“The Ministers of National Education have almost no real power over the school system”

LE FIGARO. – As a teacher, you have yourself observed the decline in the level of students, confirmed by most surveys. Are we witnessing a real general stupefaction?

Philippe NEMO. – Everyone is sorry about the general decline in standards, sanctioned by the Pisa tests. But it is not only sad, it is serious for the country. Scientific, technological and economic competition in the world, the new and frightening risks of war have made it more essential than ever that France has, in each generation, the highest intellectual skills, as was the case in the past. This is not the time when our school and university system can afford to fall behind those of other competing and potentially hostile countries. The Russians, for example, are capable of inventing terrifying weapons. This may have something to do with the fact that they do not have a single college and that their…