POINT OF VIEW. “Why break the momentum of the Culture Pass? »

“The Culture pass is a success, 85% of young people take advantage of it. It represents for them a new tool of autonomy and freedom, also making it possible to break with the cultural determinism of social and educational environments.

Young people aged 15 to 20, on the “individual” part of this pass, have chosen reading as their preferred activity (when this is marginal in the “collective” part, oriented towards other cultural sectors linked to the educational world). In peri-urban and rural areas in particular, the existence of a rich network of local bookstores and cultural brands undoubtedly plays a big role in this choice, when other offers are less accessible or under-represented.

Booksellers testify to this: they have all seen young people coming through their doors for the first time and benefiting from their advice to help them in their reading choices. The initial craze for manga has given way today to much more diversified sales (nearly 400,000 different titles have been purchased via the pass). A good number of these young people continue to frequent these bookstores once the pass has been used.

We can only rejoice at this renewal of the taste for reading. Indeed, an alarming report from the National Book Center (CNL) recently highlighted the worrying decline in reading among 7-19 year olds, a population increasingly consumed by screens. Not only do young people read less, but they read for less time. However, mastery of language is the mother of all battles, and a key to accessing other cultural experiences.

Unfortunately, this pocket of freedom risks being considerably reduced, first by drastic cuts in the overall budget of the Culture pass, but also by a forced redirection of part of the “individual” part of this pass towards other cultural sectors. At the risk that in the event of insufficient supply in certain areas, young people will simply not be able to benefit from the amount allocated to them personally.

This would be a real break with the spirit of the project as it was conceived. The desire of public authorities to promote individual freedom and the empowerment of young people would metamorphose into a form of “book censorship”, driven by a dirigiste vision wishing to favor certain cultural activities to the detriment of others.

These developments would be extremely dangerous for many bookstores that are already economically fragile – and whose Culture pass currently represents 5% of turnover – even though they contribute strongly to the cultural network of the territory and to diversity. editorial of which France can be proud.

The Culture pass is an effective tool in the training of our future and very young citizens. If teenagers get excited about the adventures of the Count of Monte Cristo before they flood the cinema screens or think about the future of our planet with A world without end by Jancovici and Blain, it is because the book is not just a source of escape, but a real springboard, a way to dream of a better world, to form one's conscience, to think of “bigger” , for yourself and for others.

Culture has always been synonymous with freedom and diversity. Reading is the gateway, why want to close it? The success of the Culture Pass is due to its freedom of use. Why want to limit it? »