Back in April, I wrote ("School's out "- April 11) that for most people
in France, life tends to revolve around the school year, with parents,
grandparents, resorts and tourist offices throughout the land planning their day-to-day
activities according to whether children are in or out of school. The most
typical sign of this national obsession with the school year is the "rentrée
scolaire", i.e "back to school time", when children and parents return from their
long summer holiday to an everyday life organised, once again, around the school
day. Well before the date at which all French
schools re-open their classrooms, the media are full of talk about "la
rentrée", from the amount of a special back-to-school allowance for less well
off families to the impressive list of exercise books, textbooks, pencils,
compasses, rulers and calculators that schools prescribe according to the
grade in which their children will return to school. The back-to-school
allowance is paid out this week and anyone in a bookstore, stationer’s or supermarket
will witness the unmistakable sight of mothers (usually) and their children
seeking out the supplies they need and ticking them off on a long list provided
by their school.
To underscore the importance of this landmark
event in French national life, the term "rentrée" is also used extensively in
connection with other activities that spring back to life after the long summer
break: No self-respecting political party or important national politician
would miss "la rentrée politique" during which political parties organise their "summer universities" at which their leaders, for the benefit of their activists and a freshly
attentive public, state or restate their policy aims and programmes. Trade union
leaders vie with each other to be the first to make their "rentrée syndicale"
at which the dates of the autumn’s street demonstrations and protest marches
will be proclaimed or confirmed. This year, the country has already been put on
notice that a national day of action will be held on September 12, undoubtedly
to protest about labour market reform on which negotiations have been quietly proceeding
during the summer. According to whether the unions are mildly or severely angry
about the government’s promised reforms, "la rentrée sociale" (a time-honoured
euphemism for autumn street demonstrations and marches) will be either tense (agitée) or calm (apaisée). Unless of course the government manages to drive a wedge
between the main unions, in which case it is more likely to be a damp squib. As
we have yet to see the full details of labour market reform, it’s difficult to
predict the flavour of the coming "rentrée sociale", but there is little doubt
that it will take place in one form or another.
In a totally different area, "la rentrée
littéraire" is the best time of year for established writers to bring out that
long-awaited new novel or for less well-known ones to hope for a breakthrough.
All this frenetic publishing activity is of course intended to stimulate interest
in the prestigious literary prizes (Prix Goncourt et al.) that are awarded later
in the autumn.
As talk of "la rentrée" invades the media
and its reality takes over everyday life, it is perhaps worth remembering that
its all-pervasive nature, from Strasburg to Brest and from Marseille to
Calais, is surely no accident of history, but on the contrary, one of the many
small everyday signs and symbols of the drive for national unity that is one of
the country’s most enduring characteristics. In an interview on "The identity
of France" with "Le Monde" shortly before his death in 1985, the historian
Fernand Braudel referred to the concept, coined during the Revolution, of the "Republic (being) one and indivisible" and concluded: "One of the components of
France’s identity is this need for concentration and centralisation, against
which it is dangerous to act."*
This blog is glad to make its "rentrée" and
looks forward to the many and varied events on which to comment in the coming (school)
year!
* Unless otherwise stated, all translations
from French and German in this blog are my own.
The back to school, back to work, back to politics as usual doesn't bother me too much. But I just cannot adjust to hearing about Baccalauréat subjects every year in June on the national news! Although I understand the unifying aspect of this exam, just like public schools ( USA meaning) it does seem preposterous to continue celebrating the event, including showing kids crowding around the results posted outside the exam centers! But, 'vive la France'!
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