The French minister of National Education, Edouard Geffray, has announced a new policy that will incorporate the mastery of the French language into the grading system for both the baccalaureate and the middle school certificate. According to the minister, students with poor written expression will automatically lose two points, regardless of the subject they are being tested on. This includes subjects like mathematics, where written expression is not typically the main focus. In an interview with Le Figaro, Geffray explained that this change aims to ensure that language skills are a central component of academic evaluation. Geffray had previously requested that language proficiency be more consistently considered in exams, but he noted that the implementation had been uneven. He now argues that the new system will apply a standardized grid, ranging from "very insufficient" to "very satisfactory," to all subjects. In disciplines where written expression is more critical, such as French or history-geography, a poor performance in terms of spelling, sentence structure, and argument organization will prevent students from achieving an average score. Critics of the policy, such as Yannick Trigance, a regional councilor from Île-de-France, argue that Geffray's approach addresses the symptoms rather than the causes of educational challenges. Trigance believes that the National Education system should focus on preventing failure rather than penalizing it. He points out that the reform may disproportionately affect students from disadvantaged backgrounds, who may already face challenges in developing strong language skills due to limited access to resources and support at home. Geffray justifies his policy by citing the need to restore "right standards" and referencing international rankings that show France's declining performance in reading comprehension. However, critics argue that the reform overlooks systemic issues such as early childhood education, teacher training, and resource allocation. They highlight that students from less privileged backgrounds often start school with significantly less exposure to language and vocabulary, making it harder for them to meet the new standards. Instead of addressing these root causes, the reform focuses on penalizing students for errors, which critics argue does not provide the necessary support to help them succeed.