“Primary school is where we learn to count, to write, to read, also to behave… it’s where we learn values. I am totally in favor of learning the Marseillaise in primary school, totally. It is even essential. This is what unites us, it is the fruit of our history,” insisted Emmanuel Macron during his press conference lasting more than two hours on Tuesday January 16, the aim of which was officially to breathe new impetus into his second term. To “rearm” the French civically and ensure that “France remains France”, the president has put on the table numerous proposals in the educational field: the generalization of the wearing of uniforms, better learning of theater and art history, reinforced civic education and the study of the French national anthem at primary school.
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However, the anthem, which became national in 1879, has been part of teaching at school since the creation of the Public School, as Jean-Louis Debré recalled in an interview for La Croix in 2005. Jules’ law Ferry of March 28, 1882, which made school compulsory, spoke in his first article of “moral and civic instruction.” Jean-Pierre Chevènement himself recalls this by initiating a circular in 1985 which stipulates that La Marseillaise must be learned by all young children at school: it is not a novelty, but an injection of reminder. In a report broadcast on television the day after the announcement, children interviewed at random were already struggling to remember the words: they were mumbling or humming the tune of the War Song for the Army of the Rhine (initial title of the ‘anthem, Editor’s note) composed in 1792 by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle for the revolutionaries who left to confront Austria.
The learning of La Marseillaise at school returned to the forefront of political debates in 2005, with the law of orientation and program for the future of the school, known as the “Fillon law”, article 2 of which provides that “in addition to the transmission of knowledge, the Nation sets the primary mission of the school to share with students the values of the Republic”. This involves ensuring that children learn the words of the song, and offering “civic education teaching which necessarily includes learning the national anthem in its history”, according to the amendment made to Article 26 of the Education Code: children are introduced to the emblems of the Republic from the CP class, must know the anthem, the tricolor flag, the figure of Marianne and the national motto from CM2, then in deepen meaning and knowledge in 3rd grade in middle school and 1st grade in high school.
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In 2011, when whistles disrupted the singing of the anthem during a football match between France and Algeria, UMP deputy Jérôme Rivière in turn took up the issue: his amendment resulted in a back-to-school circular, which specifies that “the study of Marseillaise is compulsory in primary school; the national anthem is learned and sung by children in school and, whenever possible, during commemorative events.
National Education provides teachers with resources to teach La Marseillaise to their students: a booklet from the Réseau Canopée, published in 2016, specifies that, “in the context of moral and civic education, the symbols of the Republic French are studied so that students know how to recognize them from cycle 2 and understand their meaning in cycle 3″, before specifying that “a few verses of La Marseillaise can be sung from CE2, the last year of cycle 2, by presenting the historical context. In cycle 3, it is in CM1 class, in line with the study of the Revolution, that the approach to the anthem in its entirety takes on its full meaning. A musical and historical analysis of the song is offered.
In February 2019, the Minister of Education Jean-Michel Blanquer required that the anthem be displayed in all classrooms, alongside the French flag: a measure difficult to implement for both financial and logistical reasons, as revealed Le Figaro a few months later.
In summary, contrary to what Emmanuel Macron’s announcement may suggest, the question of learning the anthem at school is not new: since the Third Republic, politicians have returned to it regularly , for a mixed impact: on the occasion of the Euro competition in 2016, an Ifop survey revealed that only three out of ten French people knew it in full… It remains to be seen whether the president’s declaration announces a new overhaul of the existing texts, or simply suggests ensuring that they are respected.
