The dropping out of boys is a major driver of Gregory Charles’ relevant reflection on school, first expressed in The Press+ April 24, then Everybody talks about it a week later. He pleads so strongly for it to be better designed for them that he goes so far as to propose the return of separate classes: the girls together, the guys on their side.
A way of doing things that is not convincing, retorted the education specialist Normand Baillargeon to Everybody talks about it this Sunday, based on numerous studies.
But then what, Charles insisted, do we do nothing and let the guys down?
However, school perseverance has raised eyebrows in Quebec for a long time, particularly among boys. In 2003, the new Premier Jean Charest raised this question in his opening speech. And Jacques Parizeau was very concerned about it in 2008.
In 1996, researcher Michel Perron co-founded the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean Regional School Dropout Prevention Council, which is still active today. Its approach has not changed: elected municipal officials and employers have a role to play in encouraging young people to stay in school. Since then, the initiative has blossomed, leading to the creation of the Quebec Network for Educational Success (RQRE). Projects to fight against dropping out have multiplied.
However, it is striking to see how Quebec still stands out from the other provinces in terms of school attendance. The most recent data from Statistics Canada on this subject, the ones that best allow interprovincial comparisons, date from the 2016 census, but it would be surprising if those taken from the 2021 census—expected next November—show a reversal of tendency.
We note that Quebec has the highest proportion of men aged 25 to 34 (thus not from the pre-Quiet Revolution generations!) who do not have a high school diploma. They represent 11.5% of this age group: more than one in 10 young men! Manitoba ranks second, with 8.9% non-graduates.
As for young Quebec women, 6.2% have not finished high school, which is half as much as for men. However, they rank third in the Canadian list of non-graduates, where they are barely ahead of young women from Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
How can these poor results be explained? The other provinces practice co-education as much as here, and the teachers’ approach is not so different from one end of Canada to the other!
This therefore brings us back to conditions outside the school, first and foremost the weight of history.
As early as 1871, Ontario opted for compulsory school attendance; British Columbia and Prince Edward Island soon followed, one in 1873, the other in 1877. The other provinces followed suit so well that by 1910 school was compulsory everywhere , except in Newfoundland, which would arrive there in 1942, and in Quebec, which would bring up the rear in 1943.
Not only was it very late, but you have to see the speeches made against “education”, both from the clergy, who weigh so heavily in Quebec, and from many elected officials, and which have persisted. There has also remained a certain distrust of intellectuals in the public space.
And then, all of this is so recent: even today, many students are the first in their families to attend CEGEP or university. However, the family influence is decisive for clinging to school.
This was confirmed once again at the start of the year, in a Léger survey commissioned by the RQRE to verify the scope of the pandemic among students aged 15 to 22. We learn that one out of three young people has thought about dropping out of school – an impressive proportion. What motivated them to continue? Their parents, answered 57% of young people. Follow a teacher, a friend or an adult close to them.
But 11% of young people surveyed found that no one around them is a positive influence to help them persevere in their studies, and half of young people believe that society does not do enough to encourage them to study. There is something to think about beyond the walls of schools.
Moreover, even without a secondary school diploma, the boys manage to find a relatively well-paid job, which clearly sets them apart from girls without a diploma. Concretely, them will find themselves truckers or cooks, or work in the field of construction; they will be housekeepers, cashiers or waitresses. Statistics Canada points out that this list, well-typed and with real wage gaps, has hardly changed since… 1990.
The economist Ruth Rose even showed that in Quebec, in 2016, a man without a diploma earned on average more than a woman who had finished high school. And the average hourly wage of a high school graduate was higher than that of a female college graduate.
We can therefore conclude that women have very down-to-earth reasons for wanting a diploma, and that men are not so financially at a loss for not having one! Much more than the mix of classes or the lack of enthusiasm of the teachers, it is likely that it is first of all this economic argument, coupled with the absence of family encouragement and a certain social indifference, which colors the relationship school dropouts.
The current need for labor is not going to improve things. It’s a vicious circle: we now demand services at all times, so employers seek to hire workers without being too picky, and non-graduates sneak in, proving that you can succeed without school…
That the calculation is wrong in the long term, both for the individual and for the community, is irrelevant: Quebec is also characterized by its lightness when it comes to projecting itself into the future, heritage destroyed and lack of maintenance of roads, schools, hospitals…
Yes, it’s a complete lack of social vision that hides under the stall!
#Dropping #alas #costs #boys
