History UsefulNotes / LesGrandesEcoles

* the '''École Nationale Supérieure des Arts et Métiers''', a.k.a. ''[[IHaveManyNames ENSAM]]'', a.k.a. ''[[IHaveManyNames Arts et Métiers]]'', officially ''[[IHaveManyNames Arts et Métiers]] [[NonIndicativeName ParisTech]]'', is [[NonIndicativeName not a fine arts school]] but an engineering school founded by a liberal noble [[TangledFamilyTree before, during, and after The Revolution]]. Is semi-(in)famous in France for alleged cases of hazing, for having its own dialect, and for its students' unusual dress sense. Is incidentally one of only two institutions in France allowed to keep a military-inspired uniform despite no longer actually being linked to the military, which is otherwise forbidden by law. Alumni include several inventors and engineers, one of Mustafa Kemal's Western "alphabet counselors", a tech consultant for the Clinton administration, the current head of Caltech, and if his bio on Website/TheOtherWiki [[SarcasmMode is to be believed]], one ''[[MyFriendsAndZoidberg porn baron]]'' [[note]]Jean-Daniel Cadinot, mentioned by name in Series/QueerAsFolk UK. [[ItsForABook In case you were wondering.]][[/note]].

This page is about the UsefulNotes/{{Fr|ance}}ench educational system, not just the ''[[GratuitousFrench grandes écoles]]'', which are only a small part of it.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/polytechnique_3.jpg]]

This page is about the French educational system, not just the ''[[GratuitousFrench grandes écoles]]'', which are only a small part of it.

The principle of the modern educational system were defined by Jules Ferry who was (usually) Minister of Public Education and/or Prime Minister in 1880-1882. Ferry decided that the educational system must be ''public, laïc, gratuit et obligatoire'' (public, secular, free [[note]]as in "free of charge"[[/note]] and mandatory). He passed laws to create public elementary schools in every town. Before that, education was mostly in the hands of private (religious) institutions. Ferry's laws allowed all children to have access to the same basic education. Professors of elementary schools (called ''instituteurs'', nicknamed ''les hussards noirs de la république'' [[note]]after the colour of their gowns codified during the Third Republic[[/note]]) played a crucial role in the cultural unification of the country, as well as in the suppression of many regional languages.

* the '''École des Mines''', popularly known as ''Mines ParisTech'', is technically the oldest engineering school still in activity, since it was founded during the Ancien Régime.

* the '''École Nationale Supérieure des Arts et Métiers''', a.k.a. ''[[IHaveManyNames ENSAM]]'', a.k.a. ''[[IHaveManyNames Arts et Métiers]]'', officially ''[[IHaveManyNames Arts et Métiers]] [[NonIndicativeName ParisTech]]'', is [[NonIndicativeName not a fine arts school]] but an engineering school founded by a liberal noble [[TangledFamilyTree before, during, and after The Revolution]]. Is semi-(in)famous in France for alleged cases of hazing, for having its own dialect, and for its students' unusual dress sense. Is incidentally one of only two institutions in France allowed to keep a military-inspired uniform despite no longer actually being linked to the military, which is otherwise forbidden by law. Alumni include several inventors and engineers, one of Mustafa Kemal's Western "alphabet counselors", a tech consultant for the Clinton administration, the current head of Caltech, and if his bio on Wiki/TheOtherWiki [[SarcasmMode is to be believed]], one ''[[MyFriendsAndZoidberg porn baron]]'' [[note]]Jean-Daniel Cadinot, mentioned by name in Series/QueerAsFolk UK. [[ItsForABook In case you were wondering.]][[/note]].

* the '''École des Mines''', popularly known as ''[[AwesomeMcCoolname Mines ParisTech]]'', is technically the oldest engineering school still in activity, since it was founded during the Ancien Régime.

* the '''École polytechnique''' (nicknamed ''l'X'') is an engineering school with a strong military tradition. Alumni are called ''polytechniciens''. Many French scientists and mathematicians from UsefulNotes/TheFrenchRevolution and [[UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte Napoleon]]'s First Empire like Laplace and Cauchy studied there and/or taught there. Many French people know them for being part of the Bastille Day military parade, marching in [[UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte Napoleon]]-style [[NiceHat bicorn hats]].

* ''Film/TheClass'' is a movie about a teacher in a ''collège'' near Paris.

* Marcel Pagnol wrote some books about his childhood and his time at school. His father was an ''instituteur'' of the French Third Republic, and the book describes well what French elementary school was like at that time.

* the '''Écoles normales supérieures''' (ENS), which are schools that train future teachers and scientists. Most French Nobel Prize and Fields medal winners hail from these schools. Alumni are called ''normaliens''. Professors teaching core subjects in ''prépa'', even in the less prestigious of them, seem to [[HistoryRepeats invariably hail from these]].

* ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'': The two main characters, Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Adrien Agreste, attend to the fictional Collège Françoise Dupont school in Paris, France.

''Laïcité'', or secularism, means that the state and all public institutions must be neutral with regards to religious beliefs. Civil servants are not allowed to display any religious symbols, and no religious education can be provided in public schools. Recently, a law was passed so that children are also not allowed to display any overt religious symbols [[note]]aka, the Muslim headscarf is banned, although Christian cross pendants are considered more [[DoubleStandard "discreet"]][[/note]]. Therefore, parents who wish for their children to receive some religious education must send them to a private school. Most private schools have a contract with the French state. They agree to teach the same things as public schools, with the possible addition of some religious course. In exchange, the state pays the teachers.

French pupils used to go to school on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday... and Saturday morning. The Wednesday (Thursday until 1972) was a result of the 1882 introduction of compulsory education where pupils got a day off for religious schooling... and did Saturday morning to make up for it. Recent introduction of Wednesday teaching under the Hollande administration has been controversial to put it mildly; Wednesday is now the day the French cinemas get new films - it's that entrenched.

Children may begin to attend ''l'école maternelle'' from the age of 2, until they are 5 to 6 years old. This school is not strictly mandatory, but almost all children go there when they are 4 years or older. The school is generally divided into three sections, the ''petite section'' (2-3 yars old), ''moyenne section'' (3-4 years old) and ''grande section'' (5-6 years old).

Children begin attending this school from the age of 6, for a period of 5 years. The name of the classes are: CP (''cours préparatoire''), [=CE1=], [=CE2=] (''cours élémentaire'' 1 and 2) [=CM1=], and [=CM2=] (''cours moyen'' 1 and 2). The main goal of elementary school is to learn how to read, write, and perform basic arithmetic, while secondary goals include learning some basic notions of sciences, arts, history, and foreign languages. This is the last school where there is only one teacher per class. After that, there will be one teacher per subject (French, Maths, English, History/Geography, et cetera).

* ''Lycée général'': provides general, more theoretical education that equips students for higher studies of a relatively longer duration in university or ''grande école''. It is three years long, and students take one of three types of ''baccalauréat'' depending on their specialisation: L (literary), S (scientific), or ES (economics-human sciences). [[note]]In this sense it's somewhat similar to the Italian system, although in the light of recent reforms with more electives and the controversial (for some) decision to withdraw History from the previously polyvalent Scientific bac, it seems to be going towards a somewhat more Anglo-Saxon style. * History was never completly withdraw from the Scientific bac, the class was simply considered achieved and therefore evaluated at the end of the second year of high school, but was reintroduced on the same level as in the two other bacs as of school year 2014-2015, meaning evaluated at the end of the third year.[[/note]]
* ''Lycée technique'': provides technical education. In theory, it is for children who do not wish to spend too much time on higher studies. It is three years long, and it ends with one of a number of ''bac[calauréat]s techno[logiques]'' analogous to the other types, although there are many, many more different "filières" reflecting a further level of specialization than the three of the ''bac général'': e.g. accounting, tourism...

!!! ''Le baccalauréat''

The ''bac'' is an institution in itself: every year, newspapers publish the results and there are long discussions about it in the media. People over 30 usually say that this diploma was hard when they sat the exams for it, but is worth nothing today since everybody gets it easily. The topics of the philosophy tests are announced on TV news (after the tests, of course) and becomes a national conversation starter for a few days thereafter. Since everybody in France have the same subjects, teachers put a lot of efforts to preserve secrecy, everyone starts the tests at the exact same time, and there is a spare topic if the main one happens to be leaked.

There are about 80 universities in France. In the big cities, the universities that existed before 1970 were split. That is why French universities' names often have numbers added after the name of the city in which they are located, as in the case of (to name a few) ''Université de Bordeaux 1'', ''Université de Bordeaux 2'' and ''Université de Bordeaux 3''.

The common factor of all of these schools is invariably a strong alumni network, comparable to that of British universities and public schools and almost inexistant in regular French universities. Their critics view them as the symbol of an entrenched, self-perpetuating caste of political and economic elites, while their supporters point out that few systems in France are so fundamentally meritocratic. The truth is, obviously, more complex than either of these assertions, especially when applied to several different institutions with sometimes very different histories. This comes from the fact that some of the most prestigious of the afore-mentioned ''grandes écoles'' have their roots in the aftermath of UsefulNotes/TheFrenchRevolution, when the nobility was either exiled or wiped out, and the now-centralised French republic took to creating a whole new caste of [[SelfMadeMan Self-Made Men]]. Today, one has far more chances of being encouraged towards ''grandes écoles'' if one is from a somewhat specific income bracket, so ''grandes écoles'' contain a disproportionately low number of students from a working-class background, even though they're largely all free of charge.

The principle of the modern educational system were defined by Jules Ferry in 1880-1882. Ferry decided that the educational system must be ''public, laïc, gratuit et obligatoire'' (public, secular, free [[note]]as in "free of charge"[[/note]] and mandatory). He passed laws to create public elementary schools in every town. Before that, education was mostly in the hands of private (religious) institutions. Ferry's laws allowed all children to have access to the same basic education. Professors of elementary schools (called ''instituteurs'', nicknamed ''les hussards noirs de la république'' [[note]]after the colour of their gowns codified during the Third Republic[[/note]]) played a crucial role in the cultural unification of the country, as well as in the suppression of many regional languages.