“I take with me, here in Matignon, the cause of the school. I reaffirm the school as being the mother of our battles. It will be one of my absolute priorities. From this point of view, there will be a form of continuity.” It seems that Gabriel Attal, from his first words in the courtyard of Matignon, had the firm attention to put an end to the discontent of the “disgruntled spirits”, as Emmanuel Macron likes to say. By being so insistent, the now ex-Minister of Education intends to be reassuring: yes, he only stayed five months and twenty days on rue de Grenelle, but we should not see his departure as a mark of insignificance ; or worse, betrayal.
How, however, can we not detect in the choice of the head of state, at least, a form of versatility? Or, if we want to be more severe, the assumed choice of destabilizing for a time the entire teaching body, from school teachers to secondary school teachers, and at the same time the parents of students from whom Gabriel Attal had taken the care to address. The new head of government had launched numerous projects, the unions are now wondering to what extent these will be carried out. Furthermore, upon his arrival at Rue de Grenelle, he managed to establish a nourishing and encouraging dialogue with these essential and demanding partners; his successor will have before him souls who today say they are angry. The art of voluntarily starting from zero, or almost.
When we pride ourselves on making the school the priority project for our second five-year term, is it appropriate to change the minister so quickly, especially when he seemed to be the rare pearl capable of taming the mammoth all together? by slipping sweet words to him? Is it appropriate, when we consider this sanctuary as one of the aggravating factors of “inequalities” and “house arrest”, to put it in tension on the altar of political strategy? The transition from Jean-Michel Blanquer to Pap Ndiaye was already far from being a guarantee of “continuity”, this exit upwards from Gabriel Attal is a blow to the presidential speech itself.
What if the Minister of Education was called… Emmanuel Macron?
Unless Emmanuel Macron basically demonstrates that the Minister of Education is none other than himself. That whoever is in charge within the government is only its articulated arm, however discreet or talented it may be. “Given the issues, education is part of the reserved domain of the president,” said Emmanuel Macron in his interview with Point last August. What better proof than this appointment of Gabriel Attal to Matignon.
He recognized this, a few weeks before taking charge of the government: the president meant by this that his minister, all handsome, all new, could afford the freedom to go over his Prime Minister, to circumvent the marshalling station on rue de Varenne, to get your instructions directly at the Elysée. “It’s a huge opportunity,” he confided. What will happen now? Who will have the right to “squeeze” the Prime Minister now? Who will rearm the authority of teachers and deploy the “shock of knowledge”? Parents and teachers are waiting, and that’s not good news.