June 3, 1986
Jean-Pierre Chevènement (b. 9 March 1939) is a French politician who was the Minister of National Education for France from 1984-1986 and is perhaps best known for his candidacy in the 2002 French presidential election.
Deleuze refers to Chevènement in his seminar of 3 June 1986, which took place just after Chevènement left his position. In his role as Minister of Education, Chevènement had reestablished courses in civic education and insisted on the possibility of 80% of a graduating class reaching the level of the French “baccalauréat” (the terminal high school degree leading to different paths in French higher education). As such, he insisted on “standards,” including the continued importance of spelling in the face of the increasing use of spell-checks in word-processing programs.
“These computer-trained kids,” Deleuze mused, “I think they’re going to develop subjectivities that I personally cannot even conceive of….I look at them thinking to myself, but how is that already working in their heads? How, and what is this process of subjectification in motion?”