French intellectuals slam controversial new education bill

French Education Minister Luc Chatel has proposed a controversial new bill that would remove history and geography from the curriculum for science focused baccalauréat students in their final year of lycee (secondary or high school).

The baccalauréat is an academic qualification that French students must pass if they wish to enter into higher education. There are three types of general baccalauréat, sciences, economics and social sciences, and literature. For the economics and literature students, the situation will continue as before with history and geography remaining compulsory, along with maths, French, at least one foreign language, philosophy, and other subjects.

This controversial change to “le bac”, as it is known colloquially in France, has sparked outrage among French teachers, parents and historians alike.

Several dozen prominent historians and intellectuals, led by philosopher Alain Finkielkraut, issued a joint statement opposing the bill in French Sunday newspaper “Le Journal du Dimanche”, calling it “short-sighted and counter productive.” The “evident gap between the bill and the real education needs of French youths in the early 20th century can cause only concern and stupefaction”, the statement’s authors wrote.

Leading left-wing opposition figures, including Socialist Party leader Martine Aubry, her rival Segolène Royal and former education minister Jack Lang have also all spoken out against the bill, supporting the “Journal du Dimanche” statement.

Education Minister Luc Chatel defended the bill, saying that specialising early in a certain field is beneficial to students. Chatel also pointed out that the draft proposes nearly doubling the number of history lessons for students in their earlier schooling, taking them from 2 ½ hours to 4. He argued that the bill also offers optional history courses in the final years for those science students who choose to keep the studying the subject.