INDISCRETION

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I missed school a few weeks ago because I was feeling quite sick. No big deal - I called the directeur (kind of like a principal) of my school and let him know, and he was completely fine with it. I spent the day lounging around, sleeping, drinking water… and it passed, as I thought it would. It was a Tuesday, so I also had Wednesday off (elementary schools are not in session on Wednesdays). By the time Thursday rolled around, I was completely back to normal and ready to start back up again.

When I arrived in my class, I remembered why I love my job so much - they cheered when I walked into the classroom, and I was greeted with several “OUUUAAAIS!!” (“YEAAAAAAAAH!”), “EMILIE EST DE RETOUR!!! VOUS NOUS AVEZ MANQUÉ!!” (“WE MISSED YOU!!”), and other things like that. It makes my job infinitely easier when my students are excited about my class. Hearing that they had missed me during the one day that I was absent reinforced that idea once more.

When I arrived in my third class of the day, I received similar remarks. One of my students then asked, “Where were you on Tuesday?” I was ready to answer something like, “I was feeling sick, but I’m all better now,” but the regular classroom teacher beat me to the punch. She snapped at him: “ADRIEN!!! C’est indiscret - cela fait partie de sa vie privée et ne te regarde absolument pas!” (ADRIEN!!! That is an indiscreet question to ask - that is part of her personal life and is none of your business!) Several students echoed this sentiment, some covering their mouths in surprise that he had asked such a personal question.

…This just goes to show how different the concept of what is private or personal information, what is acceptable to discuss, and what questions are acceptable to ask. I didn’t find the question at all too personal, and if I had been doing something that I did not want to discuss with the students, I would have simply said, “I had some things to take care of” or something like that, and we would have moved on to other things. Depending on where I had been, I may or may not have actually answered the question, but I would have addressed it all the same; in other words, it is on me to adjust my answer according to whether I feel the answer is too personal to talk about. Here, though, the student is apparently supposed to know that s/he should not even be asking the question.

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