Headline, February 27 2021/ ''' '' STERLING =FRANCE'S - !WOW!- STUDENTS '' '''

''' '' STERLING =

FRANCE'S - !WOW!-

 STUDENTS '' '''

IN 2018 - A MANIFESTO FOR AN ECOLOGICAL awakening, written by students at top universities, called for placing the ''ecological transition at the core of our social project'' 30,000 students signed up in just a few weeks.

'' OUR EDUCATION ''- READ A RECENT LETTER signed by some 2,000 students and alumni of HEC Paris, one of Europe's top business schools:

 ''Does not sufficiently integrate ecological and social issues, reducing them at best to 'negative externalities' and at worst to marketing opportunities.''

The later environment created an ever growing uproar and hundreds of students voted against the looming project of setting up a research center.

THE CLASH at the Ecole Polytechnique was just the latest of the clashes taking place at France's elite campuses, long seen by ambitious students as the path to success. Now students alarmed by a warming planet are challenging the corporations that see them as potential future employees.

At a time when engineers and scientists should be leading the way to a sustainable world, they argued, among other things, the project gave undue influence to a company that remains a world leader in fossil fuels.

STUDENT BENOIT HALGAND - 22, - who is in his final year at school, found it disturbing to be influenced by TOTAL - which has a rather biased vision of energy transition. He opined that the ''company will always want to use oil and gas for many years to come.''

The sprawling campus at the Ecole Polytechnique - one of the world's finest engineering schools, - has long been a magnet for major French industrial and energy companies eager to attract some of France's brightest minds.

So when it was announced last year that the oil and gas giant Total would establish a research center on the campus, southeast of Paris, it seemed like a natural fit.

A spokesman for Total said in a written response that the group is aiming for carbon neutrality by 2050 and that its research center has ''the sole objective of accelerating innovation and research on low -carbon energies.''

''By going to class, by working, we take part in a world that we denounce,'' said Caroline Mouille, a 23-year old engineering student at Toulouse, in southern France ''Cognitive dissonance is huge''.

Frustrated by the disparity between the world they dream of and the one they are offered, students are pressuring universities to put climate change and other environmental issues at the core of their curriculum. Some schools have taken steps in that direction, but critics say it is not nearly enough.

The environment has become a primary concern in France, a country where climate change protests drew thousands of teenagers to the streets in 2019 and where president Emmanuel Macron recently announced a referendum to add environmental protection to the Constitution.

The growing environmental movement at France's most prestigious universities,   or Grandes Ecole. the traditional training ground for corporate executives and top civil servants, has profound implications for the next generation of the country's elite.

The conflict has pitted students against consumerism and against what they consider to be the profit -driven nature of some of France's largest corporations, including L'Oreal.

Students activism has been rare in the past, so the calls for change have surprised many people, particularly at the Ecole Polytechnique, which is overseen by the defense ministry and where students considered members of the armed forces, are normally bound to confidentiality.

Mr. Hagland said that environmental concerns had given birth to ''a fairly new criticism'' among young people students of today's economic and social systems.

''In the past, among engineers, there was often the idea of doing technical feats,'' he said. ''Today, we ask ourselves, 'Why? What is is the environmental and social impact behind it?' ''

Responding to students demands, some universities have started revising the curriculum.

A mandatory three day seminar on climate change for every new students was introduced at the Ecole Polytechnique two years ago, and the National Institute of Applied Sciences of Lyon has committed to overhauling its teaching to educate all students about environmental issues.

The Honour and Serving of the Latest Global Operational Research on Students and The World Affairs, continues. The World Students Society thanks author Constant Meheut.

With respectful dedication the Leaders, Students, Professors and Teachers of the World. See Ya all prepare and register for Great Global Elections on The World Students Society : wssciw.blogspot.com and Twitter - !E-WOW! - The Ecosystem 2011 :

''' Campus Contour '''

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