Maths, the most egalitarian of sciences, really? If this idea seems founded, because of the characteristics of this discipline, where the general culture does not come into account, it is not less… false. According to the latest international Trends in Mathematics and Science Study (Timss), dated 2019, the average score obtained by French CM1 students is 485 points (i.e. 44 points less than the average for OECD countries). Those from privileged backgrounds reach 533 points. Conversely, the most disadvantaged fall to 429 points, and only 4% of them have a high level (compared to 19% in OECD countries).
“To put it a bit bluntly, coming from a poor family has an impact on math scores. It is indeed a French specificity”, confirms Clémence Perronnet, researcher in sociology, lecturer in science of Education at the Catholic University of the West and author of The math bump doesn’t exist (ed. Otherwise, 2021). Far from being a factor of social ascent, the discipline would therefore participate in the widening of inequalities in our educational system. How to explain this misunderstanding which has a hard life? “No doubt this is due to a misinterpretation of Bourdieusian sociology, replies Martin Andler, vice-president of the Animath association. When we talk about the role of cultural capital in academic success, we immediately think of literature. , to painting, to the theatre, in short to the so-called classical artistic fields. But the importance of scientific culture is often wrongly omitted.” However, this knowledge, which is of course transmitted at school, is also acquired in large part within the family circle.
Girls less tempted
The identification factor also plays an important role for all students and especially for girls. “The women scientists highlighted in the news are often described as having superbrains or exceptional powers. Which helps to convey this somewhat inaccessible image”, regrets Amel Kefif, general manager of the association Elles Bougent. “It is important to repeat to young girls that they are not necessarily asked to have an average of 19 in maths to embrace studies or a scientific career”, she continues. Their lack of self-confidence or their difficulty in projecting themselves would explain their slightly lower results than those of boys (the 2019 Timss survey shows that these differences are found in many other countries), but also the fact that they turn away more easily from this discipline. The phenomenon is not new, but the high school reform implemented from 2019 has worsened the situation. In 2021, 67% of students who completely abandoned math in terminale were girls, and only 31% of students who chose the “expert math” option were girls.
The choice of options and specialties also differs according to social origins. “Already in 2013, i.e. well before the reform, only 10% of children from the working classes, that is to say with parents who are workers or employees, passed the old baccalaureate S, against 41% of children of executives or of teachers”, recalls Clémence Perronnet. The new system does not seem to have changed this phenomenon. In 2021, students from very privileged social backgrounds, who represented 39% of final year students, were overrepresented among those who chose mathematics (48%) and physics and chemistry (46%) for specialty education. This discrepancy therefore persists in the scientific disciplines, which are still considered the “royal road”. “Betting on math means accepting that it does not necessarily have a concrete or direct application. This relationship to the world is easier to have when you have fewer material and economic concerns, but also when you destined to have a high social positioning”, explains Clémence Perronnet, for whom only a large-scale questioning will make it possible to reverse the trend.