Teachers who yell at the students: the author of Michel Charette's “bust” in “Le Bonheur” was cold in the back

MISE À DAY

The phrase “reality is beyond fiction” took on its full meaning this week with the release of audio recordings of teachers yelling at their students in the middle of class. If these teachers' freakouts are reminiscent of a scene from the series Happiness,went viral last year, its author, François Avard, admits having “shivered down the spine” hearing them.

Who hasn't already seen this memorable sequence which opens the first season of Bonheur ? 

The main character of the series – an exhausted teacher played by Michel Charette – has a monumental crisis there by pouring his gall on his students (high school students), before lying down in the middle of his class having convulsions.

The scene, co-written by François Avard and Daniel Gagnon, caused a lot of reaction to the when it airs on TVA in January 2022.

While he can see a connection to the audio clips of teachers yelling at their students heard over the past few days, author Francois Avard makes some distinctions between his humorous scene and reality.

“ The stories of verbal abuse by teachers reported this week send shivers down our spines, while our scene with Michel [Charette] is amusing,” he argues.

Empathy for teachers

Having himself already taught at the National School of Humor, François Avard says he has a lot of empathy for teachers who have to deal with overcrowded classes and a shortage of manpower.

“I continue to believe that it is one of the best jobs in the world when it goes well and is practiced in good conditions. Unfortunately, I think the constraints of COVID and online teaching [ca] got into them, but also young people. The working conditions are not very favorable for them at the moment,” he says.

François Avard

Experts interviewed by Le Journal share his opinion and wonder if our teachers are not now on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

Fed up with the demands

According to François Avard, there are several distinctions to be made between the cases that have hit the headlines and the crisis in the series.

“Our character's banging is aimed at that generation, but the big difference is that it's a lot less personalized than what we heard in the audio clips released this week. The teacher in our series is not aimed at specific individuals or students. It's more a fed up with the demands of that generation. »

François Avard also insists on the fact that the character of his series was appreciated by his students and that he had never exhibited this kind of behavior before.

“If we watch the episode in full, we see when in the next scene, he goes into the office of the school principal to tell him that he wants to drop everything, recalls the author. He considers that he is no longer in his place because he is no longer happy in this job, and that he has exceeded the limits. It's very different from the stories of teachers we've heard this week who seem to be breaking their mark repeatedly. »

Burn out

Happiness tells the story of a high school French teacher who decides to leave everything to buy a small farmhouse in the countryside. The teaching environment is not the main subject of the series, says Avard.

“The original idea of ​​​​the series was to stage a character who was falling into burn out and decided to move to the countryside. And the job that seemed to us the most likely to burn out was that of teacher, indicates the author who also signed the cult series Les Bougon.

➤ The series Happinessairs on TVA.

Two excerpts from the scene that has gone viral

“You think you are superior because you were born with an iPad in your hands and you find my lectures so flat because I'm just a human speaking in front of you. I would be so much more interesting with a filter that makes funny faces with a tongue and dog ears!

“Shut up, stingray face ostia, I’m not done. As you are the most stupid generation that the Earth has known, we simplify your life by changing words that we have used for centuries. We are slowly but surely returning to the mode of communication of Neanderthals. But you shouldn't tell that, tabarnak, because you're such precious little treasures for your bloody parents who aren't capable of raising you like the world and who aren't any brighter than the rest of you. Ostie that I'm fed up, ostie that I'm exhausted. »