The fact that the children weren't more friendly probably had more than a little to do with Clio's reaction to being overwhelmed on the first day, but a decent teacher would have at least made an effort to help her out. But then, the French seem to take a strange moral satisfaction in watching students fail. We bid Madame Lacugue a frigid goodbye and escaped from the clutches of the old lemon once and for all. Maybe the remnants of the old guard will die off slowly and the situation will evolve from within. Certainly, the other professors all roll their eyes when talking about Madame Lacugue - but they can't criticize her openly because she has the whole force of tradition behind her.
School is a punishment visited on children for having been born ignorant.
In fairness, it should be said that the French are not all that happy with their educational system, either. But being an entrenched national bureaucracy in the country that invented bureaucracy, it is not easy to change. Look what the French had to do to get rid of their monarchy.