After the second week of school

A selection of A's books: this is the Thursday pile. Other days (so not in this pile)  include Latin, English  reading,  History/Geography (French and English,)  art supplies, and a lab coat for chemistry experiments.

The first week of school went by in a flash, and now we're almost done with the second week.

The pros:
Nice kids.
Nice parents.
Mostly nice teachers.
A curriculum that is relatively varied, and so far, not too challenging. (We'll see how this evolves over the semester.)
An international atmosphere.
Growing independence.

I decided to put A. into what is called an international section (British specialization) of a public middle school. A seems to get along with all of the children in his class, which is small by French standards (18 kids.) They are a diverse group, as can be imagined in an international class: what unites them is that they all come from bi-or multi-lingual families. Most of the kids have been here since birth and have been in the French school system since pre-school. They have been a big help to A.

The parents, too, are very welcoming. Several have reached out to us (with playdates at the park that really cheered up A.) They appear to be very organized, google groups and email lists in daily use. I have heard from several people that the administration doesn't really know what to do with such a dynamic set of people. For example, one major complaint is that the children's backpacks are too heavy. (Some days the quantity of books can top 10- 12 kilos.) Instead of accepting this, as most French parents do, there is fundraising going on in order to install lockers. Not what the proviseur really wants (oh, the vandalism, the restrictions on changing anything in a "monument historique!") but may be coerced into accepting.

On the whole, the teachers are good - the English, Latin, and gym teachers are terrific. Math is very easy for A (in fact, he came home from school grinning from ear to ear because he had been called to the blackboard to solve a problem, and the way that he did it was so ingenuous that the teacher spent 10 minutes explaining the ideas underlying his work.) History/geography seems to be challenging: the paper that was due last week asks for more than I remember writing about in 7th grade.  (Since last week was A's first, he didn't have to write this paper, which was a 2 week assignment. But it is probably indicative of what will be expected. The French parents that I have spoken with didn't seem to think that this was exceptionally difficult or extra-ordinary assignment; "ah oui, il est important de rentrer dans le fond de l'argument..." It is important to get into an in depth discussion...)

There are 6 hours of various kinds of technology, physics, chemistry, and biology classes every week. A. came home on Tuesday with a very enthusiastic description of his first lab: the students had had to wear safety glasses, because if they had gotten "the solution" near their eyes, they would be blinded. (They were trying to determine if various things had water in them using dehydrated copper sulfate. I think this sounds so much better than dissecting termites, which is what N. is doing this week in his biology class!

A. is also gaining confidence and independence as he takes public transportation to and from school. Coming home is relatively easy as there are 2 other boys who are on the same bus route as we are, so they ride together. Going to school, leaving the house when it's dark... that's another matter. But this morning, he got on the bus by himself. Waving good bye with a big grin,... My baby is now capable of dealing with a half an hour trip on public transportation in a big city in a foreign language! I think my hair turned even more gray  this morning.

The negatives are not many, fortunately, because they are difficult to deal with.
-Long school days.
-Heavy book bags.
-Violence in the school yard, and outside the school grounds.

The school day is horrendously long and includes a total of 31 classroom hours that are spread mostly across 4 days (Weds. is a short day, with only 2 one hour classes.)  2 days a week, we leave the house just after 7, the other 3 days just after 8. A. comes home on Mon at 5ish, Weds at noon, and the other 3 days shortly after 6. The only upside to this schedule is that it includes a long lunch break (1.5 hours), and the day goes by quickly. Not every subject is taught every day, however, most are taught 4 days a week. The school is experimenting with a couple of classes being taught as a double period. (math, English.) So far, there hasn't been a lot of homework. This is fortunate, because by the time dinner, downtime, and practicing the violin are done, it's already 830 or later. Suffice it to say that the morning comes far too quickly - for both of us.

There are no lockers. The teachers do not have permanent rooms assigned to them.

Both of these statements are surprising, particularly the latter. When I look at A's schedule, for example, on Monday he has math in room 014, and the other 3 days in 113. This must be terribly hard on the teachers, for it means that everyone brings everything to every class. Thus the weight of the bookbags.

Is classroom sharing common to every school, or is it a result of necessary allocation due to inadequate space? I don't know. Camille See does not have a lot of floor space: it was built in the 1930s on on just over an acre (including the playground,) and at that time, it was noted that this space was about 20-25 percent of the land that was customarily used for schools. The solution was to build up, not out, and today, the students have classes on 6 floors. Originally, there were escalators between the floors. They were removed in the 1980s (I think, quite some time ago anyway.) So today, it's stairs only. If you have a broken leg, it's just too bad!

The locker question is one that is brought up every year. In reading the historical descriptions, there were originally 1800 steel lockers in the sub-basements. I wonder if that has been overlooked when the excuse of "we cannot change historical monuments" is brought up. And vandalism. What does one do about vandalism? The metro, tram, and buses seem to be relatively free of vandalism. They are certainly cleaner than I remember from the 1990s. Does that mean that the SNCF/RATP spend much time and money keeping things clean? Or how do they do it?

The third negative on the list is the violence that A. has observed on a daily basis since beginning school. When we first signed up for school, his primary teacher, the principal, and the proviseur all told me to have him leave all electronics at home - not because they didn't want texting in school (for example,) but because the stories of kids being shaken down (and glasses broken) for their electronics are legion. In fact, we had to take out school insurance. I thought it was just for field trips but a major component is for broken glasses (including glasses broken in fights.) I suppose that this means that this kind of problem is endemic. So far, A. has not asked to bring his Kindle with him on the bus, and it's too bad that he doesn't feel free enough to be able to read. (He has a good 15 minutes or so when he's w/o friends on the way to school - more if they manage to take separate buses.)

But even outside the shakedowns outside of school are the fights in the courtyard during lunchtime. I have been warned by several parents (French, American, Swiss, Beninois, and British) that play is a lot rougher here, possibly because the school day is so highly regimented. But this really goes beyond horseplay, and A's observations watching bigger kids - probably high-schoolers - taking some of the smaller kids by the ankles and tipping them upside down to get at, money, I suppose, as well as just mean pushing and shoving and worrisome. The group of boys in A's class hangs together, and for the most part avoids trouble, although there is one boy who, in wanting to become part of the group playing soccer, has ended up with his back to the wall on a couple of occasions. This is hard for A. to deal with, and yesterday, he intervened, only to have a very hard piece of bread thrown at his head when he wasn't looking. (It missed.) Sometimes, A smells smoke in some of the corridors. Theoretically neither fighting nor smoking is tolerated, however I have no reason to doubt A.'s claim that it exists. I spent 40 minutes watching lunch recess one day, and was surprised at the lack of supervision, and the rough play that I observed on the playground.

Does this explain the fact that nearly 20 percent of all schoolchildren are enrolled in private schools (unheard of two decades ago?) And I wonder how much is due to immigration/low income issues? None of the parents that I'm meeting on my weekly visits to the conservatory in the 5th (whose children are enrolled in such prestigious schools as Henri IV, Lavoisiere, Fenelon...) seem to have quite this problem. I am honestly stunned by these stories, particularly here, coming from a city, in a country whose pride is the equal education for all (under the national slogan of Liberty, Equality, Justice),  Is there some elephant in the room?