Interview | Philippe Nemo

Ignorance is spreading in schools

 Philippe Nemo is a French philosopher who has written a series of works on Western philosophy and about how French education has come to decline in quality. He is now writing a book in which he compares the education systems in different countries and has recently visited Sweden and Lund to meet principals and teachers at several schools. His views are interesting in Sweden because he points to organization, pedagogy and teacher training as the problems in the school - not the profits of independent schools.

 He also underlines that there is no guarantee of quality with schools run under public auspices. In other words, he gives different perspectives than those we hear in Swedish debate, when he answers my questions.

 Nemo first wants to say that France has a very old and very rich intellectual, scientific and cultural tradition, which is not easily destroyed. Now, however, for three or four decades, the french educational system has been down graded.

 The young are the first victims. There are a couple of famous schools that can be seen as islands of resistance, but they can be overwhelmed by the spreading ignorance.

 It is not the wishes of parents and employers that the politicians followed when they introduced the French primary school, but a desire to have control, says Nemo. Primary school in France means, as in Sweden, that all students read according to the same curriculum at the same pace until the age of 16, and despite criticism similar to that heard in Sweden, no change takes place.

 In France, the Ministry of Education manages 1.3 million employees, most of whom are teachers. These have a strong position as state employees and they are represented by strong trade unions. The huge education bureaucracy is almost impossible to control.

 Ministers have no real authority over the school. If he or she takes the slightest initiative that the unions don't like, the minister will be short-lived. The state's monopoly is also combined with the "school map", which means that students are referred to the nearest school. Parents thus have very little say.

 You can say that the teachers are stuck in the state's net. The state trains them, recruits them, pays them and insists on its type of pedagogy. Teachers cannot get a better job by doing a good job. It is a situation similar to the one that led to stagnation in the Soviet Union. There are idealistic teachers who are passionately interested in their subject and who do their utmost for the students, but they have no influence on the education policy of the country. Is there an equivalent to Swedish independent schools?

 Yes, says Nemo, and the equivalent is called “contract schools”, and these are mainly Catholic. They are called that because they have a contract with the state. In France as in Sweden, schools are paid for with public funds. Contract schools have been a safety valve, and without them there would have been an explosion. They are now superior to the public schools in everything. They have more effective pedagogy, more order and order and offer physical and psychological security for the students. Even most socialist ministers and MPs want to send their children to contract schools, and yet it is they who have created today's state school. The French left, if it were honest, should immediately include in its program that there should be more contract schools.

 According to a survey, 40 percent of all French families want to send their children to such schools, but the unions do not allow the number of contract schools to exceed 18 percent. Thus long waiting lists arise to get a place in such a school. The big difference between contract schools and independent schools is that in France it is the school that receives support, while in Sweden the support follows the student.

 In France, there is no predetermined amount either. The fact that contract schools are popular does not mean that money is taken from state schools. However, each contract school is an additional cost, so there is an economic argument for keeping the number low. The French unions would call a giant strike if France adopted Sweden's rule that funding follows the student, a rule based on common sense, says Nemo.

 Why is pedagogy so political? According to Nemo, the official pedagogy, the one supported by the Ministry of Education, is not a science. It consists of a number of procedures invented to make elementary school work. When you put all young people of a certain age in the same class, intellectually "heterogeneous" groups arise. In such groups you cannot give regular lessons. One therefore needs to come up with different methods such as group work, discussions, video viewing and study visits so that everyone can participate and no one feels excluded.

 This is a hope that is ideological in the sense that the intention is to enable the equal school and has been given the name pedagogy. The idea of ​​using the school to transform society is a left-wing project and has become a kind of religion.

 In France, there is no other official pedagogy. Nemo is worried about the future of Europe. He sees that the quality of public education systems has declined in several countries in Europe. In today's world, non-European countries are becoming increasingly important, especially the Asian ones. He has had the opportunity to visit schools in Japan and South Korea and has been able to observe that education there is treated much more serious. It is clear that Europe needs to become more ambitious in its school and university policy. Nemo warns: If we do not accept that challenge, China and other superpowers will sooner or later gain power over us.

Philippe Nemo Professor who teaches philosophy and history of ideas at the ESCP-EAP European School of Management in Paris

Todde

Also check: 

https://axiom1b.blogspot.com/2023/05/overpopulation-and-future-of-mankind.html

 

 The second cold war is already here

 Peace and freedom in our time will only come if we stop the powers that would rather see war and dictatorship.

 The second cold war is already here. China, Russia and Iran act in a coordinated, long-term and purposeful manner to threaten the interests of Sweden and our allies, the position of democracy and the rules-based world order. To win this second Cold War, we in the West must learn from the first.

 It took too long before we acted on the realization that the adversary, the Soviet Union, was already waging a war against us. It is time for the democratic world to wake up again. China's aggression against Taiwan, Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, and Iran's proxy warfare through terrorist organizations such as Hamas are all examples of how the Second Cold War takes a warm form.

 Russia's warfare is made possible, among other things, by both Iran and China assisting with weapons and financial means. These three countries are cooperating ever more closely, but not on the basis of any shared positive conviction. Russia is fascist, China is communist and Iran is Islamist.

 The cooperation derives its energy from a common object of hatred: free people in free societies. The liberal democratic world order, where people's freedoms and rights are protected and where there is no room for such dictators. Russia, China and Iran are the evil axis powers of our time.

 Putin's war in Ukraine is not primarily about oil or gas. It is about revanchism and fever dreams of a resurrected tsarism. Xi Jinping's threats and aggression against Taiwan are not primarily about the island's strategic position, but rather about a historical delusion that Taiwan should belong to China, to succeed where Mao failed.

 In Tehran, the mullahs are motivated by religious fanaticism that finds even more extreme expression in the proxy armies of Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthi regime. Against dictators driven by revanchist delusions, ordinary diplomacy does not work as a countermeasure. Concessions only encourage the dominance behavior. When Britain's Chamberlain let Nazi Germany annex parts of what was then Czechoslovakia and proclaimed "peace in our time", he did so in good faith. The hope was that the Führer would calm down. The result, we know, was the opposite: Hitler took the concessions as proof of the weakness of the Western powers and Chamberlain's naivety paved the way for the Second World War.

 The policy that was supposed to be tapering turned out to lead to escalation.

 When Russia attacked Georgia and began its occupation, the West acted with similar weakness. Instead of responding, drawing a line in the sand and confronting the dictatorship we let it happen. In the naive hope that this would be enough and in fear of escalating the conflict. The result was again the opposite, Russia continued its war against the West by attacking and occupying Crimea. The absence of adequate responses then again led to escalation when Russia launched its full-scale war of invasion of Ukraine.

 We can still avoid a third world war, but then it requires us to end the policy of appeasement and instead arm up, respond and hold our red lines. From the point of view of China, Iran and Russia, the war against us is already in full swing.

 During the first Cold War, it also took time for the US and its allies to understand what was going on. A now classic historical anecdote claims that Stalin was asked by his underlings if they could ask to buy a turbojet engine from the British to develop their new fighter aircraft. Stalin is said to have replied that the British could not be so stupid as to sell their technology to them.

 Stalin was wrong. The Soviets were allowed to buy blueprints and engines, developed the MiG 15 fighter and used it against the West and its allies during, the Korean War. When we trade with and allow investment from these countries in the hope of economic growth, the invisible cost to us is very high.

 Or as Lenin put it: the capitalist will sells us the rope we will hang him with.

 Russia regularly sabotages critical infrastructure in Europe, be it IT systems, power lines or transport routes. China carries out targeted hacker attacks against democratically elected parliamentarians. Iran plans assassinations of citizens in our countries recruiting gang leaders to carry out acts of terrorism on commission. For the leaders of these countries, the confrontation is already a fact and they are doing everything in their power to emerge victorious from it.

 China's front policy makes a trusting exchange with China impossible. If all Chinese citizens and businesses must obey the Communist Party, then they could potentially pose a threat. We must understand that there are no private companies from China. In a market economy, entrepreneurship rests on private ownership, companies are separate from the state. In China, all companies must subsidize the state, inconvenient business owners can "disappear" and all information must be shared with the Communist Party. The threats from Russia, China and Iran must be met as they are coordinated – collectively.

 The conflicts cannot be understood or dealt with in isolation and appeasement policies only lead to escalation. Therefore, a broad palette of offensive political measures is now required which Sweden, together with other like-minded countries in the world, should push through.

 Against Russia, the EU and our allies must ensure that Ukraine has all the support necessary to win and that Russia loses the war. In relation to China, it is required that we fully support the democracy of Taiwan and ensure a broad understanding of the concrete threat China poses.

 Against Iran, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, IRGC, must be listed as a terrorist and the popular resistance in Iran must be supported in every way possible. We can regain the initiative, move from an obviously failed and laid-back concession policy, to a realistic and value-driven democracy offensive. The costs may be significant, but the alternative is war after war and, in the long run, much higher costs. Peace and freedom in our time will only come if we stop the powers that would rather see war and dictatorship.

Todde

Also check: https://axiom1b.blogspot.com/2024/01/the-earths-nature-is-being-ravaged-by.html