JOLIETTE, Que. – A local student spends his day baking cookies and doing menial tasks in his high school even though he’d rather be in regular classes.
Tristan Paquet, 15, was put in a special program in his high school in Joliette, an hour north of Montreal, when he was diagnosed with a learning disability.
“We don’t learn anything interesting. No math, no French class, nothing,” Tristan told QMI Agency.
Instead of the regular curriculum, he spends his day baking cookies and bread, mending clothes for the school play and even washing the cars of staff.
His mother, Karin Moreau, has been fighting for four years to get Tristan in a regular classroom.
“The school has let him down,” Moreau said. “His learning speed is slower than the other children but we can make it happen if we try.”
School spokesman Diane Fortin said the school is following normal procedure.
According to her, parents are often trying to push children to learn despite their disabilities.
“We shouldn’t push children; we have to guide them considering their strength and weakness,” Fortin said.
Quebec’s public education law states that schools are obligated to teach mathematics and French for a minimum of 150 hours a year.
Moreau claims the law is not respected in her son’s program.
“The school tells me that they do math when they use a cup to measure flour to make cookies, it’s far from enough,” Moreau.
Tristan says his only goal is to turn 16 years old so he can quit school altogether.
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