Publish at March 20 2016 Updated January 28 2022
Social movements were born out of schools and learners. Students, in May 1968, were one of the most present groups during this turbulent period in France. The 1989 Tian'anmen Square protests in China mobilized, first and foremost, students.
Or, in recent years, large-scale social movements seem to turn to the theme of school. Whether it was in Spain or in Quebec in 2012 with the student uprising against rising tuition fees. Even recently, the beautiful province is experiencing a social movement perhaps less spectacular than in 2012, but recurrent and still continuing at the time of writing. Here, it is no longer university students who are the driving force, but parents of elementary and secondary school students.
It all began in 2015. The Quebec government tables a rather austere budget in which the education portfolio only grows by 0.9% for the 2015-2016 year. This means that necessarily schools and school boards will have to cut spending, including in services that "bring in" little and are expensive such as services for students with disabilities or difficulties. A decision that came as even more of a shock in a context where many schools, mostly public, are in a state of disrepair as shown in these photos.
Parents decided enough was enough. Less than 2 months after the budget was tabled in Quebec City, on May 1er, 2015, parents accompanied by their children and staff members made human chains in front of some Montreal schools. Symbolic chains a few hours before the start of classes to denounce the neglect of public schools by the government. Thus was born the "I protect my public school" movement, which promises to repeat the message every first day of every month of the school year. The goal is to inspire other schools and regions to do the same. A month later, 70 schools and 7 regions are on board. At the start of the school year, 20,000 parents in 16 of Quebec's 17 administrative regions were on board, and in October, there were about 35,000.
Initially, these parents were accused by, among others, the minister of the time, of instrumentalizing their children in a situation that did not concern them. Criticisms swept aside by the parents. Because, for them, when schools cut into food services to achieve a balanced budget, it directly concerns the children! And then, for some parents, there's no shame, quite the opposite, in teaching kids to fight for just causes. It seems to make sense to them that these little future citizens understand that in a democratic country the right to demonstrate peacefully is essential to public life.
Let's leave Quebec for a moment and cross the Atlantic to the African continent. There, an even more unjust situation is happening. In sub-Saharan Africa, one out of two schools does not have a toilet specifically offered to girls. 31% don't even have a toilet at all. This forces many girls to skip school for reasons of hygiene and privacy several days a month. Yet, despite the intervention of some non-governmental organizations, there is no mass social movement in Africa on the issue of schools that are in a far more dismal state than those in Quebec.
So what creates a social movement? In a text published by Attac, an alter-globalist site, the sociology of social movements - which its author believes should be more present in the media - explains that from the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, these were mostly created in reaction to the commodification of elements that should not be commodified.
For example, the labor movement was born out of an attempt to commodify work. Thus, labor, land, and money would be the first three symbolic commodities. Now, for the past few decades, the fourth is knowledge. This leads to political and social choices that prioritize fields of study that pay more societally (business schools, faculties of medicine and administration, etc.) and to a gradual privatization of education.
For this is what also provoked anger among Quebec students in 2012. Certainly, the dramatic increase in tuition fees irritated them, but it was mainly because it corresponded to an ideal of privatization of higher education. A similar sentiment arose with the austere budgets that some felt plagued the province's public schools.
So parents of students in the public system decided to stand up and continue the movement even in 2016. So much so that some media outlets have even claimed that the parents have become the worst enemies of the current government. This movement has led to a national discussion about education and reinvestment in education. In fact, Quebec Finance Minister Carlos Leitao reinvested$500 million in his most recent 2016-2017 budget. This doesn't cover the full impact of the austere cuts and budgets, but it can be seen as a small impact of the parents' movement that has trickled down to the population.
While there is not yet a global movement against the wave of commodification of education, the Quebec movement to protect public schools may be the tip of an iceberg in formation. It's a shame, however, to see that meanwhile there are other equally important struggles and inequalities in education elsewhere in the world, but that are not generating movements anywhere. When will we see monthly human chains of parents in Africa?
Illustration: David Gilder, Shutterstock
References
"One in ten children around the world don't go to school." - Lesoir.be. Last updated February 8, 2016.
http://www.lesoir.be/1114846/article/actualite/citoyennete/2016-02-08/1-enfant-sur-10-dans-monde-ne-va-pas-l-ecole.
Brunet, Marie-Lyne. "I Protect My Public School, A Movement of Committed Citizens." - Quartier Hochelaga. Last updated September 5, 2015. http://www.quartierhochelaga.com/manifestation-ecoles-septembre-2015/.
Burawoy, Michael. "A New Sociology For New Social Movements." - Attac France. Last updated August 4, 2015. https://france.attac.org/nos-publications/les-possibles/numero-7-ete-2015/debats/article/une-nouvelle-sociologie-pour-les-nouveaux-mouvements-sociaux.
Fontaine, Lise. "Je Protège Mon école Publique: Ombres Au Tableau!" - Aurora House. Last updated August 26, 2015. http://maisonaurore.org/soutien-scolaire/2015/08/26/je-protege-mon-ecole-publique-ombres-au-tableau/.
I Protect My Public School. Accessed March 17, 2016. http://jpmep.com/.
The Canadian Press. "The 'I Protect My Public School' Movement promises to rebound in 2016." - The Press. Last updated January 2, 2016. http://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/national/201601/02/01-4935915-le-mouvement-je-protege-mon-ecole-publique-promet-de-rebondir-en-2016.php.
Maunay, Stephanie. "The 'I Protect My Public School' Movement Expands in Quebec." - Metro. Last updated May 31, 2015. http://journalmetro.com/local/rosemont-la-petite-patrie/actualites/785286/le-mouvement-je-protege-mon-ecole-publique-setend-au-quebec/.
Myles, Brian. "Parents, tough opponents for Liberals." - News. Last updated September 29, 2015. http://www.lactualite.com/politique/les-parents-des-adversaires-coriaces-pour-les-liberaux/.
"New parent protests in defence of public schools." - Radio-Canada.ca. Last updated October 1, 2015. http://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelles/societe/2015/10/01/002-je-protege-mon-ecole-publique-manifestation-chaines-humaines.shtml.
Tremblay, Marie-Ève. "School decrepitude: 20 Photos taken by teachers." - Radio-Canada.ca. Last updated January 21, 2016. http://ici.radio-canada.ca/regions/montreal/2016/01/21/002-etat-ecole-decrepitude-csdm-montreal.shtml.
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