Here; an excerpt:
Under a reform introduced by President Macron’s government, the philosophy paper counts for between 4 and 8 per cent of the overall Baccalauréat mark, compared with up to 18 per cent until 2020.
Marie Perret, chairwoman of the Association of Philosophy Teachers, said the discipline had been reduced to a “derisory” place in the French school curriculum.
“It’s been totally marginalised,” she said.
Philosophy has been included in the Baccalauréat ever since the examination was created by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1808. Pupils were tested orally on their philosophical capacities until 1860, at which point the subject became a written paper that has traditionally been seen as a marker of French intellectual aspirations.
The media still treat the four-hour philosophy paper as such, devoting extensive coverage and live blogs to the subjects on which pupils are asked to dissert every year. “Do artistic practices transform the world?” and “does freedom consist in obeying no one?” were among those on offer today.
(Thanks to Neil Webb for the pointer.)
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