A little bit "Macron Youth"?
Not entirely sure
about this idea:
Nearly two decades after France phased out conscription for men, some
2,000 teenagers on Sunday began a pilot programme for a new national
civic service, a pet project of French President Emmanuel Macron.
For a fortnight, the 15-
and 16-year-olds will leave home for training in first aid and other
basic skills, followed later by another two weeks of volunteering.
Macron
caused surprise on the campaign trail in 2017 by promising to introduce
a month-long compulsory national service, saying he wanted to give
girls and boys "a direct experience of military life".
The
proposal got a cool response from the army, which baulked at the
prospect of having to put millions of teens through their paces,
prompting the government to come back with proposals for a compulsory
civic service instead.
Some 2,000 youngsters,
including 50 disabled teens, were chosen out of 4,000 volunteers for the
first part of the trial, which started Sunday at boarding schools,
holiday villages and university campuses around the country.
The group includes high school students, drop-outs, apprentices and vocational school trainees.
Each
volunteer will leave home for another region for the two weeks, during
which time they will be required to wear navy uniforms and sing the "Marseillaise", France's national anthem, every morning.
Described
as an "integration phase", teens will be taught first aid, map reading,
emergency response for different scenarios and other skills.
It'll probably end up in some form of under-age sex scandal, and that will be the end of it. The uniform is a bit, um, naff? too:
No comments:
Post a Comment