Yet more on the student strike
To be honest, folks, I’d rather be writing about another topic, but Drew Nelles on Maisonneuve has a thoughtful piece on the student strikes that’s worth reading.
Students demonstrated again Saturday night. I was out and saw more police than students: a “special” bus filled with extra cops on Sherbrooke near the Main, every metro train with a detachment of police in green visibility vests.
Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois is learning about practical politics the hard way: reports say CLASSE is no longer so pleased with him and may be about to replace him with someone else – but I’m not sure the media will necessarily be getting the straight story out of this very diverse group.
mdblog 11:03 on 2012/04/29 Permalink
“The Charest government’s cynical refusal to negotiate with CLASSE…”
Wasn’t it Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois who said that he had a mandate to demand and not to negotiate?
Antonio 11:18 on 2012/04/29 Permalink
The New York Times Sunday Review has an all too relevant piece on The Imperiled Promise of College.
Hamza 16:19 on 2012/04/29 Permalink
sorry but when commenters can start linking their text to other stories , it starts getting just a littttlllleeee confusing. no offense intended.
Kate 16:40 on 2012/04/29 Permalink
Yes, I’ll be honest, I have some theoretical ideas about what education is for and universities are for, but Antonio, I’m not too interested in having a full-blown debate about that on this blog. It’s not a Montreal issue, or even a Quebec issue, particularly.
Raoul 07:37 on 2012/04/30 Permalink
You could say its a local issue. We have many of the same programs as every other university on the planet, though it could be argued some of those programs are training people for careers that dont exist *here*.
qatzelok 09:14 on 2012/04/30 Permalink
Once again, two posters have reduced university to a Trade School, and have quoted a mediocre New York Times article, rather than looking at the bigger picture of civilization. Lots of well-trained engineers are currently destroying the planet for Monsanto and Exxon. That’s now what university is for. And you can criticize Philosophy and Sociology all you want… Once the engineers and MBAs have destroyed your planet, you’ll be needing lots of priests and social workers.
Alex L 18:37 on 2012/04/30 Permalink
You got it right Kate. I can confirm the medias didn’t understand what was happening with the spokespeople at the CLASSE. Someone presented its candidature to be the third spokesperson; after debates that person’s candidature was rejected mainly over fears of losing the woman-man parity (Jeanne Reynolds and Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois) that is in place right now.
@mdblog: GND and JR do have mandates to negociate, but not over tuition fees.
Antonio 15:58 on 2012/05/01 Permalink
The Globe and Mail has published an opinion by Margaret Wente in which she declares that Quebec’s University Students are in for a Shock.
Kate 16:56 on 2012/05/01 Permalink
Yeah, Wente, who’s a writer, mocks the kids doing arts degrees. Entirely typical of the boomer “I’ve got mine” attitude.