Anglos, allophones less likely to send kids back to school, survey finds

Quebec anglophones and allophones are less inclined to send their children back to school than francophones, according to a new study.

A total of 52 per cent of anglophones and 57 per cent of allophones say they do not intend to send their elementary school-aged children back to class for the end of the school year, compared to 35 per cent of francophones, according the survey by the Association for Canadian Studies and the Quebec English School Boards Association.

In comparison, just 26 per cent of anglophones, 16 per cent of allophones and 28 per cent of francophones said they plan to send their kids back. (Others said the questions did not apply to them.)

“As regards to the anglophone community, there was a higher resistance to sending one’s children back to school,” said Jack Jedwab, president of the Association for Canadian Studies. “Among francophones, more said no than yes, but it was a lot closer.”

Among allophones, 41 per cent answered that it was “too dangerous / not worth the risk,” compared to 30 per cent of anglophones and 24 per cent of francophones; and 25 per cent of allophones said they were afraid of “the risk of infection,” versus seven per cent of anglophones and 12 per cent of francophones.

The difficulty of social distancing in schools, the lack of a vaccine and believing that it was simply too soon for schools to reopen were the other most common responses among anglophones.

Fear of contracting COVID-19 correlated directly with a reticence to send children back to school. Among respondents who said they were “very afraid” of getting the virus, 0 per cent said they planned to send their kids back to school; while 38 per cent of those who were “not very afraid,” and 33 per cent of those who were “not afraid at all,” said they would do so.

The survey also showed a difference between the Montreal and Quebec City regions. Only 25 per cent of the greater Montreal area residents said they would “absolutely” or “probably” send their kids back to school versus 43 per cent for the Quebec City area; in contrast, 45 per cent of Montrealers said they would “absolutely” or “probably” not send their kids back to school this year versus 22 per cent in the Quebec City region.

“What we’re seeing in the messaging provincially is affecting (those results),” Jedwab opined. “The political leadership is intimating that this is a largely Montreal-centred issue, in terms of where the contagion is spreading.

“Montreal is at the centre of the issue, which is why people outside Montreal are ready to send their kids back to school. They’re saying, ‘It’s not happening here like in Montreal.’ It’s a fractious situation. We’re not in this together, and we’re not coming out of it together. There’s a lot of asymmetry, and it’s creating a lot of confusion.”

The above results were part of a broader, province-wide online survey of 1,638 Quebecers, including 694 anglophones and 281 households with children.

It’s a fractious situation. We’re not in this together, and we’re not coming out of it together.