Schools Are in Crisis: When Education Gives Way to Ideology
 

While the purpose of schools is to educate and train younger generations, it is clear that they are now straying dangerously far from this mission. Worse still, they are encroaching on an area that should remain the domain of parents: the teaching of family values and morals.
Let us first recall a few founding principles.

The Origins of the Republican School System

Jules Ferry, Minister of Public Instruction in the late 19th century, entrusted teachers with a clear mission: to impart a moral and civic education, without ever imposing any religious or ideological doctrine. The law of March 18, 1882, explicitly excluded all dogma from school curricula, in order to protect the freedom of conscience of both teachers and students.
In his famous Letter to Teachers, Ferry distinguished between two distinct domains: on the one hand, beliefs—personal, free, and variable—and on the other, knowledge—shared and essential to all. The teacher was then regarded as an “auxiliary to the parent,” charged with imparting a universal moral code—one that any honest parent could approve of without reservation.

What is happening today?

That kind of school seems to have disappeared. In its place has emerged a form of propaganda: a biased way of thinking, imposed by successive governments and certain pressure groups, that uses schools to shape children’s minds according to a very specific worldview.
Among the most striking examples are lessons on gender identity or sexuality intended for very young children, outside speakers whose content is sometimes questionable, and rhetoric that tends to undermine parental authority, which is portrayed as an obstacle to children’s “freedom.”
At the same time, teachers have gradually lost their authority. For fear of being accused of authoritarianism, many have relinquished their role as guides. The result: students left to their own devices, without solid guidance.

An education system that produces consumers, not free thinkers

In higher education, the situation is just as troubling. Rather than learning to think critically and independently, students are trained to memorize and regurgitate information. They are taught technical skills to become productive, but the development of character—that is, the building of a personality and a moral compass—is neglected.
In some prestigious engineering schools, programs focused on “tolerance” and inclusion—noble values in and of themselves—are sometimes used to dismiss any viewpoint that differs from that of the government. Questioning

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Translated with DeepL.com (free version)