A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Cole Stangler has been watching all this unfold from Marseille, where he works as a teacher and a writer at the American College of the Mediterranean. Cole, these protests have been centered around public high schools, and you're at a private college. But what are your students telling you about how they're viewing these protests?
COLE STANGLER: Yeah. You know, I was out in Aix-en-Provence, which is just north of Marseille, which is a university town. And what was interesting at the protests yesterday - so on Tuesday - was you had a lot of high school students. You also had a lot of university students. So, yes, not many private university students, but a lot of public university students. And they were echoing a lot of the critiques that the high school students had been raising. So we heard about it just now in that report.
But one of the big issues has been these dilapidated buildings. Again, the movement started in a working-class suburb of Paris where conditions were especially bad. But even talking to people yesterday at the protest, you know, I had students talking about how they had to install nets around their buildings to prevent debris from falling from the roof.
MARTÍNEZ: Oh, wow.
STANGLER: I had students - one student had printed out her high school schedule showing that she was in class from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., which is legally permissible in France. This has been another critique students have been making in addition to the buildings. They say, you know, the days of being in class are too long. And when you combine that with also the lack of AC. You know, we're in the south of France. The heat can be quite intense. People don't feel like they're getting, you know, the education in good conditions. And another issue that came up talking to students - again, both university students and high school students - was the staff shortages. This has been...
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah.
STANGLER: ...A major issue raised by the movement, you know, according to...
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah.
STANGLER: ...The union representing teachers in France. One of the unions, they say three-quarters of French middle schools and high schools have staff shortages, and it's because of the conditions - these dilapidated conditions. It's also, in part, connected to the salaries. It might be shocking for American listeners to hear the average salaries in French public education. The starting salary's around 2,000 euros a month, and the current salaries are below the average in the EU. They're below the average in the OECD. And so you have a situation where, I think, a lot of potential teachers aren't taking these posts because the conditions...
MARTÍNEZ: Wow.
STANGLER: ...Are rough. The salaries are quite low. So all these issues were bubbling up. And a final one I'll mention just briefly talking to university students, one of the other critiques of the movement has been over this very particular basically admissions platform for high school students to get into universities, which is called Parcoursup, which is somewhat - they say it lacks transparency. And so you had students saying, well, you know, I had great grades in high school. I applied through the system, and yet I couldn't get into the nice, prestigious schools in Paris, and I don't have an explanation why. And you have a lot of students that have shared frustrations over this admissions platform. So all these issues have been bubbling up. And again, the big question is, is the government going to make significant concessions on any of them?
MARTÍNEZ: You mentioned teacher salaries about 2,000 euros a month, about $2,200 a month. That would be the American equivalent there in U.S. currency. So all of the things that we're hearing when it comes to what students are upset about - rundown buildings, understaffing, overcrowded classrooms, underinvestment - those are all things that you could almost say about a lot of public high schools in the United States, a lot of school districts. I'm in one in Los Angeles here. LA Unified is also going through some financial issues. I mean, what's - what do you think would be stopping anybody in America from seeing what's going on in France and saying, you know what? - why don't we protest here?
STANGLER: Yeah. I mean, that's a great question. I think if we look at some of the differences, you know, France does - I don't want to overemphasize it, but France does have a more ingrained culture of protest, right? There are real material issues here that are driving the movement forward, but they're also taking place in a country where high school students, university students know that there are traditions of protests that have been able to win real concessions from various governments that have been in power going back decades. That's a major, major difference here. And there's that kind of ingrained culture of protest.
There's also the presence of labor unions that are more prominent in France. You know, France has the same union density as the United States around - you know, lower than about 1 in 10 people and workers in France and the United States belong to unions. The difference in France is that unions have this right to negotiate on behalf of the entire workforce. So any workplace you are in France, you have union representatives. And that's the case at these high schools and universities.
MARTÍNEZ: Cole Stangler is a teacher and writer based in Marseille, France. Cole, thanks a lot.
STANGLER: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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