© Cali4beach/FlickrAn empty space. Colleagues have been shocked by the death of a dedicated teacher in Marseille, whose suicide note contained criticisms of France's education system.
The 55-year-old teacher of electronics at the Lycée Artaud in the southern city killed himself at his home on Sunday, just two days before the beginning of the new school year in France.
The suicide was "completely linked to the exercise of his profession," according to a joint statement by Jacque's colleagues, who called him "the father of a family, with great professional integrity and limitless erudition."
In his suicide letter, Jacque condemned France's education system in particular the "panic" and "roughness" of reforms by previous education minister Luc Chatel, as well as the policy of the current government, which he described as "an infamy."
The former electronic engineer begins: "I am sharing with you my decision not to take part in the new school year in 2013."
"Basically, I cannot accept in good conscience what the [teaching] profession, at least in my speciality, has become," said Jacque.
"I could have set myself on fire in the middle of the schoolyard, the day the pupils came back to school," Jacque wrote, referring to a shocking incident in 2011 when a maths teacher in the southern city of Beziers died after self-immolating in front of her students.
"That would have had a certain style, but I don't have the virtue for that," Jacque added.
"When you read his, I will already be dead," he concluded.
Alain Barlatier, a teaching colleague of Jacque's and a representative from the SNES-FSU union in Marseille, told AFP the 55-year-old had not been depressed, but was "extremely critical, like a lot of his colleagues."
"The teaching profession is evolving into simply carrying out instructions, but [what Jacque started in] was a career where he could design and conceive things, and was in charge of his own work," said Barlatier.
A team of psychologists has been put in place at the Lycée Artaud, and Barlatier and his colleagues have arranged for a memorial on Thursday, during which classes will be cancelled at the school.
Emphasising the "great consternation and emotion" of the teachers, Barlatier said on Monday: "We don't want to just go back to work as if nothing happened."
Daniel Robin, from the SNES-FSU union told The Local on Tuesday that the government must learn something from this "tragedy".
"For many years teachers in certain disciplines like technology have complained about the fact are they are asked to teach certain topics and subjects for which they have not been trained," Robin said.
"This puts teachers under enormous pressure and in an intolerable professional situation. How they can be expected to teach something they know nothing about?
"We want the government to take note of this tragedy and realize the difficulty some teachers are in. It needs to provide them with help on a personal level."
For his part, French Education Minister Vincent Peillon expressed to AFP his "deep sadness" at the death of Jacque, and vowed to "give back" to French teachers "the consideration they deserve."
Click here to read Pierre Jacque's letter in full (in French).
Just read Pierre Jacque last letter using online electronic translator. And I'm disgusted and sickened by what I read in this article. This man, really caring and passionate man, a good professional was driven to his death by the impossible conditions that he had to work in, by all these lies forced upon him, the pressure to perform something that just not possible to do, because were no resources to do, by these 'evaluations' of his work, and all of that led him to the state of deep despair after realizing that all his attempts trying to change the situation, making people to see and get together, were met with cold indifference. And he just couldn't continue to living this lie anymore.
Who are you to imply that he wasn't competent in his chosen profession? Yes, he was. People like Pierre are always good at what they do, because they have a real thirst for learning and doing.
Why you, the union representative, don't talk about when he came to you with complains about the state of the teacher's union, you just dismissed him like he was nothing? He was bringing his complains to the leaders of the Union, and was dismissed the same way too. So, don't talk about your feelings. If you even have those, they buried so deep that no one can see them.
And the other teachers? Your 'great consternation of emotions' is just isn't visible, because there is none. Yes, as Pierre said, you're muzzled, but why do you accept it? You might think it will get better? No, it only will get worse. Maybe, you think that students don't need wisdom and knowledge of the good teachers, they can learn everything themselves? Or it's better for you, so you don't have to do your work? Or you just don't care? Or afraid to loose your job? Seems to be all of that.
And what is this about bringing psychologists to the school? You think this will help the students? What Lesson will they learn from this? Seeing injustice and doing nothing? And what kind of psychologists exactly, I want to know? Freudian, perhaps? I learned listening here on SoTT a radio show specifically dedicated to psychology and psychiatry and what horrible damage it does to people. And I also learned that it's almost impossible to find a psychologist n France, who wouldn't be Freudian? Maybe, that's why you are in the state that you are?
And these ministers of education with their ' innovative programs' that dumb down children to the state of stupor, don't even start expressing anything anymore. Because all you can 'express' are lies, lies and more lies. And I'm sick of it!
Because of all of you, a woman is a widow now, and the children are fatherless!