Effects of Entire les Murs On Traditional French National Identity - Essay Example

EFFECTS OF ENTRE LES MURS ON TRADITIONAL FRENCH NATIONAL IDENTITY By Location Introduction Most European countries have their students going to public schools under a centralized public education system. By being a centralized system, these education sectors have a core ministry of education that makes all stakeholders of schools responsible for their actions in their respective schools. For instance, France has a larger percentage of its students acquiring education in public schools with the percentage culminating up to 85%. The countrys ministry of education receives monetary and other funds from the national government to foresee all activities that go on in these institutions. The curriculum, which determines the depth covered in each subject taught in the schools, is also drafted by this ministry. This makes the education system in France to be a centralized public one since the performance of public schools is determined by the efficiency of strategies stipulated by the ministry of education. This ministry even assigns eligible personnel to train and evaluate teachers who are then left as keepers to pupils during their life at school (Buisson-fenet & Draelants 2013). This paper, however, tries to put across various ways in which various scenes in the French film Entre les murs alters the ways in which the French traditions are viewed. Effects of the French Film on French Traditions This film was done in the year 2008 and with its literal translation being ‘between the walls, is a film that traces its origin from a novel. It was in 2006 that this novel was introduced, and it gave a detailed story of what Begaudeau went through during his one year term as a middle school teacher who taught the French language. During this time at the school, this teacher even meets stubborn pupils who are not interested in learning the language yet he has to convince them its essence because after all he has been posted to the school to teach the language. Therefore, Entre les murs film demonstrates this French teacher as one who has played his role maximally well due to good techniques of handling students well without discrimination against performance lines (Dobbins 2012). In the film, at the beginning of a new academic year, teachers are seen reporting back to their job and introducing themselves since there may be new members who have joined them. However, their principal seems to be, rather an unwelcoming figure due to the gestures sent during the introduction period and didnt smile even an inch. Later in the day, the staff play against the pupils in an informal match organized maybe with the essence of easing the tension between pupils and their teachers. It is evident that this film has had a great audience reception since it won the 2008 Cannes Film Festival award (Tondeur & Gaballah 2002). It has been argued in history that narratives and films are peoples ways of reasoning, and they offer the best way of judging the ethnicity of their composers and actors. Since ethnicity is someones way of life, he/she will always display it in writing or acting in the cases of narratives and films respectively. With such an outstanding display of someones ethnical background, he/she will try to prove that it is right and make it acceptable to the audience despite any criticism it receives. This is the reason as to why the French teacher did not give up teaching the language despite the fact that some of the bright students claimed not to like the language and were not interested in learning it. The confinement theme is widespread throughout the film in that students are confined to learn the language since it is one of the subjects that should be taught to them according to the curriculum set up by the ministry of education. This makes school an uninteresting place for pupils who are not of French origin, bearing in mind that some immigration took place (Piana 2007). Someone who views this film for the first time may be obliged to have a negative attitude towards French culture due the fact that pupils are a force to learn it at schools. The fact that this teacher enjoys French does not mean that everybody will like it and failure to understand that will cause someone who might have been willing to learn the French culture to have second thoughts about it. If a certain pupil does not understand this language, then definitely he/she will assume that their culture is not that pleasing as well hence dislikes it. The greater effect is that their culture will not spread and be admired by other people, and it will not gain attention from other non-French citizens (Dobbins 2012). Also known as The Class, this French film brings out boundaries of various languages in both formal and informal forums to meet in the traditional French social space. In this film, pupils are seen being forced to learn French language against their preferences in formal sessions during class hours and later in the day when pupils play with their teachers; they may be communicating in French. On the other hand, critical analysis of this film shows that these are efforts to reduce the space between different groups of people based on ethnical backgrounds. If all the pupils can speak French fluently, then they will not be discriminated against others on ethical grounds, for the case of immigrants. With time, this initiative by the national government to teach every pupil the French language will bear much fruit since it will be difficult to distinguish French and non-French citizens. Hence, cases of discrimination will reduce. This film is thought to bring about transnational and hybrid cultures during the post-colonial period of the history of France. However, this is thought of as not to be the only solution towards of bringing social order after immigration since the immigrants still have their rights as human beings even with the exception of not being in their original country (Tondeur & Gaballah 2002). The Entre les murs displays a typical French system of education whereby pupils and teachers may interact well based on ethical grounds. One may assume that the French teacher got along better with students who liked and passed his subject than those who openly disliked it. If such a thing happens, then no one would ever want to study in France due to the fear of failure in education. This might change the way people would view French traditions in the present day as compared to the past times in history. France has experienced some political changes since the post-war season with education having a great deal with ones citizenship and national identity. Since public education in France is free and public centralized, the government, through the ministry of education has a greater effect on what their pupils are being taught and they are aware of all proceedings in the public schools. The right to acquire the free education is one of the rights to become an eligible citizen of France and to make French a mandatory subject at the schools criticizes this law (Dobbins 2012). The right to get free education originated from the constitution of the Third Republic back in the year 1882 and it was found in the Jules Ferry law. However, the negative part of this right is that it forces people to fit into their education systems so that they may acquire full citizenship rights. Since all learning curriculum and education laws are passed by the French government, it contains a lot of French culture which immigrants might not capture easily. Critically, this might be argued out to be an unfair way of the French government to shun all ethnic background and cultural practices of any immigrants who runs to their country. However, it is not right to force someone to get assimilated into a new culture that they are not used to hence the criticism from the film. An immigrant should be allowed citizenship once he/she has satisfactorily fulfilled requirements by the immigration department rather than being forced to forget his/her culture and learn a new one. To some extent, that can be emotional torture to someone who needs to invest in the country for a short period, just as it is to pupils who continue with education there after vacating their mother countries. Although this method was initially used to distinguish secular from religious values in the society, it is being used as a tool to measure new citizens integrated in the country including the North African Muslim communities; hence violating its initial role (Buisson-fenet & Draelants 2013). The French film displays a young teacher, also known as Marin, who teaches an ethnically diverse class of pupils ranging from the age of 14 to 15. As he teaches, the French education department keeps on coming to his classes to see the progress of his students in mastering the language. Apart from making sure that he follows the syllabus provided, they blankly insist that they are unable to with the many cultural differences of the pupils. This obviously means that the teacher should try to reduce the cultural diversity by putting in the least effort of making sure that each of them can use the French language accurately. Although Marin knows that the main aim for him teaching the pupils French was to make them forget their culture and original language, he tries to do that in a way that would hide that truth to them. However, his name betrays him because it actually means France and the fact that he is French does not keep him far from supporting the government initiatives (Piana 2007). The fact that the whole film is acted in a school setting also puts the French tradition under test since not even the smallest chance is provided for viewers to know what happens away from school. For instance, a scene how the pupils interacted with their parents at home would depict a different scenario as compared to what is portrayed in the film at school premises. Maybe a look at how the staff even interacted with their children at home would have been different from how they do at school. These actions portray the French culture as one that tends to assume other cultural markers and only concentrate at points where its own has been demonstrated. There is a very short scene where Marin is seen relaxing in a cafe, although for a very short period. Maybe if the teacher took some more time at the cafe, interaction with the local people would have conveyed another culture that would have been different from the one shown in earlier scenes of the film (Tondeur & Gaballah 2002). In the course of the film, there emerges a social struggle between the students and their teacher about the use of French as an official language of communication. Marin tries his best to explain to his pupils the importance of communicating in French, but they would not listen to him and in fact in return they argue that they would rather use verlan that is a street slang. The verlan helps students defend themselves in any upcoming unfavorable matter in the education system, including neglecting the use of French as a social language of communication. Therefore, the teacher-centered model of learning is distracted in the film since the pupils use the verlan to question the way Marin teaches and also all French ethical activities. It is obvious that Marin does not get a very good reception while teaching the language because pupils are seen shouting at him one after the other hence showing disrespect to him. Although Marin emphasizes that they should try to speak French, they go on mocking his attempts and tell him how the language is boring and how they are not interested in speaking about it anymore. All these linguistic tensions experienced in Marins French classes are brought about by different ethnic and cultural groups in the class. There are pupils who dont appreciate the language at all simply because they prefer theirs, which they have been used to for a period (Piana 2007). Additionally, this film brings a line of separation within formal settings, in this case being the staffroom, offices and classrooms. When this separation exists, students are placed under direct pressure by being along the line of fitting into the French culture or not. It is obvious that teachers discuss the performance of their students in staffrooms, and if a particular one is not performing according to many teachers, then they would tend to discriminate him/her. Separation may also be seen in the informal settings whereby classroom affairs are transferred to playing grounds. This may occur in an instance whereby a teacher shouts at a student who has failed to perform both in class and in the co-curriculum activities. For instance, Marin shouts at Louise and Esmerelda to give him an answer to the remark he had made just because the two girls had behaved in an unpleasing manner during a certain evaluation. The school setting also highly prohibits unnecessary visits to the staffroom and other offices yet most decisions that affect the pupils are made here (Buisson-fenet & Draelants 2013). Conclusion The Entre les murs is a good representation of the French education system that has its guiding rules from the western ideas. However, these ideas have caused problems by affecting other cultural groups without taking into consideration their rights. Although public education is free in France and it has been every citizens right to access it, the way it is made available violates other peoples culture and rights. This is because the education system is public centralized and incorporates compulsory French language classes that are not liked by many. This film widely focuses on ethnicity and the failure of the French education system to incorporate other peoples ethnicity into their system. If that were not possible, then the education system would try to avoid making the French culture compulsory to foreign students who were interested in learning in France. Bibliography Buisson-fenet, H., & Draelants, H. 2013. School-linking processes: Describing and explaining their role in the social closure of French elite education. Higher Education, 66(1), 39-57. Dobbins, M. 2012. How market-oriented is French higher education? French Politics, 10(2), 134-159. Piana, D. 2007. Unpacking policy transfer, discovering actors: The French model of judicial education between enlargement and judicial cooperation in the EU. French Politics, 5(1), 33-65. Tondeur, D., & Gaballah, I. 2002. Trends in French engineering and environment education. JOM, 54(11), 34. Read More