School stuff

I have a bit of free time tonight, so I thought I would finally post my long-awaited (and much-anticipated, I'm sure) entry on the academic system here. I may have mentioned some of this before in passing, so sorry for any overlap.

Sciences Po is formally called Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris (The Institute of Political Studies of Paris). This is important for a few reasons. First, it is not a traditional university and does not award undergraduate degrees. The school is under the administration of the National Foundation of Political Science; it is a research and public policy institution that happens to teach students. The equivalent of an undergraduate program (first cycle) consists of 3 years of study, with the 3rd year spent studying abroad. Since there is no degree awarded upon completion of this program, most students continue on to the Master's cycle for an additional 2 years, at which point they receive their diplomas.

Because of this slightly unusual structure and its academic reputation, Sciences Po is considered one of the "Grandes Ecoles". Most universities in France are public, and they are required to admit any local ("in-state", so to speak) student who has passed the bac -- the baccalaureat exam taken at the end of high school. Grandes Ecoles are roughly similar to private schools. They are vastly more competitive and require separate entrance exams and interviews. They are known for educating the next generation of political/social/intellectual elites, and each school focuses on a different specialty. For example, most high-ranking French politicians attended Sciences Po followed by the Ecole Nationale d'Administration (another Grande Ecole, this one specializes in administration).

The name "Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris" is significant for one more reason: the "de Paris" part. This indicates "the real" Sciences Po, the original institution that evolved from the 19th century Ecole Libre des Sciences Politiques and is currently run by the Fondation Nationale des Sciences Politiques. Sciences Po- Paris has several regional satellite campuses that each specialize in a different part of the world (ex. "Sciences Po- Paris in Menton" studies the Middle East and North Africa). There are many other schools in France called Sciences Po, but if they don't have the "de Paris" in the title, then they're just regular, unaffiliated schools of political science.

Sorry if that was a bit long-winded. I learned all of this during my orientation a few weeks ago, and I thought it was interesting. Now on to more immediately relevant subjects:

A full course load for the first cycle consists of 2 cours magistraux + conference modules (these are the lectures + discussion sections that I described in an earlier post), a language course, and 2 electives. In my case, I am taking French as my language course and Arabic as one of my electives. Most full-time Sciences Po students are already fluent in French and English, so they are generally on to their third language by this point. Wow. As someone who is making her own feeble attempt at trilingualism, this never ceases to impress me.

In addition to their curriculum, Sciences Po has a very specific academic methodology (remember the orientation course I described?). Students are supposed to learn to express themselves eloquently and persuasively in both writing and speech. To that end, there are five types of "pedagogical exercises" assigned:

1) Expose: This is an oral presentation, exactly 10 minutes long, presented (theoretically) without reading from notes. The student is expected to present an analytical and critical response to the question assigned. My first expose will be next Thursday in my EU class, addressing the question, "Have we passed from a 'French Europe' to a 'German Europe'?"

2) Fiche technique: This is a 1-2 page paper that provides a concise summary and analysis of a given topic. It is generally intended to be distributed to the rest of the class and serves as a sort of study guide.

3) Fiche de lecture: This is a longer summary, analysis, and critique of an assigned study or other written work (i.e. a really long book). Part of the assignment is to put the author's arguments in context with the other work being conducted in that field.

4) Revue de presse: This can be either oral or written, but it's essentially a critical news analysis.

5) Dissertation: This is the big kahuna -- a research paper that responds to a question by developing a thesis. However, in the French style, you have to devote equal space to each side of the argument, otherwise the paper is considered poorly organized. Balance is very important in the body of the paper, and introductions are longer and conclusions shorter here -- the idea is that if you've proven your point in the body paragraphs, you don't need to repeat yourself at the end. If this paper is to be written in class, it is called a "devoir sur table". This is what I will have to do for my 2 midterms, which are known as "galops d'essais".

As I've commented several times already, my workload for this semester is not that bad. For the discussion section of one of my lecture courses, I have to write a modified version of a fiche de lecture (I will analyse a set of documents and articles rather than one long book), as well as another similar-style paper that will be researched and written in a group. I also have 4 exposes to do, 2 of which will be with a partner, but that's it, aside from midterm and final exams.

A word about how these projects are assigned: organized chaos. (Okay, that's two words, haha.) On the first day of class, students show up prepared to do battle. The professor walks in with a list of expose topics, matched with presentation dates, and begins to read through it. Students raise their hands to sign up for their preferred assignments. This is great, until more than one student wants the same expose. If neither of them is willing to "renonce" (give up), then the fun begins. Sometimes the professor makes it easy (ex. the person whose name comes first/last alphabetically wins, etc.); other times it's a bit more creative (ex. one student had an internship experience that is relevant to the topic at hand). It makes the U.S. system -- everyone completing the same assignment and handing it in on the same day -- look so boring!

Two last observations, just because they have to do with education:

-First of all, some necessary background info: All public services in France are "laique". Roughly translated, this means secular, but it has a different connotation here. At home, we have a tradition of "freedom OF religion"; in France, the system operates under "freedom FROM religion." When we study this in culture classes at home, we learn that people are not allowed to display outward signs of their religion in government-sponsored locations and activities -- most notably, schools. Other, private institutions have adopted policies of "laicite" as well.

Now for the anecdote: today in my Arabic class, we learned a phrase that means "with enthusiasm". The professor went around the room asking everyone what makes them enthusiastic. To me, he asked, "Do you talk about Obama with enthusiasm?" Next, he asked a girl named Marieke (a diminutive of "Marie"), "Do you speak about Marie (as in, the Virgin Mary) with enthusiasm?" The girl began to reply no, she wasn't a practicing Christian, but before she could finish, the professor interjected, saying, "Oh, no, we are laique here, we can't talk about belief and faith."

This was interesting to me for a few reasons. First of all, he was the one who brought it up to begin with! I suppose there is a fine line between using the Virgin Mary as a theoretical example and speaking specifically about one's personal beliefs...but still. Second of all, this was the first time that I had ever heard someone refer to laicite "in action", so to speak. And finally, given my somewhat limited understanding of nuance in both French and Arabic, I have no idea if the professor was serious or not. He certainly wasn't angry or upset about the situation, but I couldn't tell if 1) he realized that he chose a bad example to use and was trying to change the subject quickly, or 2) he was poking fun at the concept of laicite itself. No one else in the class even seemed to take notice, and it was one of those things that you just can't ask about when you're trying to blend in.

-I don't remember if I mentioned this before, but the French higher education system has been on strike for the past 5 weeks. This hasn't affected Sciences Po because it's essentially a private school (though the Georgetown kids at the other program in Paris have been thrown for a loop trying to find classes that are still meeting), but now some of the student groups are talking about organizing for either a protest or a strike. I'm sorry...I am very much supportive of unions and the right to strike to improve conditions for workers...but the idea of students going on strike is just silly to me.

Their slogan is "L'universite n'est pas une entreprise; la connaissance n'est pas une merchandise" (translation: The university is not a business; knowledge is not a merchandise). Pretty clever. But the thing is, whether this is good or bad, universities in the U.S. are businesses. You pay tuition in order to attend, and they teach you in order to fulfill the contract. If students went on strike at home, they would only be hurting themselves. I'm still trying to figure out exactly what the students hope to gain from striking and what they are protesting...I'll keep you posted.