Back to Bac

The Baccalauréat results were out last Tuesday, commonly know as le Bac, and taken at the end of the Lycée, they are actually university entrance exams. I learnt a lot about them this year as two of the staff at work had children who were waiting for their results.
I won’t go into long facts about the exams as there is helpful page on wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baccalauréat

However there was great relief from Parent 1 when her son called to say that he had got his Bac. She immediately texted all known relatives and friends to pass on this news and was promptly inundated with congratulatory messages. Her son was ‘Mon cheri’ and could do no wrong.
During the lunch break the conversation turned to everyone’s Bacs and what marks they had got and in what subjects. Here I learnt the interesting fact that French exams are scored out of 20 and to pass le Bac you have to get a 10. This mark is the average of all the exams taken.
I was then asked to explain the UK exam and university entrance system. This was interrupted by the son calling his mum to ask if his celebrating friends could stay over that night. The son could still do no wrong and was told yes, of course they could. To which one of my colleagues dryly commented to Parent 1 that she should start getting prepared and put a sick bowl by each of the beds.

This whole conversation was watched by Parent 2, whose daughter had to wait till the evening to find out her results. This meant that Parent 2 could not take part in any of the glory of having a child who had got their Bac, though she did get as many comments in as she could about how confident her daughter was about passing.
We had staff meeting that night and Parent 2 arrived late and as our Directrice was in full flow, resorted to gesturing to everyone that her daughter had got her Bac too. Our Directrice still did not seem to think that this was a reasonable enough excuse for being late to the meeting though.

One thing about the results is that they are pinned on notice boards (or onto windows in the case of the Lycée up the road from me) for everyone to see. I think (being someone who struggled with dyslexia at school) that I prefer the envelope system, though that didn’t stop me having a look the list of results on my way to the market this weekend.
I have to admit to being impressed by the speed with which the results came back. The exams were taken during June around the same time as the UK ones, but the students (and parents) don’t have to wait so long in a state of anxiety as we had to (mid August). In a very a very French way, I guess this is so the students (and their parents) can go off and enjoy their long holidays in a state of glory or for the unlucky few – in the doghouse.