Alain Bentolila is a professor of linguistics at the University of Paris V-Sorbonne and a scientific adviser for the French National Observatory on Reading Skills and for the National Agency Against Illiteracy. He is the author of numerous highly influential works, including Tout sur l’école, Le Verbe contre la barbarie (which received the France-Television Prize) and Parle à ceux que tu n’aimes pas.


With the energy and passion he is known for, the humanist and linguist Alain Bentolila addresses France’s entire political class on the eve of the Presidential elections: backed by statistics, he reaches the dismal conclusion that the French educational system has failed.
But he does more than underline the enormous waste this failure represents. He also makes realistic proposals to reform the school system; to reorganise the current curriculum; to provide differentiated instruction for each pupil; to valorise nursery and pre-schools as part of the “real” educational system; to restructure teacher training; to improve cooperation between parents and teachers throughout the academic year.

• Alain Bentolila is very influential among French educators and his thought-provoking books always stimulate discussion.