Let’s Praline! Let’s Educate!
Monsieur Buskin, Crestignac’s Minister of Education, presents his teaching method built on pralines, hands-on learning and a mastery of the basics.
La DdC2 min read
The education crisis may at last have found its answer. It lay neither in the curriculum, nor in resources, nor even in teacher training. It lay in the praline.
At a solemn press conference, Monsieur Buskin, Crestignac’s Minister of Education, unveiled his new educational doctrine: the praline-based Buskin method.
“We talk a great deal about the fundamentals, but we must first be able to touch them,” the minister explained, a praline in hand. For Monsieur Buskin, children must first handle knowledge before they can presume to understand it.
The principle is simple: each pupil will receive one kilogram of pralines to count, weigh, share and, if necessary, consume. Mathematics will thus become a tangible subject once more, though it may get slightly sticky.
But the praline is not merely a means of learning to count. It also offers a way into history, science, commerce and, according to the minister, “the origin of things”.
« Unless you have handled a kilogram of sugar, you cannot know that dividing it in two gives you 500 grams. »
When several specialists questioned the accuracy of this assertion, Monsieur Buskin reminded them that what mattered was not knowing whether it was true, but knowing that it provided a foundation.
The method will rest on five stages: handling tangible objects, counting, sharing, understanding origins, then thinking before reaching for the calculator.
The minister intends to introduce this teaching in primary school, continue it through secondary school, and then into tertiary education.
Every citizen will therefore have to demonstrate sufficient mastery of the praline before receiving a diploma or signing an employment contract. A certificate of praline proficiency may soon be required for access to positions of responsibility.
Latin will also remain on the curriculum.
The word pralina could thus be declined in every case, including those in which it has never existed.
To those who asked which teaching method should take precedence, Monsieur Buskin replied with the precision that has now become the hallmark of his administration:
The reform is therefore to be implemented everywhere, freely but compulsorily, under arrangements left to individual discretion in strict compliance with ministerial instructions.
The conference closed with the new watchword for education in Crestignac:
A phrase that Monsieur Buskin asks people to enunciate clearly, particularly when addressing it to him.
How to make it
- 1.Savez-vous que la praline vient d’un pharmacien? Sinon, comment pouvez-vous prétendre maîtriser les bases? Hélas, peu les maîtrisent.
- 2.Je ne suis pas contre la calculette, du moment que l’on ne se trompe pas de touche.
- 3.Il faut un tronc commun en primaire, en secondaire et en tertiaire. Et finalement dans l’entreprise.
- 4.Le latin, tout le monde sait que cela ne sert à rien, mais c’est tout de même utile.
- 5.Toutes les méthodes sont bonnes, du moment que cela dépend de l’enseignant. Et de l’élève aussi.