At Lycée Voltaire, in Paris, where our journalist met the principal
Christophe Laborde, principal of the Voltaire high school, sees the impact of the baccalaureate reform on the mobilization of students, while this is the first year that it has been applied. “The high school students have already passed their specialty tests, they only have the big oral left, so the burden of this test is less important than before”, he acknowledges. He observed more delays in the test than usual, delays which he believes have a link with the importance that young people now give to philosophy. He also regrets “no more student absences at the end of the year”while the « teachers (…) have especially noticed a lower investment » from them.
Despite this observation, the headteacher remains optimistic about the philosophy test. “The symbolic charge remains important, it is not just any test: it is a very French test, a discipline of dissertation with a real intellectual effort”he says, mentioning the stressed high school students “in principle”. The proof, according to him: the few parents who came to accompany their child this morning to the test. “This generation of children has parents who have also almost all passed the baccalaureate, so it is also a moment that is shared with the family. »
According to him, many students still play their diploma with the test of philosophy. “Some are just average for the moment”, he says. For the others, “what is at stake, all the same, is the mention”he adds.