Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-07-06
By Crosby S. Moves
Foreign Correspondent Of The Stsr

Foreign Correspondent OF The SfaT
PARIS-"Write for four hours
on one of the following:
''Discursive knowledge and in
tuitive knowledge or
1.-THE problem of life or
How has science led to the af-
f1rmation Of determinism !?
what is idealism =?
How would you like to try to
compose a coherent disserta-
ton" on what you feel in a
moment of solitude" with ap-
propriate references to such
writer's as Montaigne, Descartes,
Pascal, La Fontaine, Rousseau,
Chateaubriand and Lamartine) !?
Particularly, how would you
like it If your whole future-the
kind of job you could get. the
kind of school you could go to,
the place you would occupy in
society, depended very directly
on what you said?
Last week all over France,
some 10000 French teen-agers
wrestled long hours on these
questions and dozens like them.
The occasion was the yearly re-
currence of a venerable and
formidable institution in French
life-the dreaded baccalaureate
examinations of the French pub
lie school system.
Climax to IL Years.
For nearly all French children,
the Observation-Disclosures known
as the 'bacchot"- represents the
climax Of IL years Of the most
rugged course of public educa-
ton in the world today. The
system, set up first by Napoleon
to supply brainy officer material
for his army, is ruthlessly COM
petitive from beginning to end
It plays an extraordinarily pow
erful part in making French So
ciety-and individual French
men what they are. And, in the
opinion Of some present day
educators, including a number
of Frenchlnen, it is a system
that could stand some radical
modernization.
For the 17-year-old boy or
girl standing in front of the
big auditorium at 8 am, dang
ling an ink bottle at the end of
a piece of string. the bacchot is
an awfully decisive moment. AS
far back as he can remember
he has been preparing for 1t.
BY American standards, French
schools are pretty severe places
an average Of IS hours of classes
a week in the higher grades
with plenty Of homework thrown
in for good measure. Two hours
a week for outdoor athletics and
one hour for indoor exercises
is considered ample.
Future Depends ON It.
It isn't the past that the
child has on his mind, however
but the future. The bacchot il
important because 1t opens-ol
:loses-virtually all doors. France
is a country where a diploma il
something more than q pretty
piece of paper to hang on the
wall.
A boy who fails his baccalau-
reate examination is barred
from entering any State or pri.
vate university. But more thar
that, his chances of getting any
thing in the way of a white.
collar" job are slim. He can en-.
list In the Army, of course. bu
for most other jobs the baccal.
aureate Is virtually indispens.
able if he wants to be anything
from a clerk to the President o.
the Republic. And since this i
true. the bacchot is more thar
an individual crisis. The homo
of the child's family is also a
| stake. and French mothers an,
fathers make quite point Of thu
fact.
The ordeal is spread over !,
period Of two years. The frs
part Of the examination. cover
ing "the humanities" amount
to q test of general culture
taken usually at the age of II
The various subjects Frencl