On Thursday, May 12, the high school students took their specialty exam for the baccalaureate of 2022. The subject of SES (Economic and Social Sciences) sparked a torrent of criticism on social networks for allegedly targeting liberalism. Was the test really biased? Reactions have exploded in recent days.
At the origin of the controversy: one of the courses offered to graduates who have chosen the Economics and Social Sciences specialization. In particular, candidates were invited to: show that innovation can help push the ecological boundaries of growth “, or even to ” show that government action in favor of social justice can have perverse effects. The subject in question, which can be found on the national education website, was broadcasted one hour after the start of the test by a philosophy teacher who supervised the test.
The Association of Teachers of Economic and Social Sciences (APses) responded Friday. According to this group of teachers, first of all, the formulation of the topics raises questions: So the problem comes from these exercises that have to be recited, without stepping back, without debate or problematization.† †
This topic is ” The tree that hides the forest ” further denounces the apses, because it is in the image of the program given throughout the year: ” A symptom of the insufficient attention to environmental issues in the programmes† An argument taken by Léna Clément, associate professor at SES. His brother, the famous journalist Hugo Clément, shared his opinion on his Instagram page.
Explaining that the taught program has evolved since the arrival of Jean-Michel Blanquer at the ministry, Léna Clément denounces a biased doctrine that promotes a single vision of economics: one that believes that ” natural and technological capital are replaceable† †
Loup Espargilière, journalist and founder of the media Vegetablehas meanwhile “ passed his baccalaureate on a Twitter thread. He demonstrated with a+b how the wording of the subject is problematic: he implies that “ growth is essential » and that the ecological limits should be « postponed† In particular, the journalist recalled that historically, GDP growth has gone hand in hand with the growth of CO2 emissions.
On Twitter, sociologist Denis Colombi took the opposite view of the controversy, qualifying the debate around the test: Here we ask them to mobilize part of the lesson (…) It’s the skill we want to test – instead of seeing if they can recite a lesson plan as it is, see if they can choose what happens. † It is already important to understand the exercise and its form† †
Rather than throwing stones at the wording of the subject of the BAC, he invited in a Tweet posted yesterday to rethink the form of the programs by enriching the section devoted to environmental economics.
Was the subject of the SES BAC really… borderline? Your turn to judge!