“Mr. President, I’m writing you a letter that you may read if you have time” It all started with the song of the deserter by Boris Vian. Initially, a simple educational exercise offered by a French teacher to middle school students in Valence. And then the students got into the game…
“We are sure he has received them since Tuesday”, explains Ingrid Vyon, French teacher. Letters written by students from Jean Zay College Valence were sent at the beginning of the year to the Elysée. The letters are addressed directly to the Head of State Emmanuel Macron. They all begin with the same sentence: “Mr. President”. These 3rd graders drew their inspiration from Boris Vian’s song, the Deserter. And they have things to say.
The first blockage passed, the 48 college students let loose on the paper, expressing themselves pell-mell on what was important to them. Facts of society as diverse as global warming, pollution, confinement, discrimination or even violence against women.
I told them “Thank you” for all these emotions and this roller coaster of sensations.
Ingrid Vyon, French teacher
The opportunity for these 3rd class students to work on the program on commitment. They put their hearts into these missives addressed to the Elysée. And their papers blew their teacher away. “I told myself that I myself would be incapable of writing such things,” explains the French teacher.
“The quality of the writing made me say that it has to go further. I can’t content myself with keeping these little treasures just for myself! Everyone has to read them and first their parents” assures Ingrid Vyon who discovered the writings of her students during the Christmas holidays. While discussing with the pupils, the idea germinated to send the letters to the President. “How is it possible that at that age they manage to write such beautiful things?” still wonders the teacher who did not hesitate to have the letters read to her relatives. Today Ingrid Vyon does not hide her pride.
“I try to make them debate all the time. I don’t just teach them the imperfect subjunctive or make them read Chateaubriand. But my primary objective is to make them good citizens who, in three years, go vote,” explains Ingrid Vyon. And above all give them the intellectual means to “think for themselves”.