Caps and gowns...in France?!?
9 Jul 2013
Beginning at age 11-12, when they enter the class of sixi猫me, and throughout their secondary studies until age 17-18, the life of a French student is entirely focused on passing the 产补肠肠补濒补耻谤茅补迟 exam.
For more than two centuries, 产补肠肠补濒补耻谤茅补迟鈥攆rom the Latin "laurel crown"鈥攈as been both a ritual of passage and the indispensable key to higher education.
The long road to the "bac," however, ends in a rather lackluster fashion: anxious students wait for their name to appear on a list (either on the internet or posted at the entrance of their 濒测肠茅别) and either rejoice or lament ... and that's the end of it. No graduation ceremony, no caps and gowns, no party鈥攋ust names on a list.
However this year, one school in France decided that the passing of the bac deserved something better than the usual impersonal notification. The International School of Provence-Alpes-C么te d'Azur in Manosque, attended by some 500 "ITER children," had good reason to celebrate in style: 27 seniors, among them the first students in France to sit for the European bac, and all of them passed.
Parents and friends who attended the ceremony on Saturday 6 July were witness to a very unusual event in France: young bacheliers wearing anglo-saxon style gowns and tossing their cap into the air amidst cheers and applause.
"We wanted to celebrate all of our graduates and have a formal moment together before they all head off in a different direction," explains international school Director Bernard Fronsacq.
"The young graduates," he adds, "now have a very strong academic base. But in organizing this event, they have also acquired something that is very important for their future: they have learned to work as a team. We are all very, very happy."