Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer has officially banned the use of inclusive writing via a
circular published Thursday, explaining that its “complexity” and its “instability” constitute “obstacles to the acquisition of language as well as reading”.
Questioned before the Education Committee of the National Assembly Thursday evening, Jean-Michel Blanquer estimated that “there is a huge risk with the midpoint as to the transmission of French”.
This circular published in the Official Bulletin, for application in schools and in the ranks of the ministry, recalls that “recourse to so-called inclusive writing which notably uses the midpoint to simultaneously reveal the feminine and masculine forms should be prohibited. of a word used in the masculine form when it is used in a generic sense ”. According to this circular, “inclusive writing modifies compliance with the usual rules of agreement expected within the framework of teaching programs”.
In the Sunday newspaper Jean-Michel Blanquer already argued, as does this text, that “putting dots in the middle of words is a barrier to the transmission of our language for all, for example for dyslexic students”. “We have a huge issue of consolidating fundamental knowledge and inclusive writing is a barrier to this issue”, according to the minister.
The ministry advocates the feminization of functions and professions
The circular specifies, however, that it is appropriate to apply the feminization of positions when they are occupied by women: “the title of positions held by a woman must be systematically feminized according to the rules set out in the guide to help feminization. the names of trades, titles, ranks and functions developed by the National Center for Scientific Research and the National Institute of the French Language, ”she emphasizes.
In a statement, the SUD education union said “demand from the minister that he stop trying to impose his backwardness on the educational community”, calling on “the staff to ignore these instructions from another time. and to exercise as they wish, depending on professional situations, the full use of their educational freedom ”.
A divisive subject
Politically, the subject is divisive. The debate, Thursday in the Senate on inclusive writing, “language of exclusion or exclusion through language”, resulted in a dialogue of the deaf in which opponents and supporters recited their arguments.
To the Assembly, a bill prohibiting the use of inclusive writing to people in charge of a public service mission was tabled by François Jolivet (LREM).