It was the Choiseul de Tours high school which won the first national prize in the Samuel Paty competition in the “high school” category. A prize created by the Association of History and Geography Teachers to honor the memory of their colleague Samuel Paty, assassinated on October 16, 2020. Intended for students from CM1 to final year, the first prize is awarded to high school students de Choiseul this October 19, at the Sorbonne, in Paris.
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The first class STD2A (Sciences and technologies of design and applied arts) of the Choiseul high school in Tours has something to be proud of. Not only did she win first prize in the Samuel Paty competition but the APHG (Association of History and Geography Teachers) invited the students to a visit to the Senate and the Pantheon before receiving their prize this October 19 at the Sorbonne.
Visit the Pantheon and the Senate, “a bonus for these students”tells us their professor, supervisor of the project, Stéphane Genêt. “These are students who are sensitive to all questions of citizenship and who like history. So these are places that speak to them“.
“Secularism at school: a principle for self-respect?” theme of this third edition which promotes educational projects around Moral and Civic Education (EMC). In-depth work for these first year students, who only have 1h30 of EMC per fortnight with their supervising teacher, Stéphane Genêt, history and geography teacher. The thirty-six students in this class chose to express their thoughts on secularism through a fashion show entitled “echolaic”
At the start of the year, Stéphane Genêt asked his new students if they wanted to participate in this project.
The Samuel Paty competition is something that speaks to me. Like all history and geography teachers, I was particularly touched and moved by this assassination. I wanted to do something, I didn’t believe it would go this far and I’m happy that the students took up this subject.
Stéphane Genêt, supervising professor of the class winning the Samuel Paty prize
“It was after a tribute to Samuel Paty and I proposed a vote to the class. I didn’t want it to be imposed school work. It’s still a prize which has a fairly strong emotional dimension and a story I wanted to leave them free to accept or not and they overwhelmingly decided to participate..”
In the educational approach of the project, the professor recalled what secularism was, its main principles to arrive at the charter of secularism at school. A text that accompanied the students throughout their work. “ It was really project management.”continues Stéphane Genêt. “The news helped us. It was a time when there was a lot of talk about uniforms and abayas. The students made the connection by saying that, ultimately, they could take the item of clothing because it is an important element, especially in adolescence. They wanted to show that secularism is freedom.”
The professor adds: “Their clothes revolve around the idea of freedom. They’re white because it’s a positive color. They really wanted to show something emancipatory.”
The students who developed the project are seen as very creative. They know how to draw, sew, created the dresses and sewed the clothes. The outfits are made from second-hand and ecological materials. “I was amazed to see them work, they did everything themselves, I was there to remind you of the steps, the planning, take care of the administrative procedures but overall they operated with great autonomy most of the time” their teacher marvels.
“It’s an alchemy that has worked very well from the start. I remember a student who said to me at the end of the parade: “You know sir, even if we don’t win, it was a very nice project.”
