Ido summer holidays last too long? Édouard Philippe relaunched the debate on Friday June 9 during a public meeting in Bordeaux, where he detailed his vision for the school. With eight weeks of summer holidays, France is nevertheless below the average of European member countries of the OECD. But the current pace would favor the reproduction of inequalities, he says. To sum up: children from wealthy backgrounds would go to the seaside and work on their holiday notebook while the less spoiled would stay at home without being intellectually stimulated.
An idea that comes up regularly in public debate. The environmental candidate Yannick Jadot had already put forward this idea during the last presidential election. In 2013, Vincent Peillon argued that children forgot part of their learning during the summer. Another argument often put forward by education specialists: cutting back on the summer would also make it possible to lighten the weekly schedule of pupils, especially in primary school. French schoolchildren attend 900 hours of lessons per year spread over 36 weeks. This is the densest pace in the OECD, with an average of around 800 hours on average.
READ ALSOEducation: should the “long holidays” be shortened?
Are the French in favor of a reduction in the time of summer holidays? That’s what wanted to know Point in partnership with Cluster17*. Surprisingly, opinions do not differ on the presence or absence of a child of school age, but rather on political opinions…
The French mainly for
If the French are 56% to be in favor of this idea, the most opposed are the voters of Jean-Luc Mélenchon: 66% are indeed “unfavorable” or “very unfavorable” to a reduction in the summer break, just ahead of the voters of Éric Zemmour (56%), Marine Le Pen (46%), and the other party of the dissatisfied: that of the abstentionists (44%). The most moderate voters, on the other hand, are the most inclined to a change in the school calendar: more than two thirds of the voters of Emmanuel Macron and Valérie Pécresse are in favor of a reduction in the summer holidays.
How to understand this distribution? “This reveals the divide between France, which gets up early, that of difficult jobs”, and France “executives and entrepreneurs”, who work with air conditioning in their office, deciphers Stéphane Fournier, director of studies for Cluster17.
READ ALSOThe lazy thinkersFor sociologist Jean Viard, a specialist in free time and leisure, the question of free time cannot be understood apart from that of income: “In working-class circles, free time is generally time devoted to domestic work: homework , shopping, cleaning, DIY, gardening, home renovation, etc. he says. “Tasks that the wealthy classes tend to delegate to household employees, which frees them up time for their rest and especially their hobbies, which are numerous in this category of the population. It is hardly surprising then that the more privileged classes need less free time. »
“Right to laziness”
Do the French feel they have enough free time? The polling institute also questioned its sample on this notion. And here again the sympathizers of La France insoumise stand out very clearly: 68% of them indicate that they do not have enough free time against 45% on average. A quarter would even be ready to cut back on their salary to have more leave.
Ditto among voters of Yannick Jadot, who are 28% in this case. Clearly, the more one is to the left, the more one seems to be in search of a “right to laziness”. “It is a legacy of Marxist thought as much as a defense of public service and in particular of teachers – particularly represented in this electorate” – explains Stéphane Fournier. “And these voters, in particular the wealthiest, have a lot of leisure, a busy love life, they are also more militant, it takes time for that…”, specifies Jean Viard.
READ ALSO“Mental load”: the fed up of womenWhat about the “labour left”, dear to Fabien Roussel? The workers, holders of difficult trades, seem to be satisfied with the situation. They are 77% to wish to remain in the same situation as today. Too tired for a reduction in their holidays to be possible, too poor for a reduction in their salary to be possible, they choose the status quo.
Young people want to work more to earn more
Another population stands out: young workers. “They are the most dissatisfied with their current situation,” explains Stéphane Fournier. Breaking with the idea that young working people are looking for free time, 38% of 18-24 year olds would like to increase their salary even if it means reducing their holidays.
A break takes place with 25-34 year olds, 27% of whom say they are ready to lower their salary for a little more leave. And this because of the difficulty of combining professional and personal life. “A lot of things come together at this time: you are at the peak of your career, you have young children, an apartment to pay off… it is a critical period when time tends to run out”, analyzes he.
Note: while almost as many women (46%) as men (47%) are satisfied with their amount of free time, only 6% of them say they have too much… compared to 13% of men. The sign of a difference in mental workload?
* Study carried out by Cluster17 for Le Point with a sample of 1,573 people representative of the French population aged 18 and over. The sample is drawn up according to the quota method, with regard to the criteria of sex, age, socio-professional category, type of municipality and region of residence. Online self-administered questionnaire. Interviews conducted from June 16 to 17, 2023.