College Entrance Exams
Bonjour NW-Bound.
Like you, I am a product of the French education system. Did you go through the "Math Sup/Math Spé" prep classes? (For US readers who may not familiar be with the French system: in France, if one wants to get into an elite school ["grandes écoles", literally "great schools"], one has to go through a very, very tough entrance exam. And practically 100% of those who take the exam spend 2 grueling years preparing for it).
I also prefer the US university system, as it allows for more flexibility and creativity. But I think that the French middle school and high school systems -at least in the late 60s and early 70s- are more rigorous than their US counterparts today.
Hi,
I am sure you know more about the French education system than I do, because I had to look up "
Math Sup/Math Spé" to see what it was about.
No, our HS and universities were all taught in our native language. Though foreign languages were taught in HS, the mastery-level of most students was not that great, though significantly better than most American students' knowledge of French, Spanish, or German. I happened to know French and English better than most because of my parents' insistence that we kids learned both for job opportunities. They sent me to language schools whenever I had some free time. They didn't believe in kids with too much free time.
As you piqued my curiosity about the French
grandes écoles, I searched and found this link about these preparatory schools.
Wapedia - Wiki: Classe preparatoire aux grandes écoles
Apparently, gaining entrance to these grande écoles places one at the junior level already. After 3 years, the students are awarded a Master degree. So, the two years spent in
Math Sup/Math Spé are after and beyond the 12th grade and counted as part of the college education.
It was not the case with our system. It still took us 4 years in our colleges to get a Bachelor degree. The preparatory classes were extra-curricular, and taken during the 12th grade. These simply reinforced what was in the normal course load and perhaps went a bit deeper.
The college entrance exams I took supposedly covered only the official 12th grade curriculum. However, these were not the same as the typical US classes. For example, the standard curriculum in Math covered
* Calculus, up to simple ordinary differential equations
* Analytic Geometry, mostly 2-D, plus some 3D conic sections
* Abstract Algebra, Introduction to Group, Field, Vector Space Theory
In Physics we learned Static Electricity, Magnetism, Optics, which was pretty much the same as freshman physics here in the US.
In Chemistry we learned Organic Chemistry (which I hated), as Inorganic Chemistry was covered in earlier grades.
So, generally the material was the same as freshman college classes here. Back then, a freshman in these tough colleges would be ready to tackle Linear Algebra, Real Analysis, Theory of Numbers, Analytic Geometry generalized to N dimensions, and more Physics but of the sophomore level here.
From reading the link I provided above, it appears that the French exams were more grueling than what I went through. Only one college exam I took included an oral exam, and it was only a formality; they already down selected from tens of thousands down to 50, and why would they throw any of those poor kids out? By the way, there was no college tuition, and the students even got a small stipend. Now, that was nice, and like the French system!
By the way, I remember being told that some of our college math course works were based on Rudin's textbooks, which I did not have. I always assumed that Rudin was French, but upon coming here, found out that he was Walter Rudin, of European origin but an American Mathematics Professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and his textbooks were renown.
Back to the entrance exams, many countries still have rigorous college entrance exams for the tougher schools. It causes premature aging to the youngsters, both physically and mentally. This, I can attest to.
PS. FireDreamer stomped off a few days ago. He certainly could tell us more about the French education system. Now, I really wonder what is taught in HS there. Should I visit a HS there next time I am in France and ask to see their textbooks?