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PaperclipPerfector  5d ago (text post)   825 thread views

Transnational Thursday for April 16, 2026

Transnational Thursday is a thread for people to discuss international news, foreign policy or international relations history. Feel free as well to drop in with coverage of countries you’re interested in, talk about ongoing dynamics like the wars in Israel or Ukraine, or even just whatever you’re reading.

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Earlier today I heard an offhand remark that this year France has been rocked by a massive scandal in the Paris preschool system. What apparently happened: In January, France.TV network aired an investigative report "Cash Investigation". As a part of the report, the French TV audience saw covertly recorded video of poor training and poor supervision of daycare instructors and some seriously concerning misbehavior. Even more concerning is that after the show aired, reports of widespread sexual violence surfaced. Naturally, a major part of the scandal is an alleged cover-up: some parents had filed complaints earlier, but instead of investigating complaints, the city of Paris had shuffled the instructors to other day-care facilities. According to Le Monde, 78 instructors have been suspended, 31 instructors suspected of sexual violence.

Now here is the CW angle: because I heard about this from an off-hand comment through internet, I spent some time trying to find out more and find verifiable reporting. Curiously I could find barely any reporting in English-speaking media. It is apparently real scandal, but for some reason covered mostly in French media only. One Politico article turned up, about how the scandal was a factor in Paris mayoral race in March. French sources: Le Monde, in French Radio France International, in English. Searching this on Google, I find much more older reports about scandals in Catholic schools, such as Bétharram, but this appears bigger, as it is not limited to a single school.

covertly recorded video of poor training and poor supervision of daycare instructors and some seriously concerning misbehavior

I mean, they have actual daycare, actual instructors, they even have training (a poor one, but still) and they are complaining? Sweet summer children. They obviously never saw the real Quality Learing.

On the other hand, if there weren't any actual kids there, they couldn't be sexually abused there. So there's that.

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