Mark the memory of students and confront them with history in situ. The Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne, and the Minister responsible for Equal Opportunities, Isabelle Rome, presented this Monday a plan to fight against racism, anti-Semitism and discrimination linked to origin, which will be rolled out this Monday. year and until 2026. It provides in particular for the organization of a “history or memory visit linked to racism, anti-Semitism or anti-Gypsyism for each pupil during their schooling”. Christine Guimonnet, General Secretary of the Association of History and Geography Teachers (APHG), explains to 20 minutes the educational benefits that students can derive from this measure.
Many colleges and high schools were already organizing visits to memorial sites. Will the fact that it becomes mandatory really change the situation?
It is true that many History-Geo teachers work with their students on projects that lead to a trip to a place of memory, often linked to the First or Second World War. But this is not always possible, because these places are sometimes far from the establishments. The fact that this becomes compulsory will put all students on an equal footing, provided that the government provides a budget to finance these trips.
What places can be visited with students?
It is not necessarily necessary to go abroad. Because there are a lot of them all over France: the former Natzweiler-Struthof camp (Alsace), the Rivesaltes Camp Memorial (Pyrénées-Orientales), the Pithiviers station (Loiret), the Izieu house ( Ain), Mont Valérien (Hauts-de-Seine), the Holocaust memorial in Drancy (Seine-Saint-Denis)…
At what age is it more relevant to make this kind of visits?
Generally, these outings or school trips are made from the 3rd. The visit must be adapted to the maturity of the students. For my part, I only went to Auschwitz with high school students. With college students, it seems less obvious to me.
What is the pedagogical interest of such a trip?
Visiting a place of memory when one is a student means confronting the visible with the invisible. This allows you to better understand historical facts, the processes of segregation… Going there helps to deconstruct prejudices, to have a finer knowledge of the events that have marked your country. Students also have access to video testimonials that complement the lessons. And these memories, because they are very strong, remain engraved in the memory for a very long time. It is not a simple visit, because such a trip requires work before, during and after. It is an educational and scientific approach. And acquiring knowledge takes time.
Precisely, how do you prepare the visit of a memorial place with your pupils?
I plan several sessions of courses upstream on the subject. In particular, this helps prepare students for the difficulty of what they are going to see on site. I then ask them to do some research, to read texts. Once there, they are invited to answer a questionnaire, to participate in an educational workshop organized by the museum or the place in question, to take notes to then write a travel diary… Example: when I accompanied students at Auschwitz, they had to collect information to support an assignment on a convoy of deportees. Such a visit allows them to work differently and some become more involved.
Do you find the students changed after such an experience?
They are not going to change their personality, nor become better. But this visit allows them to fight against preconceived ideas, to deconstruct mythologies to replace them with knowledge. Such a move also creates a synergy in the class.