That's what you call ironic timing. While advocating absolute "intransigence" on spelling for the future baccalaureate exams, the Minister of Education, Édouard Geffray, took part in a rather mixed dictation test on the set of the show C à vous .

A difficult start and a few pitfalls

Seated in front of his whiteboard, the minister initially hesitated over the word "accueil" (welcome) , correcting himself twice after a remark from the host, Anne-Élisabeth Lemoine. Things became more complicated with the word "dilemme" (dilemma) : the minister added an incorrect "n ". Attempting to defend himself by claiming that both spellings existed, he quickly had to admit his mistake with a simple "My bad."

The linguistic ordeal continued with the word "coccyx" and the conjugation of the verb "proscribe" in the imperfect subjunctive ( "that I proscribe" ), two sequences where Édouard Geffray visibly lacked confidence, narrowly saved by the breaths of the columnists.

On matters of protocol, however, the minister regained control by calmly reminding everyone of the capitalization rules: a lowercase letter is mandatory for the word "minister" (unlike " President ") and a more flexible usage for "National Education ." He also saved face by correctly spelling the complex "rhododendron."

The art of the political pirouette

Awarded a 15/20 with a very academic "laborious start, can do better" , Édouard Geffray took the opportunity to transform this moment of solitude into an educational message for high school students:

"When we write, we all make mistakes [...] take 10 minutes to proofread. This little test clearly demonstrates that the real issue is proofreading."

A neat dodge, although history does not say whether the minister allows himself the right to make mistakes that he denies to baccalaureate candidates.