Spring 2013 - The Independent Schools' Modern Language ...

France’s imperial presence for both the countries left behind and the moderndaymétropole. His conference paper on the film Entre les Murs providedmuch to chew on in that wider context; the film would also suggest itself as achallenging and rewarding Cultural Topic at A2.Professor Harrison’s current research project focuses on education in Algeriaat the end of empire and what we can learn from writers of Muslim backgroundswho had the disorientating experience of attending French seniorschools. Indigenous children were in an infinitesimal minority in schoolsabove primary level – perhaps three or four in an average lycée of 1500 –and those who made it through felt their otherness keenly. At the time, theFrench used the notion of the ‘mission civilisatrice’ to justify colonialism intheir own culture. Looking back, two strands appear when trying to assessthe impact of French education in the colonies: that it was a crudely assimilationisttool of domination which disseminated prejudice; and that the Frenchacted in bad faith by not educating indigenous children seriously – in otherwords, to functional levels of Maths and French at primary school so theycould fulfil ‘their’ place in society, but not risking greater levels of understandingand independence of mind by taking more children through secondaryeducation. It is noteworthy that the separation of church and schoolingdid not occur in the colonies as in the métropole, so imported Roman Catholicismcontinued to be a part of the education of children of Islamic and otherfaiths. Considering the role of education in preserving hierarchies and theforeign nature of French as a language of study for Arab children, the questionis raised: for whom might it have been better if more of them had goneto school for longer?Echoes of this colonial material can be found in modern work – particularlywhat the purpose might be of learning French among other humanities. Acase in point is the film Entre les Murs which is based on a novel of the sametitle by François Bégaudeau who taught French in a tough collège on theedge of Paris and wrote up his experiences in autobiographical style.Bégaudeau was a somewhat accidental teacher who left education when thenovel did well; he collaborated with director Laurent Cantet on the screenplayand plays a version of himself, François Marin, in the film. The action focuseson the teacher’s shifting, difficult relationship with his multi-ethnic class as hestrives to explore with them the complexities of the imperfect subjunctive –rejected by the pupils as being of limited use in everyday speech – the Diaryof Anne Frank – none of them read it – and their own word self-portraits capturingtheir aspirations, dislikes and pastimes. Entre les Murs won the Palmed’Or at Cannes, becoming the first French release to do so in 21 years, andreceived positive critical reviews in France and the UK. However, the film wassocially controversial in France, with commentators at all points on the politicalspectrum using it as a pretext to air their views on education and the16