World News: The National Education System - Hostages of Obligation

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Category: World News - Europe

Published on Monday, 25 September 2023 16:49

Written by Olivier Longhi

The difficulties encountered by schools in managing disruptive students refer to the notion of compulsory schooling, which is obviously misunderstood by some and potentially has become a burden for many middle and high schools.

What if we abolished compulsory schooling? Before even proposing an answer, some would exclaim indignantly in cries of outrage, but in view of the difficulties encountered by schools facing some pupils, the question deserves to be asked.

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First, let's weigh the original question. The abolition of the obligation could concern only middle and high schools; Primary school would retain its compulsory character with a pruning of the subjects currently taught, compulsory character focusing on triptych reading - calculation - writing.

Primary school could also be strengthened in its founding mission by the integration (as in Germany) of the sixth-grade class, which would no longer take place in middle school but in primary school, pupils not accessing middle school until the fifth grade. So why open the debate on the abolition of the obligation?

Standardization Logic

If at the end of the nineteenth century, primary school was made compulsory (Laws of 1882), it was above all to anchor the Republic, still fragile (it is enough to dwell on the legitimist attempt of 1873 and the weakness of the Constitutional Laws of 1875 to be convinced) within a nation torn between republican temptation, royalist or even Bonapartist.

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At the same time, the obligation also made it possible to standardize a hitherto unequal school situation, to ensure a logic of continuous literacy of the population while working towards the republican ideal, real or fantasized, supposed to produce exemplary citizens, faithful servants of the Republic. However, are we in this situation today?

Obviously not. School and secondary education (middle and high school) have become hostages of this obligation, obliged as they are to welcome students far from feeling concerned by their schooling, experienced as a suffering and not as a path to emancipation.

These students, often unmanageable and disruptive, are also and above all, the children of parents, often out of school, critical and doubtful of the school and who use compulsory schooling, deliberately confusing instruction and education, to absolve themselves of all responsibilities when it comes to the behavior of their children.

Since the obligation de facto disempowers the individual, since the pupil no longer goes to school on his own but because of an external constraint, many parents therefore transfer their responsibility to the school while the latter instructs but does not educate. However, the confusion between the two terms is essential with regard to the missions that each of them implies.

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Common Sense

Once the obligation is abolished, without it denying or altering the principle of equality because middle and high schools would remain accessible to all, parents and students would therefore face their responsibilities, this new situation authorizing schools to refuse or expel a student judged, after proven facts, from its enclosure. Today forced to retain this type of student to the detriment of those inclined to study, schools would therefore be freed to welcome students devoid of any common sense.

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Colleges and high schools would be emptied of students far from giving their schooling any priority, schooling becoming their only responsibility and no longer that linked to an obligation, but a contrario, would be filled with students aware that knowledge and knowledge participate in the creation of a free and emancipated society.

Far from betraying the ideals of the fathers of education, from Rousseau to Condorcet, this idea would put an end to the concept of benevolence and assistantship that prevails to this day in many institutions. And what to do with those students who would then choose not to integrate middle school or high school?

The Republic, the rule of law, also refers everyone to assume the consequences of their actions. But let the thurifers of contemporary education be reassured, these few lines constitute only one idea among many others and that everyone will judge in the light of his convictions.

Bio: Olivier Longhi has extensive experience in European history. A seasoned journalist with fifteen years of experience, he is currently professor of history and geography in the Toulouse region of France. He has held a variety of publishing positions, including Head of Agency and Chief of Publishing. A journalist, recognized blogger, editor, and editorial project manager, he has trained and managed editorial teams, worked as a journalist for various local radio stations, a press and publishing consultant, and a communications consultant.