1. A British view of the French education system
Résumé en français : Selon Peter Gumbel, le système scolaire français est répressif et humiliant,
alors les systèmes scolaires anglais et américains favoriseraient la confiance en soi et la créativité.
‘They shoot schoolchildren, don’t they?’ This is the title of a book that is causing a stir in
France. Its author is British, and its subject is the French education system. British journalist
and lecturer Peter Gumbel has lived in France since 2002. He lectures in journalism at the
Institute of Political Sciences in Paris. His interest in the education system, however, came
about due to the experiences of his own children when the family moved across the channel.
‘As an outsider, you swiftly notice the differences in another country’s education system and
it allows you to perhaps make a clearer evaluation of their strengths and weaknesses,’
Gumbel told the British press.
Although British, Gumbel spent many years in America and his daughters went to school
there. ‘At first, I thought that my concerns about the way my daughters were being taught
here in France was because we’d come from America, where schools are much more focused
on encouraging confidence, encouraging creativity,’ Gumbel said. But when he spoke to
other expat parents, read studies and began teaching, he realised there was ‘a genuine
problem.’
And the problem he found is what is causing the stir. His book shows two very different
sides to the French education system. ‘France’s education system is very thorough and
challenging, so if you make it through the system, you’ll have a good education,’ Gumbel
told the British press. But at the same time, he believes that the French education system
makes pupils anxious and belittles their confidence. ‘The way children are taught is very
much “sit down and shut up”. Interaction is not encouraged, and instead of being seen as
something to learn from, mistakes are punished,’ Gumbel said. He believes that children do
not have enough fun or the opportunity to be creative, arguing that ‘there’s very little sport,
very little drama, very little team-work’. Most damaging of all, he argues, is that children are
constantly told that they are worthless.
His argument is backed by studies and reports which suggest that a lot of pressure is put on
2. French school children. These are carried out by international organisations and compare
school performance and the health and wellbeing of pupils. They suggest that French pupils
have a greater risk of anxiety and low self-confidence than children in other countries. One
study found that four in 10 French pupils have trouble sleeping, and many have stomach-
aches and headaches at least once a week. Another study found that French pupils believed
themselves to be very poor readers, when in fact their ability put them high up in the survey.
Gumbel believes that the preparatory classes before university are the worst of all. ‘Here
you have the best and smartest kids of their age group, and they are systematically humiliated
and put down in the name of “preparation”,’ he told the British press. For Gumbel, it is
unclear what the lasting effects of the system are. ‘But one thing I will say is that I have never
met a French person who says “school was the happiest time of my life”.’
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Questions:
1. Mr. Gumbel says that the educational system in France has “a genuine problem.” What is this
problem?
2. Imagine you meet a foreign student who just arrived yesterday in France and they ask you to
describe the French educational system. What would you say? Please use examples from your own
experience.
3. If you were the Minister of Education, how would you change the educational system in France?
