Regularly,
Le Figaro
examines in depth the ins and outs of a question that electrifies the debate and divides the political class as well as French society.
Mathematics is making a comeback in the common core of general first and final year students, three years after the reform of the former Minister of National Education, Jean-Michel Blanquer.
Strongly criticized at the time, it intended to break the system of courses which led to a hierarchy between disciplines: mathematics, and science in general, were perceived as the choice of reason, which alone led to excellence.
Even in literature, the good students crowded into the science stream, while the "
less good
" were relegated to literature.
This hierarchy illustrated an old French myth: math opens all doors.
“
There was this sharing when I was young
“, concedes Jean-Marc Égly, research director at INSERM and member of the Academy of Sciences.
“
The mathematicians were the mind, the reasoning, the equations;
the literate were more passive, those who read
”.
In France, maths is therefore on a pedestal, which does not prevent the general level from collapsing.
The success of a small elite embodied by thirteen Fields medals does not manage to hide the great difficulties of French students who display one of the worst levels in Europe.
This is what motivated the reintroduction of mathematics in first and final, even if, for the government, to assume a political backpedal.
Basically, one question remains unanswered: must all French people be good at mathematics?
Two schools continue to oppose, between those who want to demystify maths and those who cry out for the urgency of saving them.
Le Figaro
explores this old French quarrel between the “
spirit of finesse
” and the “
spirit of geometry
”.
Demonstration.
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