Giving Free Rein to Michel Fize

The STAPS Review wanted to give the floor to Michel Fize (CNRS Sociologist) in this special issue, Adolescents, Adolescence, Sport and Physical Education, because he is both highly informative and explosive on the topic. Fize, although enlightening and well-known in the media and politics, is paradoxically little known in the worlds of teacher training and sport.For 30 years, Fize has argued that the famous crisis of adolescence exists only in the imagination of adults, and that there is joy to be found as an adolescent. He contends too that in 2015 adolescence is physically and psychologically cut short. It starts, on average, at about 8 to 9 years of age and ends at age 14 to 15, at the end of middle school. High school, from age 15 to 19, Fize believes, is when we experience youth with its other symbols and desires, which does not end with a high school diploma.Although Fize acknowledges that he is not an educational or sports sociologist, he is committed to rethinking the image EPS teachers or club trainers may have of students. He calls on adults in teaching or positions of authority to integrate the “collective independence” – being alone among many – that drives adolescents. They must therefore rethink the nature and meaning of the content and human positioning proposed by adults in educational institutions.