Failure Not Allowed

"Satisfied or your money will be refunded" says the sign above.

A society that has degenerated into total egalitarianism will not be able to tolerate any inequalities within the educational system. Long ago, in our American schools, the liberal teachers, parents, administrators, and pressure groups became intolerant of any sign of inequality in grading, since it almost always exposed the deficiencies of one minority or another. If the minorities could not achieve a satisfactory level in the standard curricula that had been in place for decades, then, the standard curricula had to be changed to suit the lowest achievers, rather than place the students in classes according to their abilities, and thus admit to the existence of intellectual differences.

The same has been happening for at least twenty years in France as minorities gradually increased in number, imposing their will on the individual teachers and on National Education. The result is a dysfunctional, worthless system, where everyone gets high grades. The consequences for society are tremendous: poor workers, a degraded popular culture, a loss of the literary and scientific heritage, and pressure for affirmative action in hiring, since employers are loathe to hire incompetent people with bogus diplomas, and have to be forced to do so. The ultimate consequence is more hatred directed at France.

Here are two recent stories culled from François Desouche, the first, dated May 23, deals with replacing the grading system, the second, dated June 9, with the idea of simply passing everybody (this would solve the problem of "differences", wouldn't it?"):

Parents belonging to three educational associations from both the private and public sectors launched an appeal to Luc Chatel, Minister of National Education, to rethink the grading system, which inevitably classifies youngsters according to their results. They propose instead a "contract of confidence".

For these parents it is a question of denouncing this "serious dysfunctionality" that leads to students being classified as "good", "average" and "poor". "Society makes teachers take on the role of selectors despite themselves," explains André Antibi, professor of didactics at the University Paul-Sabatier in Toulouse, who is leading the movement.

Note: A professor of didactics would be one who teaches pedagogy, and pedagogical methods. Here he is saying that teachers do not really want to classify students according to their academic excellence (or lack thereof). But this is the essential job of the teacher after the teaching itself. The teacher has to be a "selector", and this is where the trouble begins in a multi-racial, multi-ethnic society where violence will erupt at the slightest hint that some students perform better than others. It certainly never happened when France was French. Furthermore, what takes place in schools in the ghettoes and ethnic neighborhoods will inevitably spill over into all schools and transform them all into low-level "idiot factories".

André Antibi and the parents groups are proposing a "more just evaluation" and would like the government to "implement another system of evaluation such as the contract of confidence."

The contract is described thus by David Desgouilles in an article in Marianne:

In many elementary schools they have already abandoned grades and use instead a measurement of A (learned), B (still being learned) and C (not learned). Apparently this is less stigmatizing than numerical grades up to ten or twenty. (...) The parents groups do not even fear ridicule when they say they would like the grades replaced by a "contract of confidence", using the publicity slogan of a small appliance firm. No more "surprise tests" - the pupil must know systematically what he will be tested on. If he does not, it's a trap. It's useless to try to make them understand that this type of test is intended to check on whether or not the pupil is keeping up with the work. (...)

Note: The small appliance firm he refers to is probably Darty, the company owned by the family of the girl who married Jean Sarkozy, son of Nicolas.

Regarding competitions, he says ironically:

How could the school approve of such vile sentiments? We mustn't stop there. It is urgent that we ban soccer matches and jumping rope games during recess, or at any rate, that we no longer keep score. There must not be winners and losers. Too stigmatizing! Even if they absolutely want to know who won, we must, at all costs, do what is good for them and announce proudly that (...) everybody won.

This comment from a François Desouche reader focuses on the racial aspect of the educational decline:

" You mustn't stigmatize poor (academically speaking) pupils! For generations, poor white pupils have been stigmatized! Nobody cared. Today the majority of pupils are probably black or Maghrebin. That's why you mustn't stigmatize the poor ones. It all strikes me as another way of denying reality."

The second story provides a simple solution to all the vexing problems of inequalities in intelligence, achievement, motivation, conduct, etc... Pass them all!

Daniel Bloch, engineer, physicist, and former head of the Reims School District became famous in 1985 when he launched his objective of an 80% success rate for those old enough to take the baccalaureate exams held at the end of a student's high school studies. Being able to move on to this most important of all tests for French high-schoolers used to be the rigorous way of screening those who could advance to the university, assuming they passed the "Bac". Now he wants to change his goal to 100%!

Marianne interviews him:

- This objective of 100% success rate for those old enough to take the "Bac" exams, is it a provocation?

- Not at all. I remind you that the objective of 80% that I launched in 1985 was to be attained by the year 2000. Now we are in 2010: it is time to set new goals! I admit that it is more of a slogan than a goal: I know well that we'll never reach 100%. The message is above all: we must do better and we can do better.

- But what is the purpose of allowing the greatest possible number of students to take the Bac exams if the diploma is worth less and less?

Note: The interviewer has answered his own question. It is precisely because the Bac is meaningless that everyone will be taking it.

- Unlike you, I am not at all in agreement with those who denounce a so-called deterioration in value of the Bac. For it all depends on what you consider as the "value" of this diploma. If you look at the subjects themselves, you will see that the requirements have considerably increased. Today, someone with the Bac knows much more about the world than 100 years ago. He is better in languages, for example. And in History, formerly it was enough to know a whole series of dates in order to receive a good grade. Today, he is asked to understand their significance. This is much more difficult.

- When we speak of diminished value of the Bac, we mean above all the fact that it is no longer sufficient to get a job... What do you say to those who accuse you of having contributed to this?

- That it has nothing to do with the increase in the number of "bacheliers" (those with the Bac)! It is not the diploma that has lost its value but society that has become more complex. If there are fewer and fewer jobs for unskilled workers, it is because the trades have become more advanced ("perfectionnés"). For example, if it is necessary to have a diploma in the mechanics trade, it is because mechanics itself has become more complex. So to reduce unemployment, we have to increase the number of diplomas.

Note: His statements are too funny to comment on. This is such a good example of pedagogical ineptitude and socialist double-talk. Not to mention political propaganda and the anti-academic attitudes so prevalent in education. Or the unstated, but clearly implied goal of simply giving jobs to all children of immigrants. If a diploma is needed, it too must be a gift, since demands cannot be made on the foreigners.