Johanna, a social sciences professor, has noticed a negative development over the past ten years. “Over time, it completely breaks down. I have the impression that the students no longer understand anything. There is no longer any mastery of grammar, it is quite catastrophic in writing. The students have a lot of difficulty finding the right word. There is no more punctuation: the period, the comma, the capital letter have disappeared”testifies the one who teaches in the last years of secondary school.
The low level of French is noticeable in grammar errors but also in spelling. “I see ‘kar’ for ‘because’, ‘quen’ for ‘when’… It’s crying, I can’t help but correct each word”laments Julie, religion teacher in 5th and 6th grade. “Children no longer make logical connections, they have everything at their disposal and no longer think.” As a result, you have to decipher what is written. “I spend hours trying to understand what they mean.”confides Charlotte.
Leveling down
Primary school requirements are singled out. “When we see how written expression is assessed in 6th grade, it’s at 4th grade level! We no longer ask them to analyze a sentence. The teachers are doing their best but some wonder if it’s still worth the effort.”declares Julie. Like her, Johana has the impression that politics does not desire “to forge citizens who think but are just workers.”
“We confuse respect for the child with lack of the child. French is essential to get by in life. You have to be able to defend yourself. Positive education is good but we have gone into the extreme”believes Charlotte. “Orally, there is no problem but in writing, it is a disaster. It is difficult to correct because you have to decipher and you cannot evaluate the substance.” For her, these students have not been able to construct their thoughts because they read very little.
Aude Denizot, a high school and then university teacher, points to photocopying as the culprit in her book “Why do our students no longer know how to write?” “A student who copies his entire grammar exercise writes 50 words whereas someone who fills in a blank text on a photocopy only writes 12. Photocopying gives an illusion of speed.she recently explained in an interview with Le Figaro.
