I have been teaching the secondary program for almost 15 years in an adult education center (CEA). Most of these adults are young people with learning difficulties or students who have been disrupted by the pandemic. I love my job, I love my environment and I have a lot of fun with my students. But today my optimism is in free fall.
I doubt, I observe around me: deserted school, empty classes, more students struggling with eating disorders, anxiety, students who go home after one or two hours because they find it difficult to stay with others and prefer their room-bunker.
I ask Jérémy, 18, who looks sad: “Do you feel good at home? How is it at your place ? ” No not too much ! Family climate flu, in panic, absent, unresolved bickering, separations in shambles, worried parents, depressed, a mother in telework who sups in front of her computer.
“Fortunately, you have a job that you like, don’t you? Well… no more! It’s a job race, pressure from employers juggling a turnover hellish, impatient, disgruntled, rude customers.
“But at least you have a professional project, that’s important! “Pain lost, again: dark vision of the future, not wanting to build, too uncertain, everyone there, not even wanting to fall in love, to consider a couple…
I freeze, you freeze, we freeze… Sometimes, a great sun, a student who has understood the meaning of community, of sharing, of refocusing on oneself, who has cleaned up his bad habits and addictions during the pandemic to land on firmer feet. Sometimes, but too infrequently!
And we, teachers and educational actors, in all this? Who among us was able to seize this incredible opportunity, after a historic moment of awareness, to create contextual and contextual learning situations: mechanics of a real estate bubble, mathematical reality of an inflation, impact of a key rate, debt management with amortization… texts written by artists during this period of isolation, the process of introspection in literature, fiery debates on social networks, misinformation and controversy, medical evidence and its objectivity, etc.
Just writing all this makes my mouth water, itchy fingers and frontal lobe twitches! Wowwww! I live a key moment in the lives of these young people! There are new challenges to face in their lives, reality has backflipped several times in three years and it will be written in history books around the world!
Woawww!!! Heuuuu… When I arrive at school, my schedule has been scheduled for ages, I have a ton of tasks to finish that I can’t get rid of, the red tape has given birth to new bouncing babies on my desk. I have the impression that we would so much like to do as before, as if, but we have to do it faster and more complicated, please.
Our way of us adults not feeling? A collective unconscious reflex to ward off the possibility of reliving the same scenario this year? Comfort from repetition? Indifference ? Or general narrow-mindedness?
What if we did what we always dreamed of doing? What if we stopped running faster than the train and took our pencil to create? Even if the paperwork is piling up, the emails are piling up and people are giving me the wrong look? If we put the turbo? After all, who will remember me, a teacher in a CEA, if not my students today and those who will use my work to better equip their lives tomorrow? What about our real educational mission?