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Frightened by youth

The month of October 2026 has been marked by youth taking to the streets across Europe. The beginning in Paris was first a peaceful showing of discontent with the resources allocated to education and schools in particular. Buildings have been badly prepared for the heat waves of the hottest summer on record and sanitary facilities are a continuous of dissatisfaction. Teachers and supporting staff are in short supply and a sick teacher has often not been replaced adequately. Pupils have been required to accept those deficiencies silently for too long. The competition for university admission is the next barrier, largely perceived to lack transparency and to reinforce inequalities. Labor market entry even after successful completion of a higher degree remains quite difficult for large numbers of youth, which adds to dissatisfaction. Whereas the engaged students demonstrated in a peaceful way, protests were hijacked by hooligans who smashed windows and looted, mainly shops of luxury brands. The damages could have been avoided if a serious dialogue had taken place rather than disrespect of youth. In democracies youth has a right to go to the streets and they use it. Authoritarian states have no inhibition to shoot their youth in rebellion. Talk to young people seriously, seriously. 

Brussels before youth demonstration 2026-10-31
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Practice Web analytics

For all people, especially webmasters, it is useful to understand and deal with web analytic reports of webpages. From time to time I do my own little research to check what is going on and how changes I implemented can be evaluated. During the month of October 2026 I have changed from a 30 entry long scroll landing page on https://schoemann.org to only a 10 entries before a kind of stop or follow-up click is needed to pursue reading. How has this changed the visits on the webpage? Well, (1) the number of visitors in 2026-10 (56.000) and page views (84.000) remained remained relatively stable, but after an initial rise in time spent on the webpage (report on Frankfurt book fair 2026) a significant drop in average duration on the page has occurred. As the retention rate on the webpage remained stable, my conclusion based on this real-world experiment is that the scroll limit set on purpose to 10 images and blog entries before more active engagement is necessary has the expected effect. Scroll limits shorten time spent on the same page and, most likely would also work in the “not-so-social” social media realm.

www.schoemann.org
web analytics 2026-10 of www.schoemann.org
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From A/H to P/E

The fashion world follows a rather strict bi-seasonal sequence every year. The French abbreviations of automne/hiver and printemps/été translate to fall/winter (F/W) and spring/summer (S/S) seasons in American English. This cycle has been repeated for a remarkable 125 years until 2026. Thanks to the Vitra Design Museum and the V & A Dundee the occasion has been celebrated with an exhibition and catalogue on the history and art of fashion show. The outstanding catalogue is organized in alphabetical order as the A-Z of fashion. The 4 curators Eisenbrand, Krawczyk, Hassard, Panova present a volume with a focus on keywords explaining major terms of the fashion world like “haute couture” as well as direct entries to specific designers and brands. The well curated choice of fabulous and iconic images from catwalks across time, locations and continents illustrate a world built on visual codes and communication. The “Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture” (1945) defined which fashion houses could use the label in France, a definition copied across countries. It works as a way to control access as well as a certain definition of quality. The scope of the exhibition catalogue includes also Anti-fashion under A, backstage photography (B), to the not so simple Walk under W.
With some additional social science framing and thanks to the curators, we have moved an important step towards a sociology of the visual, which comprises the world of fashion.

catwalk fashion shows catalog 2026 in library
Catwalk – fashion shows catalog 2026 in library
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Forecasting error

In the October 17th edition of The New Scientist we learn about the long time series of events related to of El Niño and El Niña. These series of linked events make forecasting of what is to be expected in 2026-2027 less error bound. Monthly or bimonthly forecasts across the globe can actually predict droughts and floods quite well except the precise geolocations in a country or region. As a consequence crops will suffer and countries with little provision of stocks or purchasing power shall suffer the most. We have about 6 months left to prepare for such events as a global community. Rather than continue to pile on additional risks for the planet we have to address the root problems of CO2 emissions urgently, all of us. 

Berlin Wannsee weather forecast 2026-8
Berlin Wannsee weather forecast 2026-8

 

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Splendid Isolation Iceland

In international politics the term “splendid isolation” refers to the British diplomacy of the 19th century to keep Great Britain out of the power struggles across Europe and as a separate force. Maybe the Brexit in the 21st century can be figured in terms of  a return to the ideal of a splendid isolation, despite the close economic links and joint democratic heritage since the 2WW.
Iceland had a referendum on opening EU-accession talks which it dismissed by 53% against to 47% in favor. As with the Brexit vote, countries rarely vote similar in all regions. Therefore, it is no surprise that an even larger majority of the population of Reykjavik voted in favor, but the 2/3 of the population living in rural areas, many related to the fishing industries, rejected the prospects of EU-integration. As a member of the EEA Iceland is already part of the more economic aspects of the EU, but a strong isolationist and independent diplomatic stance dominated. Sometimes it takes a generational change before the prospects for younger generations are taken into account in politics.

splendid-isolation-in-Paris-2026-10
splendid-isolation-in-Paris-2026-10
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Queue to learn

The protests of students in France has been biased by reports on the violence by people who looted shops. The broadly unmatched learning ambitions of students has entered little into the reporting. In the 2 weeks after the protest students flocked to public libraries to learn in decent conditions. Nowadays, this includes access to fast internet and other sources of inspiration depending on interests. Researchers who were the primary users of the BNF have been outnumbered by advanced pupils and students ready to queue for 1 hour to catch a place even sitting on floors. This brings back the time of the baby boomers who entered with large birth cohorts into high schools and universities later on. Such social trends are predictable and adequate policy responses not even extremely expensive. Until education institutions are expanded there will be queues to learn. 

BNF queues to learn 2026-10-26
BNF queues to learn 2026-10-26
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Systems of thinking

The translation of the title of the “chair” created for Michel Foucault at the “College de France” sounds rather all encompassing. He worked during the years 1970-1984 at the institute, which were particularly innovative in terms of new concepts to look at society. With the massive protests of students in the streets of Paris in 2026-10, the exhibition of Foucault’s life course, his major contributions, legacy and audio-visual material are presented in a small exhibition. Foucault was one of the social scientists who had a research interest in the student protests of 1968 already.
In the exhibition it is possible to inspect central pages of the hand-written originals of some of his lectures. In the late 60s and 70s tape recording became feasible and such recordings helped to spread his ideas quickly. As Foucault was a master of contextualisation of societal procedures, like for example imprisonment, the curators of the exhibition present a few samples of Foucault’s own library (image below) and examples of correspondence with his network of social scientists, like Roland Barthes or Raymond Aron. In 2026 the thoughts on “gouvernementalité” (own translation “governability”) still speak to current politics. That is a great half-life-value of social thought.

Examples of Foucault book collection at his home College de France 2026
Examples of Foucault book collection at his home College de France 2026
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Reading confidence

Competence and confidence in reading skills are closely related. The exact nature of the relationship remains a bit of a puzzle. Educational psychology stresses the importance of self-concept and self-efficacy for attitudes towards learning in general, but evidence on relationships related to the progress of reading competence over longer periods is scarce. The might be virtuous and vicious circles of competence and confidence at work. At the Frankfurt Book Fair 2026 many publishers presented established manuals on acquisition of reading skills. However, pre-school, primary school teachers as well as parents struggle to support early learners.
The “Lauter Verlag” presented a stimulating approach which tries to set children on a virtuous reading acquisition track. It start with very short 2, then 3, then 4 … letter words in German to reach the level to read whole sentences. Children build confidence with each step and they are encouraged to quickly reach a more challenging higher level. About time to test the interrelationship of competence and confidence in more detail to reach all learners of languages with innovative approaches. Even the much acclaimed French author Georges Perec kept lists of 3,4,5,6,7,8 letter words to build some of his famous poems.

Frankfurt Book Fair 2026 Lauter Verlag
Frankfurt Book Fair 2026 Lauter Verlag
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Oh happy days

The original English title of Samuel Beckett’s theatre play is “Happy Days”. In the French translation he changed this title himself to “Oh les beaux jours”, which sounds a bit more melancholic, which prepares better to the plot of the piece. There is no action in this piece, it is all words and not even real conversation between the 2 actors. The absurdity of our human existence despite ample references to famous literature across centuries is happily exposed. Let us continue to talk even if it doesn’t make sense anymore as we continue to repeat ourselves without any real changes in sight. How much of Winnie do we all have in ourselves? Indulging in souvenirs, rituals and abandoned trajectories of happiness is a danger of advanced age. Cathrine Frot and  Pierre Banderet are convincing in the roles to remind us to go beyond the absurdity of our ways to go about our lives. (Image: “Oh les beaux jours” at Theatre Les bouffes parisiens Paris 2026-10)

Theatre Les bouffes parisiens Paris 2026-10

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Game of letters

For most children reading and writing are too serious to be considered a game. And yet, learning is so much more fun if such competencies are acquired or at least accompanied through a game-like approach. School grades and PISA tests have taken out the fun part of learning of the most basic competencies. The fun in learning and experimenting is likely to increase the time spent learning, its efficiency and the return to learning. Georges Perec explored so many different ways to play around with words and letters to find his own most suitable style how letters assembled into words may serve his evolving purposes. The exhibition and accompanying material at the BNF on Georges Perec could spur a renewed interest in such games of letters and with letters for the young and old. (Image: BNF exhibition on Georges Perec, Words ending with letter d 2026-10).