"Searching for the Grand Paris" "Culture and education: the suburbs versus Paris?" -It is the result of a historical process, which, very early in the development of the city, led to a distinction between one part, North, North West, much more industrial, much more working class, which was also the area that historically welcomed immigrants or those descended from immigrants, and a western part, which was more privileged, less industrialized, which had, apart from the exceptions in the northern part of the Hautes-de-Seine and the Seine Valley, Mantes-la-Jolie, Les Mureaux, and so on, much less working-class industry. So, we see something... A historical process, a process of differentiation between one part, the North, North West, more working class, and then the West, the western regions, much more residential, and much less industrial. And so, the result of this process is that educational excellence is concentrated in one area, in the West, but not in the East. Areas such as Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Versailles, Sceaux, Reuilly-Malmaison, to point only at a few cities that have been gathering for a long time educational excellence, both public and private, which results in an advantage in terms of attractiveness and reputation, in both sectors. This lasts from junior high school until preparatory class. It is not so much a difference in the number of public establishments between the East and the West that explains this difference. When we when we look at these establishments qualitatively, at the people that they accept, at what the school has to offer, then we see that there are qualitative differences, which show reputations and hierarchies that are very influential throughout the region. Fundamentally, there is a difference in achievement and how popular a school is, between the majority of establishments in Seine-Saint-Denis, to take an example in this department, and the majority of those in Hauts-de-Seine. It is the combination of a very different profile of social and ethnic intake and a differently structured educational offering, with the aim of accommodating, particularly in priority education areas, pupils mainly from disadvantaged working-class backgrounds. And so, the establishment's policies and the educational policies are centered on the priority education areas, which constitute the everyday situation for most of Seine-Saint-Denis. In a large part of the Hauts-de-Seine and some parts of the Yvelines, the priority is to maintain the rivalry between the academically superior establishments. So, we can see that the reasons behind the educational differentiation reflect the reasons behind urban segregation and the importance of an establishment's reputation that charaterize French school system. We must also understand that there is an ambiguity surrounding the idea of positive discrimination, whether housing-based or school-based. Basically, if we take the example of priority education areas, we can understand the logic behind them, of giving more to schools that accept pupils who are struggling academically. But one of the negative effects of targeting certain establishments, of labelling them "priority education areas" is that it makes the parents uncomfortable because they associate this label with an establishment in difficulty. Therefore, they will anticipate, through school avoidance or through other educational strategies, and avoid "taking the risk" of sending children to school, who, through this labelling, through the fact that they benefit from a positive discrimination policy, will be perceived as being more disadvantaged than others. You can see the contradiction and the ambiguity here between the desire to give these schools additional resources, precisely because they accept more disadvantaged pupils, but consequently, because of this program, they are labelled and stigmatised. So we can see clearly the limitations of school policy when it comes to desegregation. Fundamentally, it would be better to take more action on the residential front, with more desegregation measures in terms of housing. Then, we would be in a position to think about the education sector which would be more diversified, more mixed. -The evolution of the role of culture in schools is... rather paradoxical. It is an apparent paradox, but actually... One feature of the education system from the past 50 years is a continuous movement towards making primary and secondary education more accessible and, to a certain extent today, higher education. The influence of schools on society has never been as strong as it is now. The proportion of French people who are exposed, for a long duration, to the influence of school has never been as large as it is now. We don't live anymore in a society in which only the elite, only a minority of the population, has the privilege of a longer education. Therefore, we believe that this increased influence schools have on society, which is the consequence of the rise of mass education, this increased influence on society should go hand in hand with... this prescriptive role in regard to culture, which is becoming stronger. Yet, it is the opposite of that. In fact, it is only an apparent paradox. In making school more available to the masses, access is given to people who are less socially and culturally aware of an institution's expected education standards. In other words, other external influences are allowed in and the door is opened to forms of prescription which work the other way round, not from educational institution towards the pupils. These forms of prescriptions could be, not from the bottom up, but more horizontal forms of prescription between pupils, which can escape, more or less completely, from the school's symbolic and cultural authority. It is not a completely new movement, the influence, the prescriptive role of prevailing trends, youth culture. It emerged in the 1960s, and went on to develop in a society where the vast majority of adolescents and young people are now in education or something similar. I think it is an extremely important question related to the issues of culture and education. One part, which we call educational discontent, or teacher discontent, can result from this cultural shift and the loss of symbolic authority of schools, headteachers and teachers, with regard to the school population which, to put it bluntly, is not easily taken in... They are a lot less passive, in some ways. I say that with no value judgement. They are a lot less... a lot more reluctant to vertical forms of cultural prescription. I think that is something important to remember if you want to analyse the evolution of the relationship between teachers and their pupils. I think it is an issue that... Here, we are talking about it in kind of theoretical way, but I think it is an issue that the majority of teachers have experienced. And the older teachers, throughout their career, have had tangible experience of the evolution of school's role regarding cultural prescription.
