Argumentative Essay on School in France and America

No matter if you are located in France or the United States you will receive an education whether its public or private. School life in France are extremely different from schools in America. The differences in France include starting earlier, leaving later, longer lunch, and more homework.

French schools often start at 7:30 in the morning and end around 4 to 5 PM, while schools in the United States start around 8 AM and end around 2:15 to 3:30 PM. French schools tend to have a longer day because they allot one to two hours for lunch. Due to having a long school day some schools do not have school on Wednesday or the school will end early. In America we go five days a week. Because school is so long students tend to not have a social life outside of school because with longer schools comes with having more homework. A typical high school student, in France, will have four to six hours of homework, while a high school student from America will only have two to three hours of homework each night.

According to a French Blog there are very few student activities like: sports, music, drama, and other clubs. Also, classroom walls are mostly bare, meaning there are few posters or any sort of decorations because teachers change classrooms a lot. Decorating your classroom is something that is just not commonly done in France.

In French public schools there are no dress codes. Clothes deemed inappropriate in American schools like spaghetti straps are not a problem. However, religious jewelry cannot be worn like cross necklaces and earrings. Also, Jewish headwear or Stars of David, and religious tattoos need to be covered. Girls are not allowed to wear their Islamic head wraps and boys need to remove their Sikh head wraps as soon as they are on public school grounds. Private schools can set any rule. In most American each district decides if religious materials are allowed to be worn.

The French educational system consists of three different stages: primary school, secondary school, and senior secondary school. Primary school is kindergarten through sixth or seventh. Secondary school is grades seventh through tenth. Senior secondary school is grades eleventh and twelfth. Students go to school for a total of thirteen years in France. After graduating high school, students are required to take the Baccalauréat, which is basically the ACT and SAT but you are only allowed to take it once. In the United States, students go to school for fourteen years, with three different stages: elementary school, middle school, and high school. Elementary school is grades pre-kindergarten through fifth. Middle school is grades six through eighth. High school is ninth to twelfth grade. In America you take the ACT and SAT as many times as you wish in order to get into college.

While both schools present different schooling systems, both work. No schooling is better than the other. French and American schools prepared their students for the later adult life. Even though there may be some drastic differences both do their jobs.