{"id":46864,"date":"2019-02-13T11:39:57","date_gmt":"2019-02-13T19:39:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/world.edu\/?p=46864"},"modified":"2019-02-13T11:39:57","modified_gmt":"2019-02-13T19:39:57","slug":"blanquer-read-write-count-and-fundamental-knowledge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/blanquer-read-write-count-and-fundamental-knowledge\/","title":{"rendered":"Blanquer, “read, write, count” and “fundamental knowledge”"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nAs part of the discussion of the French bill “Blanquer”, an\u00a0<\/span>amendment<\/span><\/a>\u00a0was adopted in committee with the approval of the Minister of National Education: the creation of “public institutions of fundamental knowledge” (ranging from CP to the third).\u00a0The title could have been “Common Core School” or “Compulsory Schooling”.\u00a0But these are the “fundamental knowledge”, an expression that Jean-Michel Blanquer associates willingly with that of “read, write, count, and respect others”.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is therefore time to make a clarification between these formulas, even if, for Jean-Michel Blanquer, they seem equivalent.\u00a0Thus, when the four ministerial circulars of April 26, 2018 were published, the\u00a0<\/span>pedagogical recommendations<\/span><\/a>\u00a0made were presented as “facilitating the learning of basic knowledge: reading, writing, counting, and respecting others”.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is true that the formula “to read, write, count” is so familiar to us that it can be asserted as self-evident, without one wondering what it can actually mean.\u00a0Not questioned, she can reassure us (we “re-insure”) inexpensively in this uncertain world.<\/span><\/p>\n

As for “fundamental knowledge”, it can quickly raise perplexity as soon as the question really arises as to what can and should be considered fundamental.\u00a0For here there are various possible approaches: is it of the order of the “logico-epistemic”, or of the domain of “patrimonial” (what a generation deems necessary to bequeath) or else of the order of the “pedagogical” (basic knowledge or skills, conditions of subsequent learning)?\u00a0But these different dimensions are in tension, even in competition, even if they can sometimes be combined.<\/span><\/p>\n

A leitmotiv since 1816<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n

Historically – and contrary to a tenacious legend that imputes Jules Ferry and the Third Republic – it has been more than two centuries since the famous trilogy “read, write, count” is in the spotlight for primary education.\u00a0From there, no doubt, comes the familiarity we have with her.\u00a0Under the Restoration, the\u00a0<\/span>ordinance of 1816<\/span><\/a>\u00a0indicates that primary education “necessarily includes moral and religious instruction, reading, writing, the elements of the French language and calculus”.<\/span><\/p>\n

Under the July Monarchy, the\u00a0<\/span>decree of April 25, 1834,<\/span><\/a>\u00a0prescribes the division of all primary schools into three sections, the programs of which they delimit:<\/span><\/p>\n