Case of the Mondays-Day 110-April 30th, 2018

I woke up this morning. That wasn’t new and neither was my breakfast of cereal, a pastry and a bowl of coffee. It was a bit colder outside today though. Despite being Monday, I was just happy to only have two classes instead of the usual three. I only had one more physics lecture and the date was TBD. Today was just math at 9:45 and circuits from 12:00-1:00.

Everything was going smoothly until I got to school and learned that the science building was blockaded today. There were protesters holding a sign while chanting and playing music. Security stood nearby waiting for an order. Across the street was a huge group of students and teachers waiting to figure out what they would do for class.

The blockade, the sign says “do not spend your life  watching”

I’m not going to lie, I was pretty pissed they had blockaded the school. An online and school wide poll had been conducted on the blockades and 70% said they were against them and wanted to go to class. Only 12% said they were for the blockades. How is it fair to block the school for the other 70% if only a small group were for it? On top of that, I pay so much for school that missing class literally means wasting money.

Our professor for math was waiting outside the building and told us we would find a classroom in an open building. Eventually the whole class showed up and we headed to the building where I have physics lab and found a classroom. Even though we were able to have class, I was still annoyed at the blockades. Differential equations went by normally and I really got lost towards the end of lecture.

Our circuits lecture emailed us and told us the new building and classroom we would be in. We had some time before class, so Harry and I went back to see the status of the blockade. There were much less people, but the school was still blockaded and had people in front of it. Nearby was a tent with a table and bunch of papers. I guess the idea was to provide info about why they were striking.

I have yet to hear a good argument for the strikes, so my curiosity led me to talking to the people at the tent. They didn’t speak great English, but I was able to have a conversation with them. I told them I was an American student and curious to know why they were striking. They explained to me first how French public universities worked, which I already knew. To review, this meant: no selection and very low cost.

They then explained the planned reforms to Harry and I. Again I was knowledgeable on this, and wanted to hear their perspective. They said that they want to make getting into university more difficult and selective. The example they used was that if someone wanted to study psychology, they would have to get good grades in physics, biology and math and additionally have a résumé. One girl said, “How can they expect any 17 year old be expected to do this?”. It is too bad the French don’t know about the Common App in the US,  because that would truly be terrifying to them.

After listening to their explanations for a while, I was ready to bust out my questions. Due to the language divide, I had to speak very slowly for them to understand me. This was better anyway was because I wanted to have a calm discussion. My first question was “Don’t a third of French students not make it past their first year of university?”. The girl responded saying that actually 80% of students get their diploma (This statistic seemed a little questionable).

I responded saying, “If 20% drop out, why not cut out that 20% initially when selecting applicants? It would save the schools a ton of resources”. For reference, many French universities are extremely overcrowded and lack needed resources. The French girl said that selection isn’t very French and that a lot of people drop out because they’re not ready for the first year of college. She described how it can be difficult to adjust to college, which I agreed to.

Harry asked next, “Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t the point of Macron’s reforms to provide these struggling students extra help to better prepare them for their first year?”.  Due to the high number of dropouts, Macron wants to make the baccalaureate (essentially an exam for high school graduation) more difficult and begin college preparation earlier. She responded saying that schools wouldn’t have the money to carry out the new courses and additional help. This seemed like an answer not backed by real statistics.

My last question was, “If 70% of students said they wanted to go to class, how is it fair for you to block school for everyone else?”. She responded saying that the poll was unfair and that many people were able to vote more than once. This response was a bit ironic because some protesters hacked the poll and took it down for a few hours. How was that fair to anyone. She did raise some valid points though. First she said that despite being an anonymous poll, it required to use your university login. She said many were afraid to answer truthfully since the system knew who it was from the login. She also said they they truly believe that blockades are the only way to get their voice heard with the planned reforms.

I didn’t have any more questions and thanked them for speaking to me. I have little more respect for the protests, but still think they’re pretty stupid. French universities are some of the worst ranked in western Europe, have huge drop out rates, and lack necessary resources. While a lottery system without selection might be “the French Way”, I think some changes may be necessary. Plus, it may have just been this one French girl, but the protesters don’t seem very knowledgeable on the reforms.

I headed to circuits class afterwards which was pretty slow. I got my exam back and did alright, though a bit worse than I expected. After lecture, I headed to the BU office with my classmates to pick up our food stipends. Harry and I wanted lunch, but it was too late in the day to go to La Natation. We headed to My Little Warung instead, which is where I got the pad thai from this weekend.

Feeling uninspired, I got the pad thai again.It was pretty good after all. The restaurant was trendy and featured a bunch of diverse dishes named after different places in Asia.

My Pad thai

After eating, I said goodbye to Harry and made a quick stop at the supermarket. I didn’t want to buy my week’s food just yet, but I got enough food to hold me over for tomorrow since it was a holiday. This meant that university, the tram, and every store would be closed. I had to stock up on more peanut butter naturally.

I headed home and hung out for a while listening to my audio book. I got changed later and headed to the gym where I saw this:

There weren’t any protesters here, but the gym must have closed early for the holiday tomorrow. Disappointed, I headed back home. I was still determined to exercise and opted to do it in my room. I never do this, so my plan was to do 100 push ups, 100 sit-ups, 100 squats and four one minute planks. This ended up being a nice workout and took about twenty minutes. I hopped in the shower afterwards.

For dinner, I just had a pre-made salad and some roasted chicken flavored chips from the new bag I bought today. After eating, I cleaned up and went to write this blog.

It is currently 9:00 and my night is not over yet. I might meet Harry for a drink at La Nat later, but who knows if that will happen. Even if I go out, this will probably be a relaxing night.

I’ve been getting into the habit of listening to my audio book before bed. I never really thought this one through, but it turns out that listening to The Shining at 1 AM in a dark room is pretty scary. I don’t typically get scared by these things, but I admit to feeling a little spooked whenever I hear a strange noise in my room. This sense of fear definitely adds to the novel.

I predict my night will end with some more listening of The Shining in the dark once again.