Last updated on 12 May 2026
Much has been said in recent days about direct threats to the world of education by Daesh propagandists. There's something.
I have received this text from Guillaume, School teacher in the Alpes Maritimes. A text against hatred and against fools …
I have read it several times. He's just great. With Guillaume’s agreement, I decided to publish it in full on the website. A way for me to thank him. This text deserves to be widely disseminated. Education remains and will remain the best weapon against all obscurantisms.
It seems that Daesh is threatening me directly. I am a teacher, teacher of schools, teacher, black hussar of the Republic.
I hear I'm a target. Cyrano de Bergerac said that the honour of being a target is not abdicated. According to ISIS, France is on its knees. So I do not abdicate and I stand.
I stand at my school gate in the morning, to welcome the children with a smile and a hello, to greet the parents, to tell his mistress that Gisèle took her medicines, that Mohamed did not have breakfast, that Antoine would not go to the … study
I'm standing at 10 a.m. in the yard, to monitor at recess that no one plays ball under the meadow, that the big Ilona stops bothering little Yasmina, to redo Tarik’s shoelace, to listen to Sacha tell me about her father, to treat Emilie who has just scratched her knee, to referee a football match between OM and PSG.
I stay up all day in my class, to make sure that Kenza is ready to work, to help Hugo with his dyslexia, to leave Alban who has not slept well, to read the instructions aloud for all, to read them again in a low voice for Kevin, to lend a pen to Rayan, to give Sarah an extra exercise, to encourage Chaïma, to tell Fares to stop swinging, to re-read the instructions to Kevin, to check that Lola has noted his homework, that Shirley has put his things in his binder, to pick up Fares who has just picked up.
I'm standing up to talk the COP 21, the Gauls, the Huns, the Charter of Secularism, equality between girls and boys, diversity, fractions, Pennac, Prévert, Picasso,
‘Astrapi’ and ‘Charlie Hebdo’.
Still standing, to make them think, ask questions, find answers, make them work alone, in groups, share, cooperate, exchange, debate, argue, inform, listen, respect each other. Always standing up to help them grow, to open up, to discover, to have confidence in themselves, to understand, to hope, to try, to be wrong, to start over, to apply themselves, to imagine, to invent, to create …
I stay up late at home after my school day, to prepare the one of the next day, to correct a notebook, a sheet, a presentation, a free text, to try through projects, exchanges, to give meaning to the work of Rayan, Lola, Kevin …
and mine.
I'll be up every day of my life, to fight ignorance, stupidity, intolerance, wickedness, violence, cowardice, indifference, lies, racism, mediocrity … If it is not war, it is a fight we are fighting, because I am not alone, there are more than a million of us.
One million teachers to stand up and transmit to the children of the Republic the respect of this motto engraved on the pediments of our schools: Freedom, Equality, Fraternity
William.
English
Guillaume, thank you for this text. I share …
To read. Read it again. Think about it when you go to school to pick up your children. Not to forget that there was a master who did what we are and that the fight against obscurantism is an everyday fight and not all fighters have guns in their hands. Thank you Guillaume for your daily fight.
Thank you for this beautiful text!!! I shared it.
Thank you for your comment and sharing, Nadia.
Thank you for your comment Philippe. He touches me a lot and will, I am sure, touch all those who find themselves in my testimony.
A factual and fair text.
There are too many of us to hit all of these targets. But let's not be naive . Be vigilant and train to protect our students as effectively as possible in the event of an attack. In the stadium of France the terrorists have failed. Don't panic. Efficient order service. Let's strengthen the entrances of schools in peace and serenity.
And let's continue to open our students to the beauty of the world. Responsible for everyone. Even the awful students (there are )'s) read Mara Goyer's blog of great help in these difficult times.
Congratulations!
Thank you for the compliment and sharing.
Thank you for your comment Yannick and for discovering Mara Goyet's blog.
There have been many hussars in the world of education in France, there are still and there will always be … Thank you to all the known and unknown teachers who work tirelessly to educate and train the children who are the adults of tomorrow. Thank you for this wonderful open letter that shows us how much the teaching profession is a job for the other and requires a lot of self. It is a vocation. Thank you all.
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Thank you for this removed text, which exudes simple and profound happiness, a banal daily life whose conscience is crucial to respond to a kind of injunction of performance and violence that forms so much radicality. Talking to the children of COP21 is good because global challenges shape our capacity for cooperation and because international institutions are a recent and valuable legacy of human history. To instruct them on the UN Charter, the ‘We the Peoples of the United Nations’, which forms the basis of its mandate, the Constitution of UNESCO, the adoption of the ‘culture of peace’ and these eight areas in 1999 (RES/53-243), which made them the Generation Culture of Peace after 15 years of drafting, which began with the adoption of the Declaration of the Right of Peoples to Peace. All this stands up and revives the motto of the republic.
Thank you Marie-Claire, thank you Guillaume,
I fully agree with you and affirm that secular education in the Republic’s school is the only way to advance humanity in the broadest sense of the word! The instruction of a young person begins, of course, with what he will learn in school and in all areas …It starts with respect for others, respect for the adults he will meet throughout his life, his parents, his teachers, his neighbours, anyone he will meet but also for other children of his age, younger or older …He must learn civic education, the history of his country with the main landmarks of the history of France! It is necessary to develop in him the spirit of curiosity so that he is interested in almost all …There are no taboo subjects in the education of a child! He will discover sensitive subjects on his own as he learns about life and he must differentiate between the notion of good and evil in relation to his behaviour and that of others! Once these notions have been acquired, he will be able to continue his education towards knowledge; science, geography, languages, the rules of the French language (grammar and spelling) and later specialize in a field of manual and/or intellectual learning consistent with the labour market of his time! His parents and teachers must be competent at this stage of the young person’s education so that he or she is best oriented towards the most appropriate learning according to his or her tastes! Easy to say and harder to implement …But the success of socio-professional success is at this price!
Throughout this educational programme, there is one area that should not be overlooked: it is the education of the body that goes through physical activity, which is why introducing a young person to the practice of a sport or sports game is absolutely necessary depending on fitness and health … ‘A body well done in a full head …’ is always the ideal of civilised man!
When the health of a young person is at the rendezvous, it is indeed education that is the first condition for the integration of a man or a woman into a civilised society!
Afterwards, beliefs and/or religions should not be rejected during an education because no undeviated religion leads to behaviour that is not respectful of others!
It’s beautiful!