The face is the interface through which the complexity of human interiority, with its innumerable thoughts and feelings, becomes perceptible to others in daily life. It is among other things through the smile and all the facial expressions that we relate to each other in the most spontaneous, natural and simple way.
From this point of view, the constant wearing of the mask has deprived us of something essential. The spheres of our lives that have been impoverished by the wearing of masks are countless, for toddlers as well as for the elderly and for all those who are between these two ends of life.
I happen to be a college teacher. It is therefore mainly about this area that I wish to speak here. I taught remotely for a year and a half to students, many of whom chose not to turn on their camera during class. Like all my colleagues, this posed great challenges for me, because teaching involves building a relationship with students. The richness and quality of this relationship are closely linked to the richness and quality of the teaching provided and received.
When we returned to our campuses in August, we were very happy! We were ready to sacrifice a lot to be in a real classroom again! It is obviously with good heart that we have maintained the wearing of the mask, but I believe that we had underestimated the perverse effects…
Today, facing masked students day after day weighs heavily on me. I would even go so far as to say that it robs me of the joy of teaching. I’m not talking here about the mask I wear (moreover, I can take it off to give my lessons if I stay two meters away from my students), but about the one worn by the students I have in front of me. I can’t feel that I relate to them because of this mask that hides their personality, their reactions and their humanity from me. I am deprived of their smiles, their yawns, their doubts and their pouts of disagreement, finally, of all these subtle expressions which have always served me in my teaching. Our ties are tenuous. My teaching has been impoverished because of the mask. My relationship with the students has been impoverished because of the mask. The commitment of my students has been impoverished because of the mask.
I fervently hope that our decision-makers take stock of the deleterious consequences of wearing a mask in places of education and that they make sure to only require it if it is really useful and necessary. The mask is not a detail. It robs much of our daily interactions of their humanity, and if we need anything right now, it is that humanity, that essential comfort that manifests in the human face.