[Mlle Cunégonde] clearly saw the doctor's sufficient reason [Pangloss],
the effects and the causes, and returned all agitated, all pensive, toute
filled with the desire to be learned…
(Voltaire, Candid)
How should a middle school teacher go about it if he wants to "make people aware of prefixes of Greek or Latin origin and understand their importance in French vocabulary"? Well, by giving his students the following exercise, of course:
Research the etymology and meaning of the prefixes "hetero", "homo", "trans", "cis", "inter" and "bi".
This is not a bad joke at all: this little exercise in very applied philology is found as is in a document published by a National Education department, and this audacious "proposal for a pedagogical activity for middle school" is very opportunely justified by the "objective and targeted skill" of discovering the Greco-Latin roots of the French language. At the risk of making middle school students believe that the Greeks and Romans only thought about it… Will the students who follow such a lesson manage to concentrate on the mechanisms of lexical derivation alone? Or, despite the high degree of abstraction of the prefixes, will the course of historical grammar not quickly drift towards one of those object lessons which are more in the spirit of Master Pangloss than of Ferdinand Buisson?
This example is the first exercise given in the brochure “EDUCATION AND LGBTI+ Suggestions for educational activities for middle school”, published in 2020 by the MUNAE under the aegis of CANOPY (that is to say that it is a document emanating from the services of the Ministry of National Education). This document accompanies a traveling exhibition “Education and LGBTI+", funded by the DILCRAH, developed by the National Museum of Education (MUNAÉ) in partnership with the LGBTI Center Normandy , the Refuge et the association Leave Your Cheerfulness Alive (LBTG) who “hopes that this exhibition will help to raise awareness and open minds” (http://laissebientagaiete.e-monsite.com/blog/education-et-lgbti-un-peu-d-histoire-pour-lutter-contre-les-discriminations.html). The exhibition is presented in secondary schools during training and mediation activities led by the Normandy LGBTI Center and MUNAÉ.
In this document, therefore, the different subjects taught in middle school are all put through the LGBTI+ mill, without any fear of reaching the heights of absurdity.
The concern for the French language and its history is not taken much further, because the exercise that follows the discovery of the Greco-Latin roots is a crossword game (p. 2) where the student must guess the words that correspond to the following definitions, for example: "action of revealing the sexual orientation or gender identity of a person without their consent" (in 6 letters), or "discourse and identities refusing the binary categories of gender and sexuality" (in 5 letters). If the apprentice crossword puzzler has followed the lesson of his teachers very well, he will scribble without hesitation on his grid "OUTING" and "QUEER" (we cheated: the answers are given on page 3 for the poor teacher who is not yet sufficiently up to date on these subjects - dear colleague, we advise you in this case to register for the rather advanced continuing education courses also provided by the Canopée Network, so you will know everything, everything, everything, as the song says). We will not be enlightened on the Greco-Latin roots of the terms outing ou queer, but the document assures teachers that this is an exercise to "understand the diversity of LGBTI+ identities", which will undoubtedly open up a brilliant career for the middle school student, and to "master the vocabulary related to gender identities", which is certainly very useful for making oneself understood in many countries, if he or she will be required to travel when he or she is older.
Another exercise (p. 3) allows us to understand what is the goal assigned to the Moral and Civic Education (EMC) course by the authors of the document. Here first is the moral and civic education exercise:
MUNAÉ, Centre Normandie LGBTI, LBTG, Refuge and DILCRAH: research what these different bodies or associations are and present their respective roles.
And now the “targeted objectives and skills”:
- Learn about the bodies and associations fighting against discrimination and their respective roles/discover the MUNAE and its commitment to this fight.
– Carry out research to find out about and understand the exhibition.
– Be an informed citizen aware of the role of associations and able to call on them.
First objective: identify the funding body (DILCRAH), the Museum which is behind the traveling exhibition, and the three partner LGBT associations.
Second objective: the student must make the link between the exhibition which landed in his college and the aforementioned “bodies and associations”.
So far, nothing very exciting… But it is the third “targeted objective or skill” that catches the eye. An “enlightened citizen aware of the role of associations” is something that makes you smile (especially since even the least enlightened citizens, whatever their level of awareness, finance all these associations through their taxes, a detail that will probably be spared to middle school students). The term “association” in this context obviously refers to LGBTI+ associations and them alone. However, the targeted skill is that the student becomes “able to call on them”. “They”, that is to say LGBTI+ associations. This is the ultimate goal of civic and moral education from the perspective of this document. This is not at all a coincidence, since the exhibition was built with and by these associations, which thus weave their web, finding at the same time a reason for being, funding and “customers”.
Who says civic education, says knowledge of the symbols of the nation, and therefore of the flag. No civic education without evocation of the flag! This is how our document presents the thing:
a. RESEARCH – DOCUMENTATION and EMC [Moral and Civic Education]: on what occasion was the LGBTI+ flag designed? Why do you think the rainbow was chosen?
b. ORAL (possibly visual arts): And you, if you had to imagine a flag that took into account all LGBTI+ identities, what would it be like? Draw it to present it to the other students and describe it by explaining your choices.
And after that, if the middle school students and middle school girls ask for more, the document suggests “possible extensions” to the teacher:
– READING of the incipit of To end with Eddy Bellegueule (2014) by Édouard Louis (autobiography – homophobia – school bullying – physical and verbal violence).
– IMAGE ANALYSIS – CINEMA: arrival scene of the character of the university professor in full transition in Laurence Anyways by Xavier Dolan (2012) or trailer for the film.
Is it really reasonable to give reading material to middle school students? To end with Eddy Bellegueule, a book whose author claims that it "talks less, I believe, about sexuality, the discovery of sexuality, than about the impossibility of sexuality"? Is it desirable and even possible to approach such an "impossibility of sexuality" with a middle school audience?
French class, now! The document suggests an excellent writing topic (p. 8), which obviously has no manipulative aim (cf. the objective of the EMC course: to create a citizen “capable of appealing” to the LGBTI+ associations that designed the exhibition):
WRITING (imaginative subject) and ICT: Camille is in 3rd grade. After coming out, she/he experiences violent discrimination from both her classmates and some adults at school. Afraid to confide in her/his loved ones, she/he decides to write an email to an LGBTIQ+ association to tell her/him what she/he is going through and ask for help and advice to deal with this situation. Imagine this email.
We will appreciate the added mention in parentheses: "Possibility of introducing inclusive writing into this work, which can lead to a reflection on spelling...", which contravenes the Ministerial circular of May 5, 2021 according to which:
Dance In the context of education, compliance with grammatical and syntactic rules is essential. […] Firstly, it is appropriate to prohibit the use of so-called "inclusive" writing
Moreover, we do not really see how the introduction of inclusive writing can lead to a reflection on spelling, or rather we see too well how it can result in some hackneyed anti-linguistic clichés. It would unfortunately be preferable to lead to a "reflection on spelling" (and more broadly on language) students who already master spelling.
We will let the most curious of our readers browse through the other (rather predictable) recommendations in the document regarding history, science or visual arts courses, and will only point out a few gems. For example, one exercise consists of identifying the "stereotypes" in a 1967 teaching board entitled "At the wedding" (p. 8). Here is the beginning of the correction for this exercise:
The stereotypes to look out for are: heterosexual couples…
Attention to those who still haven't understood what these famous "stereotypes" that our new Don Quixotes are fighting are! A "heterosexual couple" is "a stereotype"! This is what the various "bodies and associations" that organize this exhibition and promote these "educational activities" have in mind when they claim to "fight against gender stereotypes at school"...
A History questionnaire (pp. 8-9) allows us to measure the level of erudition of middle school students on the abolition of the “crime of sodomy”, on Arcadia, Happy Foot, Ep race or the FHAR… But erudition has its limits: we will evoke the presentable side of Guy Hocquenghem without addressing “the other side” [https://blogs.mediapart.fr/michelle-guerci/blog/090920/lautre-face-de-guy-hocquenghem] of this proselytizer of the pedophile cause, militant of a sexual revolution under male domination. What is the interest of the associations in not evoking these last aspects?
Back to French class, in a chapter devoted to the theme “Literature and invisibility – LGBTI+ and children’s literature” (p. 9-11). First exercise:
Critical analysis of the IMAGE and the TEXT: a manual page (VERLAINE).
– How is Verlaine represented on this manual page? What do you think of this choice?
– How is the passage “With Rimbaud, the old temptations return: homosexuality, drunkenness” problematic?
– Rewrite this passage of the biography to remove its discriminatory character. You can, first, do some research on Verlaine and Rimbaud.
POSSIBLE EXTENSION (DOCUMENTATION): at the CDI, search in French manuals for the way in which the relationship between Verlaine and Rimbaud is presented (same on the internet).
Finally, what is most interesting in a literary work is the life of its author: return to Sainte-Beuve. The middle school students will know nothing about poetry except, in minute detail, the sexual practices of the poets. The second exercise allows in this spirit to consider a pedagogical hybridization of the Lagarde and Michard and Kama Sutra:
RESEARCH (DOCUMENTATION) and WRITING: It's your turn to write a short passage presenting some famous homosexual figures in literature that could be published in a school textbook: Verlaine, Rimbaud, Gide, Colette or Pierre Loti.
You will cite at least five important events that marked their lives and five titles of works.
The works are reduced to titles, and the literature lesson now focuses on the events that marked the authors' lives! Back to the 19th century bourgeois obsession with the artist's morals: it is exactly the same misinterpretation of art, even if it appears in an inverted form.
The students are then invited (p. 11) to become proselytes in turn, alongside younger children:
Possibility of an INTER-DEGREE READING PROJECT [so] or INTER-CLASSES:
Middle school students prepare to read albums that address the issue of same-sex parenting and offer to read them to primary school students (CM2/6th grade?) or from another class in the establishment to open up debate on this topic (it is advisable to call on an association to supervise the project and the discussions that it may lead to).
We will appreciate the judicious "advice" to "call on an association": it is not only a question of framing the debates, but also of developing the activity and therefore the financing of the partner associations.
Let's move directly to the last exercise (p. 15), which allows associations to casually offer their services for "a larger-scale action", by suggesting that middle school students recommend them to the Health and Citizenship Education Committee (CESC) and the Board of Directors of their establishment:
What if we made middle school more inclusive? (EMC – Possibility of a larger-scale action with the CESC).
After a discussion based on the last panel of the exhibition, students are asked to propose arrangements or actions that would allow a less binary approach to people in college.
NB Students' proposals can then be submitted to the CESC and/or the establishment's CA.
=> OBJECTIVES AND SKILLS TARGETTED by these activities:
– Know the LGBTI+ associations and their different commitments.
– Learn about the history of the fight against discrimination.
– Get involved in the fight against homophobia and transphobia.
– Argue, defend a point of view.
– Become an enlightened citizen.
– Get involved within your school.
The "manipulation" of the student here goes beyond the educational framework: conditioned by the exhibition and the discussions that it can generate, the middle school student is put in a position to "propose" (a verb that connotes autonomy and freedom) everything that "we ask [him]" to propose... When "we ask students to propose adjustments or actions that would allow a less binary approach to people in middle school", this means that at the end of the exhibition and the educational program that accompanies it, the associations transform the middle school students into spokespersons for their own demands. At this stage, it is no longer a question of fighting against discrimination, but of profoundly transforming the school framework and the content of the programs, so that they become compliant with new standards issued by actors outside the public education service. This is therefore unacceptable interference on the part of these associations which postulate the existence of a "binarity" which is the foundation of the mechanisms of "domination", and which must therefore be eradicated from culture and society.
The trans ideology that is trying to infiltrate the school through this exhibition and the educational documents that accompany it is, however, in direct opposition to the missions of the School of the Republic. The opposition is explicit in the "webinar" put online by CANOPÉ to present to teachers this exhibition dedicated to the fight against LGBTiphobia and to make them discover "how to approach the questions of homophobia and transphobia in class through historical heritage resources and equip you to develop the critical thinking, kindness and citizenship of students". Here is the slide that comments on the 2nd table of the exhibition [https://youtu.be/MPvkUXVh6_M?t=961], we read that “Secular heritage” is “potentially LGBTIphobic”.
From there to conclude that secularism must be deconstructed by students in the name of inclusion, there is only one step, which has already been taken by certain National Higher Institutes of Teaching and Education.
We will leave the final word to the deputy director of MUNAÉ who comments on this educational approach in the "webinar" intended to serve as a user guide for teachers:
This is obviously a form of activism.
[Source: https://youtu.be/MPvkUXVh6_M?t=926]
