Monday 25 December 2006
Education ..../.... The Miseducation of Pierre
By David Pitt, Monday 25 December 2006 - 18:42 :: Ugly
There are a number of positive things to say about the French educational system, chief among them the emphasis on reason, depth of analysis and breadth of scope. In the end though I rated it an overall minus because of what I perceived as a stultifying negativity. Self confidence and self worth appear to be foreign concepts. Tricks and loopholes are the stock in trade of tests and teachers. Finding fault is the greatest good. What is wrong is what is right – always. Negativity pervades and the students are worn down. A dose of that may be a positive but a steady diet produces dubious results. A C- at best.
Original appearance Apr 04, 2005, © 2005 / CIP 036, OO 03, RD 25, YP 30/14-25
It’s the reason this Cowboy is in Paris. Years ago I promised my sweetheart we would one day walk hand in hand along the Champs-Elysees. This was after she had held my hand in my beloved Sierra Nevada and traipsed, again hand in hand, through the Rockies. I am a lucky man. We have done it. Actually numerous times now. It is a grand and glorious boulevard. She is a beautiful woman. I am content. You could do a lot worse than promising your sweetheart the very same thing.
There probably was a time when the French road system might not compare favorably with our interstates and freeways. That day is gone. While expensive – most of the primary network consists of toll roads - the condition of the road system is excellent. Even the secondary roads, and they are almost all free, are pleasant to drive. Add to this a railroad system for passengers that is infinitely superior to anything available in the United States – in particular the TGV is a joy. Include busses, boats and air and you will find the transportation infrastructure in France is exceptional. Within Paris all the systems are overcrowded in rush hour but still remarkably efficient. Sometimes I go for a bus ride just for the pleasure of opening my eyes in Paris.
You have not lived until you have died three times attempting to circle the Arc de Triomphe once with a French driver. This is Adrenaline City. Heart stopping, Adrenaline City. Once, twice, sometimes three times for a simple single passage. It may be that the word cattywampus was first coined here. It aptly describes the relative position of every car to every other bus, automobile, motorcycle, truck, bicycle or other conveyance known to man. All joining, circling, barging, darting and exiting from 12 (count them) entries and escapes. It seems the minimum speed limit is about 150 KM/H (translation: about 90 MPH). That anyone ever survives is a miracle. I did. Once.
A Cowboy in Paris necessarily speaks primarily of Paris but, when it does it neglects my choicest place in all of France (so far). Provence is wonderful, it is lovely and it is absolutely great. The fields of lavender, the wetlands of Camarque and the architecture of Avignon are some of the reasons. Tucked between the Alps and the Rhône you will find vestiges of Roman influence in Arles and the Pont du Gard, medieval abbeys (Sénanque), and an almost genuine fishing village in Cassis. And artists everywhere. There is also Marseille, but I have never been there. Ah, and I forgot to mention bouillabaisse and if I loved wine I would think I was in Valhalla. Okay, you get my drift. I love the place.
To be honest French wine is a plus because everyone tells me it is so. I am not a connoisseur, but here I subscribe to the theory that everyone else cannot be wrong. For sure there is a certain charm to everybody sniffing, swirling, tasting and proclaiming “superb.” For certain this is serious stuff filled with passion and precision. The nose knows. Experts abound. The mystique is there. Bordeaux, Burgundy, Beaujolais it’s all in the appellation with dozens to hundreds of variation within. I will toast them all with a bourbon and seven.