When teenagers protest that the government is failing to uphold their right to education, and the government responds by sending in riot police, it has lost its way. People outside France may have spent the past week watching student protests in Paris and other cities and thought, “Well, France has a long tradition of insurrection,” or, “That’s just the French being French.” But the situation that has sparked high-school walkouts and teenage anger is probably not what they would immediately associate with the France of their imaginations. In place of its lost way, the French government has a collection of anecdotes and statistics it should be ashamed of: 27th place in the most recent OECD education rankings; schools with collapsing ceilings, rats in classrooms, and, in a school in Bagnolet, no drinkable water; an increase in the average number of students per class from 27 in 2010 to over 30 today; half of primary and high schools missing teachers at the start of the school year – many with no substitutes or replacements. Julie, a 34-year-old teacher who joined the demonstrations, told me that staff shortages were the fault of “low salaries and poor treatment.” She has to commute an hour and 45 minutes each way between Paris and the school on the city’s outskirts where she accepted a post last year after switching careers. All for €2,100 (£1,780) a month, plus some overtime pay. Teachers’ salaries in France are only 56% of what they are in Germany – even as over €200bn in public subsidies finds its way annually to businesses. So it could easily have been a teacher-led revolt – instead, the high-schoolers themselves cracked first. They paid a high price for refusing to accept a failing education system: a 16-year-old has lost the use of an eye, a 15-year-old has lost a hand, a 14-year-old has a broken jaw – all from police munitions. Hundreds more have been injured in some way. In total, 4,400 people, the vast majority minors, have been arrested in a little over a week, almost half the number of arrests made during the months of gilets jaunes chaos. It might seem incoherent that protesting students shoot fireworks at high school buildings while at the same time denouncing the poor facilities they have to study in. But the far greater incoherence belongs to a government that has disinvested in its youth and has chosen to answer bin fires with police charges. “Sure, some people were burning trash cans,” Fatoumata Sylla Wague, a 17-year-old in her final year at the Lycée Paul Éluard in Seine-Saint-Denis, where pupils were among the first to set up blockades outside their campus, told me. “But trash cans can’t feel anything.” She and her fellow students, on the other hand, certainly felt the teargas that the police launched in response. Despite “unlivable” temperatures in the school buildings, extreme heat and extreme cold, walls covered in mould, electricity cuts, and often not enough tables or chairs for everyone, Fatoumata would rather have been in class than out braving the riot police. But she wants to teach history some day and felt compelled, in a moment in history comparable to May 1968, to take part. “If I’m fighting for our rights today, it’s because I really want to teach, but in good conditions. And so this is for the next generation of students and teachers.” View image in fullscreen Students gather during a blockade at the Lycee Paul-Eluard high school in the northern Paris suburb of Saint-Denis Photograph: Luc Auffret/Anadolu/Getty Images I can’t imagine how hard it must be to be a teenager in general today. In 2021 The Lancet found that 75% of French 16-25-year-olds exhibited signs of eco-anxiety, telling researchers they were “frightened” about the future. In France and beyond, students and young workers actively dislike AI and feel pessimistic about the future it portends. As for Fatoumata, she worries about theThe rise of far-right political movements, both in France and elsewhere.
For years, successive French governments have responded to problems in some of France’s most troubled urban areas with heavy-handed policing that too often targets young people through random checks that can be personally degrading. Centralized policymaking has also created a national education system that frequently sends its least experienced teachers to these same areas, while giving more senior teachers priority when requesting transfers to easier schools.
A future far-right government—the kind Fatoumata says she worries about—would almost certainly make these tensions worse. Already, in response to the protests, right-wing politicians have called for harsher sentences and more law and order. But this is not a problem that will be solved with more police and more batons, any more than it already has been.
Because none of it signals a government that truly wants to listen—it signals that society at large does not really claim these places, or these teenagers, as its own. “On n’est pas mal éduqué, on n’est pas écouté” (“We’re not poorly educated, we’re just not being listened to”), read one sign I saw held up at Paris’s Place de la République on Tuesday.
Responding to the crisis will require some tangible actions, such as upgrading dilapidated facilities. Arnaud Richards, 50, head of student services at Iqbal Masih middle school in Saint-Denis, gave me the example of how thoughtful architecture can have more impact than one might expect. The technical high school where he previously worked—Gabriel Péri, in an extremely poor area—reopened in 2022 after a complete reconstruction, which, according to Richards, led to a calmer climate for both students and teachers. “Having the school itself be a beautiful place made the community feel more respected,” he told me. That in turn “created a calmer environment” for both students and staff.
But a real answer doesn’t stop with better facilities. Showing up to cut ribbons on new construction or renovations isn’t enough. During Emmanuel Macron’s decade in power, his government has, on any number of issues, repeatedly failed to listen in a way that makes people feel deeply seen and heard.
As Fatoumata said: “Honestly, I don’t think the government cares, they just want to shut us up with false promises. We know nothing will change, because the government doesn’t listen to us.” Of all the things going wrong for France at the moment, this underlying lack of a feeling of “togetherness”—the feeling that nobody is really listening—is going to be the most difficult to deal with.
Alexander Hurst writes for Guardian Europe from Paris. His memoir Generation Desperation is out now.
Frequently Asked Questions
Here is a list of FAQs based on the article Nobody is listening to us on the school protest frontline I heard why Frances students feel abandoned by Alexander Hurst
Beginner Questions
Q What is this article about
A It is a firsthand report from a journalist who visited a high school in France during student protests He spoke to teenagers who feel the government is ignoring their problems
Q Where does this story take place
A In France specifically at a school in a town called ChenneviressurMarne near Paris
Q Who is protesting
A French high school students They are blocking their schools and marching to show they are unhappy
Q Why are the students protesting
A They are angry about several things crowded classes a lack of teachers poor school buildings and a new government policy that they say is unfair to students from poorer families
Q What does the phrase Nobody is listening to us mean here
A It is a feeling the students have They believe the government and adults in power are making decisions about their education without asking them or caring what they think
Intermediate Questions
Q What is the social mix policy the students are angry about
A It is a plan to change how students are assigned to schools The goal is to mix students from different backgrounds and income levels so that poor students are not all grouped in the worst schools The students say the plan is being done badly and will actually hurt them
Q Why do the students feel abandoned
A They see their schools falling apartleaking roofs broken toilets not enough teachers They feel the government spends money on other things but not on their basic education They also feel that no one in power takes their complaints seriously
Q What are some specific problems in their schools
A The article mentions
Classes with more than 35 students
Teachers who are absent and not replaced
Old dirty and unsafe buildings
Not enough school counselors and nurses
Q What do the students want the government to do
