“It’s important” even if we “have difficulty managing the heterogeneity of students”, according to a teacher

“I think it is very important that all students in the general stream have mathematics”, reacts Monday, November 14 on franceinfo Martin Andler, professor emeritus at the University of Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines and founder of the Animath association. After the return of mathematics for all acted in first class, he indicates that he would however have “preferred a system in which we would have distinguished two ways of doing more or less in-depth mathematics”. “There is a difficulty in managing the heterogeneity of students”, according to him.

franceinfo: Is it a relief to see maths come back for everyone?

Martin Andler: Yes and no. I think it is very important that all students in the general stream have mathematics. I think that the way of proceeding was not the right one, in particular because it completely unbalanced the part of the common core, very strongly oriented towards letters and human sciences. The scientific lessons, on the other hand, are more in the optional subjects. I think that’s a very problematic imbalance. The second point is the difficulty of managing the heterogeneity of pupils in mathematics. I would have preferred a system in which we would have distinguished two ways of doing more or less in-depth mathematics in first year and with different objectives.

Has an age group been sacrificed for maths?

They have been doubly sacrificed because it is also the Covid generation. The coronavirus completely disrupted studies for more than a year. But in addition, they paid the price for a reform, some details of which were very poorly thought out. What must be understood, and this is why I am in favor of compulsory mathematics for all, is that some of the pupils who have a rather literary profile are also people who, in their studies and in their career pursuit, will become school teachers. Mathematics is therefore an extremely important subject at the first degree level. It is essential that school teachers are comfortable with mathematics and this is far from being the case today.

Why is it serious to have a level that drops across a country or a generation in mathematics?

There is a recent study by the Economic Analysis Council which highlights the fact that labor productivity has increased very little over the past 10 or 20 years in France. This is very serious because it is from the increase in productivity that the increase in wealth comes. Their analysis is that the low level of young French people and the general population in mathematics is the main reason. There are many jobs in which you need a basic skill in mathematics, or in computer science and in many fields related to mathematics. And that, we clearly fish on it. The other thing is that in the more scientific professions, we have great difficulty recruiting executives and in particular young women. So yes, there is a real subject.