High school reform: what future for mathematics?

A complete contradiction? Just days after highlighting the work of the Villani–Torossian Commission, aimed at "improving mathematics education in France", an alarming proposal for high school reform would allow students—even those taking specialist science subjects—to choose not to study mathematics in the last two years of high school. An unexpected move from a minister whose approach to education had won us over! The proposal has already prompted numerous protests\*. What, then, is this pernicious influence that prevents successive governments from understanding that mathematics is part of universal culture, and that denying humanities students—and even more so science students—access to mathematical skills is every bit as stupid as denying science students access to proficiency in French? Tangente has always fought to defend this multidisciplinary culture and will continue to do so. Make no mistake: allowing students to opt out of mathematics education means putting a bullet through their future—and ultimately accepting France's scientific and economic decline!

The proposed reform will be introduced in three stages. At the start of the 2018 school year, it will apply to tenth grade (French seconde), with minor changes such as setting aside time throughout high school for individual support and guidance—a full hour and a half each week! From the start of the 2019 school year, students entering 11th grade, after choosing either the general or technological track, as they do today, will have to follow a general-education curriculum consisting of:

> – a compulsory "common core curriculum" (16 hours in 11th grade and 15½ hours in the final year), which includes neither mathematics nor the other sciences, apart from two hours a week under the obscure heading "Scientific and Digital Humanities"; > – "specialist subjects" (three in 11th grade and two in the final year), taught for four hours each in 11th grade and six hours each in the final year (mathematics is among them); > – one optional three-hour course (with the possibility of a second in the final year), chosen from a range of subjects; mathematics—either "complementary" or "advanced"—is available only in the final year.

The general track will therefore no longer be divided into streams, which is no bad thing. But the possibility that mathematics may disappear from the last two years of high school, together with the fact that French will no longer be compulsory in the final year—after the French baccalauréat examination, still taken in 11th grade—shows that those in power still fail to understand that mathematics and the French language are the foundation of a citizen's education.

The reform also proposes a far-reaching overhaul of the baccalauréat from 2021. This time, the Tangente team supports it, though we may regret that no one had the courage to go further and simply abolish this anachronistic relic of the past, which now plays no part in either educational guidance or recruitment criteria. The key change is that continuous assessment will account for 40% of the final grade. It will be based on common examinations, held during the student's last two years of high school in the subjects they are studying. To ensure equality between candidates and schools, a "national digital question bank" will be created. Examination papers will be anonymized and marked by teachers other than the student's own, with procedures in place to ensure consistent grading. School reports will account for only a limited share (10%) of the final grade, rewarding students for working consistently. The baccalauréat itself, which will therefore account for 60% of the final grade, will comprise four examinations in addition to the early written and oral French examinations at the end of 11th grade: a written philosophy examination; two written examinations in the specialist subjects chosen by the candidate; and a twenty-minute oral examination prepared throughout the final two years, consisting of a presentation of a project developed by the student from 11th grade onward, followed by a discussion of the project.

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\Petitions have even been launched, particularly on the website https://www.change.org*