In the ongoing demonstrations in France, high school and university students demand that neglected and unhygienic school buildings be repaired, teacher and staff shortages be closed, crowded classes be reduced to a reasonable level, access to food be facilitated, equal opportunities in education and ultimately the escalating police violence be stopped.
In fact, those who know France's recent history will see that the country is no stranger to social demonstrations on this scale. The Yellow Vest movement in 2018, the 2023 Pension Reform protests in which participation reached 3.5 million, the farmers' protests in 2024 and the current student protests should be read as a reflection of the gradually accumulating public dissatisfaction and the deepening socioeconomic crisis in the country, rather than a seasonal reaction.
The impasse of the French welfare state
In today's France, students rightfully demonstrate to express loudly why their schools are rundown in this country with a developed economy, why they cannot find a dormitory, why they have housing and food problems, why the teacher shortage has reached dire levels, and why they have to wait for hours in the emergency room. As a matter of fact, research shows that more than 50 percent of students in France regularly skip meals due to financial difficulties.
The main reason behind all these problems is that the public debt in France has exceeded 115 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and reached around 3.6 trillion euros, and debt interest payments have become one of the biggest burdens on the budget. In the past, the government received a warning from the European Union (EU) when the budget deficit exceeded 5 percent and turned to harsh austerity policies in order to close this deficit. In this financial crisis that has lasted for years and cannot be resolved, each successive government, in line with the pressure of budget discipline, firstly reduced the bed capacities and drug reimbursements in the health system, which is the lifeblood of the people, increased the class sizes by freezing the teaching staff in education, postponed school needs and limited social aid, especially retirement and unemployment benefits.
As a result, the steps taken to pay off this chronic state debt have weakened the basic pillars of the French welfare state every year, leading to an increase in social unrest. It should not be forgotten that France is one of the countries with the highest tax rates in the world. Despite this, the public now has difficulty understanding where these high taxes collected are spent and why they are not reflected in public services.
Freedom, equality and fraternity, which are the fundamental principles of the French Republic, are now disconnected from society, and "Republican morality" (morale de la Republique), which is a very important concept in France, is losing its social counterpart. However, this ethic, which is at the heart of the French Republican tradition, is based on a social contract and the ideal of a "social state", paid for by historical struggles, in which the privileges of the king, elites and aristocracy are eliminated and equal citizenship is introduced. Beyond just making individuals equal before the law, this ideal sees the fair distribution of the wealth produced, including public education and health services, as the fundamental right of citizenship.
As a matter of fact, Thomas Piketty, in his world-renowned work, revealed that wealth and inheritance in France are concentrated in the hands of certain segments, that large segments of society cannot receive a sufficient share of the wealth created, and that economic inequality has become permanent. Therefore, the contradiction between the ideal principles that young people learn from both their families and the Moral and Citizenship Education (EMC) they receive at school, and the deepening inequalities they encounter in social reality, constitutes the basic dynamic that brings the youth to the streets, showing that the historical contract has been eroded.
Rising living costs, housing crisis and anxiety about the future are causing anger in students. For young people, these protests should be read not only as an objection to the current socioeconomic conditions, but also as a struggle to protect the public space against the market dominated by a few families and companies and to remind the state of the shattered social promises of the Republic.
French education system in the shadow of elitism
For example, let's look at the university entrance system: There is no central university entrance exam in France, like YKS in Turkey, that subjects everyone to the same exam and questions. Students are evaluated based on their high school grades, Baccalaureat (high school graduation exam) results and application files, and universities and departments apply their own admission criteria. This system gives more weight to the student's high school history and file rather than the common evaluation criterion provided by the central exam. A good high school means a good university, and a good high school is generally located in the center of Paris. To enter the schools here, it is necessary to live in those districts, and to be able to live there, it is necessary to have a wealthy heritage and high economic power. That's why, historically, most of the country's presidents and high-level bureaucrats at the state level first attend these elite high schools, then move on to institutions such as ENA and HEC Paris and climb upwards thanks to the social-cultural capital and connections inherited from the family.
Although France, seen from the outside as a country of revolution, promises that every citizen will benefit equally from public services regardless of their origin or financial situation and that the system will be based on "merit", the origins of people and elitism continue to exist in every field. For example, according to research published by the French National Institute of Statistics (INSEE), aristocratic and wealthy students are 6 to 9 times more likely to enter the country's most prestigious grandes ecôles institutions, that is, the elite schools that train high-level state administrators, politicians and business elites in France, compared to the rest of society.
France, which is trying to teach other countries a lesson about human rights, detains more than 6 thousand people, 80 percent of whom are minors, during student demonstrations. International reports reveal that police interventions in student demonstrations have resulted in injuries to 14-15 year old children. The United Nations (UN) Human Rights Office and some non-governmental organizations are only "concerned" about the security guards who handcuff children behind their backs and press them with their knees in front of the cameras.
As a result, France today is experiencing not only a socioeconomic but also a deep political crisis. French President Emmanuel Macron, who is nearing the end of his second presidential term and is unlikely to be re-elected, seems to be preparing himself for EU leadership, even though he has failed to fulfill most of the promises he made to the public. Although it seems that either the far right or the far left will vote in next year's elections, this situation actually shows that central politics in France is completely blocked and the economy is alarming. Who knows, maybe France is experiencing the historical pain of a new revolution beyond all political options.
