The School Systems of France and California

Education is an important part in any society. Whether you live in America, France, or Africa education plays an important role. There are many ways of administering education to people. We will be seeing the similarities and differences between the Californian and French system of schooling. They may have different ways of educating people but the role remains the same in both places. It is here to help prepare you for the future.

In the country of France the schools are managed by the state. It is a simple task that America cannot accomplish because of the large size of our nation. France is approximately the size of Texas so it is easy to have regulations on education in France. In France they have more of a college or university like schedule. On day they may have math and not have any tomorrow. They may leave one day at 5 and another day at 12. French can take a maximum of 10 different classes a week! That is a lot more varied that our 4 different classes we take in south gate high. Also there grading system in France is quite different. While we use the letters A, B, C, D, and F to represent our grades in our classes France does not. They use a scale of 1-20 to show success of failure. In order to advance to the next grade in France you must have an overall of 10 points. If not you will have to repeat the whole grade.

In California we have a more "easier" form of high school education. You can fail a class here in California but not be force to repeat the whole grade. You will just have to take the class in summer school or in adult school. There is also a difference in the learning environment. In American classrooms there is an emphasis on decorating the classroom with related text and such. In France the classrooms are plain and simple. Schools in California are also mostly closed campuses. You have to stay on campus until the end of school. In France they are open campus and students can freely move in and out of school grounds. In the USA the schools are state regulated. Since the size of the US is huge and would be costly and time consuming to have the state regulate education.

Even with such differences between the two education systems there are also similarities between the two. In both systems there is a test Le Bac or the SAT in the US. These test determine whether a university education is of your best interest. They are both rigorous and taken into high consideration.

In my opinion I prefer