On n'a pas besoin d'education

I’ve heard for a long time that the French education system is superior to America’s, and after 9 months of living here, I have gleaned some solid evidence to support this claim: people are well-read, spout off world history like it’s no one’s business, and engage in the art of debate for pleasure’s sake. Get an average American to locate Canada on a map and, well, we have gaffes the like of fourth grade teachers caught on Jay Leno who can’t. Touché. But on further examination (and lots of prodding on my part to discuss matters with my French students and friends), I’ve learned that despite its graduates’ shiny intello façades, the French education system isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be.

Yesterday’s teachers’ strike really drove one of the causal issues home. Prez Sarkozy had announced plans to cut teaching jobs due to lack of funding. Do more with less – sounds familiar to a former American public school teacher who knows all too well the consequences of limited financing: layoffs, overcrowded classrooms, ancient tech equipment, and the list goes on. But these glaring similarities between the two countries aside, France’s schools aren’t helped by the age-old French pattern of politician proposes reform, groups X, Y, and Z don’t like it, said groups go on strike, and politician relents. It’s a vicious cycle that has daunted many administrations past and one that the electorate hoped to break by putting Sarkozy, who promised sweeping reforms, into office last May. So far, Sarkozy hasn’t made much headway, but given his four remaining years in office, he can still turn over a new leaf, starting with the demonstrating teachers.

You’d think that right about now I’d be starting a vicious rant about the sacrilege of cutting teaching jobs. However, the dirty truth is that some teaching jobs DO need to be cut in this country, but not for the reasons you’d expect. Unlike in America, there is a glut of teachers in France, but many of them aren’t teaching. They’re living on the dole while on lengthy maternity leaves (bravo) or sick leaves (boo) – many of the latter aren’t even legit. (Apparently they can go on sick leave if they feel overstressed. Um, name me ONE teacher who isn’t severely overstressed at times.) And the taxpayers provide these non-working teachers with a livable salary. See, this is where I scare myself because I start to sound like a right-winger. In France, I practically am dangerously close to being one! (In order to calibrate between the two countries, just shift American views to the right and you have your French equivalent. The French left would be considered radical socialist in America, the French center is our left, and the French right wing spans conservatives of the just-fiscal variety all the way to the Bible-thumpers.) Back to the point, more people in France actually do oppose the all-too-familiar vicious cycle scenario described above and do want the big changes Sarko promised – more than we think. But how can a country make progress when too many others game the system or freak out when one small thing is taken away from them, in the name of utilitarianism? Isn’t that what socialism is supposed to be about, the common good?

Another big issue with French education is that academia is destiny. The notion of a liberal arts college education doesn’t exist here. When you apply to college in France, you must select your professional field. High school seniors apply to science college, business college, social sciences college, engineering college, etc, essentially locking themselves into their chosen métier for life. Because it’s darn near impossible to change careers. Yes, you can change roles within a field, but once you’ve chosen a field there’s no American-style late-20’s/early-30’s crisis of “this isn’t what I really want to do, so I’ll just become a...” (insert new career path here), unless you go back to square zero and get another bachelor's-level degree and then some. It isn’t all that shocking then, that 46% of French first-year undergrads drop out of college. Or that tons of adults feel trapped in jobs they hate. I teach several of such people. The same people who look at me like I’ve just landed from Mars when I tell them I’ve had two very different careers – especially since a lot of folks think at first glance that I’m, like, 25 (maybe it’s the freckles). Anyhow, the situation is so fatalistic and depressing and suddenly the idea of coughing up gobs and gobs of money for an American bachelor’s degree doesn’t seem as crazy as it once did.

There’s so much more to say, but I feel like I could dedicate a five-page essay to this topic and it’s Friday night and I want to step out and this is really shaping up to be quite the run-on sentence (thank you, American education system). Granted, I’ve only done a quickie armchair analysis of the situation, so I’d be really interested to hear what my French readership (if you’re out there) have to say. Les français, n'hesitez pas de commenter!