying the effects in question. One affirms its historicity. The other refers it to an “ideology of American universities far removed from the values of respect and tolerance on which our democracies are based”, to “ideologies and methods directly imported from certain American university campuses which are miles away from the values of respect and tolerance on which our democracies are based”, read the the To have to 22 october 2021 by Jean-Michel Blanquer and Jean-François Roberge, respectively Minister of National Education, Youth and Sports of France and Minister of Education of Quebec.
But paradoxically, it is in the name of the same principles of democracy that the two camps perceive certain effects of history differently. The debate can therefore only be depolarized through exchanges, a dialogue for a common understanding of the fundamental principle of freedom of expression, academic freedom, freedom of education. We must also take into consideration the historical perspective of the renewal of the way of approaching and interpreting certain facts of the past and even of the present. This consensus could be achieved around what I call the “ethics of pedagogy”.
The ethics of pedagogy is based on the respect granted to the dignity of the person. It sets common standards for regulating requests and responses around certain issues. The ethics of pedagogy involves the education of teachers and students in history as well as their education in certain aspects of general and specific culture, as is done today for questions of safety and health.
The ethics of pedagogy would guarantee the freedom of teaching to teachers, and the freedom to study to students in a context of pedagogical dialogue. Each university will be able to set up a teaching ethics committee which will define the main principles as well as the practices of pedagogical ethics.