MADRID — A tart pun appeared on a protester’s sign along a Barcelona street last week: “Franco ha Werto.” The idea was that the former dictator General Francisco Franco, who died (“ha muerto”) in 1975, is being recast as Spain’s current education minister, José Ignacio Wert.
Earlier this month, Wert proposed a draft law to reform Spain’s education system; its overall thrust is to give the central government greater control over education at the regional level. One provision would allow families that are disgruntled with Spanish-language instruction in public schools in regions that have their own official language to send their children to private institutions and claim a stipend to pay for that from the regional government.
The measure sparked protests nationwide, especially in Catalonia. People there were still smarting from a recent snub: In October Wert said that the government should españolizar, or “Hispanize,” Catalan schoolchildren. The remark had an ominous historical ring because of a long line of authoritarian crackdowns on Catalonia, from Philip V in the 18th century to Franco in the 20th.
The measure sparked protests nationwide, especially in Catalonia. People there were still smarting from a recent snub: In October Wert said that the government should españolizar, or “Hispanize,” Catalan schoolchildren. The remark had an ominous historical ring because of a long line of authoritarian crackdowns on Catalonia, from Philip V in the 18th century to Franco in the 20th.
Now locals, citizens and politicians alike, are describing Wert’s new education proposal as another act of persecution. One former parliamentarian tweeted: “Wert wants to do what Franco tried but failed to: destroy the Catalan identity.”
Jonathan Blitzer wrote an article talking about Catalunia´s discomfort about their education reform.He said that "Wert’s proposal is ideology cloaked as technocratic reform" and "his proposal is nothing more than old dogmatism". So this creates many manifestations, in it we can find some short sentences like " Franco ha Werto" (Wert wants to do what Franco tried but failed to: destroy the Catalan identity). The law that creates the most comments is that the government has to " espanyolitzar"- make Spanish- the students of Catalonia. Also he talks about the dropout rate among young Spaniards is among the highest in Europe. Massive budget cuts to public education have increased concerns about the quality of teaching and student knowledge about math and science. That creates discomfort. Finally he reminded us that PP is a centrist and pragmatic on the economy.
I'm totally against the Wert law. A part of this information in the news I want to remember that also this law involves that philosophy will disappear. Yes, it is a shock for everybody. I know that a lot of people don't like to do exams of philosophy, but they like the subject. For me philosophy is necessary because it helps to improve your mentality. You grow up with it. You have to think for yourself. So I hope that with a change of governement philosophy will return, because today's society is silly and without philosophy our level of stupidty will go up. I really hope that the next elections the PP won't get the majority .
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