An Instructive Local Government Ethics Matter in a Recent French Film

There's an instructive local government ethics situation in the 2008 French film The Class (Entre les murs), which I watched yesterday evening. A teenage student is being given a disciplinary hearing at his public high school in Paris after accidentally hitting a girl with his bag and walking out of his class. His teacher is a teacher representative on the disciplinary committee.

Another member of the committee raises the issue of the teacher having a conflict. When the teacher reminds them that he is a teacher representative (presumably representing other teachers, not himself), and says that he had nothing to do with what happened, the committee member notes that the teacher had started the disruption by referring to two other students as "skanks" (putasses). The teacher says that what he said was irrelevant to what happened. But he is either lying or in denial, because we have seen what happened, and his words set the boy student off defending the girls' reputation.

What is instructive here is that, when the issue of a conflict is raised, what is said by the individual with the possible conflict (especially about his own responsibility) should be treated with skepticism. Few people are going to admit that they are responsible for creating a situation, and if their involvement in that situation is at issue, the possibility of their involvement, whatever they say, should control whether they should withdraw from the proceeding. A board need not sit in judgment of a colleague; its members should assume the worst:  that a conflict exists, whatever the colleague says or thinks. The board should therefore ask the colleague to withdraw.

Here, the teacher should be a witness, not a judge. His opinion and his version of the story is valuable, but once he has given his opinion, told the story from his point of view, and answered questions, he should leave the room. Teachers should expect to lose the vote of a representative that was involved in an incident before the disciplinary committee.

By the way, this unusual film about an inner-city classroom is especially valuable because it lacks the usual trajectory of such films, which is toward some great breakthrough or success. This film is more realistic, presenting viewers instead with the many obstacles in the way of a student's education (the obstacles are to be found in both student and teacher), including a lack of rationality, a lack of self-discipline, class and racial resentment, pride, anger, and misunderstanding.

Robert Wechsler
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics

---