Equality in school: We don’t need uniforms, we need sex education

What if we imposed a uniform on students? For the National Gathering, this would be the miraculous solution to eradicate inequalities in the school environment. Yesterday the National Assembly rejected a bill presented by the RN, on the obligation to wear a single suit to school. Despite this refusal, the RN deputies were able to count on the involuntary support of Brigitte Macron who had declared herself a few days earlier in favor of a “return” of the uniform, like the one she had known. This declaration transported the debate outside the French ultra-conservative spheres. But was it really necessary?

The return to traditional values, a profitable investment

Conservative parties have always defended a return to traditional values, guaranteeing a society that respects the country and the family. By proposing to restore a single school outfit, the RN hits the mark. And he rewrites history in passing, as François Dubet, a sociologist specializing in school and everyday inequalities, explains. Publication :

We (…) cannot boast of a return to an old system since it never existed (…) In France, we are inventing a tradition, a history. It’s strange. I think it’s simply to please the more conservative currents.

François Dubet, Release, January 12, 2023

To defend their bill, the political group brandishes the argument of equality among all students. This measure would make it possible to erase all signs of external wealth, and of religion, of course.

Brigitte Macron and her privileged student uniform

The National Gathering has found an important ally in the person of Brigitte Macron. During an interview with readers of Le Parisien last week, the former French teacher was asked about the matter. She then declared herself in favor of the use of the uniform, above all for practical reasons:

I wore my student uniform: 15 year old navy blue skirt, navy blue sweater. (…) This erases the differences, we save time (…) and money. So I’m for wearing a school uniform, but with a simple and not sad outfit.

Brigitte Macron, Le Parisien

However, the uniform mentioned by Brigitte Macron is not a vector of equality, on the contrary it is a strong social indicator:

There has never been (uniform note) in France. (…) Blue pleated skirts and more, it was in chic private schools, not Jules Ferry’s school. Parents were told to buy a gown so their children wouldn’t get dirty, but not for the sake of anonymity.(…). I entered elementary school in 1950 and shortly, I never saw a uniform.

François Dubet, Release, January 12, 2023

The uniform, a useless weapon in the fight against inequality

The idea of ​​a uniform as a miraculous solution to all problems of educational equity is a fantasy, especially since the strongest inequalities are not observed between pupils of the same school, but from one school to another.

We cannot help but witness once again an ill-concealed attack against students of the Muslim faith who are asked above all not to demonstrate that they exist.

Secularism is the right of individuals to be protected in their singularity and there we say that everyone is equal and that we separate school from society. It is an authoritarian secularism, not the secular tradition. Secularism seen by Zemmour.

François Dubet, Release, January 12, 2023

The sociologist also reminds us that a few weeks ago Pap Ndiaye assured that it was not up to the state to legislate on student clothes, but to institutes to establish the rules.

There are many measures that help fight inequalities in school. Like sex education courses, so much criticized by these same deputies who brandish the uniform as a simplistic solution to complex problems. The difference perhaps is that the uniform aims to erase all differences, when equality courses allow opposites to take over.

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