Posted at 8:00 a.m.
(Quebec) The issue caused a stir during the spring. The Legault government now imposes a six-month deadline for newcomers to learn French. After which, the State will cease (with some exceptions) to communicate with them in English. But is six months enough?
The outgoing president of the Superior Council of Education, Maryse Lassonde, believes not. In fact, she is certain of it, and she has told the government. In vain.
At the head of a body that emerged from the Quiet Revolution, created in 1964 by Quebec after the tabling of the report of the Parent Commission on education, she even warned the minister responsible for the reform of Bill 101, Simon Jolin-Barrette, that this deadline was too short.
To learn in francization courses, in the best of all possible worlds, it’s a year. And that is a minimum.
Maryse Lassonde, outgoing president of the Superior Council of Education
Here, according to M.me Lassonde, a concrete example where the Council – whose mission is to advise (and influence) the government on the state and needs of education – failed to get its message across. “Our opinions, what I realize is that it can take several years before it can enter the operationalization of the machine [gouvernementale] “, she notes.
She wants her successor to develop more links with other ministries than those of Education and Higher Education.
Known issues
Maryse Lassonde, specialist in child neuropsychology, professor emeritus in the Department of Psychology at the University of Montreal, is leaving her mandate at the head of the Superior Council of Education with one certainty: the government must make the system more flexible and tackle, sooner rather than later, the consequences of separating secondary school students between the “regular” public, the enriched public and the private network. Issues that could fuel the debate, a few months before the next elections.
“Studies have shown that only 15% of those who come out of the ‘regular’ public go on to university. The proportion is 51% [pour les finissants] of the wealthy public and above 60% in the private sector. […] It is not normal. We must tackle this problem so that there is equal opportunity, ”she denounces.
Mme Lassonde also thinks that the school path in high school is too rigid for children. “From the 3e secondary school, you decide to choose a subject and your career choices will be determined by it. But you’re too young to do that. There really needs to be more flexibility at all levels,” she laments.
What the pandemic has taught us
Chairman of the Board in the midst of a pandemic, Ms.me Lassonde in turn says that COVID-19 “has exacerbated all the problems that already existed [dans le réseau de l’éducation] and that we have been denouncing for several years”.
“Whether it’s socio-economic inequities, which are reflected in the education system, private schools turned around quickly with tablets and distance learning, while it took public schools longer to be able to s ‘adjust’, she illustrates.
Maryse Lassonde was also surprised by the magnitude of the mental health crisis in Quebec schools. “The numbers were outrageous. [Des] elementary school children who suffered from distress, anxiety, children who took three drugs in elementary school, antidepressants, anxiolytics or others. »
For me, it was a shock.
Maryse Lassonde, on the figures on student mental health
“I can’t blame the Quebec education system alone. It is a global fact. What happened here happened elsewhere. But we want to make the system more resilient, more resistant, since it could happen again. It’s important to recognize the weaknesses and deal with them as quickly as possible,” continues Ms.me Lassonde.
A departure against a background of concern
When leaving the Superior Council of Education, Maryse Lassonde worries about the rise of groups that question the principles of inclusion, equity and diversity in the university world. This spring, the case of a position for a Canada Research Chair, where the job posting stipulated that only candidates who were of diversity, of an aboriginal nation, with a disability and women would be interviewed , aroused several criticisms.
“Do you know that currently, in Quebec, only one-third of university professors are women? Currently, and for the same age group. It’s not a question of generation. So there is still a problem, ”recalls Mme Lassonde.
“It’s not because we don’t want any more men. The men, they will still be there. They are two-thirds there in the universities, ”she adds.