Les cahiers

There are lots of differences between the French and American school system.  French children have longer hours but they get an hour and a half for lunch and they're off on Wednesdays, they don't have sports or music at school (they do have PE, I think, and they seem to have art as well) and it seems to me like they have recess about every 30 seconds, although I think that last one is just the jealousy of my inner child.

Another big one is the amount of discipline the teachers are allowed to use.  The first time I saw a teacher discipline a child I got scared a little bit.  They don't hit them, or anything, but they certainly are allowed to yell at them, slam their notebooks on their desks, and drag them around by the arm if they misbehave.  It only took me about 2 weeks to realize that if I stuck with my lovey, friendly, American style of discipline the kids were going to walk all over me.  Of course, in typical child fashion, they liked me better once I learned to impose some discipline.

Other than that, though, one of the biggest things that stood out to me is their cahiers. 

A familiar sight after 7 months here...

I seem to remember having workbooks or worksheets mostly when I was in elementary school.  Here's your worksheet, class, it takes 45 seconds to distribute, now get down to business.  I guess we'd have to take notes occasionally, maybe, but it was nothing like this.  The amount of time these kids spend obsessively filling in their cahiers precisely must be seen to be believed.  It's like watching 25 tiny architects get ready for a big presentation.  Instructions for taking notes usually goes something like this.  "Alright, kids, now write the date in the top center of the page, underline it in RED PEN using a ruler,  then skip one line and count five spaces over and begin taking notes exactly as I've written them here in BLUE PEN.  Then you'll take this sheet I've distributed, trim it down neatly to size, fold it, and glue it on the opposite page."  And the kids all fold and cut and glue and silently fill in their cahiers in their fancy French cursive script, for about 2/3 of the lesson.

And goodness knows you'd better not write in the wrong color, or in the wrong place, or forget the date (c'est pas possible!!!), or the teacher will rip your page out and make you start over.

It took me a long time to wonder why half the questions I had to answer were "can we use marker?  Should this be in blue pen?  Wait, we can't take notes, we haven't written the date yet.  Can you write the date for us?  Should we cut this worksheet or fold it?  Can you use my ruler to make a straight line in my cahier for me, please?  Should this be in pencil?  Can I use markers?"
I used to tell them they could do whatever until I realized they wanted a specific answer.  Now I tell them to ask their teacher because I don't want them to have to start over.

It's worth mentioning here that the teachers I work with are amazing, and in general pretty chill and understanding.  But, these are the rules of the system.  Even the most liberal teacher wouldn't want their student writing in red pen willy-nilly when blue would clearly be the better choice to write the date.