Student sets himself on fire, highlighting broader distress in France

His main problem seemed to be in getting a job.  Restrictions on firing in France make employers reluctant to create new jobs. A common result of that is that young French graduates head for the Gare du Nord and take a train ride to London for their first job, which is a rather gross failing of the French system

PARIS — Early this month, Anas K., 22, sat in front of the student center at a university in Lyon and posted what he believed would be his final Facebook status. “I accuse Macron, Hollande, Sarkozy and the European Union of having killed me by creating uncertainties for the future of all,” he wrote.

Shortly after clicking the post button, he set himself on fire.

Today, the young man, whose family has asked that his full name not be published to protect his privacy, has burns over 90 percent of his body. As of Nov. 18, Anas K.’s condition is stable, though he remains in an artificial coma.

Although little is known publicly of Anas K.’s psychological state before his suicide attempt Nov. 8, the act touched a nerve with students across France. It quickly became another indication, like the Yellow Vest protests, of the precariousness that many French feel has come to define their lives.

The incident has inspired protests in various cities against student financial insecurity. Student unions have demanded a reevaluation of university tuition and changes to scholarships. They also want more student housing and better health services on university campuses.

Thousands of students have blocked the entrances of universities in recent weeks, and they have demonstrated in front of the Ministry of Higher Education. On Twitter, some have posted using the hashtag #LaPrécaritéTue, or “Precariousness kills.”

Such an outpouring of anger over economic uncertainty among students may seem out of place in France. The price of higher education, even at some of the country’s best schools, is nowhere near comparable to that in the United States, where the average yearly costs for both public and private four-year schools are in the five-figure range.

In France, a bachelor’s program at a public university costs 170 euros, or about $187 a year. Many of the “Grandes Écoles,” the elite universities in France, charge students based on their parents’ income.

Students can receive money from the state to subsidize their living expenses. In 2017, 39 percent of students qualified for financial assistance.

Yet many French students still struggle to get by. One in five French students lived below the poverty line in 2017, according to a report by the National Union of Students of France. Almost half worked during the school year to finance their studies.

For the last 10 years, the cost of living for students in France has increased, further compounding their financial instability. And for some students, that insecurity continues after they finish their studies.

In his Facebook post, Anas K. expressed anxiety about his future, wondering whether he would be able to find work at a time of “mass unemployment” in a country where, despite recent improvements, 20.77 percent of young people remained unemployed in 2018.

Anas K. was repeating his second year at university for the third time, and his academic troubles had resulted in the rescinding of his scholarship at University Lumière Lyon 2.

In the post, which has since been taken down, Anas K. explicitly attributed his suicide attempt to the financial insecurity he faced as a student, writing that his “last wish is that my peers continue to fight so we can be finished with this, once and for all.”

At first, the government was slow to respond to the incident, which received widespread media attention in France, and was initially dismissive of students’ concerns, denouncing “the political instrumentalization” of the event.

Amélie de Montchalin, the secretary of European affairs, said she found it “dangerous” that activist associations were “using the situation.”

The student protests have now become yet another obstacle for the government of President Emmanuel Macron to navigate in an increasingly tumultuous political landscape.

Though Macron’s government is still vowing to change France, a proliferation of protests on a number of fronts is threatening to upend his agenda.

This month alone, hospital workers protested poor working conditions, and 28,000 Yellow Vest protesters turned out to mark the anniversary of their movement. Tens of thousands marched in Paris and across France to protest high rates of domestic violence in the country, where more than 100 women have been killed so far this year by a partner or former partner. And protests against Macron’s proposed retirement overhaul are scheduled for Dec. 5.

As a result, and as student anger remains unabated, the government has begun to tread more carefully. Frédérique Vidal, the French minister of education, met with student associations in recent days, promising to create a help line for students by the end of the year.

To the protesters’ dismay, however, she did not increase the budget for student financial assistance, saying the current budget of 5.7 billion euros was underutilized. Instead, the government promised measures to make students more aware of existing financial resources.

Now, Macron himself has weighed in. “Such acts are always unfathomable and inexplicable,” he said of Anas K.’s self-immolation. “His suffering reminds us, though it does not make us discover, the difficulties of student life.”

He also reminded students of the things he had already done for them, like decreasing the cost of a driver’s license and simplifying the scholarship system. “Right now, our country is too negative about itself,” he said.

But many students have found the government response unsatisfying. “We are living in a time of economic uncertainty, we are constantly passing reforms that make work and retirement more precarious,” said Sophie La Toix, 25, a friend of Anas K. and a member of his student union.

“We don’t know if all the hardship and hard work we put into our studies will be rewarded because we know more and more people who have several diplomas and master’s that find themselves without work” she added. “On top of that, there is uncertainty about the climate.”

Such financial stresses contribute to the fact that students are more likely to have “suicidal ideas” than the general French population, according to data from the French Observatory of Student Life.

Still, the students have not persuaded everyone of their distress, and some consider their demands overblown. “I do not think financial insecurity or poverty is a massive phenomenon among students,” said Olivier Galland, a French sociologist and a director at the French National Center for Scientific Research.

He pointed out that most students are supported by their parents or the state. But that does not mean that Macron’s government could risk ignoring their complaints, either.  “I think governments, no matter who they are, are always scared of young people,” Galland said. “Young people are unpredictable.”

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Elizabeth Warren Rally Derailed By Pro-Charter School Protesters

Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s presidential campaign rally in Atlanta on Thursday was derailed by parents protesting the Massachusetts senator’s opposition to charter schools.

The group of parents interrupted Warren’s event, which was aimed at courting black female voters, with chants of “Our children, our choice!” and “We want to be heard!”

A group wearing “powerful parent network” shirts, a group who opposes Warren’s stance on charter schools started chanting “our children our choice” and “we want to be heard!” during the start of Warren’s speech.

The protesters promoted their disruption on Twitter using the hashtag #PowerfulParentNetwork. Warren has pledged to crack down on school choice if elected, despite the fact that publicly available records show she sent her own son to an elite private school, the Daily Caller News Foundation previously reported.

The protesters were eventually escorted out of the event by security

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UK: Half of university students accepted on lower grades as institutions take into account poor backgrounds, study finds

That's a very high proportion of unqualified students

Around half of school-leavers were accepted on to degree courses this year with A-level grades lower than the advertised entry requirements, new data shows.

Students from the poorest backgrounds were more likely to take up places with lower grades than advertised compared to all undergraduates nationally, according to figures published by Ucas.

This may be due to "contextualised offers" - in which an institution takes into account a student's schooling and background when deciding whether to make an offer, and what grades are needed to secure the place, the admission service said.

The latest data shows that 49% of 18-year-olds in England, Northern Ireland and Wales, sitting at least three A-levels, were accepted on to courses with actual exam grades that were below the requirements advertised by the university for the course.

Universities and colleges typically advertise standard grade requirements, for example on their own website, for students to view when applying for courses.

The figures also show that this year (2019) 60% of applicants from the fifth most disadvantaged backgrounds were accepted on to courses with A-level grades below the advertised requirements.

These figures are based on acceptances on to courses for which A-level entry requirements were supplied to Ucas.

"Findings from the 2019 cycle suggest that applicants should not be deterred from applying to courses with challenging entry requirements," Ucas said.

"Universities and colleges frequently accept applicants who perform below their entry requirements. Encouragingly, this is most often experienced by disadvantaged applicants."

Ucas's report also says that around one in six (17%) of the most disadvantaged students say they received a contextual offer.

But many are unaware that universities make these types of offers, it adds. Three in five (60%) of the most disadvantaged applicants were less likely to be aware of contextual offers than the most advantaged (68%).

"These responses were collected at the end of the cycle, when many applicants would have been in receipt of these offers," Ucas said.

"Awareness may have been even lower when it was most needed - at the point of application."

There have been concerns raised previously that students from poorer backgrounds are less likely to apply to courses with high entry requirements as they are worried they will not get the required grades.

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