Exploration en Anglais: Grève Day

While people at home on the East Coast have been having more snow days than they know what to do with, I had a day off today due to a teacher's strike. The current issue being protested against is the widespread cuts that are being planned for the coming school year. These aren't just budget cuts, but instead suppression des postes, meaning cutting teachers' jobs. This is a national plan, part of the [sarcastic!] ever-popular series of reforms recently announced by the National Education Ministry. While I don't know exactly what the figures look like in the rest of the country, they've planned a suppression of 841 jobs in the région of Lorraine, which I was told is the highest number in any région. That number breaks down into 19 administrative posts and 822 teachers' jobs. And apparently the majority will be at the primary-school level. (Not to mention the complete removal of the main special education services, among other unpopular and foolish plans.)

Already, classes are crowded at all levels. Already, France is losing footing in world-rankings for student performance. Teachers and anyone with mediocre reasoning skills (outside of gov't decision-makers, apparently) can see that taking away teachers is clearly NOT the best way improve situations in the schools. Obvi.

So, in an impressive show of solidarity, all the teachers at my school decided to grève today, closing the school for the day. Usually when there are "calls to strike," two or three of our staff of 10 aren't there for the day. The fact that everyone decided to strike is a pretty big deal. But here, striking (not going to work) and protesting (marching in the streets) don't necessarily go hand-in-hand. The scheduled protest march this afternoon was woefully small, despite what I'm sure was a relatively high percentage of teachers striking for the day.