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Goumilev et Mandelstam, qu’on appelle volontiers “adamisme”, s’oppose au futurisme russe surnommé quant à lui “avenirisme” (234). L’ouvrage a l’avantage de présenter les avant-gardes avec une justesse et une richesse d’anecdotes que l’on s’attendrait à trouver dans une collection onéreuse. C’est un panorama exhaustif et synthétique pour les néophytes ainsi qu’une source de concordances et de controverses pour les spécialistes. Stony Brook University (NY) Franck Dalmas GUMBEL, PETER. On achève bien les écoliers. Paris: Grasset, 2010. ISBN 978-2-246-759317 . Pp. 171. 9 a. This essay was called “le livre choc de la rentrée” in Le Nouvel Observateur (“L’école casse-t-elle nos enfants?” 2 septembre 2010). It is an indictment of some of the traditional aspects of the French educational system by a British journalist who currently teaches at Sciences Po and whose daughters are attending French schools. Armed with his own experience and that of other parents, his readings, interviews of experts, administrators, teachers, and students, as well as international reports such as those of the OECD Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), he proposes an outsider’s look from the inside at a system which has, in practice, strayed away from its original republican ideals (“the French Dream”) and is leaving too many children behind. In spite of the country’s reputation in the development of teaching and learning approaches, current results are not where they should be, compared to those of other developed countries. France, during the last four decades, fell behind in responding to the increase in the secondary-school student population with appropriate pedagogical practices. For Gumbel, one of the main causal factors is the perpetuation of an elitist educational culture focused on errors, in which humiliation, a salient feature of the system to the outside observer, is too often present and creates a reverse Pygmalion effect. As a result, international comparisons show that in France, more students, even among the best ones, are more anxious, more afraid to make mistakes, more likely to feel that they are hopeless (even when they perform well) and that their teachers do not help them. Among the counterproductive and antiquated elements that have been abandoned elsewhere, the author points out the practice of making students repeat an entire year, as well as a subjective grading system that is more concerned with ranking and selecting rather than indicating levels of competence and suggesting ways to improve. He sees France’s educational problems as largely cultural, and because they cannot seem to be solved from within the culture, in spite of constant debates about education and the awareness and willingness of many, he proposes solutions based on an examination of what other developed countries facing similar societal changes have done to address them, especially those with high PISA scores, such as South Korea and Finland. The most important recommendation is a shift to a system that promotes self-confidence. Of course, Gumbel’s suggestions concerning the development of positive attitudes are not new to us. He does stress that in spite of all their flaws, this is one thing American schools do very well. However, this well-documented essay, Reviews 381 written with the specific purpose of trying to influence the French debate on education , deserves our attention for a number of other reasons. It is an essential book for our profession not only as a document on French education and culture, but also because it contains a wealth of information which many of us, especially those who are not methodologists and may not be familiar with the details mentioned , should find extremely useful in our reflection on what we do as teachers. Written for a general audience, its style is light, easy to read, with a touch of British humor, somewhat caustic at times (as suggested by the title), but never gratuitous. In addition, its cross-cultural value cannot be over-emphasized, since one of its overarching themes is the limitations imposed by a culture on solving its problems from the inside. Georgia Southern University, emeritus Jean-Paul Carton MARZORATI, JEAN-LOUIS. C’était les années 50. Paris: L’Archipel...

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