As a French, it is very interesting to hear your point of view on french school especially when you talk about culture of critique which is something we would need to improve and to inspire more on the way you do in the US. I mean being critisized on your mistakes by teachers comes from the idea that they want you to do better and that's ok, but encourageament and positiveness is very important if you want to build kids trust and above all the fact that kids need to learn that failure is part of life and the only way to succeed is to go through failures and learn from it. So, I think that french teachers should be more on a middle ground here between the criticism that helps kids to understand what's wrong and the encourageament that gives kids the belief that they can succeed even they fail sometimes.
In France, about "activités extra-scolaires" (extra-curricular activities).... the key word is "extra", that means outside of the school. that's the point, i guess.
And (as a french) i find this to really not be a positive thing. The lack of implication of french schools in this activities is why we don't have a sports culture.
It’s the same in Germany, sports clubs are separate from school yet I find Germany has a huge sports culture. Same with music schools separate from school. Though my children still do have some clubs at ( after)school such as chorus, art club, film….
Same in Italy. On one hand, having the school handle all that stuff would be convenient for the parents, but on the other hand, I think for the kids is better not to spend their whole day in the same place with the same persons. It's better to change context, change area and change company in my opinion.
@@huquui8789 We don't have sports culture ? In any village above 2000 inhabs you'll have at least one football club, and often a lot of other collectives sports (rugby, volleyball, handball, basketball...). There are public tennis court, dojos and athletic fields managed by clubs all over. And as these are managed by associations rather than schools, all kids in those clubs are trained by people that got a diploma in that field. A lot of them are benevolents that got just the basic formation, to professionnals that got a lengthy certification. All of them invest a lot of time to organise some friendly competitions for kids, or transport them for actual competitions. As I was involved in my village tennis club, I've seen benevolant people invest a lot of time and effort for those kids, taking and sometimes coaching some to youth tournaments because their parents wouldn't bother. It goes the same for thing for music associations, arts associations... It's up to the parents to register their kids in those clubs (usually at the start of the scool year), it has a cost that are sometimes adjusted to revenues. I have yet to see in my entourage any kid that doesn't have a sports or cultural activity, and most of the time multiple of those. They are just not bound to schools, most of the sports structures are owned by towns and not schools anyway (even though schools often have access to them). When you consider how good are our results in sports in general currently, and particularly in collective sports, you can't say we don't have a sports culture. I'd say that with Germany and the USA we might be the most multisports country in the world (and maybe Italy too). We could also consider the UK and Spain but they're not really into winter sports.
Si tu fais un sport pour semi-professionnel ou l enfants doit faire ces entraînement tu a des dérogations avec l école donc des dérogations en France tu a des écoles sport étude et oui en je suis dans le sud ouest ou les épreuves de surf font partie du diplôme du bac en France sa a changé donc sport étude tu n a plus de problème 😊
I just watched your video on fun things for kids. What a gift you have given her and at an early age. She will develop multi linqual fluency and the confidence knowing she will be able to interact with anyone. So congratulations to the both of you on your move to France. You could have stayed comfortably at your home in the US but you really went for it not only for yourselves but more importantly for your daughter. Bravo. 😊Joe.
Being a teacher myself (tough in post-bac), I can totally relate to the "being direct" comments. You are perfectly right to see it as a driving force pushing kids to do better, but sometimes, it can be felt as an obligation to "rentrer dans le moule" (set aside your particularities and be like others). Hope your daughter is doing great in our system :)
As someone else noted, criticism at school in France, the emphasis on weaknesses more than on acomplishements, the lack of "sugarcoating" all leave a big mark, for better or for worse on how adults later interact in society.
Well, for one, it teaches humility. Just look at how so many americans turn out. That's the last thing i want here. I hardly ever had positive comments on my reports. And so what? I hardly ever did any homework in my life, my lessons were never read, my bag never opened at home, and so, what is deserved is deserved. Best to never forget that.
You woudln't beleive how many of these sort of clips I have seen over the years, but I'm not sure I've ever jumped to the subscription button so quickly. I am a brit who moved to the Nehterlands 35 years ago and had to learn the language too. So other people's experiences in this field are always interesting. I'm going to watch all the back catalogue at my leisure now. Keep it up ! Great content !
Before the separation of church and state in 1905, schooling was often mixed with religious education. There was a very strong separation. France is secular and religion has become a choice of individuals, not of society. So this enormously influences the school in its operating principles. Sport, theater, etc. are a personal matter that does not concern school. There are sports and cultural associations for this depending on the aspirations of the students. Everyone has their own field, we don’t mix everything.
Ces faux tu peux faire sport étude avec des aménagements avec l éducation nationale je suis dans le sud ouest tu a options bac avec le surf qui compte Pour tes épreuves au baccalauréat vous êtes très mal renseigné 😊
@@christianc9894 je crois que tu ne comprends tu peux passer ton BAC PRO en faisant des aménagements avec l'Éducation nationale et faire du sport professionnel il n'y a aucun problème vous êtes très mal renseigné
@@bikesfrench8524 On sait tout cela gamin, c'est pas nouveau. Mais sport études c'est sérieux, rien à voir avec les équipes de basket universitaires US avec des pom pom girl et toue folklore US bardé de drapeaux. Tu es peut-être bon en soport mais pour le reste on peut s'interroger.
Hi, I've just come across your video and You're definitely right when youre talking about critics. I'm an English teacher in a lycée in Bordeaux. We always try to get the best of our students.
As a French, this seem to fit with the time I was in school, a long while ago. For testing, this will change in lycée/high school, when you prepare for the Bac. I had regular "bac blanc" (testing in the conditions and subject of the bac, often real questions or problems taken from past years exams) in those three years. They are meant to get the nervousness of it out of students, to teach them time management, how to properly read test questions, and of course to know where you are and how you will probably grade on the real bac, and so on. As for the cultural difference about feedback and what I personally call "the US curse about manufactured positivity", as someone who work, talk and play with a lot of people from the US, this indeed can be a lot :) But on the specific subject of children schools, feedback doesn't just happen if you do badly. You could have a 16/20 grade for a paper, and get as much feedback as someone who had a 7/20, that will include both what you did well (so that you could do it again) and what you did not (so that you could still improve). But of course details vary a great deal from teacher to teacher, I had very smooth and careful and private teachers, and I had (a very few) very mean teacher. And I thank you for the illumination about school clans and labels in the US and the link with school sponsored themes and activities and the culture around that. I never understood why the US had this wide and this much jocks & theaters & arts & chess kids and so on, why the cliques where so strong and central in teenage culture. Never had or seen that in France, but now I understand, it makes sense.
French teachers are not trained to give feedback and so the abrupt methods get perpetuated from generation to generation. The feedback is also often superficial, so the child understands their work is inadequate but doesn't get clear guidance about how to improve. I grew up in France (American parents) and later as a parent tried to counter the impacts of this aspect of French education by helping my children figure out how to improve. French schooling has some strengths but unfortunately a lot of parental involvement is needed to keep children confident in their abilities.
I can't find the words to tell you how good it is to hear your opinion on our school system, especially the way you find so great things we find normal. We often criticize thid system here in France, and forget the luck we have to be able to go to school in good conditions for free. Thanks a lot. (maybe I should watch again without the US-positiveness filter ^_^ )
I hope that Juliana still enjoys her high school and that she has been able to find extracurricular activities that she enjoys. I have a niece who has already done a week of theater training during school holidays, it must exist. For the teachers, it may be necessary to explain to them that Juliana is not used to certain things. They'll be more attentive (probably than you already have). I think that your opinion and your requests can be very interesting and enriching for a French high school. J'espère que Juliana se plaît toujours dans son lycée et qu'elle a pu trouver des activités extra scolaires qui lui plaisent. J'ai une nièce qui a déjà fait une semaine de stage de Théâtre pendant des vacances scolaires, ça doit exister. Pour les professeurs, il faudrait peut-être leur expliquer que Juliana n'est pas habituée à certaines choses. Ils seront plus attentifs (sans doute que vous l'avez déjà fait). Je pense que votre avis et vos demandes peuvent être très intéressantes et enrichissantes pour un lycée français.
As a teacher in France, i really agree with most of your points in this video. In particular about the writen comment about a student being important and not only the grade. We are currently reviewing students application for new students next year, and we value far more a student with very average grades but great comments about his work ethic, motivation... than a student with good grades but very bad comments (talking during classes, missing classes...)
C'est effectivement ce qu'on entend souvent mais c'est vrai seulement dans une certaine limite. Un élève avec des résultats excellents passera partout malgré des absences et/ou du bavardage
@@user-nx4vk8ib5g Effectivement, mais jusqu'à un certain point. Cela dépend aussi très largement de la politique de recrutement de chaque établissement qui peut varier TRES fortement
Just in case, brevet is not mandatory. Even if you fail, you can go to high school. However the baccalauréat is mandatory if you want to go to college. But there are many variations depending on what cursus you were in and where you plan to go
Yes, next year the brevet become mandatory to go to high school and, I'm sorry but the baccalaureat is mandatory to graduate high school. If you don't succeed, you can leave high school but you risk to have difficulty to find a job without it.
As a 50 something Irish man trying to learn and struggling. The French straight out criticism is hard to take. They're trying to help but it's tough, it's the French way....
The most devastating comment I saw on a friend’s report card in high school with an average to mediocre grade was “se donne du mal, ne peut pas mieux faire”. Tries hard, can’t do any better. This definitive negative appraisal is not that uncommon, the principal thought it was funny, a negative pun on the usual comment he was writing on all report cards, “peut mieux faire”. There a-holes everywhere, you just have to shrug it off.
lol Mybirth country get 3 month off in summer then 2 weeks for Cmas and 2 for Easter! I laugh when Americans are surprised pleasantly that other nations take education differently (raised in the USA I am ) wow you in France go to school long days! Nope8-2 at the most ! Glad you all see the light though def not the greatest country on earth! But you make my day with your enthusiasm! Testing in my country though is intense not standardized testing until Uni acceptance which is FREE!
There are no straight A’s, tests are more difficult, more intelectual, and to learn is more important that being trained to do the standardized American tests, that have a terrible quality.,Also to go university you have to be intelectual fit for it, in USA you have to be rich or good in sports. Bring rich and bring good in sports doesn’t matter in the selection to go to university in France.
Most of the time in France in the 80s and 90s, grades were given sorted from best to worst, and there was a sorted list of the pupils by their quarter average grade :) It is way softer now 😃
Hi, really interesting and helpful video series. Thanks for sharing your experience and knowledge. Would be really helpful to know if public schools are free for expats’s children? We are looking to immigrate to France from the UK with our 5 year old son but main concern is his education and how he would find into the education system in France and what his onboarding experience would be like. I’d be grateful for your thoughts. Thanks.
I’ve watched several of your videos. I’m French who’s been living in the US for 12 years. I do think your comments are spot on. You’re really doing an amazing job to integrate and I also think you are getting what the cultural differences are. Moving to another country is frustrating especially after a year when home sickness starts kicking in and the excitation of being in a new country starts to fade. Good luck
I'm an American currently living in France who is fortunate to have studied in both the French and American education systems. I was in the French school system from kindergarten through sophomore year of high school. Then, I finished high school in the US and attended college (I've also been a university professor in the US). Here's my feedback. There are after school care programs in France, they're called "centre de loisirs" (operated by your local mairie). My younger kids use it throughout the year and also in the summer whenever we're not yet on vacation. Perhaps you live in such a small town that there isn't one? I find it strange though. Moving on, the BAC degree is not an option in high school. To graduate, you must obtain it or else you're considered a drop out. Compared to the US, students graduate high school with specialties, which are picked around sophomore year. My eldest for example is specializing in math, biology/earth science (SVT) and physics. He has extra hours in those subjects than students who don't. The specialties are generally organized as sciences, languages and social studies and economics. French students also study two foreign languages, one of which systematically includes english. Students can also study a third language if so desired. My eldest took two years of latin! The French high school system has changed over the years. In my days, we'd sometimes have school on Saturday mornings! Students with low scores used to get held back, sometimes even twice! Nowadays, they've gotten rid of that policy. I think they may occasionally recommend it but it requires parental consent. In the old days, after being held up multiple times, you'd end up in a technical school. By the way, there are also technical school specialties. When I was a student, students would participate in the "conseil de classe" during which teachers review a student's performance. If you had bad grades, it felt like you were on trial. You'd be assisted by two peers acting as student class representatives. They'd act like lawyers. Adding context to explain a general problem that could have affected your grades! In France, (unless this has changed) there's no "extra credit" for missed assignments or poor grades. In addition to the lack of extra curricular activities, there's no driver's education in high school. You need to pay for private lessons, which are expensive. French people are always amazed when I tell them I learned to drive in high school during a summer course and my test scores were part of my GPA. I'll close by stating that French high school (and college) students end up having to complete multiple mandatory internships to earn a degree. My overall take is that the US high school system is crap, academically speaking. However, the US university system eclipses the "essentially free" French public university system. It does make sense that public schooling cannot compete with private schooling at the university level. Nowadays, even French public high school programs are falling apart in comparison to private education.
As a frechman working for an american company (nobody's perfect...), I strongly encourage my fellow citizens to watch your channel so that they realize how lucky they are to live here. But I doubt they will... why? First because most of them spend their time complaining and criticizing everything and anything, and second because they don't speak English (even worse to understand with the U.S accent...). Enjoy your life in France, it’s not such a bad choice...
I was always envious of American schools being more involved with extra curricular activities when I grew up with American teen shows in the 2000s. I did some musical theatre but I was just lucky there was an association for it in my town, same with my brother and sister with soccer and handball respectively: you got to find a club. My partner does archery and we are thinking in time our child might get interested (they're 2 years old for now) but the nearest club is in the next village and my partner goes to his old club 15km away. In a sense it's good that schools don't organise them because they can focus on academia. And also, it doesn't save you from being called a nerd. I read at recess in collège and I was called "Harry Potter" for four whole freaking years as a result 😂😂
I think the fact that teachers do their own thing is more so a bad thing. Students will face discrimination (especially in public schools), their grades will take a hit. I personally witnessed some misogynistic teachers during my school years, or even had issues with teachers who disliked my siblings who they had before me as students! It feels like sometimes things are completely out of your control here. The passing grade being 10 is also I think a way to mitigate the damages with teacher bias. It's cool that in the US, getting a 100% on a test is something you can attain with hard work. But in France, a lot of teachers think that 20/20 is "perfection" which you cannot attain, best you could do is 19 maybe. I hope your daughter never has to face any of these issues, and that she does well in school!
I'm curious about your reasons for switching to a private school, and how you would compare the experience of public vs private for someone who is still learning French
I think this might need it's own video, but in a nutshell because we weren't sure where we would be living our second year in France and so enrolling in the private school we knew we had that locked down and could look for housing anywhere in 30 minute radius without worring about what school we would go to based on "catchment area" (school zone). Also, this is one of the public / private hybrids, meaning it's super affordable, less than 200 euros per month. Often catholic schools in France are this way. They follow the French curriculum, but add religious schooling. This particular school happened to have a higher level English program so she could continue learning grammar at her grade level, and they have a theater "workshop" two days a week, which she dearly missed from school in the US. We loved the public school she went to her first year. The FLE program was great, which I thinks we've mentioned before. The private school she's also getting some FLE, but we're less impressed than with her public school program. The teachers have still been great about adapting to her language needs for testing at the private school.
Something you would maybe like to know is that the so-called private schools in France are a bit of a hypocritical system (I am French) : the State gives every year 8 billions euro to private schools. This is from 55% up to 68% of their budget. You see, they are not so private and they could not exist without public money. And as for me, I am not really ok with that system, and with my taxes paying not only religious education, but also a selective system 🙂 But, well, it is in the French law, and I can do nothing but to accept it… 🙂 Yet, it is not fair for the public schools.
@heliedecastanet1882 on private schools "sous contrat" the teachers are from éducation nationale so they are paid by the government in " exchange" the school agrees to apply the same program as the oublic ones. Also government only pay the teachers and not the ones for the religious stuff, all the rest is paid by the school.
@@p4olo537 I guess you are not French, otherwise you would have heard about the many and recent scandals regarding private schools. Public money is not only for paying the teachers, not at all. It would be long to explain, and I am sorry you don't understand French; because lots of investigations and articles were produced by Newspapers such as Le Monde, explaining very well how the system is embezzled, thanks to its opacity. So, officially, public money don't pay for religious classes, but unofficially, it does : depends on how you embezzle the money you receive. But most of all, all those so called "private" schools could not just exist without public money, and the question of teaching religion would even not exist as well. Unless they were totally private, no public funds, and with students paying as much as in Great-Britain. Ok for me. Thanks for your message anyway. Good evening.
@@heliedecastanet1882 To resume, it has been shown that PART of private schools have made catechism compulsory, and more specifically that of Stanislas College in Paris even though it is prohibited. The state is aware of this and has denounced these abuses (perhaps forced by the Amélie Oudéa-Castéra "scandal", but the result is there, these schools will have to return to the basic contract with national education). My son went to a private Catholic school and anything religious was optional. It was a good school offering a computer science specialty in which atheists, Christians, Muslims, Jews rubbed shoulders. According to my son (atheist) who stayed at this establishment for 3 years, the school never put the slightest pressure on him to follow catechism or religious services. The only times he had to deal with religion was when he received by email, like all the other students, prayer proposals for religious holidays which always began with "For those who would like..." So let's not generalize a case that was politically useful. As usual, we must be careful of the various abuses but from there to stigmatizing all private schools and their functioning is a step too easily taken. En résumé, il a été démontré que CERTAINES écoles privées ont rendu obligatoire le catéchisme, et plus spécifiquement celle du collège Stanislas à Paris alors que c'est interdit. L'état en est conscient et a dénoncé ces dérives (peut-être de façon forcée par le "scandale" Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, mais le résultat est là, ces écoles vont devoir revenir au contrat de base avec l'éducation nationale). Mon fils est allé en école privée catholique et tout ce qui concernait le religieux était facultatif. C'était une bonne école offrant une spécialité d'informatique dans laquelle se côtoyaient des athées, des chrétiens, des musulmans, des juifs. D'après mon fils (athée) qui est resté 3 ans cet établissement, l'établissement scolaire n'a jamais mis la moindre pression pour suivre le catéchisme ou des offices religieux. Les seules fois où il avait affaire à la religion c'est lorsqu'il recevait par mail, comme tous les autres élèves, des propositions de prière pour les fêtes religieuses qui commençaient toujours par "Pour ceux qui voudraient ..." Donc ne faisons pas une généralité d'un cas qui a servi politiquement. Comme d'habitude, il faut faire attention aux différentes dérives mais de là à stigmatiser toutes les écoles privées et leur fonctionnement, il y a un pas trop facilement franchit.
It is, but the admistrative burden is very high, and it must be approved since school is compulsory under 16 years old in France. Those homeschooling exceptions are usually reserved cases where it's difficult to physically be at school, like undergoing extended treatment for illness or training for the olympics. So it's not impossible, but definitely do research to find out what it would require of you and if you could likely be approved.
It isn't for Thanksgiving (of course) it's for All Saints' day. All the French holidays were based on catholic holidays. Now it's a bit different, the Easter holiday doesn't always fall around Easter but you get the general idea.
Hi Still very interesting to see your vision about different aspects of life in France. As for school, we could conclude like this : school is for teaching, and day to day education are for parents. Two things you could have a look at. The first one is the very important role of parents inside the school : parents-teachers meetings, the role of the parents associations... And the second the very important role of cultural and sports associations outside school and meant to everyone, from kids to elders. I live in a small town of around 8.000 residents. We have nearly a 100 different associations. This means that you can have time to learn and share so many things and meet people that you wouldn't have had a chance to meet otherwise. It covers nearly everything you can imagine. And it is usually very cheap as these associations are run by volunteers and often subsidized by the town or district council. As I was watching the video, I was wondering how it works in the US...
Beware though. Some schools suck in France. I am french, and when i was in middle school, in the 90's, i went to a massive school with more than 1500 students (in the "rich" suburb of Bordeaux). In a detached building of the school, there was what we call a SES ("Section d'Education Spécialisée" or "Specialized Educative Section" (for seriously "special" kids...the kind that remains illiterate at age 20, no matter what you try)). Obviously, the kids there were all roms (the worst). Extremely dangerous. They stabbed a student, sent a professor to the hospital, and the whole school was very dangerous because of them. If you berated a 12 years old rom kid, he called his "brothers". And they did come at the school's gate to wait for you. You had to wait forever before hoping to even get out. Our borders are sieves, and here is the result. There are not SES everywhere, and this case was pretty extreme. But we do have problems with nasty kids here and there. Not all are violent to this extent. But many may prove very... disruptive in class. Even without considering the SES, in the "normal" classes of this middle school, i remember a spanish language teacher that ended up locked up in a closet every year starting april or may, and stopped coming 2 months before the end of the school year. And then there was this english teacher... who suffered quite a bit when i was 12. I remember how annoyed and irked i was at the widespread idiocy around me. Oh, and the bullying was pretty intense there, too. Not only towards the teacher. Middle school was hell. You are more likely to avoid all this in the countryside i guess. Make sure your kids tell you honestly how things are at school. It is likely that you won't encounter such problems, but just in case, listen well to your kids and check things out. My own parents never seemed to be worried about all this though. Well, we had spent years in North Africa and South America, my father lived in Irak during their war with Iran, etc... and i guess that this made all this pretty normal to them.
All this is fascinating. In 1968, when I was 15, my family moved from the US to Geneva. It was an English medium private school. I have no idea if the teachers of French were French or Swiss, but their blunt, brusque attitude to the students -- as if we were a pathetic underclass of subhumans -- stuck with me. No wonder I barely passed French. Have never needed to use it except when on holiday, like most things taught at school. Would have appreciated being taught about how to be interviewed, committee room work, and other soft skills which I needed every day when at work. School sucked...
I would think that the French academic system would be very jarring for an American student. The legend is that the closer the student gets to the the bac exam, the higher the pressure. It quite literally determines your future.
Now it is not the bac exam which determine your future 90% of the student pass each year but parcoursup does it is the website use to select people for university
Just watched several of your videos and i just want to congratulate you on their quality. Having lived and studied both in France and in the US - two differents states - (and other countries), I kind of know where you're coming from and I find your analysis right on point, like for this one on school life. I have yet to find something I disagree with as you're right to underline that you are reporting on your experience and that it may be different in some aspects elsewhere in France. Still, your very sensible and balanced outlook could be useful across the board for newcomers as some basics are the same everywhere. Kudos for instance for pinpointing the "culture of critique" as it is indeed in my view a major cultural difference that is harder to "digest" coming into France than the other way. Maybe I should add that the grading from 0 to 20 is used somewhat differently than the 0 to 100 especially for "non-binary" tests like papers or essays (litterature,..). 20 is often there almost unattainable and lower grades like 16 can be considered as excellent (and that would translate only to a B in the US !). As you noted, the class average is there to introduce relativity in the grading. However, I wish sometimes some of the US positivity would sneak into the French "system" 🙂
We once heard a joke "16-18 is for the best students, 19 is for the professor, 20 is for god". Juliana has gotten 19.75 on a test once so the teacher could avoid (we think) giving away a full 20. 🙃 Thanks for watching!
@@BaguetteBound when I was in high school, a philosophy teacher told my mother concerned by my last grade of only 10 that it was quite good and that there was no issue ! 🙂
@@BaguetteBound It really depends on the subject actually ! I can't really fathom how you could get a 19.75 in french literature or history... so im going to assume it was either in science or foreign languages. If it was in a science sub, they do give a lot of 20s, that 0.25 was likely due to a small redaction issue in her paper... a quarter of a point actually has its significance, but it should be written on the paper what you lost it to. If it was in a foreign language sub, foreign language teachers tend to give the best grades of all teachers in France so they have no reason to avoid giving a 20. However if it was in a literary sub and the teacher gave her 19.75, it might indeed mean that it was insanely good but that they were trying to stay off the 20. I had a biology teacher in 8th grade who would put either 20 or 18 (never anything in between) bcs it was either perfect or not perfect lmao. 19.75 is very weird though. Very few literature teachers ever put quarters of points because they know their rating system just isn't precise enough (and so close to a 20 ? I don't know any teacher who'd do that, they tend to round it up as much as they can). Congrats to her though that's an awesome grade regardless
Yes school system in France is bad imo compare to belgium for exemple in every subject 2 big tests every years for your entire scholarship is the way to go
I disagree, big tests are never the right call, since it put pressure on childs for something which really doesn't matter. School is there to teach children how to behave in society, to learn basic knowledge, but mostly to make them learn to live with others, to interact in a place where they can find different levels of interactions with adults, with other children, to encounter diversity (that's why public schools are so important), ethnic diversity ,cultural diversity. School, particularly middle school, is not there to make children future CEOs and great minds, they will have time to become that.
@@malveillance762 Hmm, that's theory and also a myth, but really before 15 years old it's all about "learn to interact with other, different childrens, learn to shut your mouth when the teacher's speaking, learn to be responsive in class and interested by subjects, learn the limits of what you can do and can't do". All the rest is secondary. You will not "create" a very smart person by giving them good lessons, that's in fact the parents job, but you can make 25 good persons by teaching them well when they're young and can change. After 15, they can begin to learn things, before, juste let them have fun as long as they behave well. Most very smart people I know didn't care about school before high school. They had very good grades, but never tried hard. They all had a period of 1-2-3 years where they did everything you shouldn't do, miss schools, don't do homework, go outside school to play with friends / flirt with others. And then, at some point they all understood when it was the real deal and began to really work and learn. You can't make a student like this, but you can make what it takes so they're not becoming not society-ready people. Private schools are for sure the worst for that: it takes young people out of the real world, put very homogeneous people together, making them try hard at 8-9-10 years old for what? To learn super well 5*5? And arrived at 18 years old they become twats who think they know everything, are the best and looks at the rest of the outside world as maggets. It's so bad I can't even comprehend rich people didn't understand that yet. 90% of the best students in France who make the cut to the best universities/college level schools come from 3-4 public high schools. They all come from public middle schools all over France. These people when they were 5-8-12 didn't need anything but to grow slowly, without insane pressure.
