The president of the world-renowned Sorbonne University has branded French students protesting about the country's new employment law "ignorant and stupid".
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"I'm very angry about the demagogy, the ignorance and the stupidity of the young and of the French," said Dr. Pitte, 56, a geography professor who has taught at Oxford and Cambridge and holds the Légion d'honneur.
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"Today's youth don't have dreams, they have illusions. To dream is to want to accomplish something difficult that is a challenge. Instead youngsters believe they have a right to everything and if things don't go the way they want it's someone else's fault."
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Dr Pitte, whose comments were published in the respected weekly news magazine Le Point, blamed "irresponsible" public debate for stoking the violence.
"They say: Oh, these poor students! Of course they have a right to an open-ended work contract! It's absurd," he told Le Point. "Who is going to tell these youngsters the truth? Get real." He added that tens of thousands of students were taking degrees in subjects with no relevance to the employment market but were then demanding jobs linked to their studies.Frankly, I wonder where students find the time for serious scholarship with all the sand-box revolutionary doings that these students are under. I think Tim Bleaah put it quite nicely:
Dr Pitte’s car insurance just quadrupled.That notwithstanding, Pitte is a realist when it comes to education, and to the reasonableness that can be expected of a person:
« We give the impression of a country that doesn't understand the world. I'm ashamed of my country. »
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