"Gregory Morrow" wrote July 29, 2005

French Family Values

By PAUL KRUGMAN

"Americans tend to believe that we do everything better than anyone
else.
That belief makes it hard for us to learn from others.

I hope I have these details correct.

One thing left out of the list is that higher education in France is
much less expensive than the USA ... if you succeed at the entrance
exams. It doesn't threaten to bankrupt parents. Entrance to the
Grande Ecole system is VERY much a meritocracy. One takes two or
three years of post-high-school courses before sitting for the
entrance exams (2 days) for the Grandes Ecoles of one's choice. These
preparitory courses roughly correspond to the lower division in US
universities. The G.E. course itself typically lasts three years so
graduation is 5 or 6 years after high school graduation. Once in a
G.E., there seems to be a high likelyhood of graduation (sorta like
Harvard or MIT).

There is an alternative "easy in, easy to flunk out" system. I don't
know anyone who went that route.

Higher education in France is not a form of respectable unemployment
as we find in some lesser US liberal arts colleges.