French Teachers Protest Longer School Week

Over the past week, there have been teacher strikes and street demonstrations across France to protest new education reforms, which require all public elementary school students — for the first time in nearly a century — to go to school five consecutive days a week.

In recent years, younger children have attended school four days a week, but the school days were longer. Originally, the schedule was a concession to the Catholic Church, which convinced the government that children should have a free day midweek to study the catechism.

In today's secular France, the day was used more for sports practice, tutoring and music lessons. For some working parents, it was also a day that forced them to scramble for alternative childcare.

Here & Now's Jeremy Hobson discusses the reforms with Francoise Repussard, a retired French schoolteacher who taught for more than 40 years.