All The More Reason

There’s a piece in today’s LeMonde citing that France fails more students than any other developed nation (the OCDE – I’m not positive who belongs to this group, nor the english translation). The piece, not hiding its bias, claims that failing students in elementary school is harmful to the child as they end up having the same areas of difficulty the following year. A certain Christian Forestier, who is not afraid of hyperbole at all, calls it a “véritable génocide pédagogique”. One wonders the compliments he must be capable of…

I have no idea whether keeping a student back for another year is bad for them or not. I’d guess that it would largely depend on an individual basis. It is a subject that is worthy of exploration. I’m certain though that one study or two is not going to be the end of the debate, as much as Marine Laronche and so many of her ilk would like it to be.

J.S.