Immigrant(s') children are the purveyors of a family tongue and culture which differ from that of the host country and its education system, when in fact, family culture and the mother-tongue play a major role in harmonious child development and in his/her integration into society. School, which should aim at both enabling the child to establish himself/herself as a subject and finding his/her place in society, conveys a different culture, which is regarded as legitimate. What about the tongues and cultures of immigrant children? Until the 1970s, nothing specific was schemed for immigrant school children. They had to merge with the rest. Family reunification policies brought along the taking into account of these children. Two systems were introduced : childcare facilities for non-francophone children and courses in the culture and language of their country of origin. Yet, if such policies have been a first step towards the taking into account of immigrant children within education systems, they've remained within a pattern of simultaneous assimilation and differentiation. Beyond what these policies intended, the observations made in the « reception and integration » classes and language and cultural courses of Côte d'Or, along with the interviews and surveys carried out with the teachers of the county, have pointed out different practical and human problems in their very functioning. Moreover, the schooling years play an important part in the building up of children and what is taught will leave its mark for long. Thus, the importance given to overseas cultures as well as the image of the other conveyed during that time, particularly through books, constitute the mirror of the way to see the other in the host society on the one hand, and will bear long-time consequences on tomorrow's society on the other hand. The western ethnocentrism which characterizes the teaching of History and Literature leads to the stigmatization of the Other, through the tongues and cultures transmitted to students.
Receiving immigrant children and immigrants' children in french schools‎ : education between family culture and host country culture