Hey is France School System better then America?

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lingua06437

The US has a poor high school system in general when compared with the rest of the first world. Germany, France, Japan - they all leave us in the dust. I'm not happy to say this, but it is the truth. Those countries aren't paying for wars and being policemen of the world, therefore they are able to put more of their resources into the next generation.

The French system in particular is very rigorous. They have to pass an exam called the "bac" short for bacchalaureate. It is a very tough exam that takes months and months of study. Only about 65% of the students pass - even after a few years of trying. If you don't pass the bac your career options are limited. An enormous amount of stress is on students to pass and there are suicides and nervous break downs over this exam every year. They have longer class times and less time is devoted to things like sports and other after school activities. A graduate of a French High School has an equivalent Education to a Sophomore in College here in the States.

The US makes up for its lack in of a good high school system by having a great University system. It is in college where Americans catch up with the rest of the first world.

Jakob the Liar eats Gumbo Shrimp

The French school system is known as possibly the toughest in the world, so no, the U.S. system is not better.

Rillifane

I disagree with lingua06437 that the French spend more on education at the k-12 level. The French government does spend more on colleges than the American government because most colleges in France are government run and are essentially free to the students and, in addition, there is a welfare system for college students which provides basic living costs at taxpayers expense.

I agree with just about everything lingua06437 has said about the rigor of the French k-12 system. The French emphasize rote learning in a way that was abandoned in the USA in the 1960's. The result is that French students have vastly more factual knowledge than American students. The difference is dramatic.

I also disagree that Americans catch up in college, at least as to factual knowledge. Its true, I think, that the very best American colleges are as good as the very best French colleges and I would concede that in sheer numbers there are more top American schools than top French schools. But then there are also more people in the USA. Where America does very well is in its graduate schools which tend to be better equipped and well funded.

Ordinary American colleges are diploma mills that exist mainly to teach what should have been taught in the totally deficient k-12 system. In many American colleges half the incoming freshmen must be enrolled in remedial reading classes because they are functionally illiterate.

A few years ago, the State of Massachusetts gave tests to people applying to be teachers. All of these people had four year college degrees. The majority were unable to pass a test that was set at 10th grade levels. That gives you an idea of the status of college education in the USA.

trikard_1989

Absolutely. I just have to check the knowledge of the american people, especially in history, geografy and foreign language.
However, France is known as one of the hardest education school system, I know it since I'm french and I live in France. We have a lot of exams and we have classroom from the monday until the saturday, but in France, unlike in USA, going to university is FREE.

Paul Hannan

Both France and the USA, they are what I call Government Schools, Private and charter schools in the USA are excellent, they are run as a business, with profit and loss.

Kormin

According to the PISA study, an organism of the OECD:

Rank in mathematic (on 45 countries):

France: 21th
USA: 33rd

Rank in reading:

France: 22nd
USA:23rd

Rank in Science:

France: 18th
USA: 27th

Rank in problem solving:

France: 18th
USA: 34th

So, according to the OECD, France school system seems to be better than US system.

The far best country for education is Finland, first in reading, science, second in maths, and third in problem solving. It often say that Finland has the best school system in the world.

I want to say I've never visit USA, so I absolutly no experience to say that. I'm just reading international studies.

Bruce T

I get the impression that in France, the students study a lot harder and concentrate more. That having been said, there are a lot of great American schools. In France, the public school are much more centralized with the same curriculum all over the country. In the US, it's up to each school board which can mean great schools and not so great schools. IMHO, US schools really need to teach more US history and relevant history. There are kids in some schools that can't even name members of the Axis powers in world war 2. I bet you that some of the yahoo answers visitors will be asking "huh, what are the Axis powers?" Once on Jay walking, Jay asked a young lady who America fought against in WW2 and she said Switzerland.

depends on the type of school. unversity? middle school? high school? elementary school? i went to school in france for 3 weeks. the school was grades 6-12 i'd say. there are a lot of differences from the american school system:
its a block schedule so each day your classes are in a different order then they where the previous day. the school day is also shorter some days and longer the next. one day you might have history for 2 hrs and the next day you won't have history at all.
most of the time you stay in the same classroom and your teachers change class rooms instead of you. but for science your whole class might go to a different classroom
lunch is 2 hours long
you can have an off campus lunch with parents permission

demoune

sure america is the best systeme in the world thats why they are consider as ignorant in europe.
i think america systeme is better for sciences but thats all.

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