Pierre-Henri
17 Aug 2006, 02:59 PM
You know, one of the things I like most about the country is the attachment to theory and ideal.
Funny that, that's what I really dislike with France. Daydreamers, that's what we are. It's probably linked with my personnal experience. Even if I'm not a scientist, I remain a scholar, and establishing the facts is standard procedure in our trade. I mean, it's a very good thing to have an ideal, but if you want to give it some consistency, you have to start from the facts. In France, we have a tendency to do the exact opposite : we have an ideal first, and then we try to bend the facts until they fit in it.
Once again, I'll give the example I know the best. Here are some pictures of my "alma mater" during this year students manifestations :
http://marcbloch2006.skyblog.com/
And please keep in mind that this place is a top tier university in France, and even has some international reputation. It is obvious to me that an academic system which leads to such despair, such disrespect for common property, such ugliness and such poverty doesn't work at all. The utter failure of french university system is clearly visible in each and every building. Strasbourg's campus looks like an exhibition entitled "Romanian architecture under Ceaucescu". And I'm not exaggerating at all. All international studies confirm this fact : the shanghai rankings, the time higher education rankings, and so on. This one
http://www.webometrics.info/top3000.asp.htm
shows that our universities are faaaar behind concerning the use of internet. The first french university in the ranking is at the 369th position. 369, for God's sakes !!! Some Chilean, Mexican or Taiwanese universities are technologically more advanced with internet than the best french one !
And yet, and yet, and yet, ask a majority of french students and many scholars, and they'll tell you that the french academic system is the best in the world - naturally the best, since it's french. Of course, they'll admit that their university sucks, but they will maintain that the french system, in theory, is the best in the world.... probably in some magic realm where cute little angels fly, I don't know.
Funny that, that's what I really dislike with France. Daydreamers, that's what we are. It's probably linked with my personnal experience. Even if I'm not a scientist, I remain a scholar, and establishing the facts is standard procedure in our trade. I mean, it's a very good thing to have an ideal, but if you want to give it some consistency, you have to start from the facts. In France, we have a tendency to do the exact opposite : we have an ideal first, and then we try to bend the facts until they fit in it.
Once again, I'll give the example I know the best. Here are some pictures of my "alma mater" during this year students manifestations :
http://marcbloch2006.skyblog.com/
And please keep in mind that this place is a top tier university in France, and even has some international reputation. It is obvious to me that an academic system which leads to such despair, such disrespect for common property, such ugliness and such poverty doesn't work at all. The utter failure of french university system is clearly visible in each and every building. Strasbourg's campus looks like an exhibition entitled "Romanian architecture under Ceaucescu". And I'm not exaggerating at all. All international studies confirm this fact : the shanghai rankings, the time higher education rankings, and so on. This one
http://www.webometrics.info/top3000.asp.htm
shows that our universities are faaaar behind concerning the use of internet. The first french university in the ranking is at the 369th position. 369, for God's sakes !!! Some Chilean, Mexican or Taiwanese universities are technologically more advanced with internet than the best french one !
And yet, and yet, and yet, ask a majority of french students and many scholars, and they'll tell you that the french academic system is the best in the world - naturally the best, since it's french. Of course, they'll admit that their university sucks, but they will maintain that the french system, in theory, is the best in the world.... probably in some magic realm where cute little angels fly, I don't know.