A class of nine handicapped girls—eight with Down syndrome, one without—"integrated" into a private classical lycée; an almost unique experiment, a test of whether nine adolescents (ages 14–17) could gain real independence, and whether a large Catholic school—some thousand girls—in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Paris, could truly welcome them.
First, a word about how the class began.
Previously integrated into compulsory schooling, but now too young for the workforce and accustomed to living like everyone else, seven girls—then eight, then nine (the maximum for a class to work well)—found themselves with nowhere to go at the start of the 1982 school year. What was needed was a brave school, one willing to put into practice what appeared so often in pedagogical programs: "openness," "welcome," "the right to difference."
After searching, they found a Catholic school with a headmistress ready to try.
Preparation was thorough and careful: consultation with the entire teaching staff, non-teaching personnel, and parents; early announcement of the project; reflection sessions with the girls themselves.
It should be clear that this class was not created to impose a theory—the idea of "integration at any cost"—but first and foremost as a concrete response to the concerns of some parents about their daughters. Beyond that, it was an attempt to extend schooling in a normal environment in cases where that seemed possible.
The "Blue" class (that is their color; we call the fifth-year classes "Red," the fourth-year classes "Yellow," and so on) are happy where they are, and they show it. While full integration into regular classes is not yet possible, they participate in all the school's common activities: breaks, lunch, swimming, religious instruction, and various outings.
The girls of the Blue class take part in all the school's common activities: breaks, sports, outings, celebrations, meals.
The girls of the Blue class take part in all the school's common activities: breaks, sports, outings, celebrations, meals.When we prepare a celebration—and there are many—the Blue girls join in like the others. Recently they had a big success performing a series of short sketches with real spontaneity and freshness. They even got an encore.
Only the academic instruction itself is different, given how much lower their educational level is than the other classes.
Two teachers, chosen for them alone, handle "General Education." For music, technical instruction, manual work, and physical education, they have the same teachers as their schoolmates. A physical therapist and two speech therapists offer support when parents request it—the same arrangement available to other girls in the school.
On the "social" front, we can say without embellishing: the experiment has worked. No one stares anymore when a Blue girl talks to herself. But if someone cries during break, there is always someone who comes to ask what is wrong and tries to comfort her.
Of course, this is the result of steady work in raising consciousness and building responsibility among the girls. We explained Trisomy 21—we even showed a short film on the subject for teachers and girls who wanted to know more. We convinced the girls that, like the teaching staff, they share responsibility for the project's success.
The initiative has a dual purpose: to help handicapped girls find a place in school, and to help other girls grow used to the presence of young people different from themselves—yet also capable of offering something real. When these schoolgirls become adults, we hope they will have a different view of handicap, whether mental or physical. (Is not school the ideal place for this?)
Practically, this meant we did not give the Blue girls a large, isolated classroom at the far end of the building. Instead, we chose a smaller room next to the others, on the same floor as the fifth-year classes, with the same lockers and the same bathrooms. And to make sure all the fifth-year sections mixed with the Blue girls, we set up a rotation so that each term a new fifth-year class (the "Red" section, then the "Yellow," then the "Blue," and so on) occupies the classroom next to theirs. This way the partnership is not the privilege of thirty girls but involves the whole floor. And yes, there are complications. Girls this age—not just the Blue girls—can be rather exclusive in friendship: a "best friend" drifts away, and there is real pain underneath.
Last year's fifth-year classes (this year's first-year lycée students) will tell you that they think the partnership works less well this year. "The new fifth-year girls don't understand anything, they don't help enough." Perhaps that is true—the situation feels less new—but maybe the Blue girls need less help now. They manage much better. Almost.
A Success
If we were to sum up the experiment, we could say it has succeeded in at least three ways:
- consolidation of basic skills;
- growth in independence;
- personal development.
That is for the Blue girls.
For the school itself, the balance is also positive:
- the disappearance of prejudice: the normal worries at the start have vanished;
- discovery of difference (this year's Christmas celebration was built around this theme);
- the awakening of vocations; older girls often peek into the Blue classroom, ask what they do, and take interest in their progress;
- education in responsibility for girls near the Blue class ("I make her repeat things," said one fifth-year girl, speaking of Natalia, who has some difficulty with speech);
- a spirit of generosity spreading through the whole school.
These are many good things. Yet we do not present this as a universal remedy (if one even exists), nor do we think other educational initiatives should not be tried. It is simply an initiative that works—one worth watching, with certain people.
— Madeleine Toussaint, 1984, from Ombres et Lumière no. 66
We present this French initiative in hopes of encouraging some Catholic school to find courage—to reach out to the many parents who, after middle school, feel forced to keep their children at home because nothing else is available. With a little creativity, a little generosity, how much good, how much recovery of dignity could come to so many Catholic schools that seem closed to this need.
===FINE===