France Shortens Summer Break

In a previous article about France’s education it explained that the school week was going to become longer and the school days were going to be cut short. In this article it explains on top of the school week getting longer and the days becoming shorter the break that the students get for the summer will be getting cut to only six weeks. The man behind all the changes for the education system for this country is Vincent Peillon. In this article and in the past article about France it explained that teachers and parents went on strike because of all the changes.  This new change to the summer break has also angered many people. The education minster tried to explain that the change for the summer break will not be put into place until the year 2015; but that still made people very angry.

The present of the country was also making changes for the education system. He was the man who decided to take away the mid-week break away from students because he felt that the school week is already short enough. He wanted this new plan to be placed into action next year. The main reasons for all these new changes for the school system is because France is behind all the other countries in their standards.

This article just re-insures that there needs to be something else fixed in the school system in France. Taking away days in the summer break will not bring the country up to the standards. Only allowing six weeks of a break will not make students want to do any better on their school work. Peter Gumbel makes a very good point about how long school days was a part of the problem but not the only thing that was wrong. The people in the education department need to look at all the smaller parts and not just one aspect. Peter Gumbel also explains that the culture of the classroom in France is just based on what a student cannot do; it is harsh on the students who have to attend schools here. It just seems wrong that students are not accepted for what they did, but put down because it was not the very best they can do. If students keep getting this type of attention many of them will not want to even try. The system needs to look at the culture and how maybe that is playing a role on why students do not try their best in the classroom. 

Source

French education minister targets sacrosanct summer holidays

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/feb/25/french-education-minister-summer-holidays

Ashley Roberts

3/1/2013

5:22 pm