THE French are notoriously protective of their language. Recently, an American named Laurel Zuckerman has accused the French education establishment of taking this defense to the extreme and using discrimination to prevent native Anglophones from teaching in the top echelon of the state system. In her book, Sorbonne Confidential, Zuckerman claims this is directly responsible for French students’ dismal English skills, The Guardian has reported.
“You have to speak almost perfect French in order to teach any foreign language in France. They make it the most important part of the ‘agrégation’, the French teaching qualification, which is disingenuous,” she says.
Her account of experience in France’s teacher training system has split the French academic world and sparked a furious debate over the country’s uneasy approach to English.
Critics have accused Zuckerman of sour grapes because the book, Sorbonne Confidential, centers on her failed efforts to obtain the “agrégation” after deciding on a career change.
Compared with Zuckerman, Ireland’s Maurice Cronin, who obtained the “agrégation”, says he has never experienced any discrimination. “The ‘agrégation’ is very academic and very specific. It’s really made for people who are already teaching but want to teach in universities,” says Cronin.
Sophie Pietrucci, a Frenchwoman who teaches English at private higher education establishments, admits that the “agrégation” is “elitist”, and it is easier for French candidates who have already been formatted by the heavily structured education system of France.
However, American Bethany Cagnol, an English and music teacher who works in both private schools and public universities in France, says she can relate directly to Zuckerman’s experiences, especially an undercurrent of anti-American feeling in the system.
