Dystopian fiction has now become classroom reality

Teachers and students can feel like they are battling for survival against a broken education system, writes Marsha-Lynne Murdock.

The buzz and excitement that a new school year brings is now a distant memory. Now, with the end of the holiday break around the corner, some teachers are steeling themselves for their imminent return to the real-life Hunger Games that is also known as Quebec’s education system. In this version of the Hunger Games, both teachers and students serve as tributes — tributes from District 12 that is. Maybe you’re not familiar with Suzanne Collins’s popular trilogy, so let me fill you in. District 12 is the poorest, most ill prepared of all the districts, and its tributes traditionally don’t have much hope of surviving the games. That’s what a school year feels like. Year after year, teachers and students go into battle against the education system, ill equipped and lacking the resources needed to teach and learn. As teachers, we collectively settle for doing our best, and hope that we don’t burn out. But some of us — no, actually, a lot of us — do. When a teacher burns out, there’s an unspoken awareness that it could happen to any of us. Students also go to battle in their classrooms. Like teachers, many students are ill equipped to face what awaits them. Maybe it’s because of learning or behaviour difficulties, or possibly because they’ve never actually gained a sufficient mastery of the subject matter. These students are vulnerable and require continual support. They come into our classrooms with no real expectation they will thrive. Their hope is more modest: to survive another school year and another battle. We hope that when they leave our schools, they’ll have learned the skills needed to one day thrive in

As teachers, we collectively settle for doing our best, and hope that we don’t burn out.

their everyday lives, despite being left on their own for so long. There are, however, other students ready to take on the challenges thrown their way. These students are seen as allies, helpers and group leaders. But their strengths make it easy to overlook their needs. These students are becoming discouraged and frustrated — and rightfully so. Their battle is a fight to thrive and ensure that they acquire the skills needed for their post-secondary careers. Our hope for these students is that when they leave our schools, they will have learned the skills needed to face future battles despite being left on their own for so long. Yes, this is what our classrooms feel like. For 180 days a year, a fight for survival. By June, teachers and students should feel like they have accomplished something special, not like they’ve simply survived another year. So, what do we do? Ban religious symbols? Abolish school boards? Really? These are the most pressing issues in education right now? Neither of those “solutions” would help create safe, nurturing conditions conducive to teaching and learning. We need real solutions that require real investments. We need to reduce class sizes, which means hiring more teachers and professionals. We also need to invest more in supporting teachers, who need time to plan, to correct, to breathe. More resources should be invested in students’ mental health and well-being. The use of provincial exams should be re-evaluated to ensure that their use and weighting reflect the core of what assessments are supposed to accomplish. The current practices and weighting of these exams create high stakes and cause enormous stress. Another place to invest is in school materials; it’s not uncommon for teachers to make up for deficiencies by reaching into their own pockets. Year after year, we continue to collectively grumble about the broken education system as we offer our teachers and students as sacrificial tributes. And then we breathe a sigh of relief when they somehow manage to survive another year. So, for the remainder of the 2018-19 Games, allow me to offer this hope to my fellow tributes: “May the odds be ever in your favour.”

Marsha-Lynne Murdock is a teacher in Quebec City.