Monday, April 5, 2010
Entre les murs
I first saw this film last Spring in Lyon. We just saw it again for class, but I still have this lingering question. Why were there class representatives, the two girls Esmeralda and Louise, at the meeting of teachers and administrators to decide whether students would pass the grade or not? My British friend who had been living in France for many years said he thought it had something to do with "democratizing" the school system, and letting everyone have a say. As a future teacher, this sounds like the worst idea ever! What middle school girl would keep her mouth shut about everything the teachers say about other students' grades and behavior? Certainly not any that I have met, as exemplified by the situation that later occurred in the film. Is this widespread in schools and what purpose does it serve?
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Hi,
ReplyDeleteI'm gonna try to answer your question.
The 2 students were elected by all the students to represent them. They are here for 2 main reasons.
The first is to defend the students. For example if a student has trouble at school for a reason, the representatives students would explain it and try to depict their fellows in the best way possible.
The other reason is that they are here to listen and then to explain to the other students what was said.
I see no reason why the other students shouldn't know about what was said.
It's a way to let them know what was good and what wasn't about them. I don't see why a teacher would have something to say about a student that the so-called student shouldn't be aware of.
These 2 students are the link between all the students and the teachers.
A last reason would be that the 2 students could discuss some issues existing between some students and some teachers.
I hope my answer helped you.
Bye
Bonjour !
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, great question, Lizzy. I was actually wondering the same thing.
Thank you for your response, Marie-lou! It was very insightful to read a French student's explanation and opinion about the student representatives we saw in "Entre les murs."
I just wanted to add a note from an American perspective. In all my years of schooling, I have never seen students sitting in on a teachers’ meeting. In fact, a lot of times when teachers requested a conference with a student’s parents, the actual student in question was *not* present during the discussion. Therefore, it seemed like quite a shock to most Americans to see student representatives in the teachers’ meeting.
Also, I personally found it more shocking because it would be different if the two student representatives were quiet and respectful during the meeting; however, they seemed the exact opposite: quite rowdy, rude, and disrespectful. Also, the next day when the representatives had already spilled the beans about the meeting to their classmates, they neglected to mention any positive comments the teachers made. This may have been intentionally done to increase the suspense and drama in the movie, but it was certainly shocking to see what information they intentionally chose to share with their classmates, and what information they decided to conveniently leave out.
Sincerely,
Jasmine
Hi again,
ReplyDeleteI didn't see the movie but I think that now I get better why you were shocked.
I just wanted to add that when a teacher wanna meet with the parents of a student, the student is generally here. I don't recall any situation where a parent would meet a teacher without the student. It would be weird.
And about the representative students, they usually share both good and bad criticism.
Of course it depends on the people and all representatives aren't good. But they are usually really helpful to the students.
Finally we don't expect them to be quiet during the meeting. We expect them to fight for us and to dare arguing with teachers if they unfairly accuse a student.
Once again, this might be a typical example of what we call democracy in France.
Bye,
Marie-lou