The French national slogan--liberty, equality, fraternity--took a beating this month.
First, accusations that the elite schools reproduce social classes through subtle discrimination led President Sarkozy to call for US style quotas unleashing mayhem and upset in GRANDES ECOLES. They finally knuckled under, or at least consented to provide the appearance of knuckling under,but whether the goal of 30% of financial need students will be met--and even more important--whether this will have any impact on France's closed cast-list system of elites, is anybody's guess.
Next, cries that the French public universities have become garbage cans (poubelles) for the unwashed masses, and whispers that selection--the great taboo of all right-thinking egalitarians--may perhaps remedy this situation.
And now, the final shock: an article in Le Monde about public schools' failure to perform its role as a "social elevator". "Over time," Le Monde states, "schools have become less and less egalitarian."
Reading scores for third-graders have fallen by half for children of blue-collar workers, while improving slightly for the children of white-collar employees.
French schools now maintain and even exacerbate inequalities....
Now, I've written a lot about the French school system and inequality. But this latest article got me thinking.
WHAT ABOUT BOOKS?
Books. The NYT's recently launched a debate about whether school libraries needed books. Well that's a no brainer, I thought. Of course they do! I
And then I realized: the French public schools my children attend have terrible libraries! Few books. Limited opening hours. Unwelcoming. Tiny. Poor.
How, I wondered, are children from families that don't have books supposed to learn to love reading for pleasure (the best way to become truly literate) IF THEIR SCHOOLS DON'T HAVE DECENT LIBRARIES ?
Could one of the reasons for the failure of French schools
to encourage social mobility be simply:
THEIR ASTONISHING LACK OF BOOKS ?
