In some schools, like the one Malless and Kvetko visited in the Barbes Rochechouart neighborhood in the 18th Arrondissement, the majority of the children are North African. There is every attempt to level the playing field, Malless says. No school is simply left to languish. Malless suggests the French political and social dialogue is increasingly focused on how to pay for social and educational systems that until now have been a French birthright. In response, the French have seen an increase in private schools and pressure put on the government to decentralize the educational system.
Toleration is very much a part of French culture.
Malless and Kvetko hope to incorporate their research into their classroom work, and they have begun to organize their findings so that they can prepare scholarly papers for presentations at academic social work and education conferences. They also have hopes of bringing some of the French professionals who helped them with their research to Simpson to meet with faculty and students.