“At the French school, we do not look away from a painting, we do not cover our ears during music class, we do not wear religious attire. In short, at the French school, we do not negotiate or the authority of the teacher, nor the authority of our rules and our values”, firmly asserts Gabriel Attal on Monday December 11. The Minister of National Education goes to the Jacques-Cartier college in Issou, in Yvelines, to meet the teaching team who had exercised their right of withdrawal in support of one of their colleagues. This French teacher was questioned by 6th grade students and parents for showing a 17th century work, “Diane and Actaeon” by Giuseppe Cesari, on which naked women are represented. “Students looked away, felt offended, said they were shocked,” reports Sophie Vénétitay, general secretary of Snes-FSU, the first secondary school teachers’ union. “Some also claimed that the teacher made racist remarks” during an hour of “class life,” she adds. A parent then sent an email to the principal announcing that he was going to file a complaint. One incident too many for this Yvelines college where cases of violence have increased since the start of the school year.
After his visit, Gabriel Attal announced “a disciplinary procedure against the students who are responsible for this situation and who have also admitted the facts”. François De Sauza, professor of history and geography and co-founder of the Vigilance Collège Lycée network, warns of these protests which can today concern any education.
L’Express: Is the Issou college affair an isolated case? Or does this type of event tend to repeat itself?
François De Sauza: Unfortunately, this type of protest from students is becoming more and more common in classrooms. Some of my colleagues in letters, plastic arts or history now have to deal with students with bigoted attitudes, quick to play the frightened virgin at the slightest opportunity as was the case in this college in Issou, during the presentation of this Renaissance painting representing naked women. Even if this does not always result in extreme cases like this type of group cabal, mixing parents and students, these situations are very worrying.
The most difficult thing to manage, in this kind of affair, is the group effect: in general, the controversy starts from one or two students who will consider that this or that medium used or content of a course is “haram “, that is to say impure and forbidden by their religion, Islam, of which they have a very rigorous vision. Very quickly, the attitude of these leaders will be imitated by some of their comrades, sometimes for reasons other than religious such as the simple pleasure of rushing into a loophole to heckle the teacher. There can also be a form of race for identity: the more we show ourselves shocked, the more we shout our indignation, particularly on social networks, and the more we come across as a good believer and as someone honorable among others. other members of his community.
How can we explain the involvement of parents in this rebellion against a teacher?
The fact that families are mobilizing against this teacher clearly shows the distrust of certain parents towards the school which they suspect of perverting their children. Anything to do with the body is a potential point of tension. Courses on reproduction, for example, can give rise to interpretations that are as false as they are dangerous. We also remember the establishment of the ABCDs of equality, on the proposal of former minister Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, which had sparked the wildest rumors pushing certain parents to withdraw their children from schools.
Rumor, accusation of racism, cabal… Can we draw a parallel with what happened to Samuel Paty?
Yes, we indeed find the same components of the infernal spiral which cost the life of our colleague. With one notable difference: this time, the teachers of the Jacques-Cartier college united behind the incriminated French teacher. I see a glimmer of hope there. Is it because the shadow of Samuel Paty hangs over our heads and we have learned our lessons? Or is it because, in this establishment, a culture of cohesion and mutual aid reigns? Still, this solidarity warms the heart.
The fact that teachers are able to collectively exercise their right of withdrawal also suggests that they feel helpless and isolated due to lack of support from their hierarchy. In certain rectorates, certain academic service departments, the culture of “no wave” persists despite recent strong ministerial statements. The management of this type of event varies greatly depending on the location. But it’s not all a question of will. There is also the question of means. Is the institution sufficiently equipped and does it have sufficient human reinforcement to deal with all these attacks on secularism, this violence and these threats?
Isn’t the risk of this type of affair increasing the phenomenon of self-censorship among teachers?
Yes of course, especially since a teacher who is targeted may well be exonerated, there will always be something left. That’s the most dramatic thing. A few years ago, protests only concerned specific themes or points in programs such as the teaching of the Shoah or the study of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Today, we see that a simple Renaissance painting can cause excesses. Unfortunately, today, everything can potentially give rise to disputes. I have the example of this mathematics teacher who was pushed around during a lesson on probability. The latter had asked his students to work on gambling and calculate the chances that the participants had of winning. Outcry in the class, some of whom felt that talking about money is “haram”! This is why, today, we must not give in on anything. Which is far from obvious.
I do not judge my colleagues who reach the point of self-censorship because they never do it cheerfully. Forbidding yourself from talking about a subject for a teacher who loves his job and his subject is real suffering. But I insist on the fact that giving in on certain points will not solve anything, quite the contrary. Unfortunately we have already lost a lot of time, certain bad habits have become encysted. Teachers, because they have this humanistic fiber that characterizes them, can tend to give up for fear of offending their students or appearing superior or contemptuous. However, as the saying goes, hell is sometimes paved with good intentions and the risk is to find yourself trapped.
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