(Saint-Hyacinthe) Wearing a uniform in high school, using the formal “vous” towards teachers, mandatory training for bullying students and their parents… Young CAQ members are debating proposals on Saturday to bring more discipline into schools.
The members of the Coalition avenir Québec (CRCAQ) Succession Commission are meeting in Saint-Hyacinthe for their annual conference, under the theme of “The school we love”.
Premier François Legault will be there: he will give a speech and answer questions from activists. This political meeting closes a hectic week for him with the forced resignation of Pierre Fitzgibbon who monopolized the attention at his caucus meeting in Rimouski. He had to quickly make an “adjustment” to his cabinet, on the eve of the National Assembly’s return on Tuesday.
The youth wing of his party deplores a loss of “decorum” in schools which harms learning. It wants to “establish a culture of civic-mindedness” there.
How? By making the formal “vous” towards teachers and school staff “the norm from the 5th grade onwards.”e primary school year”; by generalizing the wearing of uniforms in secondary schools; and by involving young people “in school tasks”. At least, this is what the Commission is putting into play at the congress.
She said students guilty of violence and bullying, as well as their parents, should be “required to attend mandatory training aimed at repairing their actions and changing their behavior.”
Another proposal: the government should give teachers and school staff “the necessary powers to enforce the code of conduct of their establishment by imposing the sanctions they deem appropriate, without fear of reprisals, including community work with a restorative perspective.”
Other topics are on the agenda. The Commission proposes “to establish programs for obtaining a secondary school diploma in 4 or 6 years and to allow the continuation of vocational training during secondary studies.”
She calls for more extracurricular activities in both primary and secondary schools because they contribute to perseverance and success in school. Participation in these activities should, she says, be “formally recognized by a certificate or an entry in the school report.”