Friday October 13, Dominique Bernard, French teacher, was killed during a terrorist attack by a student in Arras. According to the video of the scene, the attacker was looking for a geography teacher. Three years after the assassination of Samuel Paty, two teachers from the Poitiers academy testify to the fear felt that day and how they will support their students this Monday morning.
“The fear, the astonishment, then… again? It’s not possible… testifies Aline Le Pape, history and geography teacher at the Joseph Desfontaines high school in Melle (79). I left the class where I had just talked about Samuel Paty. I went away and when I came back to school, I heard what had just happened in Arras. In the teachers’ room, we didn’t understand.”
A few kilometers further, in Niort, the incomprehension is shared in another teachers’ room. “We were preparing for the National Education exam, Samuel Paty among colleagues. A teacher sees the alert on his cell phone. We believe it’s a joke, false information… Then suddenly, we are confronted again with the reality. The class hours in the afternoon were very longsays Christine*, a history and geography teacher at the college. At one point, we realized that the front door of the establishment was open. We realized that we had lowered our vigilance and we thought of our colleagues.”
Once the effect of astonishment has passed, it is anger that takes place against “An institution that no longer protects. The profession is no longer protected. There is the “teacher bashing” who has done and is doing a lot of harm. It helped to break the parent-teacher bond, reinforced by the fact that we recruit teachers from the right place…What guarantee do we give to parents?”evokes Christine.
“We have the impression that we are heroes when one of our own falls, otherwise we are lazy people always on vacation. For ten, fifteen years, we have had to do everything and as soon as there is a problem in the society, we are guilty. It’s very destabilizing”adds Aline.
We cannot destroy National Education and ask it to save the world!
Aline Le Pape
history and geography teacher
Added to this for professionals is the symbol represented by the attack on the School. Christine asks: “The Republic and secularism are also affected. Today, how can we detect a student under influence? Radicalization is sneaky and we will also have to explain to our students that we must not associate foreigners with the cause of all our ills.”
Talking to students is what the government is proposing this Monday morning at 10 a.m. in secondary schools, before the discussion time is reserved for teachers. For primary school students, it will be during the lunch break “here again, it is unequal. Many students do not eat in the canteen. Why this difference in treatment?Christine is surprised. I will measure, feel too, through words. Students are the sponges of their family environment. They may have seen the video of the attack, which is very violent. Once again, I think it is history and geography teachers who will talk about it the most. I’m going to try to take time out of my moral and civics course to come back to it cold turkey on Friday before we go on vacation.”
Aline was not supposed to be in class on Monday. But she will come to take this time with her final year students: “I’m going to start with their questions. Then, we’re going to come back to the notions of fanaticism, freedom of expression, the principle of secularism. We didn’t have this time for Samuel Paty.”
The two teachers recall their passion for their profession, the love of transmission and above all “we don’t do this job by chance. Often, it’s because a teacher made an impact on us.”adds Christine with great enthusiasm.
With twenty years of career each under their belt, they assure that they will continue the work. With the addition of their love of their profession, a new mission: “When we are no longer here to stop all this…Who will?”concludes Aline pragmatically.
*The first name has been changed
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