The School of Democracy
Maurice Ferlet
2009 - 52 min - Couleur - France

"What is the difference between left-wing and right-wing views?", "Do you get nervous before speaking in front of a large audience?", and "Are you friends with you political opponents?"
A politician replies to these and other questions put forward by a group of primary school children (class CM2 = 10/11 year olds). This event takes place every year in each of France’s 577 constituencies.
Since 1994, the Children’s Parliament has gathered together 577 CM2 classes to increase pupils’ awareness of the basis of democracy. With their teacher to guide them, and a meeting with their local MP, the children must work on a project and propose a Bill they would like to see voted on in parliament.
The children debate freely what they would like to improve in society. They are often worried about the environment and they want more harmony between people and better children’s rights. It is very touching to see how their daily troubles provide them with subjects for debate. The children discuss everything and anything: over-stretched hospitals, the difficulty in having a relationship with a father who is in prison, the integration of people with handicaps in schools, the suffering children experience after their parents’ divorce, bullying…
This is the school of democracy.