At drinks one night, a US-educated PhD told me about the strange hiring attitude at the CNRS. If a guy took a year off to go mountain climbing, in France it shows "he is not serious". Black mark.
This came to mind as our long-winded American expatriate landlord came by last night (and broke the toilet). His scooter had been stolen and recovered recently, apparently by the North African (maghreb, or more appropriately beur) punks who hang out in his street.
Ah, kids today. When he was a kid growing up in Iowa, he was working in a factory by 17. But America gave him a second shot. He enrolled in community college, went to university, became an architect, and has built a happy life in Europe (with two apartments in the Marais!).
In France, if you don't make yourself something by the time you're 15, you're done. No backdoor entrance to the top universities here. Same in England (A-levels?) and lots of Europe. You just wouldn't be "serious".
This can't be good for the society -- people can be late bloomers. Should they be wasted?
But I understand its origin. When everything is free (government funded), how can you make people pay for what they get? With discipline, of course. So there are fewer exemptions for the late-bloomers with cash enough to make a go. (I think the late-bloomers in the US don't get exemptions if they're simply poor and out of luck. But you don't have to be rich to enroll in community college.)
Posted by amol at December 3, 2002 11:54 AM