>The Walloon Minister-President, Elio Di Rupo, will give his speech on the state of Wallonia this Wednesday. For Etienne de Callataÿ, interviewed this morning in the programme “Il faut qu’on parle” on DH Radio, the least we can say is that the situation is not rosy in the south of the country… The economist evokes a clearly negative picture.
>
>[…]
>
>”I don’t think there has been a clear enough discourse on the seriousness of the situation, the extent of the efforts,” says Étienne de Callataÿ. “We can’t expect things to get much better in Wallonia quickly. And the best or most terrifying indicator of this is the level of education in French-speaking Belgium. With what the OECD’s PISA surveys tell us, for example, it is completely illusory to hope that Wallonia can catch up with Flanders…”
>
>[…]
>
>And the economist continued: “There are no miracle solutions, but I would have liked a more truthful discourse on the state of the situation, not one of despair, but I think that it is by recognising the seriousness of the situation that we can better mobilise and inspire.
>
>Looking back in the mirror, Étienne de Callataÿ has not forgotten Laurette Onkelinx’s speech at the time, “who told us that we would all be bilingual in 2000… It is now 2022, which is 22 years later than the objective we had set ourselves. And I think it’s better that we don’t take the test, because we would be horrified.”
>
>[…]
>
>When asked about the ecological transition, the economist was less worried about Wallonia than about Flanders, believing that the former is ready to face up to it and is less exposed.
>
>[…]
>
>”If I were a Fleming, I think I would be more worried. Why should I be worried? Look at Flanders, which owes part of its wealth to Antwerp and Zaventem. There is the petrochemical activity in Antwerp, which is not necessarily very promising, and industrial livestock farming, which is very present in Flanders and poses serious problems. Wallonia will not have these problems.
>
>[…]
>
>What about Walloon finances? Faced with the fact that the debt would reach 45 billion in 2024 with unchanged policies, de Callataÿ agrees “that a policy of budgetary prudence must be pursued, because the word ‘austerity’ is banned.
>
>[…]
>
>If you want to keep your destiny in your own hands, you don’t want to be held hostage by the rating agencies, which will downgrade you and make you pay more on your debt. Already, the recent news about interest rate hikes is not very good, even less so for those who are in debt, notably Wallonia.
>
>Translated with [www.DeepL.com/Translator](http://www.DeepL.com/Translator) (free version)
> Avec ce que nous indiquent les enquêtes PISA de l’OCDE par exemple, il est tout à fait illusoire d’espérer que la Wallonie puisse rattraper la Flandre…
[Evolution of PISA scores in science, math and reading between 2003 and 2018 in the three Communities](https://imgur.com/a/xn4XqmN)
The gap between French-speaking and Flemish scores is closing in all three domains. Granted not because FWB is performing better but because Flemish scores are in free fall. That being said, with the exception of reading, the French-speaking scores are stable.
Know how to fix this? 1 government, get rid of regions and 1 discours for all students
What frightens me most is heights, tbh
If we don’t start funding education, it’s going to get worse. You can do all the reviewing you want, at some point the budget needs to be there to make sure every kid has quality schooling
If you want good education you need smart responsible teachers. We need to enhance the job of being a teacher and this has nothing to do with the amount of vacation.
It’s about social standing and monetary compensation.
Besides that, we need to remove administrative burdens. This is true not only for teachers but also for medical doctors.
Wallonië has suffered of the nivellement par le bas imposed by the PS.
Instead of raising the different waves of migration to our standards. All they did is lower the bar so everybody could have a diploma. Even more so the last 20 years.
I’m a high school dropout and I meet colleagues that are in their twenties they find I use complicated words or outdated. Bitches, I read books. This kids are in their mid twenties and they speak like I spoke when I was 13.
So yes if a dummy like me sounds somehow smart to 26 years old university college educated kids. I fear for the future.
C’est clair que le niveau des exigences a baissé, mais, en dehors de cette polémique spécifique, ça fait longtemps que je me demande ce qu’on retient vraiment des années passées à l’école une fois adulte. J’ai quand même l’impression que chez beaucoup de gens, à part les acquis fondamentaux comme la lecture et le calcul basique, les enseignements sont ressortis aussi vite qu’ils sont rentrés. Et ça tous âges confondus, même chez des gens qui étaient bons élèves.
Du coup l’idée d’apprendre des “compétences” et non plus des “savoirs” est pas forcément une mauvaise chose. Mais c’est clair qu’en pratique ça ne marche pas vraiment, probablement parceque le cadre scolaire ne s’y prête pas très bien.
8 comments
>The Walloon Minister-President, Elio Di Rupo, will give his speech on the state of Wallonia this Wednesday. For Etienne de Callataÿ, interviewed this morning in the programme “Il faut qu’on parle” on DH Radio, the least we can say is that the situation is not rosy in the south of the country… The economist evokes a clearly negative picture.
>
>[…]
>
>”I don’t think there has been a clear enough discourse on the seriousness of the situation, the extent of the efforts,” says Étienne de Callataÿ. “We can’t expect things to get much better in Wallonia quickly. And the best or most terrifying indicator of this is the level of education in French-speaking Belgium. With what the OECD’s PISA surveys tell us, for example, it is completely illusory to hope that Wallonia can catch up with Flanders…”
>
>[…]
>
>And the economist continued: “There are no miracle solutions, but I would have liked a more truthful discourse on the state of the situation, not one of despair, but I think that it is by recognising the seriousness of the situation that we can better mobilise and inspire.
>
>Looking back in the mirror, Étienne de Callataÿ has not forgotten Laurette Onkelinx’s speech at the time, “who told us that we would all be bilingual in 2000… It is now 2022, which is 22 years later than the objective we had set ourselves. And I think it’s better that we don’t take the test, because we would be horrified.”
>
>[…]
>
>When asked about the ecological transition, the economist was less worried about Wallonia than about Flanders, believing that the former is ready to face up to it and is less exposed.
>
>[…]
>
>”If I were a Fleming, I think I would be more worried. Why should I be worried? Look at Flanders, which owes part of its wealth to Antwerp and Zaventem. There is the petrochemical activity in Antwerp, which is not necessarily very promising, and industrial livestock farming, which is very present in Flanders and poses serious problems. Wallonia will not have these problems.
>
>[…]
>
>What about Walloon finances? Faced with the fact that the debt would reach 45 billion in 2024 with unchanged policies, de Callataÿ agrees “that a policy of budgetary prudence must be pursued, because the word ‘austerity’ is banned.
>
>[…]
>
>If you want to keep your destiny in your own hands, you don’t want to be held hostage by the rating agencies, which will downgrade you and make you pay more on your debt. Already, the recent news about interest rate hikes is not very good, even less so for those who are in debt, notably Wallonia.
>
>Translated with [www.DeepL.com/Translator](http://www.DeepL.com/Translator) (free version)
> Avec ce que nous indiquent les enquêtes PISA de l’OCDE par exemple, il est tout à fait illusoire d’espérer que la Wallonie puisse rattraper la Flandre…
[Evolution of PISA scores in science, math and reading between 2003 and 2018 in the three Communities](https://imgur.com/a/xn4XqmN)
The gap between French-speaking and Flemish scores is closing in all three domains. Granted not because FWB is performing better but because Flemish scores are in free fall. That being said, with the exception of reading, the French-speaking scores are stable.
Know how to fix this? 1 government, get rid of regions and 1 discours for all students
What frightens me most is heights, tbh
If we don’t start funding education, it’s going to get worse. You can do all the reviewing you want, at some point the budget needs to be there to make sure every kid has quality schooling
If you want good education you need smart responsible teachers. We need to enhance the job of being a teacher and this has nothing to do with the amount of vacation.
It’s about social standing and monetary compensation.
Besides that, we need to remove administrative burdens. This is true not only for teachers but also for medical doctors.
Wallonië has suffered of the nivellement par le bas imposed by the PS.
Instead of raising the different waves of migration to our standards. All they did is lower the bar so everybody could have a diploma. Even more so the last 20 years.
I’m a high school dropout and I meet colleagues that are in their twenties they find I use complicated words or outdated. Bitches, I read books. This kids are in their mid twenties and they speak like I spoke when I was 13.
So yes if a dummy like me sounds somehow smart to 26 years old university college educated kids. I fear for the future.
C’est clair que le niveau des exigences a baissé, mais, en dehors de cette polémique spécifique, ça fait longtemps que je me demande ce qu’on retient vraiment des années passées à l’école une fois adulte. J’ai quand même l’impression que chez beaucoup de gens, à part les acquis fondamentaux comme la lecture et le calcul basique, les enseignements sont ressortis aussi vite qu’ils sont rentrés. Et ça tous âges confondus, même chez des gens qui étaient bons élèves.
Du coup l’idée d’apprendre des “compétences” et non plus des “savoirs” est pas forcément une mauvaise chose. Mais c’est clair qu’en pratique ça ne marche pas vraiment, probablement parceque le cadre scolaire ne s’y prête pas très bien.