Fantastic, Mr President

President Macron of France took a teenager to task for failing to show him – or more correctly, the Office of his Presidency – due respect.

It is a fantastic clip, in which the French leader displays gravitas whilst taking the opportunity to educate.

The day you want to start a revolution you study first in order to obtain a degree and feed yourself, OK?

Wise words.

It would have been so easy for him to have ignored the low level “cheek” from the garcon – and how often have we, as teachers let things slide, or seen colleagues do so?

As @Marcus Haddon said on Twitter:

I’ve seen some headteachers in the UK have less interaction with their students than this.

Watch the clip for a 30 second masterclass in how to set a positive role model.

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2 Comments

  1. Posted 20/06/2018 at 6:20 am | Permalink

    Entertaining, but perhaps a little harsh? After all, essentially the young chap seemed to be a supporter of Mr President, no?

    • A Maths Teacher
      Posted 20/06/2018 at 2:33 pm | Permalink

      I don’t think it is harsh – as a teacher I see my job as more than just preparing students to sit a maths exam, my role is to help prepare them for the wider world. The office of President commands and demands respect, respect that was not given. The young man was correctly pulled up on this.

      As a tutor to a number of 17 and 18 year olds, I regularly chat with them about how they should conduct themselves in different scenarios and company: when it is just them together, banter is fine, the odd swear word and insult forgiven amongst friends; in a more formal environment, such as this, or in the classroom with a teacher, or with an employer etc. such casual language may not be acceptable and they need to learn to distinguish between these different environments. In my school, teachers are known as “Sir” or “Mr X” or “Miss Y” – if a student tried to be a little cheeky and call me by my first name, I would challenge them on that, hopefully with the same level of skill and dignity shown by the President.

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