Resilient grandmother
One of my daughters gave birth to her third child last June and despite calling all the daycares near her home, she could not find a place for her baby. She has been registered on the government site since her first pregnancy, in 2018, and she has never received a call from a CPE. Now she has called on her MP, Mme Duranceau, and what she got from him was the list of daycares (and daycares without a nursery)! I am a grandmother, and I am part of your resistance force. I find it unacceptable that my daughter cannot return to work (she has a university education) because the State is incapable of putting in place an effective system for all mothers!
Louise Couture, Mirabel
Read “A Force That Transcends Us”
Necessary examination of conscience
We are all better than the worst sentence or action we have ever said or done. Rather than excluding certain people from my life, I prefer to exclude certain topics of conversation with them. I also think that we all need regular “examination of conscience”, simply to check that our attitudes and behaviors are consistent with what we claim to be our values. We can be helped by a trusted loved one, but not by just any passing moralizer. In this sense, I find that the most painful interlocutors are not so much the “GLT” as these inquisitors from whom nothing was asked.
Louis J. Bérard, Montreal
Read “The Cancellation”
PHOTO SARAH MONGEAU-BIRKETT, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
“We must trust them and give them the means to access more and more freedom, with discreet surveillance,” writes Nicole Lavoie about adolescents.
Trust teenagers
Teenagers need special support to get through this transition period they experience between childhood and adulthood. This change is very destabilizing for them and deserves to be treated well by the adults around them. First, you have to listen to them, give them the chance to express what they feel. We must trust them and give them the means to access more and more freedom, with discreet surveillance. We have all been teenagers one day and know how much we needed to be able to decide for ourselves, knowing that the right people around us would know how to support us through this transition.
Nicole Lavoie, Lorraine
Read “How to be pro-teen”
Let’s translate research reports
There are six official languages of the United Nations: English, Arabic, Chinese, Spanish, French, Russian. Would there be reason to think about instituting such a model in the field of dissemination of scientific research work? Each of the researchers could provide a text in one of the official languages and a translation service would translate it for distribution in the other five official languages. Everyone would benefit by sharing their research results more quickly to a wider audience. The scientific contributions would be all the more significant given the advances that could be made simultaneously on a planetary scale. Collaborations between universities in different countries would be facilitated and their results enriched accordingly. I would say that it will always be less expensive to translate a research report than to redo the same research in your own language.
Claude Gaudet, Saint-Bruno
Read “Science in French please!” »
Educational vagueness
How relevant this article is. I noticed the same thing in math. As a former mathematics educational advisor, we knew that the material approved by the Ministry covered the program’s learning. Currently, we cannot know whether what is taught in a class corresponds to what should be learned by students at that level. How can we ensure that essential learning is acquired in a given class and at the end of a cycle?
Claudette Therrien, Montreal
Read “Elementary teaching materials – A blind spot in education? »
PHOTO DAVID BOILY, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
“If technologies make the energy transition possible, it is people who will make it,” writes Scott McKay.
Technology won’t do everything
In all the transitions necessary to make our society more ecological – read to respect the limits of nature and to use its extraordinary potential – we tend to focus first on technology. As Yvan Cliche rightly points out, if technologies make the energy transition possible, it is people who will make it happen. Or not.
Scott McKay, Montreal
Read “The energy transition will go through people”
Sex education adapted to the age of children
A few weeks ago, there was an article in your newspaper on sex education which was integrated from primary school and into all subjects in Swedish schools. What a great example to apply where information adapted to the age of children and the values of respect, consent and love would be advocated!
Lise Lebeau, Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu
Read “Sexual violence – Younger students are neglected”
Read “Swedish sex education”
“I like your accent”
When I go to France and people exclaim (I’m not exaggerating) about my accent, I take pleasure in telling them that I like their accent too!
Michele Meunier, Longueuil
Read “Racism and equal opportunities – We all have an accent”
reference: www.lapresse.ca