Two Schools, Both Alike in Dignity?

The French Left is ramping up its attacks on Catholic schooling. There is no "freedom of education" if a school receives funding from the government!

From The European Conservative

By Hélène de Lauzun, PhD

The French Left's offensive against Catholic schools is gaining momentum.

The war between the two schools has been raging in France for more than two centuries now. Recently, it has been given a new lease of life with a targeted offensive by the Left against Catholic schools accused of not respecting the rules set by the secular state by wanting at all costs to pass on the faith. At the heart of the controversy is the issue of funding. Today, in France as elsewhere, is it even possible to preserve a Christian identity in schools when they receive public funds? 

For several months now, left-wing politicians have been showing renewed aggression towards Catholic schools that are proud of their identity, accusing them of not playing by the rules. 

In France, there are three types of schools: public schools, funded by the state; private schools, funded partly by the state under an association contract and partly by parents; and finally, independent schools, which receive no public funding.

The establishment of a modus vivendi between Catholic schools and the state is the result of a long history and numerous political and cultural battles. Private schools under association contracts receive public money and are therefore subject to certain constraints. While the state undertakes to respect their ‘distinctive character,’ in return, private schools must comply with the curricula and educational requirements of the ministry of education. Independent schools, on the other hand, are almost entirely free to recruit, teach, and set their own curricula, subject to compliance only with a few general guidelines.

In April, a new secretary was elected to head Catholic education. Guillaume Prévost, 42, is part of a new generation that has no intention of bowing to political correctness or taking precautions in an educational environment that is, by definition, hostile. On Tuesday, September 23rd, he caused a storm when he explained in a press conference that in a Catholic school, a teacher should be able to say a prayer with their pupils at the beginning of the lesson, because that is the “heart of their project.” “If saying ‘Hail Mary’ is unbearable for you, that’s your right, but then you shouldn’t enrol your child in a Catholic school,” he explained, before adding, “You don’t go to a Chinese restaurant to order a pizza.”

His remark, which seemed to be common sense, did not go down well, with unions and teachers crying provocation, forcing the ministry to issue a clarification. Prayer cannot be “imposed”; it must take place during “dedicated time,” as it is considered religious instruction.

In reality, and even according to the newspaper Le Monde, which is hardly suspected of sympathy for Catholic education, things are more complicated. The whole question is what is meant by the ‘distinctive character’ of private schools—the definition of which lends itself to endless controversy. Does it concern teaching, or education and the life of the institution? The line is blurred. For the French episcopate, for more than fifty years, the whole has formed an inseparable thing. In 1969, a Communication on Catholic education recalled that “its original contribution is to link, at the same time and in the same act, the acquisition of knowledge, the formation of freedom and the education of faith.”

For Guillaume Prévost, the question of prayer in the classroom should not be an issue. “Teachers have every right to do so, because it is their pedagogical freedom and their freedom of conscience,” he said, pointing out that teachers in private schools under contract with the state are not subject to the “duty of neutrality” in the same way as other public officials. The hierarchy of norms provided for in French law gives priority to “freedom of education,” guaranteed by Article 9 of the 1958 Constitution, over all other considerations.

For the Left, there is no doubt about it. Catholic education has only one thing in mind: to trample on secularism and flout freedom of conscience. The place of prayer is not the only source of tension. The new curricula incorporating EVARS (education in emotional, relational and sexual life) courses are also controversial. The Catholic education authorities expressed serious reservations when it was introduced, and representatives of the Left are on the lookout for anything that might give the impression that Catholic schools are trying to evade it—hence the pressure exerted, for example, on the prestigious Catholic school Stanislas in Paris, which has been the subject of multiple investigations amid suspicions of ‘homophobia’ and ‘sexism.’

Driven by rage and instinctive hatred towards institutions that profess values contrary to the prevailing progressivism, some left-wing politicians are pushing for the outright end of public funding for private schools—the vast majority of which are Catholic. Needless to say, they are not so concerned about private Muslim schools, which are in the minority and off their radar.

For parents who want their children to receive an education consistent with their faith in schools that are not subject to constant blackmail by the state, the solution can be found in independent schools, which in France have a total enrolment of just over 100,000 pupils. The problem is that they, too, are under attack from a public administration that is fundamentally hostile to any form of educational freedom. They are subject to a thousand and one administrative hassles. They are overwhelmed with procedures, closed down on false pretexts of hygiene and safety, or discredited before they even open their doors. Plans to establish Catholic secondary schools are thus being targeted by local elected officials who want to ban them on the grounds that they are ‘far-right’ or promote ‘sectarianism’. 

In July, 160 political, trade union and academic figures, including former French Minister of National Education Benoît Hamon and CGT General Secretary Sophie Binet, mobilised against the Saint-Louis institution, a boarding school of excellence due to open in Sologne. This improvised tribunal denounced the “risk of indoctrination” of a project that “only pretends to be in line with republican principles.” The school did open its doors in September, but under close scrutiny.

The problem is endless. Independent schools are the only place where, apparently, educational freedom can be exercised. But the Left deems them contemptible and denies them even the right to exist.

Since the Third Republic, education has been one of the main battlegrounds for the Left, which seeks to exercise a form of monopoly over the training of young minds. The very idea of an alternative to the republican school system is unbearable to the leaders who hold the reins of national education. Concessions made to private schools are constantly being eroded, and the legal status of private schools is being called into question.

As proof of this deep-seated hostility, the Higher Council for Education has just voted to remove Christian references from the names of school holidays in the academic calendar. French children still go on holiday for All Saints’ Day and Christmas. The Council is calling for this to end and for the holidays to be referred to as ‘autumn holidays’ or ‘winter holidays’ from now on. 

The school war in France is a merciless war and one of the most ideological wars there is. “From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,” it is not about to die down, because the Republic will only be satisfied when its adversary is destroyed. It is essential for parents to bear this in mind so as not to delude themselves and to preserve—at home—what can be preserved.