I would like to support the words of Marie-Josée Cardinal, documentary filmmaker, published in The duty from Thursday, September 8th.
My daughter is just starting sixth grade. From the spring of his fifth year, we were faced with the choice for secondary school. Awakening of the feeling of anxiety for our daughter: Will I be chosen somewhere? Will I have a place somewhere? I don’t want to pick up at the regular neighborhood school. […]
Families experience the same anxiety and the same fear of exclusion. Our children […] compete for a place. It cultivates individualism instead of developing a sense of community.
What about families already excluded from the system because of poverty and mental illness or under-education? Perhaps we should ask ourselves why there are so many anxiety disorders among young people, why so many young people give up? Why do so many boys drop out? What if dropping out was a cause of the criminalization of young people?
Some leaders might answer: it’s all about money, resources are limited. Competition is healthy for self-transcendence. What if we answered that the level of competition that young people experience for entering secondary school has perverse effects and is counterproductive?
What if education became the top priority of our society? Wouldn’t that be more profitable in the long run? And if professions affecting education were more valued, wouldn’t we have more resources? What if the neighborhood secondary school became more attractive and reassuring for everyone? What if every student could engage in a rewarding program?
Idealist? It is a matter of societal choice.
To see in video