The school as a bargaining point in language politics: The Belgian language law of 1932

Abstract

Abstract It is commonly held that the French‐speaking population of Flanders, living mostly in the Brussels area, lost out heavily when Dutch was made the sole medium of instruction in their primary and secondary schools in 1932. The French speakers, it is argued, accepted the linguistic defeat out because in non‐linguistic terms it was also a victory for them, as political Liberals, over conservative Catholicism, since private Catholic schools would be treated no differently from state schools in the enforcement of Dutch‐medium instruction under the new legislation. The interpretation assumes that linguistic preferences are absolutes on which there is no compromise without the intervention of non‐linguistic considerations. But a closer analysis of primary sources suggests that the French‐speaking population of Flanders did envisage linguistic compromise, i.e. bilingualism, and used the Liberal vs. Catholic issue to win concessions for French in the emerging realignment of languages.