This week, the President of the Republic, traveling to Marseille, revived a hot topic: should the summer holidays be shortened? Decryption with the sociologist Jean Viard.
The President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, traveling to Marseille this week, spoke again about the question of the summer holidays. Should they be shortened? They would be, according to him, responsible for the fatigue of the pupils, for inequalities too, because not everyone can afford to go to the seaside in the summer. We heard on franceinfo this week the pros and cons.
franceinfo: If we take a look at the history of these summer holidays, originally, Jean Viard, were they supposed to free up labor in the fields?
John Viard: Originally, in fact, it was the courts that were closed – the vacancy of the courts – because the judges wanted to go and watch their rural property. So, basically, we watched the workers. Indeed, the workers, it was essentially, including the teachers who were not paid during the holidays, and who therefore worked in the fields, and then the children, who went to work in the fields with their parents. So it’s true that at the start, it was the rural rite that entered society with Jules Ferry, compulsory schooling, and so on. And we quit school in the summer.
Then, little by little, we developed the intermediate holidays, and in 1980, with the fifth week of paid holidays, we did between Christmas and New Year’s Day, basically a bridge, everyone put it there. And so there are two moments when society stops for everyone. It is from August 1st to 15th and between Christmas and New Year’s Day, so these are the two collective holiday times. And then afterwards, indeed, there are about 60 to 70% of people who go on vacation. There is a concentration of two groups that do not leave: on the one hand, very very poor people, of course, although that may depend on family networks. But above all, the two groups that are not leaving are single mothers with children – there are approximately 2 million children, 1,700,000 single mothers, including 700,000 on the RSA. And on the other side, there are indeed young people from the suburbs, those who, at the moment, are in the process of revolting everywhere.
This youth basically, excluded from the general movement of society, and who feels excluded, this is what she says every day, at the moment by demonstrating, but including because she does not leave. And so she’s not planning her summer vacation. This youth, she knows she will stay in her HLM, go around in circles in the courtyard. And the President of the Republic, when he intervenes on this, he says: well, if the summer holidays were equal for everyone, that would be better, he is not wrong. Vacation length is not the only issue. The cohesion of the society, what the children do during the summer, the quality of the courses, are important elements. So that is the first thing.
The second thing is that global warming is not good for our school buildings. Already, now, they don’t have air conditioning, it’s very rare, it costs a fortune to air condition all the schools. They all usually have huge windows so that you can see clearly. So these are very heat-sensitive buildings. So it’s not that easy to extend the class period. It would certainly be very expensive.
But we can clearly see that the very idea of shortening these holidays creates tensions in the tourism sector, especially among traders. Would that be a big upheaval?
There are two problems. I am for every family to have the right to go on vacation for a week whenever they want, during the year, even during lessons. I think you have to give flexibility to the time, I was told that we did it in Italy. Either way, if the child has the flu or is sick, a week is missing. If we gave a week’s departure on vacation at the discretion of the families, either because there are members of the couple who have a business trip or other, or simply to go skiing, when there is snow, and the prices are not high, because everyone goes to the snow at the same time, so it’s very expensive.
There is a question of democratization over time, which would be something quite exceptional, let’s say already for those who leave, and also so that it costs less, if you go on vacation at the end of September, it is not all the same price. So I think there is the question of time, which is a real question of the flexibility of time. It is not necessarily to reduce the length of the holidays, because indeed, the demand of the professionals is legitimate. Tourism is 7 to 8% of French economic activity, and so it’s normal to think about it. There are also road accidents, it’s normal to spread out a little.
On average, the French have five weeks of paid vacation, they leave on average 15 days, and then the children are much more on vacation. So the question is: what do we do with the children when the parents are working? Strengthening the bond with the grandparents seems to me to be a major issue. And after that, taking an interest in young people from the neighborhoods seems to me to be a second major aspect.