« Tale of two teachers : set up to lose. (5/10) | HomePage | Tale of two teachers : virtual great man. (7/10) »
Mar 13, 2009
Tale of two teachers : another time, another place. (6/10)
François Bégaudeau’s resume suggests he was never naive and candid. If he needed a lesson, Georges Lopez’s misadventures gave him one not to follow.
François Bégaudeau too worked for Education Nationale. A different generation and a different brand of teacher from Georges Lopez : you cannot expect 1,4 million clones.
François Bégaudeau was born in 1971, Georges Lopez probably in the late 1940s ; the « Etre et avoir » class master had likely more in common with his younger colleague’s parents : they were teachers too, France is a nation of school teachers.
Most primary school teachers train at an « Ecole Normale », François Bégaudeau aimed for « Ecole Normale Supérieure », breeding ground for the elite corps of France’s top professors, researchers, academics, plus a few successful politicians and at least one scriptwriter, Jean-Claude Carrière -who oddly followed the school scientific, rather than literary, « cursus »-.
According to François Bégaudeau’s fairly detailed biography on the French-language version of wikipedia -a labour of love by devoted admirers, or of self-love by himself, if this is « allowed » ?-, he was « admissible », but not « admis » : a nominee, not a winner.
Again based on unchecked wikipedia sources -could this be self-fiction or his real life, but shown under its best profile ?-, François Bégaudeau shrugged and moved on : he completed a master degree in literature, then passed « Capes » and « agrégation », the top two French degrees for a teaching career.
At the end of his professional life, Georges Lopez remained an Education Nationale foot soldier, or ranked as sergeant at best. François Bégaudeau started his as an officer or an NCO.
But officers and NCOs fresh from university may be sent straight to the front line : while Georges Lopez was safely counting down his teaching days in Puy-de-Dôme, François Bégaudeau was posted in a Parisian « ZEP », i.e. a zone where education was the priority.
Georges Lopez was teaching to primary school kids, François Bégaudeau to college students. Georges Lopez was teaching « être et avoir », i.e. everything, François Bégaudeau French.
Georges Lopez’s pupils were called Jojo, Nathalie or Julien, François Bégaudeau’s Esmeralda, Souleymane, Khoumba.
The challenge, nevertheless, remained the same : to « produce » French citizens ; how would it be possible without « être et avoir » ? how would it be possible if you do not master the Republic’s language ?
To Georges Lopez, teaching was probably a vocation, even if his lawsuits betrayed it. What was teaching to François Bégaudeau ? Wikipedia gives no answer, only hints : a means to an end, rather than an end ? a camp base for a climb to fame ? a staged stopover in the pursuit of a personal agenda ?
08:05 Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this