A German in Paris - Lessons learned in hindsight

 Experiencing French Nationalism

 

I came to Paris because I wanted to make a difference. My hope to find what I came for was in vain. Instead of the education I longed for I had an encounter with blue and red crayons in my German class, where I was politely asked to colour maps of Germany. Instead of the mentors who would inspire me I found myself trapped in an Economy class where the teacher felt the strong urge to season his jokes about pigs and ham with comments about “les boches” and the Second World War.

The Sorbonne is truly that great institution where values tradition especially are held high. Especially after the winter break and the exams in January. Our teachers engaged themselves in one of the oldest and most noble French traditions: teachers, staff members, technicians and of course the students went on strike. By denouncing the newest educational reforms concerning the status of the so called enseignants-chercheurs (teachers who do also research) and the formation of new teachers it soon became clear they would not stop until everything was reversed. And the list of complaints did not end with that: the staff members had their fair share of problems and the students aiming for a PhD.

When on a Monday morning at the end of March the sun rose blood red in the east of Paris, universities all over the country had been on strike for over six weeks. And they intended to continue and die-hard slogans would soon appear while assuring every student that the strike is certainly not intended to punish anyone and the exams could be rearranged. If university is supposed to be the place where students form all over the world meet and get educated together here they found a different interpretation for that. Certainly my life has been shaped impermeably and forever.

At the beginning of the 3^rd  week some of the teachers began to e-mail the assignments to our home computers expressing their hopes that it would soon be over. Four weeks later it still wasn’t over worse, the Centres had re-opened but that couldn’t prevent the strange urge the student body felt to support their teachers by blocking the university buildings.

Thus we entered the 8^th week and there was practically no information on the Website which could indicate any sign of “blocage.” Thus we received a message form our French teacher stating the obvious and the promise that he would follow the decision the Assemblée Générale had voted for. He personally would continue the strike thus he couldn’t assure the next lesson.

«  Cette décision n'a pas été facile à prendre: je suis parfaitement conscient des inconvénients dont elle s'accompagne et, comme beaucoup de collègues, j'ai été tenté par le compromis qui consiste à assurer les cours tout en se déclarant gréviste. Je crois cependant que, dans le contexte actuel, ce geste risquerait fort d'être interprété (par le gouvernement d'abord, mais aussi par les médias et par l'opinion publique) comme un renoncement ou comme le signe d'un net recul au sein du mouvement d'opposition aux mesures néfastes que le Ministère veut infliger à l'Université (et, plus largement, au système éducatif dans son ensemble). »

He stated perfectly valid reasons for this act of defiance. And that was exactly the moment the rumors stared about delaying the semester, postponing the exams until – God knows when. Messages began to flutter around and everyone became quite upset with the idea of having classes until next September. Everyone suddenly seemed quite busy working on a huge rescue plan for the semester. How it worked out is still a miracle? Two weeks before the end of term, they hurried us through the material, graded the exams and closed both eyes, if necessary. Well, done everyone we survived 5 months of strike. Maybe we'll just continue next year. They had yet to come up with another ingenious plan to force the government's hand. However it seems even now under the new administration with an even greater national deficit, teachers and university professors will get even less recognition. 

In the end it was the very same econ professor whose remarks about Germany made me cringe, who made me confront the reality around me. If you cannot change the world, the only act of viable act of revolt is to refuse to live by its standards. Why should  we not live by our own definitions? Why should we compromise?

Some may see me as a drop-out, a quitter an aimless wanderer. But not all wanderers are aimless, especially not those who seek the truth beyond tradition, beyond definition or even beyond the pretty image in a policy maker's head. After all, the world is not set in stone.