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Why French Students Are Revolting

France’s education system is stretched to its limits, as student anger kicks off a hot fall protest season.

The elephant in French classrooms, as just about anyone who has recently taught or studied in the country’s education system will tell you, is stretched resources. Classes are filled to the brim, with teaching increasingly delegated to intermittent instructors. Behind the façade of “Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité”—the republican promise emblazoned on each public school building in the country—stand deteriorating buildings, squalid facilities, poorly stocked libraries, unreliable IT, if any, and outnumbered critical support staff like nurses and counselors. Videos circulating on social media from students’ accounts document the most disastrous conditions: rats running around across the hall; collapsing ceilings; walls leaking with humidity; broken doors and dysfunctioning lighting in bathrooms.

Frustrations with this untenable status quo started to boil over in late September, only three weeks into the new academic year. The first sparks emerged on September 17 at the Lycée Saint-Exupéry, where striking teachers were joined by students who attempted a blockade of the school facilities.

They were soon joined by other students in the greater Paris area, most notably at the Lycée Paul Éluard in Saint-Denis, a diverse, working-class suburb north of the capital, who also launched a blockade on September 25. Less than a week later, their demonstration had spread to over 1,000 high schools across the country—more than a quarter of total establishments—crystallizing the social malaise of an entire generation.

Reacting to what was rapidly taking on the scale of a national crisis, President Emmanuel Macron intervened on Wednesday during a state visit to Madrid. “I understand the anxieties and anger that our youth might feel, whether that’s related to the climate, new technologies, or geopolitical tensions,” he said during a press conference. “However, none of these fears justify violence.”

The scope of the protests is perhaps best summed up in the clampdown that has followed, as media and government figures alike harp on the exceptional incidents of violence, such as the burning of Lycée Nelson Mandela in Nantes. On October 1 alone, nearly 2,000 people were arrested, with scores of schools now closed by administrative order and conducting online courses, in an effort to mitigate the effects of the blockades. As of Friday afternoon, however, the situation shows few signs of slowing down. A day of national mobilization and strikes is called for October 6.

The scene on Friday morning outside the Lycée Lucie Aubrac in Pantin, a suburb northeast of Paris, was typical of the French students’ revolt.

Though their school was closed by administrators, some students gathered outside the shuttered gates as early as 7:30 am. “Nobody listens to us,” said Lila, a high school senior. “Last year we didn’t have a math teacher for over seven months.”

Though the gathering was entirely peaceful, our interview was interrupted when a group of police officers started charging the students at around 8:45 am. Quickly,........

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