Lucie Masson | Women’s Coach August 5, 2025
I read with dismay the news from France, which shows that France has fallen far behind its neighbors in terms of students’ academic performance, that teachers are becoming discouraged by the difficulty of their profession, and that the use of smartphones and social media is wreaking havoc on student behavior. Are we going to remain passive and observe this decline, or are we going to do something for our children?
There is a major shift in awareness needed at the national level: the education system must be completely rethought to prepare children for life. We must be willing to overhaul our “modern” education system. Our model, inherited from the industrial era, suffers from excessive standardization, an obsession with academic success leading directly to the service sector, and a glaring lack of preparation for real life.
Today, schools bombard students with information to absorb, primarily for exam preparation. As a result, they graduate with a diploma that makes them “employable,” but often ill-equipped to face the realities of adult life. Emotional management, compassionate communication, self-awareness, and resilience: these essential skills are absent from the curriculum.
Here are the flaws I find in the current system:
1. Standardization and lack of personalization
Designed to fuel industrial growth, our system produces workers suited to the “rat race” rather than well-rounded individuals. This one-size-fits-all approach ignores the cognitive, emotional, and spiritual needs of each child, resulting in an immense loss of human potential.
2. Sole priority over academics
Standardized grades, rankings, and assessments put students under pressure from a very young age, to the detriment of their mental health. Yet, research by Piaget, Montessori, Gardner, and Jensen shows that learning should be adapted to each child’s pace, interests, and multiple intelligences. The goal should be to awaken their intrinsic motivation, not to push them to perform for the sake of a ranking.
3. Lack of emotional and social education
Schools neglect emotional development, leaving children ill-equipped to handle conflict, bullying, or anxiety. According to UNICEF, more than a third of young people report feeling anxious or nervous frequently. Developing emotional intelligence is essential for building self-confidence and healthy relationships.
4. Inequalities and lack of inclusion
The system perpetuates social divisions: unequal resources, stereotypes, discrimination. School, on the other hand, could be a place where diversity and inclusion become strengths, by valuing all identities and fostering tolerance.
5. Disconnecting from the world of work
The emphasis placed on the prestige of the service sector creates a disconnect with the skills truly sought after in our economy: craftsmanship, creativity, critical thinking, interpersonal skills, and adaptability. More than diplomas, it is practical skills and experience that count. Schools must therefore expose children from a young age to a diversity of professions and skills and encourage them to pursue the path that suits them best.
6. Insufficient preparation for adult life
Financial management, mental health, communication, critical thinking… these are all neglected topics that leave young people ill-equipped to face life’s challenges: marriage, parenthood, bereavement, job loss. These life skills should be at the heart of the curriculum.
7. Impact of technologies
While digital tools offer new opportunities, their unsupervised use is detrimental to children’s social and emotional development, increases their dependence on external validation, and exposes them to inappropriate content. Their integration must therefore be guided and balanced.
School could be an ideal testing ground for learning to live together and reach one’s full potential. Reinventing school isn’t just about revising the curriculum; it’s about creating an environment that fosters well-rounded individuals, capable of thriving, contributing, and finding their place in a changing world. Fortunately, such a model exists thanks to an ancient Indian system called “gurukul,” which has functioned for millennia and has remained vibrant and adapted through successive visionaries.
Stay tuned for a presentation on this model, which has been modernized and adapted to the era in which we live.
