Le Quaternaire dans l'enseignement secondaire français : sa
disparition aujourd'hui à la lumière des enjeux socioculturels
de son introduction au 19ÈME siècle The Quaternary in French
secondary school: its disappearance today in light of the
sociocultural stakes of its introduction during the 19TH century
The Quaternary is disappearing from French syllabi. The current
Earth and Life Sciences curriculum for the French seventh grade
(pupils from 13 to 14 years old) includes the example “of the
paleogeographic and climatic changes of the Quaternary Era.”
Historical Geology will disappear completely from the future
seventh grade syllabus. From 1994 to 2001, in the twelfth grade
science track class (pupils from 17 to 18 years old), the
teaching proposed “to reconstruct the paleo-environments in
which the human line evolved during the Quaternary”. It was
replaced in 2001 by a topic entitled “From the geological past
to the future evolution of the planet,” in which the past
planetary climates are studied. We are cur