A cry from the heart. “My child’s college is heavily penalized by the new school map and the Affelnet reform. As a result, the parents are in total panic and are rushing to the private sector!”, Launches this mother, who intervenes during the conference on ” The temptation of the private” organized by the FCPE Paris, this February 15. This rivalry between the private and the public unleashes passions.
The controversy generated by the forthcoming entry of the prestigious Henri-IV and Louis-le-Grand into the Affelnet system (software that manages assignment in high schools since 2008) has further hardened the debate. From now on, these two institutions will no longer be able to choose their recruits on their own, and will have to comply – in part – with the same rules as other public establishments. The idea? Diversify the selection of candidates, today massively from very privileged social categories. “There will be a flight to the private sector”, respond those who contest this reform. The rush has already begun: 37% of Parisian students study privately. The academy of Paris is thus placed in third position of those where the share of the public is the weakest, just below the academies of Rennes and Nantes.
In Paris, the situation is all the more acute as social diversity is a constant challenge. “The capital’s colleges have 16% of students from disadvantaged social backgrounds. However, in the private sector, we only find 3%… Against 23% in the public sector. This gap is the highest in France “, explains Julien Grenet, researcher specializing in educational inequalities who chairs the Affelnet monitoring committee. The fact that the CSP+ give in to the sirens of the private sector is certainly not a new phenomenon. In the most privileged arrondissements, such as the 16th or 7th, 50 to 70% of families choose the private sector. Many parents put forward a family tradition, but also adherence to certain moral and religious values.
Choose a “private ghetto” or a “public ghetto”
In recent years, another profile of families has gained ground, particularly in the North and East of Paris. More and more parents, rather marked on the left, attached to diversity and hitherto “pro-public” resign themselves to writing letters of motivation to enroll their children in religious institutions: this is the only alternative… to avoid the public secondary school. In question, a form of social segregation, glaring in some places. “These parents find themselves faced with a difficult choice: to opt for a” private ghetto “or for a” public ghetto “. Knowing that neither reflects the social reality of their neighborhood”, laments Julien Grenet.
This avoidance strategy is obviously not the only factor that explains the success of private schools under contract in Paris. “Their asset is that they are not in an administrative logic but in a logic of adherence to a project which takes into account the specific needs of each child”, advances Gilles Demarquet, national president of the Association of parents of pupils free education. Those who make this choice also mention better supervision, a certain stability of teaching teams, a greater diversity of extracurricular activities, a more peaceful school climate…
Inès, a resident of the 13th arrondissement who swore only by public school, ended up becoming disillusioned. “From his first year of kindergarten, my son complained of doing nothing in class. He, who was so calm, gradually began to become violent, no doubt influenced by the general atmosphere”, says -she. One day, little Mickaël comes back with a wound under his eye. “One of his comrades had injured him with scissors but no one had bothered to warn me. That was the trigger”, continues Inès. At the next school year, her little boy joined the nearby Sainte-Jeanne-d’Arc school. “A human-sized establishment with only one class per level, a director who knows each child personally, parents invited to collaborate on the various projects. In short, the dream school!” she enthuses. An expensive dream since Inès has to pay 117 euros per month in school fees and 7 euros in canteen per day for each of her two children.
“Unfair” competition
The other peculiarity of Paris is the extreme population density. Hence a wide range of establishments within relatively small spaces… and the development of strategies aimed at enrolling one’s child in the “best” establishment. “We chose our apartment, located in the 12th arrondissement, according to the school map”, recognizes Aurélie. But, when his eldest entered third, the division had changed. “The opacity of the high school assignment system worried us terribly. Not knowing at all where my son was going to land, we preferred to enroll him in the private sector, in Saint-Michel de Picpus”, she explains. Testimonies to this effect have multiplied since the reform of Affelnet last year and the introduction of the new “social position index”. This IPS bonus, calculated by college according to the profession of the parents, entitles you to a certain number of points. “The idea is to encourage more advantaged families to return to strongly ghettoized colleges by giving their child an advantage when they enter high school,” explains Julien Grenet.
A certainly laudable intention, but many voices denounce the perverse effects of this new system. “In the public, it’s becoming chaos! Many parents are looking to leave the ship urgently, warns Loys Bonod, literature teacher at Chaptal high school, in the 8th arrondissement. The fact that the marks become a secondary criterion, that the selection is done less and less on merit, is nonsense.” The teacher cites the example of the Condorcet College (Paris VIII): last year, no student was able to access the excellent high school of the same name. The famous IPS index automatically disqualified them. “Throughout their schooling, they had been told that, by working hard, they would be able to achieve their goals. Imagine their dismay!” laments Loys Bonod. For him, the new measures announce the death of Parisian high schools of excellence, such as Henri-IV or Louis-le-Grand, which still managed to climb to the top of the charts.
Does this mean that education is better in the private sector? For Julien Grenet, the performance gaps between public and private colleges are largely explained by differences in social composition. “To put it bluntly, it is above all the skimming of the CSP+ which makes it possible to have good results in the patent” in private colleges. For Loys Bonod, the difference mainly concerns the work environment and atmosphere. “Obviously, since the private sector is completely free to recruit! The best students and those who pose the fewest discipline problems are theirs. The public has to deal with certain more difficult profiles, which inevitably has an impact on the learning conditions”, explains the professor, who evokes an “unfair competition”. Especially since private education under contract is 77% funded by the State and local authorities. “Which represents 7 billion euros per year. I know few sectors of the economy where the public power puts so much money without asking for any account”, adds Julien Grenet.
Some experts suggest introducing quotas for compulsory scholarship holders in private colleges, or subjecting establishments under contract to Affelnet’s recruitment rules. “Impossible! We would be in contradiction with the Debré law of 1959 which guarantees freedom of choice for families”, retorts Philippe Delorme, general secretary of Catholic education. Few politicians want to relaunch the controversy. Everyone has in mind the vast defense movement of the “free school”. On June 24, 1984, between 850,000 and two million people demonstrated in the streets against the Savary project, which was supposed to bring together private and public schools. In the evening, the President of the Republic François Mitterrand announced the withdrawal of the text. Burying for a long time any hint of action on this flammable subject.