How do students determine which high school (lyceé) they attend? Do they just go to the school that is closest to their home right? Is private school kind of a bad thing and held up in less regard unlike in the States?
All mandatory schools (elementary, middle school and high school) in France are free and follow the exact same syllabus that is provided every year by the Ministry of Education. Itâs more or less flexible as, for example, the novels you study during the year are arbitrarily chosen by your teacher within the theme given by the Ministry. For example, if the Ministry asks for French teachers to teach autobiographies to their students, the teachers are free to choose whatever autobiographies they want.
Now, that brings us to your question: how do students choose their high schools?
Since all high schools follow the same curriculum in terms of programs, high schools are chosen for their proximity, or if they want to go to the same high school as their friends. Thatâs in general.
However, the main difference that exists between high schools in France is the teacher body. Some high schools have one that is better than the other, might involve some commuting, etc⊠Thatâs case-to-case situations. Most of the schools are good; theyâre not incredible, but theyâre good enough and I think the Ministry of Education is doing a fairly good job because they keep reforming and re-adapting the school system every single year. France is lucky to have a pretty active Ministry.
Now if you want to go from good to incredible and it is geographically possible for you, go ahead! Itâs free anyway.
On the topic of private schools, they do exist. Theyâre more sheltered, stricter. The quality of the teaching remains a fairly vague topic, and the opinions are pretty mixed.
I canât for sure tell you that the teaching is better or worse, but the quality of life there seems to be better as a lot of parents prefer to sign their children up in such establishments to avoid them learning expletives and âstreet behaviorsâ.
Iâm also reading several articles stating that private schools are more popular starting with middle school education because they seemingly provide a better environment that improves studentsâ performances. As such, 38 out 50 of the best high schools in France are private.
Some private schools in France are boarding schools, but not all of them. Almost all of them are Catholic schools, but you can find Jewish schools and Muslim schools as well, though to a lesser proportion. Itâs also important to point out that the religious teachings are optional.
However, due to the religious specificity, a lot of people donât really go there. You might not know it, but France is legally secular, and it means that freedom of worship and culture is the constitutional norm. France therefore being a multicultural country with no official religion, people donât really see the point of going to a Catholic school.
Unlike the United States, religion has very little to do with Franceâs politics and Catholics donât have much power in the government. To put it short, no one cares if the President is atheist or if he doesnât go to church on Sundays.
The relationship with religion is very uninhibited when compared to what it would be in the United States. Iâm only comparing these two countries and am not saying France is the most uninhibited country in the world when it comes to religion, but you get my point.
Though 30% of French people deem that private schools can be afforded by poorer households, a lot of them are still reluctant because they can get good enough teaching at public schools.
Because of that, private schools with a religious connotation seem like closed areas and we donât really know whatâs going on there except that it can be expensive or require a specific characteristic in your family lineage (like the Maison dâEducation de la LĂ©gion dâHonneur that only lets you in if a person from your family got the LĂ©gion dâHonneur). Itâs got a pretty selective aspect, but I doubt itâs got a bad reputation.
Iâd say it gives off an aspect of wealth, quality, and strictness?
Itâs fairly secluded as itâs well-known for its walls and closed gates. It strengthens the idea of security that a lot of parents look for, but it also makes it look like a world on its own because we have little idea of whatâs going on there, especially for private boarding schools.
However, private schools have been, for the past few years, growing more and more popular, especially for middle school and high school. It might be interesting to keep that in mind. Switches from public to private are becoming a bit more frequent, but in numbers, only a rough 20% of students are studying in private establishments.
