Letter to the editor. Answer: French protests are about the frustration of young people

In the submission "Don't romanticize the revolt of the French students", the ongoing school protests in France are mainly described as a product of adult political incitement and left-wing activism. It is a simplistic picture that unfortunately misses the underlying reasons for the young people's deep frustration.

These protests have, as Staffan Eriksson claims, their basis in political party offices. They have emerged from a difficult everyday life for both students and staff. Former French school inspectors – the officials tasked with inspecting operations from within – testify to how the state has, for a long time, neglected the maintenance of school premises. The teacher shortage is acute and salaries are too low to attract new staff.

When more than 70 percent of the French public express support for the students' demands, it is not about ideological extremism, but about a widespread concern for the future of the school system. It is of course deeply regrettable when demonstrations degenerate into vandalism, but we cannot turn a blind eye to the violent repression by the authorities. What the writer calls for "adult action" has in reality meant that the police deployed weapons classified as military equipment against minors.

The reports of seriously injured children – including a 14-year-old with a broken jaw and students who lost hands or sight after encountering police grenades and rubber bullets – show a deeply worrying development. Focusing solely on disturbances and dismissing the protests as revolutionary romance shifts the focus away from the real problems.

The French school today is best described as a damaged ship where the government is trying to fix the holes with only cosmetic reforms. The real danger to French children's education is not student engagement, but an underfunded school policy and an authority exercise that has stopped listening.

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