Controversy over Inclusive Writing in French Law Exam at Lumière Lyon 2 University

The Lumière Lyon 2 University is at the heart of a certain controversy after the law faculty offered its students to take an exam written in inclusive writing. If some students have seen no inconvenience, others, grouped within an association, denounce on the contrary “a deconstruction of the French language”.

The copy of discord. In an examination of the Faculty of Law Lumière Lyon 2, a couple of non-binary people was taken as the case of a test in family law written in inclusive writing. In particular, there were words such as ‘professionaels’, ‘appelae’, ‘recognized’ and ‘open’.

For its defenders, these terminologies, which are reminiscent of certain declensions of Latin, were developed so as not to have to “gender” a person who defines himself neither as a man nor as a woman.

But for its detractors, this hybrid form between the written and the oral remains a nonsense because it does not allow in particular the internal verbalization essential to learning to read.

In Lyon, the use of this inclusive spelling has also aroused indignation on the part of the student association UNI-Lyon, which denounces a “woke propaganda”: ​​“It is a deconstruction of the French language”, in this sense declared one of the spokespersons to CNEWS. “It is absolutely not the role of education. The university should be a temple of knowledge, not a political instrument,” he continued.

The faculty reacts

In the test, it was specified that the students were free to answer in classic spelling or in inclusive writing. The faculty reacted to the controversy, declaring that the contents of the exams fall under the pedagogical freedom of teachers.

On the side of the students, the words aroused astonishment: “I had never seen that”; “I didn’t think it would be written like that at all,” testified two students.

However, one of them – past the effect of surprise – declared not to have been disturbed by the use of the words spelled in inclusive writing: “One day, we will be lawyers or lawyers. We are going with the evolution of society, so I think it is necessary to learn that, ”she said.